Looks like the vacant spot formerly occupied by The Library Bar & Grill ain't gonna be vacant for much longer.
Las Vegas-based sports bar Blondie's is planning opening its second location at the downtown Tempe property, which is situated at Fifth Street and Mill Avenue beneath Hooters and dance club Suite 301.
And if the Valley's version of this jock joint turns out to be anything like its Vegas location, it should fit in quite nicely with frat-tastic milieu of Mill.
The Sin City saloon sports 40-plus beers and multiple beer pong to go along with the standard gaggle of hi-def TVs and pub grub.
A manager at Blondie's told me that the Tempe location will offer similar amenities, which should please the college crowd to no end.
Currently, there's no firm date for the grand opening, but largish signs have been placed in the windows of the old Library spot heralding the impending arrival of Blondie's, which promise that its future patrons will "have more fun." (Get the joke? Wokka wokka!)
I'll admit that when the Library closed at the end of May, I'd had the rather vain hope that some music-loving nightlife entrepreneur (I'm looking firmly in your direction Nate Anderson) would swoop in, keep the bookworm digs, and turn the spot into a funky live venue hosting local and touring bands throughout the week.
You coulda kept all the plasma screens to satisfy the sports crowd -- as well as the whole "sexy ladies in short skirts dancing on bartops" shtick to please both the Alpha Males and perverts - but accentuate the whole deal with a killer live music schedule.
Then again, such hopes and wishes are a thing of the past and are throwbacks to a time when Mill Avenue was a musical hotspot and not just a boulevard of beat-shacks and brewpubs.
At least there's the Sail Inn.
