Cocktail Bar — Alameda, CA
Mix
A full-stack site for an upscale midcentury cocktail bar — built to match the room and run without a developer.
mix-alameda.com
The brief
Mix is an upscale cocktail bar on Santa Clara Avenue in Alameda — dark walnut, gold accents, midcentury modern all the way through. They needed a site that matched the room without looking like a template, and an operations layer that let them run the business themselves: update the menu when a drink goes on rotation, see reservations without checking a spreadsheet, and handle customer contact without a generic email address.
The approach
The design system was built from scratch — seven custom color tokens, two typefaces chosen for the era, and a hand-drawn SVG geometric overlay in the hero that echoes the bar's architecture rather than stock decoration. Behind the scenes: a live database-driven menu, a Google Calendar integration so every reservation shows up where the owner already works, and a custom @mix-alameda.com email domain so every customer touchpoint comes from the bar itself.
What was built
Live database menu
Owner adds, removes, and reprices items in real time — no developer needed.
Admin panel
Password-protected dashboard with tabs for reservations, orders, and menu. Items get "86'd," not just toggled.
Google Calendar integration
Every reservation automatically creates a calendar event. The owner sees bookings where they already work.
Custom email domain
@mix-alameda.com set up and connected. Contact form replies come from the bar, not a generic sender.
TV menu display
Separate full-screen route at /tv-menu for in-bar screens, accessible directly from the admin panel.
Stripe checkout (ready)
Full cart → PaymentIntent → Stripe Elements flow is built and waiting. Goes live with no new development.
Admin panel
The owner manages menu items, views reservations, and reviews orders — all from a single dashboard. Items get "86'd," not just toggled.
The result
Mix has a site that holds its own next to the physical space — specific enough to feel like the bar, functional enough to run without ongoing developer involvement. The owner updates their own menu, sees their own reservations in Google Calendar, and has an online ordering system ready the moment they want it.
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