RALEIGH - Looking for the intersection where Old Raleigh meets New Raleigh? It's Glenwood Avenue and West Jones Street, in a flat-roofed, painted brick warehouse-style building.

Upstairs, at 124 Glenwood Ave., is Glenwood South Antiques, specialists in American 18th- and 19th-century antiques and art works.

Downstairs, at 517 W. Jones St., is Mosaic, a private club and lounge with an artsy, international vibe.

As wildly disparate as they seem, these two worlds coexist in the same building because of the cooperation of two guys named Sam who share a love for a land called Morocco.

Sam Tarlton is the face of Old Raleigh. The antiques dealer has shaggy white hair and favors flannel and tweeds.

Samad Hachby of Mosaic looks like New Raleigh. His dark hair is barely more than a shadow on his head, and his clothing tends to sleek urban neutrals.

The two Sams met in late 2004, when the basement space in Tarlton's building became available to rent. Hachby, looking for a space for his style of club, knocked on the antiques dealer's door.

"Samad meets people," Tarlton recalls with a laugh. "He's an overwhelming personality. If he wants something, he's probably going to get it."

Despite their different backgrounds, the two Sams quickly established a rapport based on their love for the North African country of Morocco. Hachby was born there, in Casablanca, having come to Raleigh as a student at N.C. State University, where he majored in political science.

And Tarlton had fallen in love with the place in separate visits while in the Navy during World War II and on a 15-day goodwill tour in 1989 through the N.C. Center for International Understanding.

"The romantic streak in my own composition made me respond to it," Tarlton says of Morocco.

This connection to Morocco made Tarlton more receptive to Hachby and his plans. A bar was the last type of business Tarlton wanted in his building, despite the growing popularity of Glenwood South as a nightspot.

Down by the tracks

Since the building was erected at the turn of the 20th century, the basement area adjacent to the railroad tracks had been home to several types of businesses. It began as a railroad company store, where railroad employees could trade scrip for necessities while on their jobs or en route to them, Tarlton says.

The antiques dealer has photos from the 1930s that show when the space was occupied by Garland C. Norris Co., distributors of Golden Tap orange and grapefruit juice and Dixie cups. Most recently, it had been the home of another antiques company, Elysian Imports, and The Old Company Store, a short-lived coffee shop.

It took Hachby about three months to sell Tarlton on his plans for a club.

"Also, we developed a friendship," Hachby says. "He realized that this is not going to be like any other bar and that I was serious about quality."

The seed for what would become Mosaic was planted at a 2003 party at Helios coffee shop just up Glenwood Avenue. Hachby planned a "feast of the senses" to celebrate the coffee shop's first anniversary, cooking Moroccan specialties himself and serving them in an atmosphere that included international dance music, a silent projection of the movie "Casablanca" and a seductive floor show between courses.

Hachby strives to capture that party mood every night at Mosaic.

"It's not a bar," he says. "It's like a party in someone's house. It's sexy."

Every piece counts

On a recent spring evening, the plinks and plunks of Middle Eastern dance music float through Mosaic's open louvered windows to the tall patio tables. Inside, a cozy gathering spot with low sofas and round tables beckons. A Buddha wearing a Moroccan fez adds a touch of whimsy, while the yellow and red tile design of the Hand of Fatima underscores the name of the lounge. "It's a mosaic where every piece counts. It's a melting pot in motion," Hachby says.

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