Blake Whytock, owner of The Good Bar, is a pretty energetic guy, the kind of guy who, four days after signing the lease to take over what used to be the Bull Bar, at Seventh and Redondo, opened up The Good Bar and Eatery, five years ago.

Catering to vegans and vegetarians alike with chili cheese tots and other comfort foods, the Good Bar’s crowds of skaters, local winos and hungry veggie lovers created an immediate and sustained success the space had never really witnessed before.

But, with success came the slightest hint of regret.

“From that day until COVID, I’ve looked at things like, ‘Man, I wish during those four days we would have ripped that off the wall or moved that there,'” Whytock said. “We never closed from the day we opened—and just got busier and busier.”

As with any old building—in this case, one built 99 years ago—there were issues to be dealt with: plumbing, flooring, refrigerated walk-ins; these are the things that patrons rarely see but where the vast majority of a business owner’s money goes toward. Whytock was no exception.

“It’s really a make-or-break business because you put everything into it,” he said. “I had put everything in so I had no money in the beginning. But luckily, we made it. We just didn’t get to do this work, to remodel. I mean, the bathrooms are the same bathrooms. The skateboards—mainly my personal collection so it’s important to me—are just put straight into drywall.”

With what little Whytock had saved and from the time he opened the space, he has had the chance over the last month, during Gov. Gavin Newsom’s shelter-at-home mandate, to revamp The Good Bar while providing his employees with some much-needed work.

“This wasn’t stuff I knew I had to; one of my cooks had done construction so he just said, ‘Pay me my hourly and I’ll do whatever you need,'” Whytock said. “Turns out I had this incredibly talented group of people. Yeah, they’re line cooks now or whatever, but we’ve all been in other trades at one point or another. One guy can do tiling, another flooring…”

Which means now, given the time, The Good Bar is getting better.

“Thank God we have all our staff. Once we realized the opportunity to do some work—and our landlord and us also have a pretty good agreement; we’ve had issues but he has been offering us half rent—so we knew we could get something done.”

Putting his staff to work, there are now two walls filled with skateboards that are no longer clinging to the drywall, bathrooms floors are being re-done, the space is getting repainted.

One reason why Whytock was able to pivot so quickly toward capital improvements could be because he saw the present situation coming. A week before the mandates, he had stopped presenting live music performances and tried to avoid being “too busy.” The following week, with a bar full of people, he watched Newsom lay down the new mandate, forcing Whytock to layoff some staff and remain shuttered during strict mandates.

While others were dealing with massive economic and social implications, Whytock, ever the optimist, saw a benefit that many small business owners are seeing: The time and space to do things with their spaces that were otherwise impossible.

Since heading one of Fourth Street Corridors main staples, The Red Room, for 14 years, Whytock had been saving for his own bar during his tenure. Stumbling upon what used to be the Bull Bar—it was Dick & Faye’s Cafe Bistro from 1969 to 2001—Whytock worked at The Stache Bar for six months while settling the contract and lease.

Besides improving their own space, Whytock and his crew are attempting to spread the positivity with a “Help Us Help Long Beach” campaign. They bought 50, $50 gift cards from their favorite bars and restaurants across the city for a raffle. Every dollar you use to join in on the raffle will go toward paying Whytock’s staff while you have the chance to score a gift card that will help you support a business in the future.

“We’re doing what we can,” Whytock said. “We launched it last Wednesday and we’re already half past our goal and if we go past our goal, hell, maybe we can start helping other bars. Our whole bar community here in Long Beach? We rely on all the other bartenders—they’re the best customers. They’ll always tip you well, treat you right… And it’s sad to see so many from that community not get the love and help they deserve.”

The Good Bar is located at 3316 E. Seventh St. To participate in “Help Us Help Long Beach” click here.