We’re thinking you’re thinking of the Alpine Village Inn, the venerable Bavarian restaurant on Paradise Road.
Alpine Village Inn began serving German food to Las Vegans and visitors in a downtown location in 1950, then moved four times before settling into its final location at 3003 Paradise Rd., across from the Las Vegas Hilton, in 1970.
The main 250-seat dining room was reminiscent of a Bavarian village square, with wrought-iron grillwork, sloping roofs, a staff wearing Sound of Music lederhosen, and a festive atmosphere. The underground Rathskeller was a bar and sandwich shop down a flight of stairs, with peanuts and popcorn on the tables and oompah piano playing.
The chalet-style peaked-roof architecture, along with big-game trophies, Swiss clocks, decorative horns and copper bells, and an extensive miniature train set all made Alpine Village a Las Vegas landmark for 27 years; it closed in March 1997 due to a drop-off in business and the death of the principal owner.
Dinners, though not exactly gourmet, were big, starting with a relish bowl, a basket of warm rye and pumpernickel and crackers, and a locally renowned cottage-cheese spread made with chives and caraway seeds. Equally beloved was the next course: a kettle of chicken soup, a staple since the day Alpine Village opened in 1950 (see QoD 7/26/05 for the recipe). German roast beef, sauerbraten, schnitzel, and the like, in the $12s-$20s, were accompanied by potato, vegetables, and various trimmings; the warm potato salad was legendary.
According to A.D. Hopkins in The First 100, in 1958, Alpine Village was extorted by Al Bramlet, head of the powerful Culinary Workers Local 226. Hershel Leverton, owner of Alpine Village, claimed Bramlet walked into the bar just before opening time and told Leverton that he had "fifteen minutes to join" the union or Bramlet would put Alpine Village out of business.
Leverton told Bramlet, "Take your best shot," and right on schedule, 15 minutes later, a couple dozen pickets showed up.
"The pickets would be there for the rest of Bramlet’s life, nearly 20 years."
Then, in December 1975, two bombs were planted on the roof of the Paradise Road restaurant. They went off at 9 p.m., 30 seconds apart, on a busy Saturday night. Amazingly, though 400 patrons, employees, and passersby were on the scene, no one was seriously injured.
(Some observers linked the restaurant’s endless battle against becoming a union house with the bombs. They didn’t have to look too far. Many similar bombings rocked Las Vegas in the mid- to late ’70s. Bramlet himself was found dead in the desert in February 1977 with six bullet holes in him. Apparently, he’d balked at paying for a couple of bombs that didn’t go off, which rubbed the bombers the wrong way; Tom and Gramby Hanley were convicted of his murder and sent away for life.)
At the time Alpine Village closed, it was expected that another restaurant would take its place. That never happened. Instead, the restaurant was razed and the property was paved over for a Convention Center parking lot.
