Vegas Dive Bar Legend Pours Drinks in a Pringles Can at the New Punk Rock Museum’s Bar

The Triple Down barroom wrong the Punk Rock Museum. | Louiie Victa

It’s tally by rocker P Moss, the feline down Ass Juice and the section dive, the Double Down Saloon

The section fable down the preeminent Las Vegas dive barroom the Double Down Saloon and the tiki barroom Frankie’s Tiki Room has opened a caller drinking destination wrong the Punk Rock Museum. While P Moss’s caller bar, called the Triple Down, isn’t rather arsenic divey arsenic his different haunts, it functions arsenic a acquainted benignant of abstraction wherever punk stone fans and musicians tin propulsion backmost shots with a PBR chaser and reminisce implicit the past 45 years of punk.

Louiie Victa P Moss astatine the Triple Down.

The Punk Rock Museum, wherever the barroom is located, has been years successful the making for the stars who founded it, donated aged merch and instruments to its show cases, and present pb tours done the exhibitions. After meandering done the museum, past the tattoo parlor, and done the chapel, tourists are dropped disconnected wrong the Triple Down. The barroom is tiny and sparse, with achromatic walls, crammed seating, and a constricted paper of drinks. “I’m not going to telephone the Triple Down a dive bar, simply due to the fact that a dive barroom isn’t thing you tin conscionable build,” says Moss. “A dive barroom is thing that has to spell done decades of abuse” — similar the 30-year-old Double Down, Moss says. “It’s had the crap kicked retired of it.”

Louiie Victa The Fletcher astatine the Punk Rock Museum.

The Triple Down offers a no-frills enactment of canned beers (plenty of PBR) and hard liquor. Tabletop menus database precisely 3 items — 2 of which are consecutive shots and beer. The funniest point is the Fletcher ($14), named for Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise. It’s a rum and coke successful a Pringle’s tin — the chips travel poured retired connected a sheet — conscionable similar Dragge utilized to portion it. “People are going to privation to instrumentality a representation of themselves holding this anserine fucking Pringles tin afloat of booze and drinking it,” says Moss. “It’s fun.”

During Saturday’s opening, punk stone legends led groups done the exhibitions for the archetypal time. Don Bolles of the Germs paused his circuit each fewer minutes to constituent retired thing successful a show lawsuit and remark, “I deliberation I utilized to ain that phonebook and it was stolen from me” oregon “I thought astir wearing that contiguous but I couldn’t get it retired of the lawsuit soon enough.” The exhibition, which is successful a two-story, 12,000-square-foot abstraction adjacent to the Little Darlings portion nine is laid retired mostly chronologically, archetypal introducing the 1970s New York country and ending with much modern acts connected the 2nd floor.

Janna Karel Don Bolles of the Germs.

The thought for the Punk Rock Museum astatine 1422 Western Avenue successful downtown Las Vegas originated much than 2 years agone erstwhile “Fat” Mike Burkett archetypal conceptualized a punk stone store connected Main Street. The thought evolved to see aged artifacts from legendary bands for customers to look astatine portion they shopped. “I thought, that’s mode cooler than conscionable selling shit,” says Burkett. “And we conscionable kept hiring much people, we got investors, too. And present the Punk Rock Collective is astir 16 of us.” Getting artifacts for the depository was easy. Burkett, the bassist and pb vocalist for NOFX, enactment retired a telephone and T-shirts, fliers, combat boots, and electrical guitars started flying in. Sure, loads of memorabilia are safely tucked distant down glass. But a batch of the museum’s postulation is meant to beryllium touched.

Janna Karel The Punk Rock Museum.

There’s a jam set country wherever visitors tin prime up a musician’s guitar — similar Burkett’s — oregon beryllium down astatine a keyboard. Two rows of leather vests bent connected a wall, tethered with a chain, but afloat wrong scope of being handled oregon adjacent tried on. Upstairs is simply a faithful recreation of the store belonging to the Southern California punk set Pennywise, implicit with the drum kit, stack of amplifiers, and posters connected the walls. A photograph showing Kurt Cobain sitting connected a achromatic sofa hangs straight supra said couch. “Go up and beryllium connected it and instrumentality a representation connected it,” says Burkett.

Janna Karel A photograph of Kurt Cobain connected a sofa supra the precise aforesaid couch.

Moss estimates that the narration betwixt punk stone and dive bars got its commencement successful New York City successful 1975 erstwhile up-and-coming bands were scrambling for a country to play successful and recovered their mode into Hilly Kristal’s CBGB. “It was a portion of shit,” says Moss. “He said, ‘Fine, it’s not going to enactment but I’ll fto you play.’ And that evidently worked retired good for the full genre.”

Louiie Victa P Moss astatine the Triple Down.

Many of the punk rockers that are celebrated wrong the depository person frequented the Double Down before. Burkett adjacent performed determination connected visits to Las Vegas. He’s nary alien to the city, having besides performed astatine the Punk Rock Bowling festival — for which helium received criticism for his show aft the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting, erstwhile helium remarked on-stage, “That sucked. But astatine slightest they were state fans and not punk stone fans.” With his closeness to the punk stone community, Moss says it was a fixed helium would co-manage the museum’s bar.

Louiie Victa The Triple Down.

Both Moss and Burkett anticipation that the barroom volition go a haunt among punk stone fans and stone stars alike — adjacent if it is yet a depository bar. “But it’s a comfy barroom wherever radical tin travel bent out, perceive to bully music, and get loaded,” says Moss. The large question is if the Triple Down volition service shots of the Ass Juice — the Double Down’s famed changeable that 1 drinks straight retired of a tiny toilet. “No,” says Moss. It’s a trademark issue. And if that upsets you, caput up to the jam country and shriek astir it.

Janna Karel The Triple Down.

Janna Karel The Punk Rock Museum.

Louiie Victa The Gut Punch and a Hamm’s.

Louiie Victa The Double Fatty.