Closing time

The Sand Dollar Lounge, longtime hub of the blues scene, shuts its doors

By Andrew Kiraly

Bikers and frat boys, jocks and hipsters, losers and boozers, lawyers and bricklayers, sorority girls and speed freaks--on any given night you could see 'em all hanging out at the Sand Dollar Blues Lounge. The rough-hewn joint in a rundown strip mall off Spring Mountain Road was an unlikely haven for such camaraderie, but if there ever was a common language to bring such people together, it was the music of heartache and loss. After all, at bottom, we all love to bitch.

Now fans themselves are singing the blues. The Sand Dollar, veritable hub of the Las Vegas blues scene for more than 20 years, abruptly closed its doors last Tuesday. The 1.3-acre parcel on which the bar sat sold late last year for $5.6 million; along with about 29 other acres at Spring Mountain Road and Polaris Avenue, it'll become home to a cluster of high-rise buildings. How ironic that a commercial development will eventually sit where laborers and briefcase-toters alike went to drown a few sorrows after yet another 9-to-5.

"It's been the home of the blues in Las Vegas," says Scott Rhiner, guitarist for the Moanin' Blacksnakes, which held the Saturday night slot for about five years. "It was like playing in your living room. Everyone knew each other. It's too bad it went out with such a whimper. But I guess that's the blues."

The bar's homey vibe also translated into a sort of gritty celebrity, as marquee names on tour would often show up at the Sand Dollar unannounced to sit in and jam until the early hours. Rhiner can't count the number of bluesmen who dropped in over the years to sling some chords and throw back a few drinks: Canadian bluesman Jeff Healey stopped by after his money gig on the Strip; Stax Records name-brand Steve Cropper raved it up there with his famous "money licks"; Will Lee, bass player for the band on the "Late Show with David Letterman," showed up for some jams.

"The nice thing about the blues," says Rhiner, "is that it's the language of musicians. Everyone learned it first. It's a common language." Tourists the world over with a case of the neon blahs found a haven at the off-Strip club as well. "If you were a tourist and you found about the Sand Dollar, you felt like you were in on something," Rhiner says. "I'd get e-mails from guys in Europe who loved the Sand Dollar, because it was the place they'd go to get away from the glitz and glamour, and get some realness on them."

Whether another bar will fill the void is doubtful, say Sand Dollar fans, though venues such as the Home Plate, Tailspin and the Emergency Room Lounge are picking up the slack. But fans point out that a blues bar requires a special dedication to the music beyond just pushing the pool tables aside to drag in a cover band. Who knows, maybe Brad and George Huffman, the father-son team who owned the Sand Dollar, might parlay one of their other clubs, such as the 7-11 Bar and the Fast Break Lounge, into the next blues central. Brad Huffman did not return phone calls.

"It's sort of sad," says Al Ek, guitarist for the Shuffleaires and former host of the Sand Dollar's Monday night jams. "Las Vegas is a city of a million people that has trouble supporting a place like this. Any city back East would have a dozen bars like the Sand Dollar. It was the clubhouse, the freak show, the place where you never know who's gonna show up."

Ek and Rhiner are all for keeping the blues scene alive at another club, but they warn it'll require more than a simple transplant operation.

"It's not just an aquarium," says Ek. "It's a saltwater aquarium. You can't just change the water. You gotta be careful with this thing."

A benefit show for former Sand Dollar employees is set for Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Emergency Room Lounge, 3550 S. Decatur Blvd. Info: 227-6363.