75 * Joe Mejaly

Spring-Summer 2015 A Harper Woods Notre Dame Alumni Association Publication Keeping the Spirit of the Fightin’ Irish Alive Since 2005! Scott Baumgart ‘84 Owner of Stray Cat Lounge Page 2 Also inside Darryl Duerbusch ‘87 * Mike Paletta ‘75 * Joe Mejaly ‘79 * Ben Blackwell ‘00 The LeprechaunSPRING/SUMMER 2015 EDITION The Leprechaun is a newsletter devoted solely to the alumni and friends of Notre Dame High School of Harper Woods, Michigan. It is produced and distributed free of charge. For more information, please see the Notre Dame Alumni Association’s official website: www.friendsofnotredame.com. WHAT’S INSIDE... Spring-Summer 2015 A Harper Woods Notre Dame Alumni Association Publication Keeping the Spirit of the Fightin’ Irish Alive Since 2005! 2 ScoTT BAUMGART ‘84 5 CONGRATULATIONS DARRYL DUERBUSCH ‘87 Scott Baumgart ‘84 6 Owner of Stray Cat Lounge Page 2 6 THE MUGGS ‘90 7 JOE MEJALY ‘79 JOE VICARI ‘75 8 Also inside 9 MIKE PALETTA ‘75 Darryl Duerbusch ‘87 * Mike Paletta ‘75 * Joe Mejay ‘79 * Ben Blackwell ‘00 ON THE COVER: 10 JEFF URBAS ‘90 Scott Baumgart ‘84 Owner - Stray Cat Lounge... Page 2 12 DAVE COULIER ‘77 12 BRIAN KELLY ‘77 13 PAUL VERSKA ‘63 THE LEPRECHAUN STAFF ALUMNI DIRECTOR EvENT RoUNDUP 13 PRESIDENT NDAA 14 BEN BLACKWELL ‘00 REPORTER PHOTOGRAPHER 14 JIM MANDL ‘90 LAYOUT EDITOR Jim Mandl ‘90 DAVID BONIOR ‘63 15 RESEARCH Photographer 16 UpcomING REUNIONS CONTRIBUTING WRITER WALL OF FAME 16 Jim Mandl ‘66 17 IN MEMORIAM EDITOR Marge Mandl (Regina ‘66) 17 On-Line STORE ARTIFACT CONTRIBUTOR 18 NDAA SPONSORS Chet Szerlag ‘66 CONTRIBUTING The Leprechaun is published 4 - 7 times per year by the PHOTOGRAPHER Notre Dame Alumni Association. Rob DeBruyn ‘89 Want to advertise to over 5,000 Notre Dame Alumni? The newsletter’s address is Business card size ads are free! CONTRIBUTING WRITER Friends of Notre Dame To place an ad on our web site or to become a sponsor, Eric Woodhouse ‘91 34322 Brookshire contact Jim Mandl ‘90 for more information: Sterling Heights, MI 48312 CONTRIBUTING WRITER [email protected] 810-338-1009 Charlie Langton ‘79 [email protected] DISTRIBUTION Mike Olechowski ‘05 The Notre Dame Alumni Association is an independently run 501(c)7 non-profit corporation. It is owned and operated by The Friends of Notre Dame High School, Inc. It is not affiliated with a currently existing school. Keeping the Spirit of the Fightin’ Irish Alive Since 2005! 1 THE LEPRECHAUN Alumni Interview: Scott Baumgart ‘84 Tucked inside a stip mall at the southwest corner of 18 Mile Road and Garfield lies one of metro-Detroit’s most popular new bars. Jackie and Scott Baumgart ‘84 — the husband-and-wife team who brought you Robusto’s in Grosse Pointe Woods — have taken the cigar and martini concept to a new level. They have just celebrated the one year anniversary of their luxurious cigar-friendly martini bar in Clinton Township — Stray Cat Lounge. In just one year of operation, the stylish, cigar-friendly martini bar has developed a reputation as a great spot to relax, have a drink and catch some great live music. How long have you been in the bar and a name. We did a lot of focus groups Jackie, had the vision for what the design restaurant business? and ran name ideas by them. The names and decorating would be for this particu- I have been in the business since I was 17 we had didn’t stick out at all. We even lar location. Her vision was to start with years old, but my background is actually thought about naming this location Ro- a fresh palate, but take her passion for the automotive. I’ve been in the corporate busto’s, but we really wanted to start from old location and bring it here with very world – General Motors, Roger Penske, scratch and cut all ties form the old place. modern updates. GMAC, Subaru of America. My first We crossed a lot of names off the list and What is your role and what is your venture into owning my own bar was in then, one day, we came up with Stray wife’s role in the business? 2000, but I always worked for friends Cat Lounge. A stray cat sort of does its I’m the business side and my wife is who owned higher end night clubs in the own thing and follows its own path. We the front of the house, or the face of area. When I started in the bar busi- the business, if you will. She has an ness, I worked for a guy who owned accounting background, but she really teen night clubs which were non-al- enjoys entertaining. She gets to know cohol night clubs. I was one of the the customers by name, so she is really only people he really trusted with the the face of the business and I run the amount of cash that flowed through behind-the-scenes stuff. these businesses. I was his manager / money collector. Locally, these were What does the new location have to called Danceopolis, Jams, Michael J’s offer that the old location did not? and a few others. This is how I got ex- We have a lot of things that were not posed to the beginning of a bar career. available to us at the old location. As he got older, he branched out into We have a state-of-the-art ventilation bars and clubs that sold liquor. As I system. It is an extremely over-the- got older, he’d ask me to be his eyes in top clean air system that changes out these establishments. I would report 6000cfm of air, so fresh air is constantly back to him with what I saw and help being pushed in here as the smoky air is Scott Baumgart ‘84 by The Stray Cat him fix things that were happening in Lounge’s cigar humidor. being taken out. We also have five air the bars. I was sort of a consultant at purifiers in the building. These things this point. I learned a lot about customer thought the name fit because we sort of were not available in the year 2000 when service, IDs, music systems, how to hire do our own thing with the cigars and we opened Robusto’s. We have twenty and fire people in this business, pricing, martinis. beers on tap here with a high end glycol and advertising and marketing. What prompted the move? system that keeps the beer cold from the Tell me about the new business. Our lease ran out and we couldn’t pur- keg to the tap. We have a carry-out beer and wine license. We have an off-premise We are Stray Cat Lounge. We’re known chase the building. We decided to take license which allows us to cater parties for martinis, cigars and music. We opened our cigar license and set it aside as we at other locations. We have eleven HD on April 11, 2014. began looking for a new location. We looked at several locations – Mt. Clemens, TVs – all 60 inch or larger. We are using You had a similar bar in Grosse Pointe? Chesterfield Township, Troy. Apple for our point of sale system and Yes. The original location was called Ro- everything here is done on the cloud. The busto’s. It was in Grosse Pointe Woods. What were the deciding factors that led décor at this location is more aggressive We were there for twelve years. to you making Clinton Township your using modern textures with a bit of a new home? “clubby” vibe to it. From the colors to Is there a story about the new name? A lot of factors – availability, price, loca- the textures, it’s a much more upscale look It took us three or four months to decide tion, and a very accommodating partner- and feel than we had at the other location. on a name. We actually signed the lease ship with the landlord. The size is perfect and started the build out before we had – almost 5,100 square feet. My wife, SPRING / SUMMER 2015 EDITION 2 Can you explain what that means – kitchen staff. What’s on the martini menu? done on the cloud? We offer 45 different martinis with a What plans do you have for the place in All of our cocktail servers are using iPad rotating list of five specials. We offer a the near future? minis on the floor. When they hit the martini club also. send button, the order instantly goes to The state has approved us for an outdoor the kitchen or to the bartender to make seating area. We are working the food or drinks. This is cutting edge in on the logistics of setting that Michigan right now for using Apple and a up with the city. That should cloud based system for your POS. be ready to go soon. Tell me about the twenty beers you’ve got Talk about the clientele and on tap. customer base you’ve been able to establish so far. Five of our taps are beers you’d see in most bars. The other fifteen are dedicated to We have so many Notre Dame Michigan craft brewing. We rotate those High School people who come on a regular basis. Craft beer, as you into this location. We had know, is huge in Michigan. We’re in the a couple trickle into the old top five of states for craft breweries, so we location, but every weekend, felt it was very important to have as many more and more people come The Stray Cat Lounge upscale interior.

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