Taps flow again at Skinny Dugans

The lights had been turned off for three years at Skinny Dugans, a locals bar and casino near Charleston and Valley View Boulevards.

The building was dormant, its parking lot empty.

The reason for its closure was unclear.

But in August, Skinny Dugans' signage flickered back to life. The bar celebrated its grand reopening Saturday under new ownership, welcoming back the neighborhood residents it had entertained since 1973.

Mayor Carolyn Goodman heralded the reopening as part of downtown Las Vegas' resurgence. Though removed from the Fremont East and Arts Districts, Skinny Dugans is close enough to benefit from the energy downtown, Goodman said.

"These are pieces that are all coming back. There's so much excitement here," she said.

The pub, at 4127 W. Charleston Blvd., once was a community hub -- home to softball team meetings, Nebraska sports team celebrations, even Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

"When we opened this, we were probably the original sports bar in town," said founder Fred Keck, who regularly visits the new incarnation of his old place.

The bar's new owners want to restore its former glory, though they will no longer champion a particular sports team. Downtown gaming operator Terry Caudill now owns Skinny Dugans with local chiropractor Ron Penna and his wife, Sandy. The Pennas' daughter, Crystal, manages the bar.

Real estate investor Dave Mason picked up the land Skinny Dugans sits on in 2008, before it was closed. The day he inked the deal is the day the bar shut down, he said. But he believed in the site and held on to his investment.

"I used to sneak in this place as a kid in high school," Mason said. "I saw the long-term value."

The former owners invested at least $2 million into renovating the bar, and Mason kept up its gaming license.

Eventually he persuaded Caudill, who also owns the Four Queens, Binion's and Chicago Brewing Co., to take a look at Skinny Dugans. Caudill brought in the Pennas, who purchased the Route 66 bar at 9410 W. Sahara Ave. from him in 2006. Skinny Dugans is the trio's first business together.

Crystal Penna said the space needed few renovations. A VIP lounge was converted into a cigar bar, and the pub also has a nonsmoking meeting room, restaurant space and 35 gaming machines.

Feedback from old-time patrons of the bar has been positive, Penna said.

She consistently hears stories about the past from regulars, some who even met their spouses at the local hangout back in the '70s. The bar has hosted four high school reunion after-parties since reopening.

Fred Keck and brother Robert bought the bar, which was formerly a steakhouse named Embers, in 1973, and named it after a craps roll, the ace deuce. The ace is skinny and the two is dugan. The term also comes from Prohibition-era New York City, when Irish cops were nicknamed "Skinny Dugans."

"I thought it would be a great name and everyone would know it," Keck said. "We came out here, and no one knew what it was."

The bar fell into a cycle of closing, opening, then closing again after Keck retired in 2006.

City Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian said she's thrilled to see a business success story in her district, Ward 1. The neighborhood has struggled as businesses have left for greener pastures or shuttered because of the recession. She plans to work with Skinny Dugans' owners to host community meetings at the bar.

"We're working very hard on this part of Charleston to establish a business association," Tarkanian said. "This is all about neighborhoods getting together and helping each other."

Jann Perkins has lived in the Charleston Heights neighborhood near Skinny Dugans since 1980, but the Oct. 1 grand reopening party was her first time visiting the bar.

"I am really hoping it will rejuvenate the area," she said. "So much is closing. It would be encouraging if this is part of a trend."

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5273.