The Classic Jewel cocktail lounge in downtown Las Vegas has become a premiere destination for urban nightlife in the sin city. The venue features classic amenities and a culture long sought after for the Vegas locals. Most of the events are free of charge and the bar offers top tier wallet-friendly cocktails. I had the opportunity to sit down with one of the owners, Jerome Henry, and learn more about the venue.
What is Classic Jewel?
Classic Jewel is something for everybody, doesn’t matter what race they are. It’s a good place for the locals to come and just lounge, have a good time. Especially for the working class folk that work a 40 hour week and just want to come relax in a good atmosphere. A place to network and have a good time. It’s a staple for the downtown area.
What inspired you to create Classic Jewel?
I believe that we’re the only black owned bar in Las Vegas right now, which is kind of insane. I believe it’s a good situation where we could have a place to come and have the same ambiance as the places on the strip. The atmosphere here is wonderful. We put a lot of time and effort into the decor and feeling comfortable. We don’t have the typical rift raft coming thru, it’s mostly professionals and that’s what I love. I thought that was what Vegas was missing…how can we get a staple of nice elegant folks that could come and just have a good time?
What kind of experience can someone expect when they visit Classic Jewel?
It’s going to be a good vibe. The only way you’re gonna truly experience it, is to come visit. We have the wind down Wednesdays, which is awesome with the live band. We have live entertainment on Fridays. The DJs doing their thing on Saturdays. We have house music on Thursdays. It’s a place to come relax.
Great news, that I received today… the only thing that was missing from Classic Jewel was the food and now we’re gonna have food here in a few weeks. it was a challenge that I had to go through but we finally received the the green light today. I am very excited about that! Once we bring the food into the venue, we’ll be 100% complete, rockin & rollin.
Where do you see Classic Jewel in the next 5 years?
Within the next 5 years, I expect the success of having various artists come to town. Comedy, live entertainment, etc. I love Neo-soul and the R&B feel, this will be just a good place for people to come relax and not have to spend the big money as you do on the strip. I see us growing. The reason we’re growing so much is because of all the local love. I really get an appreciation of having the locals come and say “We needed this in Vegas!”
It’s a team of us and a lot of people don’t see what goes on behind the scenes to make all of this work. It’s me, my wife, and my partner Ryan. It takes a lot of effort behind the scenes to make this stuff grow and it’s been growing. I see all the restaurants and bars that close. We’ve steadily been on the upswing since we opened up the doors 4 1/2 years ago. I see us steadily growing and it’s a beautiful situation.
People often rave about the cocktails at Classic Jewel, what’s the magic behind the bartenders?
Every 3 months, my bartenders and I go to a class. They practice their skills. We have 20 year plus professionals helping us out on our menu and teaching us things that we don’t know. The result is that you get those craft cocktails. Everyone says “You’re drinks are so wonderful” but it’s something behind the scenes. We rehearse this stuff, we take classes to have those perfect craft drinks that people consider wonderful. It’s seasonal, every 3 or 4 months we’ll roll out new drinks.
Classic Jewel is located on 353 E. Bonneville Ave STE 111 for those of you looking to visit while in Las Vegas. I highly recommend stopping by on a Wednesday Night for the live music or on a Saturday night for a turn up like no other. I’ll be celebrating the 11 year Anniversary of TerryMcFly.com at Classic Jewel this month so make sure you’re following my social media pages for all of the live updates.