With permission from Bayle’s family and closest friends, Ray began working on Bayle’s in February, wanting to memorialize Bayle in some way. Ray hopes to open the bar this fall.
“[The bar] so cool, because her name can live on forever, and people get a piece of her,” Cayman Bucceri, Bayle’s younger sister, said. “It really shows how special she was as a person.”
Ray created Bayle’s to be more than just a restaurant bar, but a monument of Bayle where she can be remembered and learned about. Characteristics of Bayle and everything she loved about going out, cover the bar from wall to wall and ceiling to floor.
“We took the best aspects of the square, everything that she loved about the square, and we really put it into the bar,” Ray said. “She loved getting Game Faces at Mayloos, so having a signature drink was a big thing for us. She loved taking photos, so having a photo booth was like a big thing for us.”
Ray said designing the bar was a group effort. He covered the walls with photos gathered from Bayle’s family and friends, asked for their opinions on lighting and colors and had her friends stop by to check out the progress all to make sure to space reflected who Bayle truly was.
“There’s a lot of people that are going to come to the bar, they’re going to come eat at the restaurant, and they’re going to see the name and not really know exactly who she was, but everything about this space is modeled after her,” Ray said. “The great thing about [Bayle’s] is that you can actually learn about her within the space itself. It’s our mission in order to make sure that she’s always going to be remembered. She changed my life in a positive way, and so I hope she changes everyone else’s.”
Bayle’s is located next to The Marc on The Square at 130 East San Antonio St. Ray said the bar’s hours will be from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m once it opens.
