The Players Retreat was in the midst of celebrating 69 years in business when it had to close its doors temporarily due to the coronavirus pandemic last year.

"We didn’t feel comfortable staying open and asking our team to come in and work," owner Gus Gusler said. "We wouldn’t go to just to make a buck,”

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Now celebrating its 70th birthday, the restaurant is making plans to reopen.

“All our staff starts getting vaccinated (for COVID-19) tomorrow so in about four weeks we will have everyone vaccinated," Gusler said.

Gusler said he hopes to open the restaurant for outdoor lunch and dinner dining by the end of May.

Improvements will be made to the restaurant's air conditioning and heating system before indoor dining is reopened.

"What we’re doing is we’re putting a big fan in the back of the room. Our system in the kitchen uses return air so it’s constantly bringing in fresh air from outside. When we put that fan it’s going to pull the fresh air in here so we get full circulation," Gusler said. "You’ll have the UV lights killing the virus and will have fresh air coming in all of the rooms”

A long history in Raleigh

The PR was founded Feb. 27, 1951, by Bernie and Mickey Hanula. In 1994, Pete Jarrell took over ownership. He was succeeded Gusler in 2005.

Just a few weeks before the restaurant closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, Gusler appeared on the WRAL Out and About Podcast.

Gusler first walked through doors at the PR in 1967 as a freshman. "It was my place to come and drink beer," he said.

"One of the things that struck me was the inclusivity of the place," he said, referencing the mix of all races and sexualities there. "Everybody got along, and there were never any problems there."

That's because Players' Retreat has had a policy since it is opened - "You start something, you don't get a second chance," Gusler said.

"They (the owners) realized that with the mixture of people that are in here, they had to have strict rules about problems," he said.

You take a swing, you are banned from setting foot back inside the sports bar.

"That's one of the reasons the police are never called here," Gusler said. "In nearly 15, years we’ve permanently barred maybe three people."

And there are also strict rules about language. If you use a derogatory term for anyone you are permanently banned.

Gusler used to cook pizza at the PR.

"My wife would sit in here, and she would never order the pizza even though I was cooking it. I wouldn’t eat the pizza and I was cooking it," Gusler said, sitting in a back booth at Raleigh's oldest standing bar.

What made the pizza so terrible? The pre-frozen cardboard crust, Gusler says.

Gusler had left his days as a pizza cook behind and gone into law when he ended up buying Players' Retreat in 2005. At the time, the PR was in danger of closing.

Instead, the restaurant has grown and even been recognized by Wine Spectator with an award of excellence for its wine selection, and the kitchen underwent renovations.

The PR is also a 2020 WRAL Voters' Choice Award winner for best sports bar.