Downtown bar Front & Cooper will transform into a Christmas-themed pop-up this December

This December, the Front & Cooper bar in Abbott Square in downtown Santa Cruz aims to put the “merry” in “Merry Christmas” with a Christmas-themed pop-up. Starting Sunday, Dec. 1, and running through New Year’s Eve, the bar will deck its halls with over-the-top, kitschy winter-themed decorations and serve a custom cocktail menu with a generous dose of holiday cheer. 

Front & Cooper’s transformation into one of the jolliest places in Santa Cruz County is possible through a partnership with Miracle, an international pop-up brand that started in New York City in 2014. The company licenses its over-the-top Christmas pop-ups to high-end, mixology-focused bars across the nation and internationally. Front & Cooper is the first to bring the pop-up to Santa Cruz, said bar manager Patrick Ferraro. “It’s a destination holiday experience for all to enjoy the magic of the season,” he said. 

Ferraro has visited other Miracle pop-ups in cities such as San Francisco and San Jose. At Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco, the serious, brick-walled establishment in the Union Square area is unrecognizable after its annual Miracle pop-up is installed: the walls are covered floor to ceiling in colorful wrapping paper, Christmas trees are brought in, strings of twinkle lights are strung across the ceiling and drip down the walls, and every surface is decorated with Santa hats and fluffy fake snow. It’s like an ugly Christmas sweater come to life. 

Ferraro thought it would be a good fit for Front & Cooper. “It always feels magical and silly at the same time. It’s fun, and not totally wholesome, and kinda cheeky and kitschy,” he said. 

Every participating bar is inspected and approved by Miracle, which licenses the pop-up to one bar in each county. Front & Cooper will offer a full menu of Christmas-themed drinks created by Miracle, like the Christmapolitan, made with vodka, elderflower, dry vermouth and spiced cranberry sauce, and a Snowball Old-Fashioned, a rye whiskey cocktail with gingerbread and orange essence. All of the drinks are served in custom glassware that ranges from elegant, reindeer-etched highballs to vintage-y Santa-head mugs.

It will also offer Christmasaurus, a new tiki-style Miracle cocktail for 2024 served in a custom Tyrannosaurus rex mug wearing a Santa hat. Cocktails range from $15 to $18 each, and most are $16, said Ferraro. 

“These are the same caliber of cocktails that we usually do, with in-house made syrups, infusions and tinctures,” he said. “We’re using the Miracle menu and tweaking everything to our level to make sure that it’s consistent with the product that we always put out.”

Both locations of the Front & Cooper bar are participating in the pop-up through the month of December. The wine and beer bar will serve mulled wine and a couple of festive shooters, in addition to a menu of wintery beers and wine. 

Front & Cooper will continue to offer its regular list of alcohol-free cocktails, and can make the Hot Buttered Rum cocktail without rum for those who want to skip the alcohol. It will also continue to offer three of the most popular cocktails off of the regular menu during the pop-up: its flagship gin and tonics; Juicy Juicy, a strawberry vodka cocktail; and the Black Saint, a blend of rye, amaro and candy cap mushrooms. For everything else, guests will have to wait for the holiday season to officially end in January. 

725 Front St., Santa Cruz; frontandcooper.com. 

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