You’re referring, of course, to the venerable Stage Door Casino, Liquor Store, General Store, and Quintessential Dive Bar.
The Stage Door, a few doors down from Battista’s near the corner of E. Flamingo and Audrie, has been in the same location and has been owned by the same proprietor, Ron Markin, since 1976. Markin has been in Las Vegas for more than 50 years; he emigrated here from Vancouver in 1958 and worked in retail until taking over the Stage Door 33 years ago.
The Stage Door packs 46 slot and video poker machines, two bars, a liquor store, and sundries shop into its 7,000 square feet. It serves a decent hot-dog-and-beer special for $2.50 and bar food in the $3 range. The bathrooms always need a little attention. And the marquee above the joint counts down the number of years it can conceivably remain in existence: "WE HAVE 21 YEARS LEFT ON OUR LEASE. WE ARE HERE TO SERVE YOU."
In our QoD on Battista’s (11/11/09), we wrote that Battista Locatelli bought the little shopping center where Battista’s and the Stage Door are still located in 1978. In 2005, Locatelli sold the center to Harrah’s, which was in the process of buying up nearly 350 acres behind its stretch of the east Strip, which includes Harrah’s Las Vegas, Imperial Palace, Flamingo, Barbary Coast, Bally’s, and Paris, and continues east toward Koval Lane. Locatelli retired at that time and Harrah’s now runs Battista’s. However, the Stage Door operates under a long-term lease with no formal buyout clause.
According to Steve Friess, Vegas blogger extraordinaire and author of our own Gay Vegas, "Markin signed a deal with Battista’s for a three-year lease back in 1999 that allowed for nine three-year options. In other words, Markin has the legal right to stay here operating the Stage Door until, effectively, 2029."
And that will suit the Stage Door’s loyal clientele of locals, Strip casino employees, construction workers, and dive-bar enthusiasts, who appreciate the truck-stop chic of the joint. Some comments we found online:
"You can walk here in less than 5 minutes from Caesar’s and buy $15 cases of beer and $25 bottles of booze to go. That’s 5 stars in my book."
"A weird bit of alt-universe deja vu for a couple who grew up in blue-collar northern Michigan, where places like this weren’t called "dive bars," but were just plain old BARS. Difference of course being that this one has slot and video poker machines, but at happy-hour on a Friday it’s sure looking like the same mix of construction workers and local drinkers as any old place back home, with a pair of cocktails and a pair of shots costing a mere $11."
"This is not a place for hipsters to go and feel like they’re slumming. There’s broken glass all over the parking lot and if you want more respect than the disheveled local wearing his Ironmongers Union suspenders gets, forget it."
"It’s probably the skankiest, diviest, darkest, least tasty place ever. I was pretty drunk, but the $3 taco special was still nasty."
But this one probably sums it up best:
"It may very well be the crappiest bar I’ve ever had the privilege of drinking at. At least for the next 21 years, the Stage Door will be there to make sure you can get full-on drunk for cheaper than the price of one drink at the nearest casino bar. Well ... maybe not quite ... especially considering that this might be the first dive I’ve ever been to where my bottled beer tastes watered down. But really, at a place like this, I wouldn’t have it any other way."
