Even before they found the church they’d renovate into a restaurant, music club and speakeasy, Matt and Nikki Ray had settled on the name Sanctuary.
The 26-year-married couple, owners of Eat My Beats music store, originally thought to create a performance room with a bar on their property, 4755 Jug Factory Road. But just to level it off, the groundwork alone would have cost almost as much as they spent renovating the old Conquerors’ Light Faith Center, at 1710 25th Ave., just a block off Greensboro Avenue.
One of the other places they’d considered was another church, in Alberta City. They almost made an offer on that spot, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The Rays consider that a kind of blessing, as holding off on the project meant they found the other, ideal location.
Their chosen name holds multiple meanings, the obvious of course from the former church. But it’s also because “music is our sanctuary,” Matt Ray said.
When they found the location for the Sanctuary, all the Rays had to do was append “on 25th.”
The Sanctuary on 25th feels big on the inside, with soaring ceilings and elongated windows and mirrors, with woodwork predominant throughout, and a museum’s worth of chairs, sofas, tables, art works and more in the front, the laid-back speakeasy area.
You enter the Sanctuary on the side, though, through massive doors opening into the spacious main dining area, where you choose from a menu ranging from flank steak to shrimp and grits, lobster mac and cheese to cheeseburger sliders, with pork belly, chorizo mushrooms, street corn dip, bacon-wrapped dates, salads and more. Small plates and shareables are on the bill, items that the Rays’ thought that friends gathering to eat and enjoy music might wish to mix and swap.
A long wooden bar fronts 52 beer taps, and serves up beverages including the Seven Deadly Sins: Lust, for example, is bubblegum-infused reposado, orange liqueur, agave and lime; Wrath is Jamaican rum, mazzura and sweet vermouth. The Sanctuary bar also offers shots, spritzes and other specialty cocktails.
A corner music stage faces diners, with acts booked three or four nights per week, depending on Crimson Tide football game times. In the Sanctuary’s backyard, the Rays have built a green space with another stage. That will see more use in fairer months, possibly for bigger touring acts, and also after they’ve had time to iron out kinks, get the workflow down.
A green room is underway on a second floor/mezzanine area off the front, a one-bedroom apartment with bathroom, to offer an added layer of comfort for traveling musicians. Players should be pleased not just by that sort of amenity, but also by the stage mix, because the Rays have numerous years’ experience running sound out of their other business. Eat My Beats has worked with the city and others assembling stages, lights and sound systems for larger-scale local concerts such as the Live at the Plaza summer series, the Druid City Music Festival, the Druid City Arts Festival and the Kentuck Festival of the Arts.
“I want musicians to want to play here,” Matt said, and not just for the money.
The old church’s congregation had dwindled to about 30, and while the building’s bones were solid, it hadn’t been well kept up inside: Ceilings were coming down, windows were boarded up. Built in the 1920s, the building had also served as a warehouse, evident in its dimensions. About the only things left now from the church are the ceiling, floors and outer walls, Matt said.
But they both knew the spot was right soon as they saw it.
“We did the same thing when we bought our house. We’ve done the same thing on several other pieces of property that we own. We both just always have a feeling, and we, luckily, that’s how we’ve been married 26 years,” Nikki Ray said. “And everything we buy always needs a (lot) of work, so that’s not new.”
Paying homage to its recent past, the Rays put up panels of stained-glass film along the front wall of the speakeasy, through which daylight shines. Lamps and other furnishings, deep comfy seating, they found through thrift and antique stores, from cues on Facebook marketplace and elsewhere. Until construction finished, the Rays stored their finds at Eat My Beats.
“Because we’ve been shoving it in the back so long, we almost forgot what all we had,” Nikki said. Their tastes mostly coincided, except on the occasional odd sculpted piece Matt favored.
“I think between my decor, and then Matt’s edginess, weirdness, it works,” Nikki said.
Originally aiming at a 1920s ambiance, the Rays found real-thing artifacts hard to procure. Even when you could come by them, the century-old furniture was often decrepit to the point of non-functionality. So the speakeasy resembles more of a real, lived-in sprawling den, a melange of eras and styles, all driven by the Rays’ instincts for what would work, with emphases on warmth and comfort, a place inviting you to lounge.
“Someone made a good point, and they hit the nail on the head. They said, ‘I feel like I am in the Haunted Mansion at Disney World,’ ” Nikki said, laughing. “And I’m like, oh my God, it actually does.”
While that may not have been the exact aesthetic in mind, the Rays definitely were seeking something extra, a quality, a sensation of something different.
“A few comments people have made really made me know we have done what we wanted, we’ve checked the boxes,” Nikki said. “One of them was ‘I don’t feel like I’m in Tuscaloosa.’ That’s exactly what I want you to feel when you walk in the door, to feel like you were in a Denver, or a Raleigh, or Asheville …. I think we accomplished that.”
Downtown Chattanooga’s revival played part in their thinking, following the summer 2019 West Alabama Chamber of Commerce-sponsored benchmarking trip to the city in the shadow of Lookout Mountain. The Rays pitched ideas to other Tuscaloosa movers and shakers, but finding no takers, decided to make the project their own.
The Elevate Tuscaloosa plan has focused on the idea that the Druid City needs not only to continue to attract 40,000 students from all around to the University of Alabama, but to keep them interested in staying after graduation.
“After graduation, they’re ready to go to Denver, or to Dallas, to a big city,” Nikki said. The Rays’ thought process for the business: They can’t contribute to the high-tech, high-paying job aspect, but they can help boost quality of life, add to the so-called experience economy.
“We can bring cool stuff,” she said.
The earlier plan, for the music club at Eat My Beats, didn’t include a restaurant, just music and cocktails. The size of their find encouraged them not only to evolve and add a menu, but break it up into separate concepts: the speakeasy, the dining area, the courtyard, which can hold hundreds, though they’re not booking acts on that scale yet. Until the place builds a fan base, the Rays are booking mostly singer-songwriter, acoustic acts. Shows typically start early, running 6-8 p.m., except on weekend nights, when the songs may go on from 7 until 9 or 10.
In addition to music, the Sanctuary’s eager to utilize that speakeasy front room, suitable for wine tastings, readings, receptions, parties and other intimate gatherings. The Rays hope to program a variety of creative, entertaining events.
“I want to showcase the arts in a way that no one else in Tuscaloosa is doing,” Matt said.
Eat My Beats was doing well, the Rays said, so the Sanctuary wasn’t intended primarily as a money-making venture; more of a passion project.
“We wanted to make a mark on Tuscaloosa,” Nikki said.
The Sanctuary on 25th opens at 11 a.m. seven days a week, and remains open until 9, except Fridays and Saturdays, when they’re up until midnight. Lunch is easier to find a seat, and dinner reservations can be made through the site, www.thesanctuaryon25th.com.
Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at [email protected].