CATHEDRAL CITY — Runway Dining, Drinks & Drag, the first restaurant built in Downtown Cathedral City from the ground up in nearly a decade, is primed and ready for its official debut.

A much-anticipated ribbon-cutting ceremony for the estimated $2 million eatery is set for Dec. 4.

The Cathedral City Economic Development Department, the City Council, and owners Richard and Eric Altman encourage the public to join them for the event.

The new Runway Dining, Drinks, & Drag restaurant, aka Runway, has been built in front of the CCBC Resort Hotel located at 68-300 Gay Resort Drive in Cathedral City.  The new restaurant offers a 2,560 square-foot restaurant with a 568 square-foot outdoor patio dining area.

The eatery is located about 20 feet in front of CCBC Resort Hotel, the largest clothing-optional gay men’s resort in the United States.

It is all designed to be an entertainment complex.

The restaurant is designed in large part to supply guests with meals during their stay.It will, however, also be open to the general public.

After nearly 7 months of construction and several weeks of a soft opening, The Runway will celebrate its grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony and musical entertainment by famed singer Keisha D.

The restaurant offers American Grill cuisine and live, local entertainment featuring a retractable stage.  It is the first restaurant to be built in Downtown Cathedral City from the ground up in nearly a decade.

The ceremony will occur 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018 in front of the CCBC Resort Hotel located 68-300 Gay Resort Drive in Cathedral City.  Owners Richard and Eric Altman will host a small celebratory reception featuring their famed white chocolate bread following the ribbon cutting.  The event is free and open to the public.

The Runway restaurant and resort are located at 68-300 Gay Resort  Drive. In 2012, Richard Altman went to City Hall to fight to get the street name changed to Gay Resort Drive. Until then, there had only been two times when a street’s name was changed in Cathedral City’s history. That did not stop Altman. He wanted the street name to reflect the resort’s standing in Southern California.

Altman went out and talked to the local community. He talked to neighbors, local businesses, city staff and elected officials. He expressed the benefits of the street name change. He sold the idea of why he wanted the name change. This process took over three months. After all his hard work, the decision was left in the hands of city council. He was, of course, ultimately successful.