CINCINNATI — When Tammie Scott gets talking about wine, she lights up. There’s a small twinkle in her eye, especially if she’s pouring a bottle off her own shelf, from a winemaker who looks like her.

She opened her bar, Nostalgia, in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood back in late summer of 2020 and in the months since, she’s turned it into a place locals can escape into live music, a 1950's atmosphere and wine you can’t find at a typical store.


What You Need To Know

  • Nostalgia Opened in the summer of 2020

  • New business applications were up nearly 30 percent in Ohio in 2020

  • Nostalgia is one of 40 Cincinnati businesses getting a “streatery” for permanent outdoor dining

  • The streatery project is meant to make a lasting impact beyond the pandemic

The streatery project is meant to make a lasting impact beyond the pandemic. 

February marked Scott’s six-month anniversary in business. It’s a milestone in her years-long effort to bring the bar to life. 

At first glance, a small bar featuring live performers may seem like people were looking for in 2020, but Scott said, despite pandemic delays, she found room to make sure her business could thrive.

“We were scheduled to open in March of 2020 and that’s when everything really kind of happened,” she said. “Although the circumstances weren’t ideal, the silver lining for us is that we kind of got to take our time and open when it felt best.”

Scott was far from the only business owner to come to that conclusion. Policy think tank Economic Innovation Group shows new business applications were actually on the rise in 2020.

In Ohio alone, there was a 29% increase in the number of likely employer business applications. 

In Scott’s case, the pandemic wasn’t going to stop her passion project from coming into fruition.

After living in Washington, D.C. for a time, Scott wanted to bring the kinds of intimate jazz clubs you’d find there back to Cincinnati. The wine was just a personal touch.

“It really is my affinity for wine,” she said. “I’m a huge wine drinker and really just had a growing interest in the process and the history of winemaking.”

Scott’s research revealed winemaking is still dominated by white men, but that’s changing. 

“We are really intentional about featuring women and or minority winemakers,” she said.

That means looking beyond the usual offerings and finding suppliers willing to support the growing field of Black and brown winemakers.

Scott said she’s fortunate that business model has resonated with so many people and Nostalgia has seen a lot of early success.

“People of all races — it’s been great to see so many different types of people come here so often,” she said.

Many weekends, the lounge fills up fast and social distancing guidelines make the process even quicker.

“It never hurts to have more seating,” she said.

Cincinnati plans to help with a new outdoor dining initiative. Nostalgia is one of 40 downtown and Over-the-Rhine businesses so far joining in on the streatery project. 

It’s a $2.2 million investment from the city and 3CDC to install permanent parklets for outdoor dining. 

It’s similar to what many of these restaurants were able to do over the summer but Scott said the added space will have its use even after the pandemic is over, making her street a more social and engaging place to be.

“They’ve been working on it for a while and to see it come to fruition is great,” she said.

Construction started in February and the city plans to open the streateries by the end of March. 

While Scott looks forward to her extra space, she said she’s grateful for the experience she’s had so far in her first few months of business.

“All we know is really this COVID world that we’re living in right now,” she said. “We’re just really optimistic about what that looks like for the industry as a whole.”

When the streatery opens in the spring, it will start Nostalgia’s first full outdoor dining season.