It isn’t likely that the McPherson family, the owners of “Sinclair,” a local 1930s automotive shop located just off Church Street in downtown Marietta, would have ever imagined that their small business would become a multigenerational tour de force, going on to live multiple lives: from a carriage house hosting trolley tours to a thrift shop and now, almost 100 years later, a cocktail bar and speakeasy inspired by the age that defined it. As you enter through the string-lit back alley, you can’t help but smile at the various Roaring ‘20s-inspired, chalk-drawn caricatures lining the fence, almost like breadcrumbs, guiding you to the entryway.
Once inside, you immediately sense that The Third Door is a transcendent place. This juice joint “just has a different energy,” says hospitality manager Catherine Ferreira. Maybe it’s the ambient lighting (co-owner and manager Ted Ferreira is a lighting designer and engineer, after all), or maybe it’s a rebellious spirit perfectly harnessing the disillusionment of the time it seeks to reimagine. Hell, it might just be their cocktails — thoughtful, elegant and provocative. Whatever it is, The Third Door is something special: a speakeasy that is, in true Fitzgeraldian fashion, worth the whole damn bunch put together.
Opening a speakeasy during the height of the pandemic probably wouldn’t have worked for everyone, but the owners Ted and Lara Ferreira had a story to tell — one that, according to hospitality manager (and yes, Ted and Lara’s daughter) Catherine Ferreira, has changed what Marietta Square is to people. It played a key role in the city’s shift, implies Ferreira, eventually helping turn downtown Marietta into “more of a mini-Atlanta versus a suburban, older town,” she adds.
Inspired by his experiences living in New Orleans, a place all about “discovery and intimacy,” fawns Ted Ferreira, he realized he wanted to “spark a little bit of the New Orleans nightlife experience in Marietta.” But it couldn’t just be any bar. From the inside-out, it needed to serve as an homage to history and a preservation of the past while simultaneously celebrating the possibilities of the present. From the retro vibrance of the exterior, complete with gas pumps, roll-up garage doors, a vintage airstream, and an outdoor canopy once used for car service — to the sultry yet playful interior made possible by the hundreds of sepia-hued magazine articles and photographs lining the walls, soft candlelight, and furnishings wrapped in velvet upholstery — The Third Door is exactly what the Ferreira family intended for it to be: a full immersion into the past. And technology? Forget about it. “We don’t have televisions,” states Ferreira, an air of pride in his voice. “We want to cater to conversation and music. We encourage people to talk, get off their phones, listen to music, enjoy the cocktails … really do what a quintessential speakeasy would’ve done in the 1920s.”
The modernity of it all can be seen in the approachability. The speakeasy is not hard to find or access by any means. “Part of its charm,” laughs Lydia Petee-Cummings, The Third Door’s digital marketing and events manager. “Oh, yeah, we’re a terrible speakeasy, cause you can see us from the street,” jokes Ferreira. It’s gone to earn the moniker “Marietta’s Worst Kept Secret,” originating from one of their servers, actually, and Ferreira just couldn’t resist going with it. “We’re a little cheeky here,” Petee-Cummings says. “We say we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we’re seriously good at what we do.” No passwords, no secret entryway, but it’s all part of their desire to remain accessible. Though in plain sight, there are still secrets to discover, one of which is called “Pauline’s Menu,” a secret menu located on The Third Door’s website, which can be found by clicking on the key holes hidden throughout the site. Also, if you visit The Third Door, “tell your server that Pauline sent you,” Petee-Cummings instructs. This is the secret code that unlocks the door to their world of cocktails.
Categorized as “libations” on their menu, The Third Door’s cocktails are, quite simply, the bee’s knees (1920s-cliche intended). Jaime (pron. Hi-May) Ortega, the beverage director and manager at The Third Door, has been at this for a few years now — bartending and making cocktails, but he asserts, “that’s the last 10 percent of what I do.” The other 90 percent: thinking, prepping, experimenting and creating. The other part: to be around the beauty of it all, and his cocktails are truly that — beautifully executed works of art with variation, pride and creativity palpable in every sip. The Claire de Lune, for example, made with butterfly pea infused gin, white bitter aperitif and dry vermouth, cut perfectly by maraschino liqueur and violette foam, feels mystic and forbidden. The Orange Oasis, made from dark rum, peach liqueur, orange, lemon, cream and bitters, takes me back to sidewalk-summers circa 1997, of running after the neighborhood ice-cream truck with friends to see who gets their hands on a dreamsicle first. And The Naked and Famous — part of Pauline’s Menu — tastes the way opportunity feels. Made with mezcal, yellow chartreuse, aperol and fresh lime, and described by its creator Joaquín Simó as “a Last Word and a Paper Plane took a trip to Oaxaca and had a love child,” laughs Ortega, this cocktail is a neon-sign in a brightly-lit Miami night sky.
The Third Door makes their own syrups in-house, and their cocktail menu changes with the seasons, including a special Christmas menu available only in December, and though they haven’t officially released their fall menu, it promises to “lean into classic fall flavors with warm, cozy and spiced notes,” says Petee-Cummings. Also, in an effort to make The Third Door inclusive, they have curated a rather impressive, original mocktail menu, including The Bearcat made with Lyre’s London Dry, aloe, lime, cucumber and ginger beer. “We want our [mocktails] to be creative, fun, unique and not something that you can get everywhere,” Petee-Cummings muses. “And we want everyone to be able to come here and have a good time whether they drink or not.”
Asking Ted Ferreira what led to the creation of such a unique space elicits two earnest responses met with laughter: 1) He likes cocktails, and 2) He got tired of driving into Atlanta for live music. All joking aside, many would agree that the music scene in Marietta and surrounding areas isn’t a burgeoning one by any means, but The Third Door seeks to change that. With live music every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as well as an open mic-night every other week to encourage independent songwriters and musicians, their hope is that it serves as a place for people to get their start. And the unique cast of characters from all walks of life that have come to perform has been profound: from contestants on the hit competition show The Voice, to a local church group who, before singing their hearts out on Sunday, come to perform their indie music on a Saturday, or “even Spirit Horse, who has come in to play the native flute,” adds Petee-Cummings. “We love each other here,” says Catherine Ferreira. “I just hope that everybody that comes in here feels equally as loved.”
Though the word “authenticity” is one that is used quite often in the service industry, Ted Ferreira admits, it doesn’t make it any less central to their purpose. “I think part of what we are trying to do with The Third Door is to, in our own small way, give people the opportunity to create memories,” he imparts. As you make your exit out of the roll-up garage doors and on to the patio, you stop to look at the giant mural on the left side of the building emblazoned with the words “McPherson Tire Shop” — all these years later, their memory still being honored. You notice the mural depicting a clandestine figure — a woman, presumably — walking toward a first-generation Ford pickup truck. She has secrets, you think to yourself. Or maybe just a story to share. No wonder she’s walking toward The Third Door, then: a place dedicated to preserving history, making memories and redefining secrets.
The Third Door
131 Church St., Marietta
Open evenings 5 to 11 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Thursdays open until midnight and Friday and Saturday to 1 a.m. Closed on Sundays and Mondays. thethirddoor.net
