After nine years in Nashville running two popular hotels — Urban Cowboy Nashville and The Dive Motel — founders Lyon Porter and Jersey Banks are proud to open their first standalone bar project in The Arcade downtown. Urban Cowboy Bar plans a grand opening celebration for May 3; the saloon doors will officially swing open to the public in the historic Arcade Building between Fourth and Fifth avenues on Thursday, April 17, joining the company’s other properties in Nashville, Denver and the Catskills.
The new owners of the historic space want to help bring tourists and locals alike back to the downtown location
In preparation for opening, I invited Porter to share his excitement during a phone interview. Even with properties around the country, the Urban Cowboy aesthetic is pretty easy to identify. Heavy on design but also slightly irreverent, the new bar is intentionally different from the older honky-tonks of Lower Broad. While there are certainly nods to the history of Nashville bars, authenticity was not the first concern.
Porter worked with local architect Nick Dryden to combine 12 bays of the old Arcade configuration into a multistory homage to the 1850s saloon vibe of Colorado and Wyoming. “You’ll see cowboy boots and hats, but it’s not a cowboy bar specifically,” explains Porter. “We’re not a honky-tonk either — more of a respite from the noise of Lower Broad. We want to be a place for both visitors and locals, two blocks from Broadway but a world away.”
Porter scoured the country for paraphernalia to dress up the 8,000-square-foot space, from chandeliers made from wagon wheels to an impressive selection of vintage taxidermy. Ranging from the stuffed head of a 3,000-pound buffalo to a family of raccoons frozen forever in a moment of play, the number of animals looking down at diners is impressive.
Downstairs is definitely the more “saloonish” of the two stories (plus mezzanine level). Porter says this was intentional. “We really wanted a saloon vibe, and we took the space down to the studs. Upstairs, you’ll see the same irreverent take on cocktails as on our East Nashville menu, but downstairs will be more of a beer-and-a-slice saloon with frozen mugs and shots.”
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Those slices will come courtesy of Brooklyn-based pizzeria Roberta’s, which also operates out of the Urban Cowboy in East Nashville. For those of you (us!) who desperately miss Manny’s House of Pizza in The Arcade, the appearance of Roberta’s should be a wonderful development for downtown denizens and visitors. The restaurant will have a separate street entrance, but Urban Cowboy patrons will be able to enjoy light bites and a slice in the bar space.
The upper floor at Urban Cowboy will have a slightly more upscale vibe, let’s call it “Urbane Cowboy.” (No charge for the marketing advice, Lyon.) Porter was inspired by the space when he and Dryden made plans for upstairs. “I really dug into the history of the building, and I wanted to honor the great structural bones.”
Noting that the building falls away from Urban Cowboy’s Fifth Avenue entrance to the lower Fourth Avenue end of The Arcade, Porter designed a sleek cocktail bar with a wide window behind the rows of bottles. “I noticed that the structure reminded me of the spine of an animal, so I wanted to showcase the spine of The Arcade and the grand feeling of the midblock arcade.
Originally modeled after a similar shopping center in Milan, The Arcade opened in 1902, so the opportunity to honor such a vintage piece of architecture was important to Porter and Dryden. However, they certainly aren’t overserious about it; there's a vintage disco ball hanging over the bar.
Urban Cowboy’s national beverage director Alex Jay is crafting the drink menu, and Zach West will serve as GM for the property. According to Porter, everyone is already on the same page about what they hope the new space will be. “We’re very much a bar with good food," he says. "We love that we’re local, and we’re looking forward to bringing a new energy to this section of downtown.” Now you can mosey on in, starting tomorrow, to welcome them to the neighborhood.
Urban Cowboy Bar will be open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
