Tag: luckyspur

So, two things about this photograph. First, a big thank you to Doppelgangers for ridding Carson City of that putrid turquoise facade that used to hang off of the Lucky Spur building. We've been living with that for the last two years with Stew's, and it was so great to drive by yesterday and see that it's been painted. Not that yellow would have been my first choice, but I've got to say that if I was forced to go with yellow, this is probably the best shade I could have picked.

Second thing, it's sad to see the old Lucky Spur lettering come down from the sign. That was one thing that Stew's did; even with the turquoise, they still kept the sign reading "Lucky Spur" as a nod to the building's past. Now it's gone, replaced with the "Doppelgangers" lettering that barely fits onto the sign. I guess it is confusing to have a sign that says "Lucky Spur" on your business when your business is not, in fact, named "Lucky Spur". And at some point history has to be just that, history, and you have to say goodbye to the past. So goodbye Lucky Spur, hello Doppelgangers. Next you can do something about that sandblasted brick along Proctor Street. Maybe a nice mural.

Some time ago I was expressing how desperately I hoped they would get rid of the turquoise on the old Lucky Spur building as it underwent its transformation into Doppelgangers Bar and Grill. Well, I got half my wish. The turquoise on Carson Street still remains, but it has been banished from the side entrance and sign on Proctor Street.

Doppelgangers opened this month, but I haven't had a chance to try out the food yet. I only ate at Stew's once, and I can remember it was kind of a grim experience. Hopefully things are better with the new owners. You also can see from this photo that the most abused sign in Carson has gotten yet another facelift. This time it shed the turquoise, and the Stew's lettering, and now just barely manages to squeeze in the word "Doppelgangers".

Also today comes the news that Alan Adams, who owns Doppelgangers and also the Carson Nugget, has bought the old Stewart Title building directly to the south across Proctor Street from the Lucky Spur. Adams says he has no idea what he's going to do with the building yet, but please please please let it involve some major remodeling and a facelift. Because damn:

These diamonds haunt my nightmares.

This building was put up in 1962 as Security National Bank, and a comtemporary newspaper article praises it as being "modern in every respect." But remember, this is the 1960s we're talking about, when "modern" was a synonym of "ass-ugly". If Alan Adams can be the one to make those diamonds go away, he will be the town hero.

Here's what was at that corner before the bank.

The Eagle Market and Tim's Liquor House shared the corner building. Next door is Sprouse-Reitz, which moved from downtown into the Carson Mall before closing completely in the 1990s.

More details have been revealed about the fate of the Lucky Spur building, which until recently housed Stew's Sportatorium at the corner of Carson and Proctor. The building has been bought by the owner of the Carson Nugget, Alan Adams, and will reopen next week as Doppelgangers Bar and Grill. It doesn't sound like the new place will be substantially different than Stew's was; it will still have a brew pub, pool tables, and video poker machines in the front, and a restaurant in the back. But there is all-new ownership and management in place, and sometimes that's all it takes to make the difference between a flop and a hit.

And here's hoping that they finish removing the turquoise on the facade as part of the grand reopening. That would be a nice early Christmas present to downtown Carson City.

So the remodeling/renovation of Stew's Sportatorium (formerly the Lucky Spur) continues. This is kind of a puzzling remodel job, because the whole place was just gutted and rebuilt a couple of years ago, after sitting empty for more than two decades. So why remodel it again?

The Lucky Spur in 2003, before the first renovation.

There's a lot of confusing stuff happening over at Stew's lately. The sports bar has been having some financial difficulty lately. They've been fined for not paying unemployment insurance premiums, been put on the delinquent tax list for not paying property taxes, and had a manager embezzling money from them. The latest is that they're now being sued by a food supplier for not paying their bills. The building and business was put up for sale in April, and although the Nugget was interested and a sign appeared on the marquee saying "under new ownership," the company denies that they're going to sell, saying instead that they're working with a new partner. So it's hard to pin down exactly what's happening when even the newspaper is having trouble getting the full story.

There is one thing I can say for certain is happening, though: the renovation is going forward. I saw people going in and out of the building just this morning, and there are signs that they'll be changing the outside appearance at least a little bit. One of the most unfortunate things about the renovation they did a couple of years ago was the color scheme. Somehow they thought that the natural brick facing on the building would go well with a splash of turquoise. They were, of course, dead wrong, but that didn't stop them from painting the signs turquoise and putting up some turquoise stucco around their side door. It was hideous. Just look.

The turquoise marquee on Stew's.

But, as you can see from the following picture, the stucco around the doorway has been painted a more somber and sane brown. One can only hope the rest of the signage is soon to follow. Maybe not quite that shade of brown, but something a little more welcoming.

The sign is still turquoise, but the stucco has been painted brown.

And another interesting note about that sign, the one above the side entrance, is that it used to be the main sign out on Carson Street for the casino. It was later moved around to the side where it is now. Take a look at this postcard from the late 50s, and see the same sign advertising the Silver Spur.