OUR MISSION
To preserve and write a new chapter in the story of the historic building that is Small Barn Old Town Temecula.
To offer a welcoming gathering place where beautiful design, exceptional food & beverages and gracious service come together in a relaxed, but vibrant haven for socializing and discovery.
To curate an experience that celebrates the wine country lifestyle by showcasing products grown and produced in the region.
To inspire friends, old and new, to return again & again to tell stories and create new ones.
DAN & CATHY GIBSON
Small Barn restaurant is an expression of our passion for the wine country lifestyle. We have made Temecula our home for over 25 years as greenhouse growers, vineyard owners, vintners, and neighbors.
Small Barn Winery has been producing wines from the Gibson’s vineyard since 2009. What began as a backyard hobby grew into a passion for making wine in the Rhone style. Small Barn’s annual production of just 1000 cases yields a boutique collection of high-quality wines, sourced from the Gibson’s vineyards in Temecula Wine Country as well as some of the most sought after dry farmed vineyards in West Paso Robles.
SCHOOS DESIGN
Schoos Design is a world leader in designing interiors, exteriors and products for the hospitality industry. Led by the vibrant artistic and infectious energy of Thomas Schoos, the firm’s hotels and restaurants have won numerous awards, received critical praise, and earned Schoos Design an unparalleled track record for collaborating with industry icons and creating some of the most talked-about hospitality venues across the globe including Tao Las Vegas, the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica, Morimoto in Waikiki and Napa, and Kinfe and Spoon in Orlando. Thomas Schoos, along with Senior Design Partner Lisa Gill, designed Small Barn to be a beautiful gathering place with a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, along with a vibrant energy that encourages socializing and discovery. The building’s original residential scale has been maintained while the interior spaces have been updated with rustic finishes, eclectic seating and a stunning distressed wood parquet dining room floor. Much of the restaurant is dedicated to alfresco dining which includes a large wrap-around porch, fireside lounge seating and a covered patio with retractable awnings.
HISTORY
The Al Knott Family is among Temecula’s first settlers and entrepreneurs. The Small Barn building is the original Knott Family homestead. Al Knott purchased Temecula Iron Works, a blacksmith shop that operated on the site, from Ferrell Freeman in 1912. With the rising popularity of the automobile, the Knotts relocated the blacksmith shop further back on the property and opened an auto repair shop, Knott’s Auto Garage. The Knotts ran their family business here on Front Street for nearly 50 years before selling the property in 1967. Various businesses operated in the building, most recently it was an antique shop when the Gibson’s purchased it in 2018.
Great care has gone into preserving the residential scale and historic façade of this landmark structure while meticulously upgrading and modernizing the space readying it for its next chapter as Small Barn.
