The Bunkhouse Saloon’s uncertain future might have become even murkier today, when a fire outside the Downtown music venue impacted the building itself.
Furthermore, according to an eye witness, firefighters responding to the call discovered a homeless encampment inside the building, which has been shuttered since the pandemic hit in March 2020.
“I was in the studio recording [Vegas band] Peachole, when my wife Kristi, who was working the shop, busted in and said fire trucks were screaming down the Alley toward the Bunkhouse,” said Ronald Corso, owner of 11th Street Records and the adjacent National Southwestern Recording studio. “I went down there and saw them axing the back door open and smoke coming out the back. The electric panels were blackened, and they started hosing the place down.”
When Corso saw next surprised him even more. “I went into the building after the firefighters, and there were five people squatting in there, who came out coughing. They’d been living there for a while,” he said. “They had laundry hung up, and a guy had a bed made in the DJ booth. The captain said, ‘Do you believe this? The gas is on, the pilot lights are on.’ The homeless people had access to the [Bunkhouse] kitchen, and were using it. And the bar was covered in empty liquor bottles and cigarettes, like the party [on the Bunkhouse’s final night of music] never ended.”
Firefighters at the Bunkhouse on June 13
Corso also said much of the Bunkhouse’s audio equipment appeared to be missing. “It’s all gone. The PA [public address] console—a $5,000 piece of gear—and any of the backline that might have been there, like the drum set and guitar amps—was all gone. Also, the outdoor speakers under the eaves of the building [separately] disappeared a week or two ago.”
Corso said he connected the firefighters with a representative for DTP Companies, which operates the Bunkhouse. The venue was owned by Tony Hsieh, who died in November, and neither his family heirs nor DTP has publicly addressed its future.
"The fire at the Bunkhouse was small and able to be contained quickly. Fortunately, no one was hurt and there was no damage to the inside of the building," DTP spokesperson Megan Fazio said by email on Sunday night.
Las Vegas Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski provided some details about the fire—the incident was reported at 1:17 p.m., Engine 4 responded, the fire appeared to have started outside the venue—but explained that further information would not be available until an official report was filed, likely on Monday.
