Huntington Quarterly Summer 2022

I n the summertime, you’ll see old friends sharing a laugh and a toast as the sky turns pink over Huntington. In the fall, you’ll seeMarshall University fans gather ing by the fire and rehashing the football game. In the winter, you can see professionals relaxing with a cigar on the covered, heated patio and watching the snow fall after a hard day’s work. LaFontaine’s Rooftop Lounge, which opened last fall above the longstanding LaFontaine’sTobacco & Wine Shop at 420 10th St., brings a feeling of a bigger city to Huntington, but with Huntington’s familiar hometown vibe.

And it’s the result that occurs when the members of one family with an entrepreneurial spirit and some definite business savvy come together and make things happen. Bob Gl ea son , a l ong t ime Huntington businessman and owner of Wellman O’Shea Jewelers and LaFontaine’sTobacco&Wine Shop, wasn’t immediately sold when his youngest son, John, pitched the idea of opening a rooftop bar over the shop. John Gleason is a vision ary, a home renovation guru in Huntington, and to say he pitched the idea might not fully describe his relentless effort to urge his family to take on this rooftop project.

The lounge offers beer, wine and cocktails such as these boozy slushies.

“John built it on his computer and bugged us for probably five years,” said his mother, Melanie Gleason, whose maiden name is LaFontaine, the namesake of two family businesses. “Every time someone came over, he was show I wanted to bring that BIGGER “ ing us his presentation — and it really happened. I was not for it. I thought, ‘I’m ready to retire — we don’t need a bar.’ But I was wrong — it’s going great. It’s gorgeous up city feel that ” other markets have to a smaller market like Huntington. —Mack Gleason

LaFontaine's Rooftop Lounge has quickly become a Huntington hot spot.

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