We sat down with Kyle Hutcheson, co-owner of Michigan City’s newest establishment, The Cellar Door, a 134-year-old landmark that’s undergone a thoughtful restoration. Kyle shares with us some of the challenges and successes of this historic building, all in support of The Cellar Door’s opening in August to welcome the community back.

Here is what Kyle had to say about the building, Michigan City history, the community, and, of course, wine.    

The original doors have been restored and are set to welcome new and returning visitors.

You’ve taken on quite a project here. Tell us about this building’s history.

“This place has been a saloon for 134 years. My co-owner Spencer Herms and I are the 10th owners, and it’s never been anything but a bar in all those years. Even during Prohibition, it operated as a soda counter, but essentially still functioned as a bar. The original work was done by German carpenters, Henry and John, who were brothers who emigrated as children and then became partners in this bar. They built some incredible craftsmanship that we’re working to preserve 134 years later.”

What drew you back to Michigan City after eight years in LA?

“I’m originally from here. I grew up on Fogarty Street, in Canada Park, in the late 1980s and 1990s. After college at IU, I got into the wine industry, which took me to LA, where I worked in distribution and sales, eventually covering 14 states for a NAPA producer. But when the pandemic hit and I lost my job, my wife and I started thinking about coming back to the Midwest.

The timing felt right. I could see all the changes happening in Michigan City, with the double-track project I’d been hearing about my whole life finally coming to fruition. I knew the potential of this area because I grew up here. I didn’t need to be sold on it.”

How did you connect with your business partner?

“Pure serendipity. My wife and I were at a Burn’em Brewing event, we all went to high school together with those guys, and we ran into Spencer and his wife, Jen. I mentioned I was thinking about opening a wine shop with a small tasting bar. Spencer immediately said he’d been wanting to do something like this for years. We literally partnered that night. It wasn’t planned at all; it was very organic.”

You’ve put incredible effort into preserving the original bar. Why was that so important?

“This is an original Brunswick bar, probably from around 1910. Brunswick was famous for billiards, but they started making bars because their traveling salesmen were appalled by the poor quality of most bar craftsmanship at the time. This bar top is a single 30-foot run of mahogany with no knots, just one massive board. All these dents and marks you see are from over a century of people sitting here, drinking and thinking, carving into it with coins.

We had it professionally restored to bring back the original luster while keeping all that history. Even the mirrors are original; they use a silver nitrate process that they don’t do anymore. It’s the kind of mirror Lewis Carroll would have written about.”

Tell us about your approach to the menu and beverage program.

“We want to demystify wine while offering really high-end options. You can get a $300+ bottle of Burgundy, but you can also get a 25-ounce frosted mug of Budweiser for $5. The food follows the same philosophy, imported cheeses and charcuterie alongside classic options like cheeseburgers and chicken tenders. We want every person in a group to find something they love.

Our wine program focuses on natural producers and old-world winemaking processes. I’m working with a distributor friend who has an amazing portfolio of Italian and French wines that aren’t available anywhere else around here. Our bottle markup is less than half what most places charge, and there’s no corkage fee.”

You’re also doing a wine club?

“Yes! We’re pre-selling 100 founding member tokens, a yearly membership that gets you three bottles quarterly. These will be highly curated selections, often allocated wines that I’ll pull from inventory specifically for club members. It’s stuff that once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

The space has three distinct areas. Walk us through that.

“The front room centers around that original bar, it’s 1890s Victorian elegance. Then you step through doors into what I call the “rumpus room”—it’s like going from 1890 to 1980. That’s our game room with pinball machines, a restored 1956 bowling alley, and a separate bar for beer and wine.

The third space is our retail shop where you can buy bottles to go. We’ll have an online store where you can order ahead and just pick up at your convenience.”

What challenges have you faced during renovation?

“[Laughs] Where do I start? We thought we were 100% done about 30 days ago, ready to start hiring, when we discovered our sewer line was completely cracked. We’d been working for a year without realizing it because it only failed under heavy water usage. That set us back weeks and cost money we’d already spent.

But honestly, it was a blessing in disguise. Better to discover it before we had guests. Now our water and sewer systems are brand new and good for another hundred years.”

When are you planning to open?

“We’re telling everyone mid-August, though that could move slightly. We’re interviewing staff this week and just have a few final details to wrap up with the city for our occupancy permit. We’ll start with five days a week, closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then expand from there.”

Your hours appear to be designed for industry workers.

“Exactly. 2 pm to midnight weekdays, 2 pm to 1 am on weekends. A lot of great local places close at 9 or 10, so their staff can come here for a few hours after they clock out. We want to be a place for industry people, artists, neighborhood folks, everyone.”

What do you want people to know about your vision?

“Our main focus is building community. We’re hiring locally. A lot of our staff will walk to work like I do. We want to show that Michigan City isn’t just about the beach, though that’s our crown jewel. We have incredible people here, and we want visitors from Chicago, Indiana, Michigan, wherever, to see that this is a real community with substance.

I can literally walk from my house to the train station, pay $10, be in downtown Chicago in an hour, have an amazing meal, and be back home. I’m living my best European life in Michigan City, Indiana. That connectivity and walkability, that’s the future.”

Finally, where do you see The Cellar Door fitting into Michigan City’s growth?

“We’re right off 94 and 421, and I want this to be the first thing people see when they think, ‘now I’m in downtown Michigan City.” Not at Franklin Street, not at 11th Street, right here at Ames Field.

We’re not just opening a bar. We’re part of bringing back the sense of community that once existed around local gathering places. This building has been serving that purpose for 134 years, and we’re honored to be the next chapter in that story.”

We would like to thank Kyle for taking the time to share the history and future of The Cellar Door with us. We encourage you to visit their website for more news on the opening of this historic landmark in Michigan City.