If walls could talk, the Citizen building would have stories to tell.
Built in 1913, the building once housed reporters, editors and photographers who roamed the city to ensure the day’s breaking news appeared in the pages of the Tucson Citizen. Thousands of interviews with trusted sources, stories and editorial meetings took place here, filling the walls with inside information.
Now the walls of the Citizen building are dark blue and covered with lush green plants. This marks the beginning of a new story. This time it’s about a unicorn zebra.
On August 16, the Citizen building at 82 S. Stone Ave. will become home to Unicorn Zebra Lounge, where owners Sandy and Lourens du Plessis will bring a taste of South Africa to downtown Tucson.
Sandy du Plessis, co-owner of Unicorn Zebra, poses for a photo in the new lounge.
The couple originally hail from South Africa, where Sandy worked for years at Africa’s largest restaurant chain. They eventually moved to Tucson for work and have since been teaching students at the University of Arizona who are helping them start their own businesses.
About two years ago, Sandy was ready to move on and become her own boss, so they started bouncing ideas off of potential business ventures. When they decided Tucson needed more fun places to hang out, especially on the east side, they knew what they had to do: start a microbrewery.
While discussing the name of their new business over dinner with friends, Sandy’s friend encouraged them to do something that was a nod to their South African roots. As they were throwing around ideas, someone mentioned “zebra.” That’s when Sandy’s daughter, who was going through a unicorn phase, chimed in.
“We thought, OK, this is so weird it’s cool, and we did it that way,” Sandy said. “So a nine-year-old named the company that.”
Eventually, Unicorn Zebra microbrewery will take over the old Kappy’s building at 2190 N. Wilmot Road, but because it’s such a big project, it’s still a work in progress. In the meantime, another project fell into the couple’s lap.
The Citizen building was vacant and they thought this would be a perfect opportunity to initially expand the Unicorn Zebra brand with a downtown lounge, highlight other local breweries and give Tucson residents a perfect date night spot.
Unicorn Zebra is located in the Citizen Building, 82 S. Stone Ave.
“Our brewery isn’t up and running yet, so we thought, let’s just celebrate the other breweries here,” Sandy said.
The couple have transformed the lounge into something you would see when visiting Cape Town. The walls are painted deep blue, with green leafy plants and a zebra mural.
There are spots on the floor that are see-through, allowing a glimpse into the basement of the building. You can even see a giant white horse that Sandy bought at HomeGoods, something of a mascot for the lounge.
“You could transplant this thing and put it somewhere in Cape Town and feel like it’s part of the landscape there,” Sandy said. “We wanted to bring the essence of Cape Town to Tucson, but mix it with local ingredients.”
Unicorn Zebra, a new bar in the Citizen building, is scheduled to open on August 16.
At the Unicorn Zebra Lounge, you can enjoy a selection of beers, wines and cocktails. Sandy has hired an experienced bartender to mix delicious cocktails with popular South African flavors. Rooibos tea, a popular tea from the country, is included in some of the drinks on the menu.
Another ingredient you will find in one of the cocktails is Amarula, a creamy liqueur made from the fruit of African Marula trees.
“We’re going to have quite a lot of South African wines,” Sandy said. “That’s one of the things we miss most about South Africa; they have really good wine and the price is surprisingly good. So we can bring in a lot of that, and also a lot of mezcal, tequila and all that stuff. It’s going to be a really cool fusion of the two.”
As for the actual Unicorn Zebra microbrewery, it’s still a year away. The couple’s vision is to transform the former Kappy space into a place like the MSA Annex. In addition to the on-site brewery, they also plan to have about five small restaurants to make it a place where families can come together, hang out, and enjoy good drinks and good food.
While we wait patiently for the East Side Brewery, we can pass the time with a cocktail in the Citizen building. The Unicorn Zebra Lounge is scheduled to open on August 16th.
“The cool thing about having a small space as a starting point is that we can use it to connect with customers and employees,” Sandy said. “We’re really excited to bring our small space to life and figure out how to expand it.”
