(Image: Bar Laa)
Capitol Hill food and drink entrepreneur Kate Opatz is making way for new energy in reinventing an E Olive Way lounge.
A community crowdfunding effort will help launch Bar Laa, “an agave spirit forward bar built on rituals in small cups,” in the 500-square-foot E Olive Way corner space where Opatz’s Laurel closed earlier this month.
Laara Garcia is stepping in to take over the space. She had previously helped build Gold Bar including its move to E Olive Way before it shuttered last summer.
The announcement of the new project describes Garcia first talking about her hopes for Bar Laa in a coffee conversation between business neighbors as the first lease for Laurel to overhaul the former Crumble and Flake bakery space had been signed:
She took Opatz to coffee to congratulate her on her new venture, Laurel, and over that cup, shared her own vision: a standing-room-only bar built around terroir-driven spirits, old-school hospitality, and the kind of community that forms when strangers connect and are made to feel at home.
This year as Opatz announced the business wasn’t meeting her vision of what it could be, she remembered the conversation with Garcia.
Now, plans for Bar Laa are in motion with hopes for a summer opening.
To make it happen, Garcia is rallying a $100,000 crowdfunding effort at barlaa.bar to support the buildout including $10,000 for remodeling and a new bar top, plus capital for consulting, starting inventory, and operating reserve.
The plans for Bar Laa describe a “warm, dark little corner bar — part cozy cave, part everyday escape — serving low-ABV select cocktails, neat pours of mezcal, and Mexican espresso, with textures and details inspired by Mexico City and Oaxaca.”
The design will be “standing room only.”
“Without seats, guests shift, turn, dance, move, and bump elbows. Conversations start that wouldn’t have otherwise,” the announcement reads. “The space becomes familiar and it becomes a warm hug for the community that makes it.”
Opatz is hoping to help guide Garcia’s start to creating the new space. Opatz’s other nightlife investment on the block, the graffiti-filled and well-loved dive bar Montana, is now in its 15th year serving the E Olive Way neighborhood.
Opatz’s other Capitol Hill creations include Nacho Borracho — which she opened on Broadway with her late business partner Rachel Marshall in 2014 — and 2019-born natural wine bar La Dive on E Pike.
Now a veteran nightlife owner, Opatz has become somewhat of a guru in hospitality industry wisdom with her social media videos standing as miniature lessons in small business. In one recent @kateopatz video, the bar owner weighed in on Seattle’s high costs for a sidewalk seating project. She shares that her insurance company initially quoted her $12,000 for just two months of coverage, which she was able to negotiate down to $5,500 — a price that is still incredibly steep for a small business operating on slim margins. “It’s not extremely complicated, but it is expensive.”
Other recent pearls have been shared about balancing family and work and the decision to shut something down. “Knowing when to close something is a skill,” Opatz says.
A video about “3 Things I Wish I Knew Before Opening a Bar” might be especially useful as Garcia ramps up Bar Laa.
“It,” Opatz says, “will require you to develop skills you never imagined.”
Bar Laa is planned to open in “summer” 2026 at 1500 E Olive Way. The community fundraiser is planned to run through July 15th at barlaa.bar.
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