Ice House Lounge opened downtown on Main Street, about halfway between the Attic vintage-clothing store and the Plaza, in 2004. This may have been part of its downfall, i.e., being on the scene just a little too early in the day, before there was the thriving nightlife scene that you'll find downtown these days.
The current writer never went there, but Anthony Curtis checked it out and was impressed at the time, although he described it, at least in its earliest incarnation, as more of a bar/restaurant than a nightclub (it was open for both lunch and dinner). A description we read about it online stated that the venue featured "a brick fireplace; both upstairs and downstairs patio area; 13 42-inch plasma TVs and a 110-inch screen - perfect for viewing sporting events, video releases, Power Point presentations." Power Point presentations? Really?
One of the gimmicks was that cocktails were served on a frozen-ice bar (we imagine similar to the one at the soon-to-close Red Square at MBay), designed to keep them chilled (we never quite understood this concept, unless your cocktail's being served in a tumbler, but we digress...) The name Ice House Lounge derived from the fact that the building was close the former site of Las Vegas' real ice house, where in the early 20th century the city turned water into blocks of ice to supply nearby communities and to cool shipments aboard the adjacent railroad.
Although I never went there, I recall hearing about some interesting-sounding events, including lots of local bands (the Killers played there before they were famous) and some un-Vegas happenings like poetry readings (yes, really). But the following review we just read on Yelp.com may hold another piece of the puzzle in terms of the club's 2009 closure:
"The Ice House is so close to being great. If they would just host awesome things there, it would be fantastic. The location downtown is brilliant, and the decor is interesting and comfortable. The lower level, with its chromes and reds and pistachios, is awesome, and the upstairs level's red lighting, oversized leather seating, and ice bar all make it visully interesting. Unfortunately, the events hosted here always seem to fall short of the hype, and if I'm paying close to $10 a drink, I want to have a great time."
The venue seems to have been a little schizophrenic, not quite sure whether it was a nightclub or a restaurant, and the food received less glowing reviews than the cocktails. That the place made it for five years was a surprise, given its relative isolation, especially from an tourist hub (this was distinctly a locals hangout), and as the economy started to nosedive, it couldn't hold on, finally closing its doors in 2009.
Still, all is not lost for the interesting building, which having sat empty for three years was recently purchased from the bank for $1 million by local real estate developer and former patron of the venue Jeffrey Fine, who's moved his offices into this former stomping ground. According to an account we read in the R-J, Fine, who also has interests in the LEV Restaurant Group and in Fifth Street Gaming, which is developing the area around the former Lady Luck, is keeping the upstairs bar and the full-service kitchen on the main floor with a possible view to hosting events -- an even a possible pop-up restaurant, but the rest will be converted to more conventional office space, we gather.
Click here to see a photo gallery that gives a good idea of what the interior and exterior of the club looked like in its heyday.
