Downtown Las Vegas restaurants, bars face tough decisions amid protests

“I can’t get my head wrapped around it.”

Like many Downtown Las Vegas business owners, Eat.’s Natalie Young was planning to reopen this week, after closing due to COVID-19. Now she’s not so certain. The outcry over the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer and the shooting of a Las Vegas police officer Monday night weigh heavily on her mind.

“I don’t know what to do morally. I’m supposed to open on Thursday, and it’s like, should I open? Should I not open? Are there more important issues? What do I do?”

The chef isn’t alone in her confusion. With downtown serving as an epicenter of local protests over Floyd’s killing, neighborhood bars and restaurants that had been desperately hoping for a bit of normalcy are once again being forced to make difficult choices.

“I got a phone call on Saturday suggesting that we close the restaurant because there was a threat of violent demonstration,” says 7th & Carson’s Liam Dwyer. When vandals destroyed a mural and attempted to break into the building late that night, he knew he couldn’t continue with business as usual.

“I don’t want (people) there as a target. So we’ve been closing early by a couple of hours for the past three nights.”

Crafthaus Brewery’s Wyndee Forrest has been doing the same at the company’s Arts District tasting room. She says Monday night’s events made her particularly cautious.

“I watched, on Facebook Live, the procession of the protesters going down Las Vegas Boulevard. And when they got to the Stratosphere, I said, ‘That’s close enough.’ So I told my bartender to just lock up and please get home safely. Text me when you get home, and don’t clean the tap room on your own.”

On Fremont Street, the owners of the Park on Fremont and Commonwealth bars decided not to open Tuesday, after suffering damage on Monday night. On the same block, Le Thai’s Dan Coughlin is still trying to decide whether to proceed with his plans to finally reopen the Thai restaurant this week.

“We were hoping to open on Thursday night,” says Coughlin. “But (Monday) night kind of put a little scare in my mind right now. I’m all for people sticking up and protesting, and all this stuff. But I think it’s starting to get out of hand at this point. If a cop got shot, I’m a little worried.”

Despite the concerns about violence, many businesses continue to express their support for the peaceful protesters they’ve encountered during daylight hours, and distinguish them from those who have become violent and destructive after dark

“On Saturday night, we had a lot of customers that were coming to our restaurant and making signs,” Vegenation owner Donald Lemperle says of the former. “They were very civilized, and happy and cordial. It seemed like a very good vibe going on. And then it appears that after it got dark, later on at night, a lot of people came down to cause damage in the area.”

To stress that distinction, Lemperle posted a statement on Vegenation’s Facebook page on Tuesday saying, in part, “Although we have been affected by the recent protests, we still stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and with all our African-American brothers and sisters for justice and unity, not just now but always.” The post concluded “RIP George Floyd.”

PublicUs, at Fremont Street and Maryland Parkway, also has used social media to express support for the cause, posting on Monday night that it would be donating all of its Tuesday sales to Black Lives Matter, “as a first step in doing our part to help bring about change.”

Given the conflicting emotions and concerns, and rapidly changing facts, it’s no wonder so many small businesses are confused about what to do. At Le Thai, Coughlin says he’ll probably follow the lead of the casinos on Fremont Street and the Strip.

“They have the resources to actually ask all these questions,” he explains. “If they’re still planning on (opening) Thursday, and they feel comfortable, we’re still opening Thursday. If they don’t, I might follow their lead, and maybe we should wait.”

Contact Al Mancini at amancini@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter and Instagram.