When you enter Library Riot, with its dark wood accents and paneling, you could be forgiven for assuming you’ve stumbled into a library’s reading room. Business partners Christine Blocker and Jamie Meiburg want their patrons to feel at home — to know that they’ve entered a place with friendly ambience — a place for fun and relaxation. They also want them to understand that a “riot,” especially in Brit speak, suggests “occasions of boisterous merriment.” Like a party,
Meiburg says he had only seconds to get his two customers, nurses who’d just finished a shift, to safety. Glass shattered, and the wall and ceiling came down. “It was intense,” he recalls. Still, he refers to the incident as “manageable,” and he’s taking it all in stride, even though his home was also damaged by one of the three tornadoes confirmed in the area that day.
“There was a random roof in my backyard,” Meiburg says with a chuckle. “And my roof will need to be replaced. But that tornado only clipped us as it died out.”
Still, Meiburg and Blocker could be forgiven for feeling a bit snake-bit, despite their calm demeanor. They moved into their original bar two weeks prior to the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020. They reopened for three weeks that summer, until Hurricane Laura came calling in late August to destroy their first location on Ryan Street.
“We had this beautiful cocktail lounge. But we were apparently the only bar in town that was not opened long enough to get any type of assistance or grants. Still, without insurance or government help, we managed to make our comeback in this new place. Yeah, it was rough. It was devastating,” recalls Meiburg.
When Meiburg was 18, his good friend, Brian Moore, recommended he go into this business. “I was instantly hooked on the energy and what goes on behind the curtain to create an atmosphere that draws people in,” Meiburg says. “So, I actively sought out the experience, knowledge and skills to excel in this kind of environment. I couldn’t have found a better business partner than I have in Christine.” It’s their mutual no-nonsense approach that allows both Blocker and Meiburg to maintain “the fun and inviting atmosphere” one finds at Library Riot. They both feel that has been an essential key to their success.
“In any job that requires an employee to serve a customer, there’s the risk of running into situations where the customers can get unruly,” notes Blocker. “That would never persuade me not to own a bar, however. I have always wanted to own my own business. Having Jamie as my business partner has made everything fall into place. I believe we have achieved something we can be proud of.”
They host theme nights to entice other customers as well. Acoustic Open Mic night on Mondays, Karaoke Night on Tuesdays, Jukebox Olympic Music Trivia on Thursdays, and occasionally some very popular comedy nights. “We’ve become one of the mainstays of the reinvigorated comedy scene in Lake Charles, hosted by Jacob Guidry. Christine and I gravitate towards what works, and we eliminate what doesn’t,” says Meiburg.
Both book readers, Blocker and Meiburg say the ambience and feel of their place really appeals to their customers. Literary-minded cocktail drinkers can choose from cocktails named by Meiburg, Blocker and their staff. Currently, there are three favorites: The Dorian Gray, a purplish-gray lavender-infused martini; the Jane Pear, a pear vodka martini; and the Chocolate Dahlia, a chocolate-coffee liqueur cocktail.
Plans are underway to open the bar temporarily in the next few weeks, but Meiburg expects it to take 45 to 60 days to get the repairs completed. He urges their patrons to keep abreast of progress on social media. You’ll find them on Facebook.
“Neither one of us comes from money,” notes Meiburg. “But we’ve built back up before, and we’re going to do it again.”
Anyone up for an “Old Man and the Sea” cocktail? As Santiago says of Hemingway’s hero, “he may be destroyed, but he is never defeated.”
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