A Ringside (Hamilton) seat
Large event space at the back of Architect Hair Design on James Street North is proving popular for weddings, parties and dances.
If you’ve ventured down the colourful alley beside Architect Hair Design on James Street North, you won’t forget what you found.
It opens to a courtyard that’s been dubbed Acapulco, which is just outside a long narrow 2,500-square-foot event space that’s now branded Ringside Hamilton.
The name honours 1960s Hamilton boxing icon Patsy Brandino, who opened Ringside Restaurant and Bar where Architect’s bar and barbershop is now, and ran a pool hall in the back.
Try as he might, Elliott Gwynne, who is operations manager for Architect, Ringside and Hendry’s Barbershop on Barton, can’t find much information about the history of Ringside. “But we love the story we know and we wanted to pay homage to what it was.”
The theme and name for the courtyard comes from Architect’s next-door neighbours Angelo and Maria. Angelo, who hails from Acapulco, painted the side of his home in seaside colours a decade ago. The folks at Architect took it one step further with a mural of the city’s skyline painted by Hamilton musician and artist Tim Nijenhuis of Ninehouse Productions.
Architect and Ringside are the unofficial after-party spots for Art Crawl and Supercrawl crowds, offering live music, DJs, and a hotdog cart called Hotdog Summers.
The Ringside space, complete with a bar, pool table and two garage doors to the outdoors, is available for rent. But be forewarned, it’s booked every weekend this year for weddings, parties, Hamilton Fringe Festival performances, markets, dances, food events and even a boudoir shoot.
And during the week, it has hosted groups from McMaster University, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and Rotary clubs.
“Just email us and let us know what you want to do and we can see if we can make it work,” says Gwynne, who is a member of Hamilton band Ellevator and hosts karaoke at Architect each Tuesday.
Work has begun to build out Ringside as a live music venue, but it requires more sound baffling and a curtain system to soften the sound from the concrete walls.
The front of the room features a stage and a large wooden sign rescued from the Ann Foster music shop that was a beloved destination for sheet music, records and instruments in the Lister Block from 1942 to 1989.
Architect, which offers haircuts, beard trims and hot-towel shaves, has always broken the mold. It was Hamilton’s first licensed bar when Peter Mokrycke opened it almost 10 years ago.
Plans are in the works to bring more uses to a large alley and parking lot on the north side of Ringside, in conjunction with other businesses.
“We don’t have a BIA here but all the businesses in this area have a great relationship and work together,” says Gwynne. “We call ourselves the North of Bartons or NOBs.”
