The easiest way to find PS Air Bar is simply to look around for other new initiates who also can’t find it. Yes, you’ll feel a bit like a fool, wandering around the Sun Center mini-mall on South Palm Canyon Drive – which contains Revivals and Peninsula Pastries – and looking for anything that remotely suggests a convivial gathering place, preferably one with an aviation theme. If you make the alcoholic connection between Bouschet (a fine wine store and event space) and PS Air Bar, then you’re at least on your way to your final destination. If not, don’t worry. Help is on the way.
Olga Trehub
“Usually, if we see people wandering around in front of the store long enough, we’ll send someone out to get them,” says Tommy Beatty, who founded both Bouschet and PS Air Bar with his husband and business partner, Dennis Costa, in 2019. When they acquired the space, it was a deli and wine store; its owners had placed a ramp toward the rear of the store that led to a tasting room and offices. Beatty knew the hidden space was the perfect size and shape for a dream he’d been carrying around for a few years. But first, he and Costa (whose expertise and focus was the wine trade) needed to get Bouschet off the ground.
That dream took hold of Beatty a number of years ago, when he was in a spa in Tokyo chatting with another flight attendant. Beatty, who was born and raised in Chicago, left for New York as a young man with dreams of becoming a flight attendant and seeing the world. He couldn’t have picked a tougher business to break into. The competition and selection process were daunting. It took seven years of constant auditioning and interviewing to get accepted. “There were over 500 people in my interview class that day … and only four of us were selected,” Beatty recalls. “It’s said that you have a much higher chance of getting accepted into Harvard.” He spent 32 years with Continental Airlines (and later, United Airlines, after the merger). He took the advent of the COVID pandemic as a sign to step out of the business with pension in hand. Costa, who spent much of his professional life working at his family’s farm near Lodi, spent three years as a flight attendant with National Airlines.
Beatty recalls that in the conversation in Tokyo, his friend mentioned that he had the idea to transform a space into the interior of a Boeing 737 and make an airline-themed bar. Beatty leapt at the idea and urged his friend to go into business with him. “I want to retire,” his friend said. “You do it.” Beatty didn’t need the offer repeated. For the next several years, he and Costa worked out the details in their heads. When Bouschet became operational, they embarked on the Valley’s newest aviation enterprise: PS Air Bar. It would never lift wheels from the tarmac, but it would certainly get you soaring to new heights.
Working as their own designers, Beatty and Costa traveled out to one of the decommissioned airline storage areas in the Mojave Desert. “I chose a 737 because its dimensions fit this space,” Beatty explains. “I bought the sidewalls (the interior of the fuselage) … and you had to have security clearance in order to get through. They have all these things in containers, and then you could go on the different aircraft. It's a lot of fun. And I got the first-class seats [from] US Air, and the other ones are [from] Southwest. The only thing was, I wanted leather. I wanted leather so we could clean them.”
Olga Trehub
Beatty says it took a tremendous amount of work to clean and install the sidewalls – especially the windows, which were jammed up with everything from gum to sand. Now, you can lift the window shade near your seat and see funny little vignettes. But, Beatty’s ambitious dream is to place an interactive screen in each window so passengers can program, for example, a flight over the Amazon rainforest or the Philippine archipelago.
PS Air Bar is sectioned like a normal aircraft. There is a regulation airline near the front, adjacent to the bar. There is no cockpit, per se, but there is an extremely well-stocked bar. When you think about it, a great bartender is like a great pilot; he’s in charge of your trip after you step foot on his turf, and his goal is to make your trip as smooth and enjoyable as possible. To that end, Beatty (with the help of several professional bartender friends) devised a drink menu that includes concoctions such as the Turbulence (made with tequila, pineapple juice, and lime juice), the Cockpit (rye whiskey, sour cherry liqueur, and orange bitters), and the Jet Lag (espresso and vodka).
Olga Trehub
There are several seats at the bar plus a free-floating bar in front of it called “the wing.” Standard passenger seating includes two first-class sections with a total of eight seats. Behind them is the economy section, with a three-seat configuration (the seats face each other). Beatty says there is seating for 37 people. Most nights of the week, whether it’s Monday or Saturday, you can expect every seat to be filled. It’s true that PS Air Bar is not a secret. There are rumors that Michelle Obama climbed aboard for an in-flight beverage once. However, what qualifies it as a Hidden Gem is that it’s … well, hidden.
One of the most popular nights of the week is Saturday, when in-flight meals are served. They are curated to be similar to the three-course dinners from back in the day, when people actually looked forward to dinner service; you can choose beef, chicken, or a vegetarian meal.
Do you like a little in-flight entertainment with your cocktails and meal? Don’t worry; Beatty won’t screen every Mark Wahlberg or Adam Sandler movie ever made. Instead, PS Air Bar features live entertainment, from jazz combos to torch singers. It’s a bit difficult to fathom, since the interior is literally no bigger than the interior of a standard 737 plane. “Performers come in here for the first [time], look around, and ask, ‘Where’s the stage?’” Beatty says with a laugh. “I point to the aisle and tell them, ‘You’re standing on it.’ I tell them to play to the audience.”
Beatty is focused on bringing in as many authentic touches as possible, so staff members wear crew shirts with epaulettes and clip-on ties. “When I was working for Continental, I used to always work in the galley, so I could service 235 people very efficiently,” Beatty says. He notes that he often gets new hires with professional wait experience who “want to number the tables like you do in most restaurants. I say, ‘Guys, follow my plan. That’s Seat one A, that’s Seat one B; that one has the chicken, and that one has the beef.’ If they follow, it works like clockwork.” Do they eventually catch on? “After a month, if they’re doing really well, we have a little ceremony and I award them their wings,” Beatty says.
