Paper Doll Bar: ‘Pick your poison’ at new Loft District bar

Kevin Cook, a co-owner of one of Birmingham’s newest remodeled bars, said many people who have been in since their opening don’t even recognize the renovated, jazzed up space at 2320 First Ave. N.

Paper Doll Bar, a family-owned craft cocktail bar located where Tavern on 1st used to be, celebrated its opening weekend Dec. 14-15 after being closed a month for renovations. 

Inside, customers are transported into a fancy but cozy bar space, complete with a new marble bar top and splashes of warm colors from brand new light fixtures. The women-centric art, much of which the owners made sure were from local artists, lines the walls and features an impossible-to-miss wallpaper mural directly across from the bar. 

“We wanted to create an environment that, while it fits in the downtown Birmingham fabric, when you walk into it, you get the vibe you could be anywhere else in the world,” Cook said. “When people walk in, we want them to feel like, ‘Wow, we could be anywhere from New York to Chicago to London to LA.’”

Except, he said, they are located in the “wonderful little area” of First Avenue North, where Birmingham’s own brand of a sought-after nightlife district has formed recently as more specialty bars have thrived. 

When they first bought Tavern on 1st in early 2018, the close-knit team of family members spent the year brainstorming how exactly they wanted to rebrand the bar. 

Cook said Andrew Brown Interiors, the designer used for Paper Doll, played a huge role in creating the environment they were looking for. The end result is a mix of eye-grabbing wallpaper, exposed brick and a variety of seating for various sized groups. Cook said they even made sure to redo the bathroom and get new barware and equipment. 

But, Cook said, the main focus is their craft cocktails, with fresh ingredients and house-made concoctions. 

“I was trying to think of what our ideal customer would be. To me, it’s really anybody who wants an amazing drink in an amazing space,” Cook said. “… We really wanted to take an approach with our menu that is based on your flavor profile. So you could go in if you like gin, and we have the menu organized in a way with our gin drinks [all together], with the different styles of gin and the different varieties of ways to drink it. Then we have a vodka section, bourbon, gin, whiskey, tequila and stuff like that, all in a similar fashion.”

So far, he said, the two most popular drinks have been the Basil Smash, made with Hendrick’s Gin, lime juice, house-made cucumber syrup, green chartreuse and muddled basil, and the Paper Doll Old Fashioned, made with Four Roses Bourbon, Demerara syrup, house-made orange bitters and Angostura bitters. He said customers have been particularly impressed with other drinks like the Thank You For Smoking, which features house-made bacon bitters and the Norwegian Wood, with house-made lavender bitters. 

Since they’ve started the bar, Cook said they’ve been packed with curious locals. 

“We just thought it would be a fun little venture for the family to do together,” Cook said. “When we typically get together, we are always drinking wine, that’s kind of who we are. I feel like all of us do have that entrepreneurial spirit, so it just kind of felt like the right thing to do.”

A question they’ve gotten over and over since opening is about the bar’s name, Paper Doll. Cook said his wife’s grandmother, who was important to the family and passed away in 2018, was the one who helped them come up with the name. They were visiting her one time and telling her about the bar and the rebranding, Cook said, when she started talking about old songs she used to listen to as a kid.

“We were brainstorming on names, and she came up with the name of a song by the Mills Brothers, which was an artist back in the ’40s. They had a song called ‘Paper Doll’ and when we heard her say that, it fit into what we were trying to do — something unique, something different,” Cook said. “That was a really positive experience and memory we had with her before she passed away.”

The menu even includes a verse from the song printed on it. 

Paper Doll Bar also hosts meetings and private events. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 p.m. until close. For more information, go to paperdollbar.com.