When Modern Times Beer launched in 2013, it was an enterprise overwhelmingly focused on the manufacture of ales and lagers, with a differentiating craft-coffee component. Another thing that set it apart, bringing on a cool factor that did as much – if not more – to drive the brand’s runaway popularity, was a collection of colorful, nostalgia-soaked public venues where the company’s wares were at the forefront.
Fast forward to the present day, and that script has been flipped a full 180 degrees. Modern Times no longer leads with beer and, despite having its own brewing facility in downtown (the former production center for defunct Resident Brewing), it doesn’t currently brew its products. That side of the business has been handed off to Miramar’s AleSmith Brewing, which liaises with former Saint Archer Brewery founder (and seller) Josh Landan, who has overseen Modern Times’ beer operations since former parent company Craft ‘Ohana divested in the brand. Meanwhile, management of Modern Times’ fast-advancing coffee program as well as its taprooms and eateries – which are collectively referred to as “pubs” and are at the forefront of the business’ plans moving forward – is the charge of partner and hospitality-industry veteran Duncan Ward.
Since coming aboard last year, Ward has been on a tear, setting up a new headquarters in downtown San Diego within walking distance of Modern Times’ six-year-old coffee shop, The Invigatorium, while taking over a 2,500-square-foot lease-to-brew suite at H.G. Fenton’s CRAFT by Brewery Igniter campus in North Park. The latter is being retooled from a brewery into a coffee roastery with a tasting room called the Cathedral of Caffeination. Back downtown, Ward and his team have finished up work on another pair of new venues. The first is a 6,000-square-foot leasable East Village event space on 15th Street called Chronos Hall, and the second is a new pub at the corner of Fourth Avenue and C Street going by the name of Timestead, which will soft-open at 5 p.m. today.
Located in the 12,400-square-foot former home of longtime downtown bar and restaurant The Local, Timestead seats 110 and is flush with a multifaceted design combining retro western and futuristic sci-fi elements. According to Studio on Giants Principal Betty Dankongkakul, who headed interior-design efforts for the project, the motif follows an “intergalactic cowboy who has traveled through space and time to finally settle down in his favorite city of San Diego,” making the Timestead space his own by installing valuables collected over his travels. Those items reflect his interests – music, sports and, of course, coffee and beer – and are most concentrated in Timestead’s central bar.
“The primary bar is the feature; an anchor to the space where our cowboy spends most of his time entertaining friends and listening to music,” says Dankongkakul. “The inspiration was an audiophile’s media unit designed through a retro-futuristic lens. The TVs were framed out so they can function as menus or art. The speakers were added into the built-ins so the music can be experienced more intimately and the upright vinyl players were added to encourage customer interaction.”
Custom booths feature upholstery meant to resemble a cowboy’s worn leather booth and extra-thick cushions meant to encourage lounging, socialization and resultantly longer stays. A walnut frame ties the front of the space together, connecting the main bar with refurbished millwork on the opposite wall, while massive drapes separate the bar and dining room from the back bar, which abuts the brewery and was once a tasting space for the aforementioned Resident Brewing. That area is now a private-event space designed to look like a “cowboy’s cave” replete with “souvenirs” and modular furniture that’s easily modifiable for parties renting it out.
“The feeling of the space is optimistic and a bit odd,” says Dankongkakul of the Timestead overall. “Warm wood is juxtaposed with cool brushed steel. Furniture style is from across decades, and decor is pulled from all of the worlds [the intergalactic cowboy] loves.”
While playing on the back-in-the-day factor that has been Modern Times’ calling card from day one, Timestead’s aesthetic is unique for the brand. So, too, is the beverage lineup, which will intermingle Modern Times beers with others from guest breweries, and feature a full bar stocked with spirits from local, independent producers. An inventive program will also be built around the company’s broadening array of coffee products.
Modern Times Beer’s Timestead venue is located at 1065 Fourth Avenue in downtown San Diego