Power and utilities, out for days starting Saturday night, caused major losses for bars and clubs.
Business is hopping again at midtown Sacramento’s Red Rabbit Kitchen and Bar, but the new year sort of stumbled out of the starting blocks for its staff.
The culprit: Saturday’s severe storm. The one that battered northern California on New Year’s Eve.
Early in the evening, the crew couldn’t wait for the night ahead. Their celebration was just getting going and guests with reservations — braved the elements outside — to be welcomed warmly inside.
“We were so ready for that day,” said Red Rabbit server Macey Howeson. “It was great. The vibes in here are wonderful. Everyone was really pumped up, everyone was in a great mood.”
But then, a holiday party pooper of epic proportions arrived. A massive power failure hit midtown.
“All the lights were out. Kitchen stopped working. It was pretty wild,” Howeson said. “It was pitch black in here… the entire block was blacked out. Actually, multiple blocks were blacked out.”
Just down J Street, Harlow’s Nightclub had a line waiting at the door that night.
“We haven’t had New Year’s for the last two years, so we were really actually looking forward to this one,” said Harlow’s owner and operator, Jim Cornett. “Now we’re o for three.”
The club was preparing to host a night of New Year’s Eve revelry for the first time since the pandemic shut down parties.
“We brought in balloons. We spent $1,200 on balloons, rented glassware and bought a lot of champagne,” Cornett explained. “Right about 15 minutes to ‘doors,’ the power went out on us.”
For both locations, after surviving years of COVID-era obstacles, they’re taking the hit from the outage in stride.
“There’s been speed bumps across the way the whole time, so it’s just another bump in the road for us,” he said. “We’re not that upset about it.”
They’re grateful, yet again, for understanding customers.
“People were definitely bummed, but people were really cool, too,” Howeson said. “I think the spirits were high on that night.”
And they’re not letting this blackout set the stage for the year ahead– they’re staying hopeful.
“It was just ending the year with a bang,” said Howeson. “I think we had to get the worst out of the way ‘til the better stuff comes.”
The power stayed out for a couple of days at several midtown locations. The storm also took out their phone and internet service, which wasn’t restored until Thursday.
All tolled, Harlow’s said it lost a week’s worth of business.
Red Rabbit staff told KCRA 3 they’re out $35,000 dollars because of the outage.