The old Lucky Spur building downtown has gone through some changes over the years, from the vacant rats' nest, to Stew's Sportatorium, to its current identity of Doppelgangers. And under it's current name, it's seen many changes.
But now it looks like it will have a new owner and new name. Jim Phalan, owner of Firkin & Fox, will be taking over Doppelgangers and converting it to the Knee Deep Brewing Company.
Alan and Brad Adams have tried many different approaches with this place over the last few years: live music inside and outside, a restaurant inside, replaced by pool tables for a while, and then converted back to a restaurant called the Tap Room. And the back deck went from being totally open air to mostly enclosed.
And while Doppelgangers hasn't been a total bust, it just never seemed to catch on enough to make it a rousing success, either.
Meanwhile, Phalan came in a few years ago and took over the ground floor of the St. Charles Hotel, which had been a revolving door of restaurants, and made it successful. Perhaps he can turn the same trick with Doppelgangers. Phalan seems to be quickly building a bar & grill empire, with Firkin & Fox here, the Firkin & Wolf that just opened recently at Sierra Summit in south Reno, and the Firkin and Hound in Visalia, Calif.
While Knee Deep Brewery will be open for Nevada Day, Phalen said it will close for remodeling and open back up early next year.
In the meantime, here's some video of Doppelgangers to remember them by:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgwB9IG9HlI