Owners pick mystical new name for downtown business

Posted on June 28, 2019

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Owners of a new downtown Bloomington business have come up with another name to replace one that a city council member said was a racial slur.

The bar and bistro will be called The Mystic Kitchen and Tasting Room, instead of The Gypsy Room, at 306 N. Center St.

Council member Jenn Carrillo came under fire, especially from other downtown business owners, for using heavy-handed tactics on social media, including threatening a boycott, to convince the owners to change the name.

Carrillo claimed Gypsy is offensive because it was a term the Nazis used to justify murdering hundreds of thousands of dark-skinned Romani people during the Holocaust.

Carrillo later apologized for how she handled the situation.

A website and Facebook page are up and running, describing The Mystic Kitchen and Tasting Room as a “funky bohemian lounge with an extensive, yet approachable wine list, quirky craft cocktails, local brews and eclectic bistro cuisine.”

The two owners, Terrie Vanderlugt and Chelsea Heffernan, plan an early September opening.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…