Beloved Deep Ellum Bar Lizard Lounge Shutters Permanently

Lizard Lounge, an iconic Deep Ellum bar and hangout for charming oddballs of all kinds, has permanently closed its doors.

Owner Don Nedler announced the sad news on Facebook over the weekend, noting that the costs of maintaining the space at 2424 Swiss Avenue right now were just too high. According to the Dallas Morning News, Nedler was spending $28,000 a month out of his own retirement funds to keep the bar in shape while it stayed empty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve loved every minute of it and I’m not gonna lie, this one stings.We have plans though. There will be a tomorrow and we have a plan for the future,” Nedler wrote. “The world we knew has changed and we had to change to survive.”

Nedler opened Lizard Lounge in 1991, where it became a destination for music lovers and attracted the attention of an extremely random selection of celebrities, including Madonna and Dennis Rodman. It’s also home to The Church, a goth/industrial music night that’s attracted a decades-long cult following in Dallas.

Nedler has vowed to keep the Lizard Lounge alive in one way or another — The Church will continue at its Deep Ellum sister bar It’ll Do, and Nedler is optimistic that he’ll be able to revive his club at some point in the future, perhaps in 2021.

• Dallas’ iconic Lizard Lounge shutters after 28 years [DMN]