Hard Rock Cafe doubled down on P Moss’ famed saloon

During the early days of Double Down Saloon at 4640 Paradise Road, the legendary dive bar catered to two subcultures: One was the KUNV 91.5-FM subculture, when the UNLV radio station still aired its “Rock Avenue” programming from 10 p.m.-10 a.m., years before it switched to jazz.

The other figured more prominently in Double Down’s early success: the waitstaff at the nearby Hard Rock Cafe.

Double Down opened in Dec. 2, 1992, two years after Hard Rock Cafe was launched and three years before the Hard Rock Hotel opened on the same corner of Paradise Road and Harmon Avenue.

So when it was announced Thursday that Las Vegas’ original Hard Rock Cafe would close Dec. 31, Double Down owner P Moss felt some pangs of nostalgia.

“If it weren’t for the Hard Rock Cafe, Double Down would not be here,” Moss said Friday. “It’s that simple. Their staff, and the people they steered to the bar from the Hard Rock, was totally instrumental in getting us off the ground.”

Moss remembered that crew as “young, hip and good-looking, and people who really liked to party, get drunk and do other things.” Often, the Hard Rock staff would roll in after a late shift at around 10 p.m. and hang at the club for 12 solid hours.

“They would not go home,” Moss recalled. “The joke at the time was that the Hard Rock should set up their time clock at Double Down, because the whole staff was clocking in and clocking out at our place.”

The staff went to great lengths to appear “fresh” after their Double Down sojourns.

“They had these white dress shirts as part of their uniforms, and at about 9:30 in the morning they would take them off and stretch them across the bar and iron them with our steaming coffee pots,” Moss said. “I had the general manager of the Hard Rock at the time begging me to tell her staff to go home between shifts. I said, ‘I can’t do that! They are all my business!’”

Esquire magazine dubbed the Double Down “the clubhouse for the lunatic fringe,” burnishing its reputation with punk rockers across the country.

“You have to have brains and luck to make it in this business,” Moss said. “I had enough brains. But my luck was definitely the Hard Rock. They were my luck. ”

TROPICANA TREND ?

A source of intrigue ever since its 2013 renovation, the Tropicana Theater is about to sit dark as “Band of Magicians” closes Monday night. Shows that have closed over the past three years include “Mamma Mia!” “Raiding the Rock Vault” and “Cherry Boom Boom.”

But the original plan for that room involved a hit TV show.

The theater was designed for the “Dancing With the Stars Live” stage show, which did solid business at the hotel in 2012. The show was expected to reopen after the theater overhaul was finished in early 2013. But requests for extensive production elements, including two new LED screens flanking the stage, were declined by hotel officials. So “DWTS” never came back, and the room has not held a long-term hit since.

GRIMM HITS ALIANTE

Winners of “America’s Got Talent” have had an array of experiences in Vegas, to put it mildly. Paul Zerdin’s show closed at Planet Hollywood after less than four months. Mat Franco has headlined successfully at Linq Showroom for a bit more than a year. Terry Fator, of course, has built a seven-year run at the Mirage.

What of Season 5 winner Michael Grimm? He continues to plug away in many of the same types of venues he played when he auditioned for the show in 2009. At 8 p.m. Wednesday the gifted singer/songwriter hosts what has to be the best bargain in the Las Vegas Valley: a no-cover show at Aliante’s ETA Lounge.

Grimm’s career path is sometimes confounding, but his performances are consistently terrific. This is a show to catch.

WHILE WE’RE AT IT …

On the topic of “AGT” alumni, Fator is debuting a new segment in his holiday production beginning Nov. 29, with a new David Bowie puppet joining his already familiar Bing Crosby doll for a duet of “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy.” This is a tribute to the performance of Bowie and Crosby on the 1977 CBS holiday special “Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. He also hosts “Kats! On The Radio” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and appears Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Dayna Roselli on KTNV Channel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.