I had been scouting locations within the Arts District area of downtown Las Vegas for some time when this location became available.

To me, this space spoke to my love of dive bars and live music.

 

By the time we negotiated our lease, we were told that we needed to be open in roughly 100 days to maintain the zoning for the space. I had to develop a concept, oversee remodeling, hire a team, create a menu, and put together a bar program all in record time!

 

The space is much larger than the container space, so the approach had to be more grandiose. There was a very large outdoor space combined with more 4,000 square feet of interior space. I designed the space with events in mind.

 

Incorporating my love of live music was central to the plan. I created an outdoor stage along with a more intimate performance space by the bar for less amplified music or DJ sets. I was fortunate enough to have the sound engineer for the Fremont Experience lend his experience to the sound system for the whole space.

 

The adventure of opening a space like this in such a compressed timeframe would take up much too much real estate on this page. I will just say this: no one who witnessed the process would have bet that it would open on time. It just about killed me! But an on-time opening is exactly what I achieved, and the lessons I learned about my capabilities are invaluable.