Monday, May 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.
Jazz fans and musicians stood wall-to-wall inside Pogo’s on the night before the neighborhood tavern closed temporarily so new owners could clean off some of the dust that has settled over the past 50 years.
“There won’t be any major changes,” says Bill Stypowany, a new owner and a patron of the place for the past 25 years. “It just needs some cleaning.”
When the popular nightspot opens again in a few weeks it won’t be transformed into an ultra-lounge. It will still be the same old Pogo’s, where folks in the neighborhood can drop by for a drink, maybe shoot a game of pool, play the slots — and from 8 p.m. until midnight Fridays, listen to jazz musicians jamming.
Stypowany likes live music and says he may add some nights when he reopens.
As a rule it’s easy to find a place to sit, but the closing celebration attracted a standing-room-only crowd that was entertained by keyboardist Dick Fazio, trombonist Jimmy Dell, saxophonist Rick Moreno, bassist Norm Ross and a dozen other musicians who have become regulars over the years.
Former Clark County Sheriff Glen Jones opened the first bar at the location a few years after he left office in 1955. He named it the Old Mare and it stood alone, a place out in the desert where cowboys tied up their horses and went inside for a cold drink.
Today it sits in a strip mall at 2103 N. Decatur Blvd. The business changed hands a couple of times before Jim Holcombe bought it in 1968, renamed it Pogo’s and eventually began featuring jazz on Friday nights. The original straight bar was replaced with a U-shaped bar 16 years ago.
Holcombe died three years ago and his son, Jamie, took over the bar and kept the music going until he sold the business.
Drummer Irv Kluger was the driving force behind the music for 20 years. When he died two years ago, Fazio took over as the band leader.
“Musicians love to come here because they have a chance to play,” Fazio says. “It has a 40-year tradition going for it.”
Fans hope it will keep going for at least another 40 years.
Around town
Days after attending a benefit to help pay his medical bills, lounge legend Norman Kaye suffered a minor heart attack and was taken to Summerlin Medical Center. Family friend Nelson Sardelli said Kaye, 82, is expected to make a complete recovery. Kaye has been in a rehabilitation center after suffering a stroke this year ... Drummer Larry “Wild” Wrice and Friends are drawing great crowds at the club/restaurant Take 1. Regular performers include vocalist Allen Tramont, keyboardist Joe Darro and bassist Dick Straub. (1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; 707 E. Fremont St.; 433-8253) ... The indefatigable T. Fox and his equally indefatigable mother Mama Fox have a new gig, performing a dinner show at 5 p.m. Sundays at a new lounge/restaurant — Club Blyss. (5 p.m. Sundays; 4640 Paradise Road, suite 4, next to the Double Down Saloon; no cover, two-drink minimum; 735-2587, blysslounge.com)
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