The breakfast club

Lucky you

B y s h A u N h u N te R

Bob & Lucy’s Tavern is among the local bars that cater to the morning crowd.

PHOTO/SHAUN HUNTER

Despite Reno being known as a 24-hour city, any insomniac, graveyard shift worker or Las Vegas transplant can tell you that after 2 a.m., you might be hard-pressed to find food or drinks without having to venture into a casino. And after 4 o’clock, you’re most likely stuck having your nightcap in the 7-11 parking lot. But what if you close out at Reno’s latest of the late-night bars, and you’re still not ready to call it a night? A friend and I decided to do just this recently.

A couple of questions came up immediately. Should our childhood suspicions of about the kinds of adult parties that took place after our bedtimes apply to this as well? And if a bar serves food around the clock, just when is the kitchen cleaned?

My friend Nicolette and I decided to spend a weekend venturing out at hours when there’s no semblance of wholesomeness to be found—to flex our characteristically Nevadan right to order drinks and keep ’em coming until the new day’s sunlight burned outside and people far more respectable than us started their commutes to work.

We were looking for Reno’s real 24-hour establishments.

A drinking guide for morning people

Nicolette and I started after 4 a.m., when the bulk of the night crowd had long since made their questionable decisions, settled their tabs and Lyfted home. Who would be left sitting when the lightweights had fallen?

It’s been a few years since I’ve been likely to catch myself searching for an OPEN sign at 5 a.m. And there seem to be fewer of them now. One bartender observed that the 2006 statewide smoking ban in bars that serve food had caused a decline 24-hour bars. Old standbys like the Wonder Bar have painted over their outer wall advertisements for 6 a.m. happy hours. And questionable hangouts like the Zephyr Bar (now Z Bar) on South Virginia street have changed ownership, been remodeled and begun shutting their doors at a “reasonable” hour.

There are, of course, some wellknown all-night spots like the Alibi and Shea’s. But we wanted find a few places more off the beaten path.

On Friday, I decided that, to keep things gritty, I’d stay up until Nicolette and I met at 4 a.m. Nicolette, on the other hand, had set her alarm to wake her up for our plans.

Doc Holliday’s, 120 E. Second St., was our first stop. When we settled onto our seats at the bar around 4:30 a.m., it was still crowded. Most of the bar stools were taken, and a group was playing pool. The bartender took our order and explained that it was her first night. We made it easy on her, ordering a beer and a gin and tonic. It felt pretty much like any other night, except it was morning. Some women beside us slurred through their conversation, chain smoking and hardly touching their half-empty beers.

The bar went silent when a rag tag gang of younger guys wearing black uniform shirts and black latex gloves walked through the front door, along with an older woman and a squat, gray-haired man—both wearing nametags identifying them as Cal Neva casino security.

“Did two white guys just run in here?” the woman demanded, eyeing everyone at the bar, before settling on two men who fit the description.

“Nah, they’ve been here awhile,” one of the pool players said. The room took on the tense feeling, as if the patrons were banding together against these self-important intruders. But the security guards soon left. And we decided to head out for our second stop.

“I’m just covering between bartenders and don’t know what’s in

that,” the bartender said to Nicolette when she ordered from the menu at Atomic Bootlegger inside the Travel America truck stop, 200 N. McCarran Blvd. To make things easy, we settled on two beers.

Atomic Bootlegger is a deceivingly nice bar—probably not what most would imagine to be inside a truck stop in Sparks. A few people sat at the bar, but the oversized chairs and tables on the floor were empty. As Nicolette and I pondered over what appeared to be a trend—giving the new person the late shift—one by one, the stools emptied. The blasting music and multiple TVs replaying sports highlights were all for an empty house. We soon left, weaving through the banks of playerless slot machines, and headed toward our final stop in Sparks.

Bob & Lucy’s Tavern, 1515 Oddie Blvd., is a small and otherwise unassuming boxy building with a few electronic games. On the way in, we stopped to see the sky in the east changing with the first light of day. After being buzzed in, we found the air inside smoky and the bar empty save for the bartender.

Experience has taught me that sometime around midnight to 2 a.m. in Reno, when many bars close, bars like 5 Star Saloon, Our Bar and Tonic get busy. But it seemed that the 24-hour joints don’t get a similar rush when these later-night bars close.

The woman tending bar at Bob & Lucy’s was unusually friendly—to a degree I would not have expected at that early hour. She even invited Nicolette to fill her rum and Coke from the soda dispenser adjacent to the bar as she returned to vacuuming the floor. A little later a well-dressed couple walked in and greeted the bartender by name.

“Are you drinking this morning?” she asked them.

“Not today, sweetie. We’re headed to church.”

This seemed as good a cue as any to wrap up our night. We closed our tab and walked outside into the 9 a.m. sunlight.

For our second night we decided to head first in the direction of South Reno. Jox Sports Bar, 3652 S. Virginia St., sits in the shadow of the Atlantis. The neon-lit windows of the bar shined outside, while smoky air, floor-to-ceiling sports memorabilia and music from my dad’s era filled the room inside. A few people were wrapping up their darts game, and the bar stool crowd had the excitement of a funeral procession. Drinking a kamikaze and a gin and tonic, we were again watching the night crowd slowly take their leave.

The evidence to back up my theory about the late night hours being a refuge for the truly committed—those whose livers will one day be harvested to line the exterior of space craft—was looking scant. Was it possible they’d all abandoned the bars and fled in search of that late night greasy meal? Is there a point when Jox clears out and Roberto’s Taqueria becomes the epicenter of the party?

To answer this, we went across the street to the Lucky Beaver, 3655 S. Virginia St., where the kitchen is open 24 hours a day. The cook and bartender stood behind the bar, but otherwise the room was empty. We took

a table and ordered burgers, noticing the sky change to light through the large windows lining the wall.

“You should’ve seen this place about an hour ago,” the bartender told us.

We were quickly learning that this seemed to be the standard small talk at this hour.

All of a sudden, flashbacks to the decadence and unthinkable scenarios—like ice cream binges and TV!—I imagined went on after my childhood self was sent to bed disintegrated. Maybe my parents were being truthful, and I really wasn’t missing out on much. While our sleep-deprived and hazy selves were eating our burgers and contemplating this completely upturned order of things, cleaning staff began making their way throughout the dining area with a vacuum.

We made a final stop at Flowing Tide Pub, 9570 S. McCarran Blvd. This time we weren’t surprised by the empty room. It was Sunday morning, and bright sunlight bled through the tinted glass on the doors. I thought to myself that the ’80s new wave playlist was far better than anything else we’d listened to over the past two nights. If we learned anything, it’s that maybe there is a valid reason not many places are open 24 hours anymore.

“This place was packed a couple hours ago.”

“Of course,” we thought taking our seat.

And then Nicolette and I ended our foray into Reno’s nightlife netherhours the only way that seemed logical and appropriate—by ordering a fishbowl of overly sweetened fruit juice and liquor at 9 a.m. on a Sunday. Ω

It felt pretty much like any other night, except it was morning.

LATE NIGHT DINING DJ Every Sat. Night Downtown from 11pm-3am. Downtown open Fri/Sat ‘til 4am. Midtown open Fri/Sat ’til 3am.

Listings

ADele’s RestAuRANt & louNGe

1112 North Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701 www.adelesrestarantandlounge. com

ButteRFlY BAR AND CAsCADe louNGe

Inside Grand Sierra Resort 2500 E. Second St. Reno, NV 89595 www.grandsierraresort.com 775-789-2000

CARGo CoNCeRt HAll

Inside Whitney Peak Hotel 255 N. Virginia St. Reno, NV 89501 www.whitneypeakhotel.com 775-398-5454

CoppeRtop BAR

Inside Grand Sierra Resort 2500 E. Second St. Reno, NV 89595 www.grandsierraresort.com 775-789-2000

CRYstAl BAR

Inside Grand Sierra Resort 2500 E. Second St. Reno, NV 89595 www.grandsierraresort.com 775-789-2000

FiltHY mCNAstY’s

1718 Holcomb Ave. Reno, NV 89502 775-622-3208

HARD RoCK Hotel & CAsiNo lAKe tAHoe

50 Highway 50 Stateline, NV 89449 www.hardrockcasinolaketahoe. com 844-588-7625

williAm Hill spoRts BAR & BooK

Inside Hard Rock Hotel 50 Highway 50 Stateline, NV 89449 www.hardrockcasinolaketahoe. com 844-588-7625 Inside Hard Rock Hotel 50 Highway 50 Stateline, NV 89449 www.hardrockcasinolaketahoe. com 844-588-7625

AlpiNe uNioN BAR

Inside Hard Rock Hotel 50 Highway 50 Stateline, NV 89449 www.hardrockcasinolaketahoe. com 844-588-7625

CeNteR BAR ultRA louNGe

Inside Hard Rock Hotel 50 Highway 50 Stateline, NV 89449 www.hardrockcasinolaketahoe. com 844-588-7625

JuB JuB’s tHiRst pARloR

71 S. Wells Ave. Reno, NV 89502 www.facebook.com/ jub-jubs-thirst-parlor 775-384-1652

lAuGH FACtoRY ComeDY CluB

Inside the Silver Legacy 407 N. Virginia St. Reno, NV 89501 www.silverlegacy.com 1-800-687-8733

leX NiGHtCluB & leX louNGe

Inside Grand Sierra Resort 2500 E. Second St. Reno, NV 89595 www.grandsierraresort.com 775-789-2000

RACe & spoRts BAR

Inside Grand Sierra Resort 2500 E. Second St. Reno, NV 89595 www.grandsierraresort.com 775-789-2000

ReNDeZvous BAR

Inside Grand Sierra Resort 2500 E. Second St. Reno, NV 89595 www.grandsierraresort.com 776-789-2000 115 Ridge St. next to Old Granite St. Reno, NV 89501 www.roycereno.com 775-440-1095

sieRRA GolD

680 S. Meadows Parkway Reno, NV 89521 www.sierragoldreno.com 775-850-1112

tAmARACK JuNCtioN

13101 S. Virginia St. Reno, NV 89511 www.tamarackjunction.com 775-852-3600