Victorian Avenue

I t ’ s a F a m I l y t h I n g : Victorian aVenue

The bars at Victorian Avenue aren’t new, hip or pretty. Rather,

drinking here on a weekend night is like popping in on a sitcom about a big, weird, lovable family of bar owners and their kooky neighborhood of regulars. Its welcoming, familiar, all-inclusive vibe is as local as it gets. The vibe comes honest; most of them are family-owned establishments. But the tendency may be to call them “dives,” a gross underestimation that doesn’t do justice to the rich character of the community in this small, oneblock collection of seven bars and restaurants that attracts a loyal, motley assortment of customers from the young to the very old, the tragically hip to the colorfully grizzled. Things were just winding up when I started my Saturday evening on Victorian Avenue. Families and friends packed Cantina, Great Basin Brewery and Blind Onion for dinner and drinks, while a crowd of smokers was already congregating outside The Alley to wait for metal band She Has a Fashion Vice to play. A small group of hardcore regulars has already gathered at the Victorian Saloon, the district’s smoky grandfather. “Oh, the Victorian’s been around for-ever,” says Melisa Laws, a bartender at O’Ski’s Pub & Grille, the Irish pub at the easternmost end of the strip. “That’s where we all go when we close down. They always hang around and wait for us.” Laws says it’s so much like family at Victorian Avenue that a while back, when she had no childcare for two weeks, she ended up keeping her kids with employees on the block, who were all happy to oblige. “Oh, it’s definitely like family here,” seconds Drew Cesar, the Victorian Saloon’s lead bartender. “I mean, since I’ve been here, we’ve only closed for two days that I know of, and one was for the wedding of two regulars we all know down here. None of us wanted to miss it, so we all closed that day.” “I was a professor of literature at Humboldt State,” calls a voice from the end of the bar, apropos of nothing. Here is the source of my earlier “colorfully grizzled” comment. He’s been eavesdropping on my conversation. He gets up to join us, twitching and pulling up his pants.

“So we have things to discuss, you and I,” he continues. “You write. I write. You see?” He sniffs satisfactorily. In my whole family scenario, this would be the crazy uncle. “This is Rock,” Cesar laughs, looking sympathetically at me. “He’s one of our regular customers.” I’m now treated to a tale of Rock’s exploits drinking with veteran actor Sterling Hayden in Sausalito. Cesar laughs and goes to pour a drink. It’s like that here. Next door at The Alley, the crowd is young, and on this particular night, has a rockabilly sensibility. In its third year, The Alley sits on the former site of Vixens. Owner and music promoter Johnathan Chapin makes sure The Alley plays host to some of the best musical acts on tour, running the gamut from country artist Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon Jennings) to Reverend Horton Heat, Agent Orange, All-American Rejects and Built to Spill. Locals’ favorite bands like Saddle Tramps and Asphalt Socialites appear regularly. On the other side of The Alley, Irish pub Paddy & Irene’s, the newcomer on the block, is very slowly but steadily building a following. Is O’Ski’s troubled that another Irish pub has joined its ranks? Nah. Melisa Laws says they all support each other here, root for each other. Cantina will soon add another newbie to the mix. Owner Justin Quinton purchased the old Pacific Pawn building next door, had it razed, and will open an outdoor cafe with a Latin-influenced menu in its place. Completing the European vibe, dinner guests will be treated to live music and foreign films projected onto the side of the brick building. By now, a crowd has formed at O’Ski’s. The dance music is cranked, all the tables are full, and I’m settling in with my second Irish coffee, one of the best I’ve ever had, and feeling very much at home.

The dance music is cranked, all The Tables are full, and i’m seTTling in wiTh my second irish coffee,...and feeling very much aT home

THE ALLEY 906 Victorian Ave. 775-358-8891 BLIND ONION PIzzA & PuB 834 Victorian Ave. 775-351-2000 BuRG’S VICTORIAN BAR 1446 Victorian Ave. 775-359-4004 CANTINA LOS TRES HOMBRES 926 Victorian Ave. 775-356-6262 CENTuRY 14 THEATERS 1250 Victorian Ave. 775-353-7470 DOTTY’S CASINO 1144 Victorian Ave.

GREAT BASIN BREWERY 846 Victorian Ave. 775-355-7711 JOHN ASCuAGA’S NuGGET 1100 Nugget Ave. 775-356-3300 O’SkIS PuB 840 Victorian Ave. 775-359-7547 OROzkO LOuNGE 1100 Nugget Ave. 775-356-3300 PADDY & IRENE’S 1218 Victorian Ave. 775-358-5484 PIETRO’S FAMIGLIA RISTORANTE 834 Victorian Ave 775-355-7557

TRADER DICk’S 1100 Nugget Ave. 775-356-3300 VICTORIAN SALOON 908 Victorian Ave. 775-358-4778

w here T o go for n igh T life on v ic T orian a venue

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