Today we’d like to introduce you to Grant Henry and Sister Louisa.
Grant, Sister, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in Panama City, Florida in 1956, the middle son of “perfect” parents who were elementary school educators, both stable and productive members of a small southern society. We religiously attended a local Methodist Church at the encouragement/threat of a Sunday morning butt-belting if we weren’t ready at Mother’s suggested time, Dad included.
At age 12, there were cracks in their perfection, and certain “events” led up to my parents’ divorce. My mother packed up us three boys and headed for Georgia as my father stayed in Florida and found family on other fronts.
This move was probably my salvation as I learned first-hand that tomorrow isn’t promised, and that I could wake up daily and survive no matter what comes my way.
I was raised to be a “good” boy aka fear of that belt, combined with the inner horror that I would end up
under the dark spell of my older brother. There were multiple step-fathers along the way which encouraged me to lubricate life with humor, creativity & intelligence as opposed to being under the cloud of these misguided freaks who had invaded our family. I was there to protect my little brother, five years my junior, from family “issues” aka bad influences.
An early life-saving, and positive influencing factor of my life came when the family shit began hitting the fan. I was sent off to a local camp for the summer …to avoid witnessing the chaos & dysfunction of our family in crisis. I immediately loved this positive opportunity (to get the hell out of dodge!) and spent the next 10 summers being in various roles of responsibility at that summer camp ….from being a Counselor in Training all the way to Head Men’s Counselor. I not only escaped my family but luckily landed in a place that taught me respect for others, dependability, hard work, safety, and a healthier life view.
Growing up with educators I was groomed to believe that a formal education would provide options in life when I became an adult. To that end, I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Hotel, Restaurant and Travel, then a Master’s in Education, Language Arts and Mathematics (for one more option) then when an inner search presented itself to me I pursued a Masters in Divinity, Pastoral Care. It was a vehicle for me to try to help people through life, unknowingly at the time, also helping me process my own life. Fast forward through the years, two marriages later, parenting two wonderful step-children and then the birth of my own child.
I had had forty-leven jobs under my belt, basically eeking out a living, all of which focused either on sales or in helping people make positive personal change. I eventually found myself alone looking in the mirror realizing that being a “good” boy and doing what other people wanted me to do, wasn’t the highest goal to reach in life, that being “authentic” was perhaps a higher calling. Who was I? What was I here for? What could I create capitalizing on my past experiences in concert with the realization of this newly awakening freedom and dream to live an authentic existence. In 1996 I started creating what I called “Sister Louisa Art” which was an avenue to say what I felt without taking personal responsibility for the feelings that I, “Grant Henry” felt, an alter ego so to speak. I created Sister Louisa Art for 4 solid years and then frustratedly decided to dump all the remaining pieces of Sister Louisa Art that I had not sold in the dumpster and get the hell out of dodge, again.
I was so over “Sister Louisa”. In 2000, when my daughter graduated from high school, I sold everything and moved to a little island in Mexico to give myself some space to just be, to reflect on where I’d been. I had long ago realized that life crisis’ weren’t necessarily a negative thing, that they were also opportunities to learn, change, and grow. Spending the better part of a year on Isla Mujeres, Mexico I looked back on America, as well as the path that got me to this little island, and realized that I was bored, that I wasn’t finished with Atlanta, and had my daughter there who instinctually was drawing me back. As good luck would have it, a friend in Atlanta had retrieved all the Sister Louisa Art out of the dumpster and had saved it for me for when I returned to America. Damnit! I thought I was done with “her” but took it as a sign to start doing Sister Louisa Art again. Needing a job, I stumbled upon an opportunity to train to be a bartender at a local pub which was co-owned by a friend of mine. I wanted something I could touch, something tangible that I could do now that I was back and could stay whole.
After a few weeks training to be a bartender, the manager asked me if I wanted to take shifts of one of their bartenders who was moving to Costa Rica to open his own bar. I was terrified of making drinks as I wasn’t a big drinker myself, and viewed bartending as some complicated science that I would never really understand so I softly declined the offer but agreed to stay on board until they found a permanent bartender. I stayed there 10 years …and loved every minute of it! I learned to make drinks but quickly realized that the people part of bartending was more important than the technical aspects of making a particular drink. Bartending was like hosting a party where someone else bought the drinks and cleaned up afterwards. I loved the customers and staff. I loved the hours, the money was great, but life’s “events” led to my need to move on down the road and start again, anew. I had already started having Sister Louisa’s Art Shows at the place that I was living, in fact I had more of it than would fit in my huge loft. Having the accidental experience of bartending and running a bar, and having more Sister Louisa Art than I knew what to do with, I optioned to try to find a space to open my own bar and dare to call it: Sister Louisa’s Church of The Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium…Come on in, Precious! which I altered from the name of my loft art gallery space which was called: Sister Louisa’s Art Gallery in the Church of the Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium. I’m sparing readers tons of details and expressions of gratitude to those who helped along the way, but a year after conception of the idea the bar was born on Edgewood Avenue in a friend’s building which was twice built out and occupied by coffee shops.
Friends and family mostly doubted my choice of locations for placing my new establishment because of lack of parking, the stigma of surrounding impoverishment, and the fact that there was a “real” church across the street from “my” church which might be “offended” by Sister Louisa’s sensibilities. December 22, 2010 was opening day and we’ve been blessed with loyal parishioners and staff since the day we opened, affording me the opportunity to purchase the building to negate the possibility of rent going up since the area was now flourishing. 4 years later we opened another similar bar in Athens Georgia, Sister Louisa’s Church (it’s a Glory Hole!), and is magnificently run by a former bartender at the original Atlanta bar. Blessed.
In 2015, Sister Louisa’s Church Murch was opened downstairs in an available building diagonal to Church on Edgewood that I purchased with a friend who has his business upstairs. Church Murch sells swag (hats, t-shirts, fuck fear mugs….etc.) and houses extra storage and offices for Sister Louisa LLC. And is run by the good people of Atl Craft.
Late 2017 presented itself with an opportunity to purchase a former Girl Scout camp in Griffin, Georgia which will be the home of Sister Louisa’s Sanctuary, an event space, yoga retreat center, etc. There are 44 magical acres with 13 structures on the property (Lodge, cabins, kitchens, pavilions, bath houses….etc.), lots of walking trails, and a small lake with a dock which will soon be a stage with a surrounding amphitheater for positive events.
When not dreaming and scheming about the “next” project, I mostly enjoy my friends and family, both old and new, and am amazed at the love and foundation that my daughter and her husband are building for my grandsons Emilio and Isaac.
I am surely the happiest man alive.
Has it been a smooth road?
There are daily obstacles and challenges in all of the businesses, I just have to look at those as opportunities to make positive changes which not only help power thru the obstacles but make the systems flow better and leave openings for the resolutions of the next challenge to surely come along.
In Atlanta, we’ve had a fire that closed us down for a bit, we’ve had major vandalism that we had to clean up from, but all in all, we’ve been quite blessed.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Sister Louisa’s Church is a “theme bar” with Sister Louisa Art (which processes my issues with politics, sexuality, and religion).
(Shhhhh! Don’t tell anyone!)
It’s a creative space, a place which is accepting of all diversities where others can come and contemplate their own lives …while sipping on Sister Louisa’s Spiritual Sangria.
It’s commonly said that bar patrons should not talk about religion or politics but I’m guessing that those topics of conversation are quite frequent at CHURCH.
Sister Louisa LLC which is the parent company for all things Sister Louisa, is overseen by my daughter, Mary Grace Henry Fromow who handles all the administrative in’s and out’s of managing the 4 businesses and their perspective leadership.
Mary Grace keeps the plates spinning while I keep stacking more on each plate. She is insanely talented at managing Sister Louisa’s insanity. If you see her, please give her a hug.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Both Church bars Atlanta and Athens, as well as Church Murch are all in vibrant, historically significant growing areas of their respective cities.
Sister Louisa’s Sanctuary is a peaceful place outside of the city accentuating nature, the skies, the trees, creeks, trails, mountainous terrain and rolling hills while at the same time maintaining the convenience of the very appreciated conveniences afforded by the buildings and other structures on the property.
Contact Info:
- Address: CHURCH (Atlanta bar!) 466 Edgewood Avenue SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30312
CHURCH MURCH (the store!) 489 Edgewood Avenue, SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30312
CHURCH (Athen’s bar!) 254 West Clayton Street, Athens, Georgia 30601
SANCTUARY (the retreat center!) 240 Cecil Jackson Road, Griffin, Georgia 30223 - Website: www.sisterlouisaschurch.com and www.sisterlouisassanctuary.com
- Email: granthenryakasisterlouisa@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sisterlouisa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/granthenryakasisterlouisa
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SisterLouisa
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sister-louisas-church-of-the-living-room-and-ping-pong-emporium-atlanta
- Other: https://foursquare.com/v/sister-louisas-church-of-the-living-room-and-ping-pong-emporium/4bbffdae2a89ef3bd306f088
Image Credit:
All photographs by Grant Henry aka Sister Louisa
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