Iconic Art’s Tavern sells to Barb and Paul Olson

Left: Tim Barr kept M-22 swept and free of candy during the Fourth of July Parade in 2009 (Photo by Don Miller); right: Art’s new owners Barb and Paul Olson (Photo by Grace Johnson)

By Jacob Wheeler

Sun editor

When Tim Barr walked out of Art’s Tavern late on Saturday night, it represented the final time he closed Glen Arbor’s iconic establishment as its owner.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Barb and Paul Olson will officially become Art’s fourth owners since Prohibition when the contracts are signed on Monday, June 2. The Olsons are part of a group that owns restaurants including the Jolly Pumpkin and Mission Table on Traverse City’s Old Mission Peninsula. But Art’s will be theirs, alone. And they don’t plan to change a thing—other than a few menu tweaks in the fall and winter.

“The first question people have asked me is ‘Will you take credit cards?’ Nope. ‘Will you change anything?’ Nope,” Paul Olson told the Glen Arbor Sun. Everything will remain: the pennants on the walls and ceiling, the Christmas decoration, the retractable pool table, the shot ski. All of it.

“It’s been so much fun to tell people who get Art’s that we’re buying it. The people who get the history, the special place it is. Art’s is an iconic restaurant. I just want to be its steward.”

The tavern on the corner of M-22 and Lake Street, dubbed Glen Arbor’s original gathering place, is closed and will reopen on Wednesday so the Olsons can re-onboard all 60 employees—the same crew that worked for Barr and his wife Bonnie Nescot. (Art’s typically only closes on holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.)

Paul Olson, a Michigan State alum who went to culinary school in New York, fell in love with Art’s in 1992 when friend Shawn Ricker introduced him and Barb to the Glen Arbor region. “We went to Art’s five nights in a row and drank from the shot ski,” he recalled. Paul proposed to Barb on New Year’s Eve, they drank champagne, then went to Art’s with their friends to celebrate, and rang in 1993 by cranking the siren on the ceiling. The Olsons left the East Coast and moved to Traverse City in 2008. Every couple years Paul would chat with Barr and jokingly ask him, “When are you going to sell me Art’s?”

The past few years have proven difficult for Barr and Nescot, including health scares and the paranoia, confusion and fiscal struggles of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Fast forward to late last summer, when Barr called the Olsons and asked, “Do you know anybody who would be interested in buying?” Paul responded that he would. “Where do I sign?” he quickly added.

Paul, who began working in a deli in Southfield at age 16 and estimates he has worked in 40 different restaurants, says he is ready to roll up his sleeves and serve to the establishment that he and countless others consider a hallmark of the Glen Arbor experience.

“We’ll be the fourth owners since Prohibition, which is hard to wrap my head around,” he said. “I’ll be the owner and operator. I’ll be there every day. I’m pretty good with the staff. I’ll take out the trash, do dishes, I’ll cook—whatever is needed.”

A poignant sendoff

On May 31, Barr’s last night as owner, many old Art’s employees showed up to pose for group pictures together with Tim. The night was tender for him, as was the annual Beach Bards at Art’s performance with Jim Crockett early this spring (part of the Empire Area Emergency Fund concert)—the final one with Tim Barr at the helm.

“I was surprised (to see all the old employees),” said Barr. “I’m numb to the feeling. It probably won’t hit me until Wednesday or Thursday that I no longer own it.”

Unlike the rocky transition from Mary Sheridan (daughter-in-law of original owner Frank Sheridan who opened the watering hole in 1934) to Mike Wiesen in 1986—when Barr remembered that “things were stolen off the walls”—this transition has been smooth and respectful.

“I think we found the perfect couple to take it over,” Barr said about the Olsons.

Barr, who managed Art’s for Wiesen until he and Nescot bought it in 2000, has closed down the tavern nearly every night for decades, hitting the pillow at 2 or 3 am at his home in Empire and waking up the next day at noon to do it all over again. He looks forward to catch up on sleep and to spend more time fishing on his 32-foot Boston Whaler, which he operates out of the harbor in Elberta.

“I want to go fishing for the next few months until the ice is on the lake. Any day I can get on the water is a great day.”

Nescot, who has kept the books at Art’s—complicated by the unique fact that the establishment doesn’t accept credit cards—hopes to spend her time exploring workforce housing solutions in the region.

During their tenure, Art’s has become a more family-friendly establishment.

“When I first took it over, it was rougher than it is now,” Barr reflected. “There were fights from time to time. We haven’t had a physical disagreement in three-four years. Introduction of food, and shutting it down earlier at night, contributes to a family-friendly environment.”

Once open until 2 am, Art’s now closes at midnight during the high summer and 10 pm during off season nights.

Community service, memorable nights

Barr and Nescot have served as community leaders in many ways.

Every fall they have held a pig roast and parked a food drive trailer on M-22 and encouraged canned and monetary donations to area food pantries. For years Barr served as parade marshal during Glen Arbor’s Fourth of July parade, donating brooms and keeping the street in front of Art’s clear of candy thrown from vehicles in order to keep kids safe along the route. (In a nod to his role in town, the Sun dubbed Tim Barr “Mayor of Glen Arbor”.) And on May 5, 2021, during the pandemic, Art’s hosted the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department for a pop-up vaccination clinic in a tent outside the tavern.

Memorable moments, nights and customers are too many to remember. Famous author and poet Jim Harrison used to frequent Art’s with his friend Nick Reens from Lake Leelanau. Other celebrities have eaten and drank here, too. But Art’s has been a place for everyone.

“What made Art’s special, it didn’t matter if you were famous or not, a dry waller or a plumber, or lawyer,” said Barr.

Highlights have included huge crowds gathered to watch memorable sporting events on television: Michigan and Michigan State football in Rose Bowls and national championship games; the Detroit Piston “Bad Boys” of the late ’80s and early ’90s and their heated rivalry with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls (pitting rivalries between southeast Michiganders and Illinois summer residents who watched together at Art’s), and the Cubs winning the World Series in 2016—when the power went out in Glen Arbor, Art’s generator kicked on during the storied Game 7 rain delay, and a few Chicago faithful sprinted through a downpour from Le Bear resort to the local tavern, where Barr had sent his staff home but kept the beer flowing, free of charge, for a few devoted Cubs fans who watched their team score two runs in the 10th inning and win their first title in 108 years.

“It’s been a great run,” said Barr. “It’s all due to the customers that made it a great place. I’ve had a great staff over the years, people who stayed with me almost the whole time.”

History of Art’s

Art’s Tavern has been Glen Arbor’s neighborhood gathering place since opening its doors in 1934. But, to tell the full story, we should probably go a little bit earlier to when it was owned by Frank Sheridan and called the Blue Goose. In 1926, Frank built the saloon, and served beer through the Depression. The establishment prospered until Frank’s untimely death in 1934 from accidental electrocution (he was trimming the oak tree next to the saloon and made contact with a nearby power line).

Enter Art Sheridan—Frank’s son—who renamed the bar for himself. Art’s Bar became Art’s Tavern, while enduring renovation, electrical fire (Art’s is very careful about electricity these days!) and rebuilding to the flat-topped brick and concrete building we all know and love today. Art Sheridan died in 1970 and his wife, Mary, ran things for the next 16 years.

After a shift in ownership to Wiesen in 1986, Tim Barr & Bonnie Nescot purchased Art’s Tavern in 2000. When not taking a role in the day-to-day management of the place, Tim is often found inside, sitting with regulars at the bar or chatting with visitors over lunch. He’s also the one who is regularly mistaken for Art, to which he’ll simply reply: “I’m not Art!” Meanwhile Tim’s wife, Bonnie, is the one who helps make it all tick—she handles the books and everything office-related.

Read more

Art’s turns 90: How Tim Barr got Art’s liquor license, July 2024

Echo of empty walls: how Art’s Tavern got its ceiling pennants, November 2021

Chronicles of a summer waitress at Art’s, August 2012

Tim Barr takes over Art’s Tavern, July 2000

An earlier online version of this story misidentified the first name of Jim Harrison’s friend Nick Reens. We regret the error.