The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in August, 2021 that Dapper Companies was planning on bringing the Evel Knievel Museum, currently based in Topeka, Kansas, to Las Vegas.
At the time, museum co-founder Mike Patterson called reports on the move “a bit premature,” admitting in the Review-Journal coverage, however, that “the museum deserves to be in a tourism destination, and we don’t think anyone would question that Las Vegas makes the most sense for the Evel Knievel Museum to be there with Evel’s history in Vegas.”
The time for the move may be coming into view. Dapper Companies has submitted paperwork to the Las Vegas Planning Commission that would see the new museum open at 1001 South First Street, in the Mission Linen building.
That paperwork also names two restaurants attached to the project, including Ace Cafe, an international brand with six locations worldwide (one of which is in Orlando, Florida), and another restaurant project that might already be familiar to Vegas food scene fanatics: Heavy Metal Pizza Party.
This latter concept has been popping up from time to time over the last few years, having shown up in coverage published as far back as July, 2018. Behind the project is Branden Powers, a local restaurateur known for concepts like The Golden Tiki and Evel Pie. What Now reached out to Powers on Thursday. Powers declined to comment on the Dapper proposal.
The plans request an umbrella liquor license for the whole property, allowing drinks to be served in both restaurants and in the museum, and to be consumed both indoors and outdoors. That way, the plans say, “customers may consume drinks indoors and outdoors anywhere on the parcel… so that someone can enjoy an alcoholic beverage while walking around the museum or parking lot viewing a car/motorcycle event.”
According to the plans, the museum would occupy two stories with a total 15,682 square feet of space, while Ace Cafe would feature 4,825 square feet of indoor space along with 2,264 square feet of retail space. Heavy Metal Pizza Party would occupy approximately 6,784 square feet of restaurant space, including a walk-up takeout window.
Further information is not available and the plans have yet to be approved, so stay tuned for updates from What Now as more details emerge.
