For the Season 5 finale of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer travels to Las Vegas to visit Vegas’ classic dive bar, Champagne’s Cafe. The bar opened in 1966 and was a favorite hangout for the Rat Pack. In the 1980s, it was a place where mobsters convened. Frank Cullotta of The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang is still a regular. But the bar is three months away from shutting down. The current owner Greg Sims, who bought Champagne’s in 2015 with a $150,000 loan from his mother, is losing $4000 a month.
[Bar Rescue: Champagne’s Cafe Owner “An Idiot on Mommy’s Money”]
Taffer remodeled the place but kept the famous feel of the joint — the signature red velvet wallpaper is still intact. One modern addition to Champagne’s Cafe is a Bitcoin ATM (see below). Think Frank Cullotta knows what Bitcoin is? Bar Rescue airs Sundays at 9pm on SPIKE.
