Crown & Anchor expands brand with sister property inside The Arts Factory

The staff was still scurrying around, moving equipment into place and unpacking signs, during the Jan. 13 grand opening of Downtown Crown.

"I've never run a bar before, and we're still running into little glitches here and there," said Ernesto Perdomo, co-owner and operator of the new British pub inside The Arts Factory, 107 E. Charleston Blvd. "There's a lot of I's to dot and T's to cross, but we're open, and people are having a good time."

Perdomo came to Las Vegas as an entertainer, performing at "Jubilee!" at Bally's in 1996. He has worked with Royal Caribbean cruises and Disney, where he said he learned the importance of customer service.

The bar and restaurant are in the same location as the former Bar+Bistro but with significant remodeling and redecoration. The iconic artworks are gone, along with the lone television that often displayed a long loop of clips of artistic and kitschy films edited by long-time art scene mainstay Anthony Bondi. In its place are more common pub decorations, including beer signs, dart boards and a lot more TVs, most of them turned to the football playoffs on opening night.

"The Bar+Bistro had one TV; we have 9," Perdomo said. "If someone wants to watch the Oscars on TV, and someone else wants to watch the USC football, we've got it all covered."

Originally, Downtown Crown was slated to open in September, but a tragedy put the plans on hold. The carpenter who was building the new bar was killed in a vehicle accident while en route to deliver it.

"We were trying to make certain deadlines, but when something like that happens, you sit back and think about things," Perdomo said. "It was tragic, and we decided not to rush anything."

The location was closed nearly six months during the renovation. That time overlapped with a move by the newly formed First Friday Foundation to pull back and regroup and reorganize its role in the monthly First Friday and Preview Thursday events. The result was a much quieter time in the heart of the Arts District, with several gallery owners complaining of reduced traffic and sales.

Hopes are that the long-anticipated bar opening will bring a new crowd downtown with fresh eyes to experience everything that happens in the Arts District and do so without alienating the long-time art crowd. Things seem to be off to a good start with body painters Suzanne Lugano and Alex Huerta plying their craft days after the grand opening at the monthly Vintage Bike Night event.

"They've got to settle in a bit before we start talking to them about all of the kinds of events we'd love to have there," Huerta said. "It's going to take a while to get used to the new look of the place, but there are a lot of things I like about it already."

Formerly, Art Bar was the home of impromptu and scheduled art and culture events, many of them taking place on the patio east of the bar and restaurant. A dispute with the city over what could be done on the patio, which was a separate parcel, shut down food and beverage service there near the end of that venue's run at the location. The parcels have now been legally merged, allowing for service and events there, although the area will still be used to a lesser extent during the colder months. Both the restaurant and the patio are open to all ages, with the bar dining closed to minors. The patio may become an art mecca once again with the merger.

"If an artist is doing a show, and they want to showcase some of their art here, we'd love to make that happen," Perdomo said. "We've got a meeting set up with the First Friday Foundation to see what we can do. We're here to help."

The patio has new furniture, grass and a fountain. The pub hopes it will become a neighborhood center for downtown residents.

"We're very pet-friendly out there, so we're expecting everyone to bring their four-legged family," Perdomo said. "That's huge for me. We're hoping to work with some of the local shelters to have adoptions out on the patio."

For Perdomo, the pub fills a need he was looking for as a downtown resident: a casual place to eat and hang out.

"I love Artifice bar, and Mingo has great food, but we're more of a casual, put-your-feet-up-and-watch-the-soccer kind of place," Perdomo said. "We're a place where the average Joe can come out and have a good time. There's no need to dress up and put on airs."

To create Downtown Crown, Perdomo partnered with long-time pub owner Ron Schultz, owner of two locations of Crown & Anchor, 4755 Spring Mountain Road, and the original, popular UNLV hangout at 1350 E. Tropicana Ave. Rather than make it a third Crown & Anchor, they created a sister property, with a similar menu and feel, but with a name reflecting the location and the feeling the brand "downtown" now evokes in the valley.

"We're very excited about all the things the city plans to do down here," Perdomo said. "We love the diversity of the artists here. We're a rag-tag fugitive fleet here at the crown, so we're kind of a nice fit together."

Visit downtowncrownpub.com or call 702-739-8676.

— To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.