What's the Story of the Ice House Lounge at 650 S. Main St Downtown?

What's the story of the Ice House Lounge at 650 S. Main St. downtown? It's a n"ice" looking building, but it looks like it's been closed for years!

Nice pun on ice.

As for the Ice House Lounge, it debuted in 2003 and closed on January 2, 2009.

During its lifespan, it was a trendy place that, unfortunately, turned out to be about a decade before its time. It had an art-deco exterior, which we loved, complete with a stylized melting-ice waterfall; inside were two ice-topped bars and vintage Las Vegas black-and-whites, many commemorating Las Vegas’ original Ice House, situated along the railroad tracks near the location of the current building just south of the Bonneville connector. The Ice House was still producing ice when it burned to the ground in 1983. It was demolished completely in 1988.

The Lounge was open 24/7 and served some interesting food, from a veggie steak to pork Wellington. We remember it for its happy hour, with $1 domestic beer and well drinks and half-price premiums (4-7 p.m. daily).

The business did well for the first few years, but ran headlong into the Great Recession in 2008. It proved to be a little too much too soon for the downtown business revival that now supports a thriving arts-and-entertainment scene.

Also, when the bar was in the planning stages, the station for the high-speed railroad proposal at that time was slated to be right behind the building on the same property that had housed the ice works. Then, the proposed stop on the Las Vegas Monorail’s downtown extension was near the place. When neither happened, it further accelerated the Ice House Lounge’s demise.

The property was placed on the market at the end of 2008, but there were no takers; eventually, the bank foreclosed.

The building then sat empty for three years, until it was sold at auction for $1 million and change to a developer — a former patron of the Lounge — who moved his offices into the restaurant-bar area downstairs. Those offices still occupy the building, whose location remains somewhat awkward, particularly public-parking-wise, and even now is just a tad too out on a limb in that spot to draw the kind of regular foot traffic necessary to support a restaurant/bar/nightclub of that size.

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Jackie Jun-05-2022

"The business did well for the first few years, but ran headlong into the Great Recession in 2008"
If you are interested in a documentary about the Great Recession in 2008 there is a 2010 film called "Inside Job", not to be confused with a TV series by the same name.
You will be shocked and amazed at all the crooks involved that destroyed thousands of family's all in the name of greed.  Elections are coming up, be sure to put those thieves back in office.

Kevin Lewis Jun-05-2022

Never a great area

Southwest of Fremont, along LV Blvd and along Main, that neighborhood has never been a good place to have a business. The whole area varies from questionable to really dicey, it's not really near or on the way to anything else foot-traffic-wise, and it's noisy and smelly. The "Arts District" is a cruel joke.

I remember when they built the FSE, the narrative was that it would revitalize all of downtown. It didn't. Now as then, you walk two blocks from Fremont in any direction and you need a hazmat suit, body armor, and a couple of guns.

Question of the Day - 05 June 2022

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