When Norwood local Demian Brooks was eight years old, he fell in love. The subject of his affection was an 1883 Brunswick bar located at the Lone Cone Saloon, on Norwood’s Grand Avenue. Brooks and his Norwood-based Little League team regularly went to the Lone Cone after baseball for burgers, where Brooks first encountered the distinctive, neoclassical bar. It has a long history, originally installed in Rico before moving to Silverton and, eventually, Norwood. It survived the moves, as well as other events. “When Prohibition came to the United States, many of the beautiful, old historic bars were destroyed,” noted Brooks.
When longtime owner Heinz “Chef” Guggisberg passed in 2016 without a will, the bar, along with the Lone Cone went into probate. Eventually, in 2018, it became available for purchase. “I decided that someone had to open it and that the city really needed the Lone Cone Saloon,” Brooks said. The Lone Cone occupied a distinctive place as the only bar and restaurant in Norwood. For nearly two and a half years, while it lay dormant, the town felt its absence. “There was no place for anyone to socialize and get together,” said Brooks.
Brooks is a pilot for Delta Airlines and flies internationally for about 10 days a month, to locations as far-flung as Auckland and Shanghai. “I have neither the interest nor skill” to operate a restaurant, said Brooks, so he leased the Lone Cone out once it reopened in 2020. Norwood resident Skye Rubadeau was the most recent manager.
In the early hours of June 10, 2025, Rubadeau texted Brooks: “Help me, the Cone is on fire.” The fire started as an electrical fire in the wall around midnight, increasing in heat but unable to combust until it found oxygen and began burning at 5:30 a.m., its flames apparent over the dark wood façade of the saloon.
“Luckily, someone saw the fire and the fire department was there within minutes,” said Brooks. “One of the really cool things they did was bring in a huge fire tarp and put it on the bar to try to save it, knowing its historical significance.”
The building was, in Brooks’ words, taken down to the studs. “The exterior of the structure remained intact, but everything inside is new,” for the most part, with exceptions such as the Brunswick bar, which survived thanks to the firemen’s efforts. It will cost around $650,000 to repair, a renovation which had its frustrations: insurance payouts have been held back, and there are inherent challenges in taking a 125-year-old building up to current building codes. But Brooks considers the bulk of the reparations a blessing in disguise.
“There was no insulation in the whole building,” he recalled. “It didn't have much of an electrical system, and it didn't have a very good heating or conditioning system.”
Work on the interior is nearly done, complete with foam insulation and cellulose insulation in the attic, central air conditioning and heat, and a fire monitoring and detection system. Brooks hopes to open the Lone Cone before the end of the year, and he will look for someone to lease it to in the next month or so.
Recently, Brooks was working at the Lone Cone, when longtime Norwood resident and former minor league baseball player Pete Franklin, came over to check on things.
“When is this place gonna open?” Franklin asked.
“Well, Pete, I’m trying to get it open as quick as I can,” said Brooks.
“This is the only place I can go to meet my friends,” Franklin explained. “I’d like you to hurry up, because I’m losing my friends.”
“Okay, Pete,” said Brooks. “Don’t worry about it.”
Anyone interested in leasing the Lone Cone Saloon, contact Brooks at ophirpilot@gmail.com
