Suspicious Fire at the Tiger Room
A suspicious fire destroyed a short-lived downtown Vegas topless bar in 1984.
There were more than a few suspicious fires in Las Vegas during the 80’s.
In the course of researching a story about the infamous Vegas strip club The Crazy Horse Too, we stumbled across news reports of a potential arson at a short-lived downtown topless bar by the name of the Tiger Room.
Local press coverage of the blazes that broke out in the early morning hours of February 22, 1984. The Tiger Room, a downtown topless bar, and the offices of architect Dennis E. Rusk located on South Eastern Avenue were destroyed in what investigators deemed “suspicious” fires. (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District)
Inferno at the Tiger Room
The Tiger Room Bar was located at 121 South Casino Center Boulevard during the early 80’s. The bar was operated by the owner of the Crazy Horse Saloon, Leonard Shapiro, as part of his efforts to expand his business interests in the local adult entertainment industry. The establishment was a cramped affair and often thick with cigarette smoke. Patrons – largely consisting of wayward tourists and employees of the downtown casinos – were confronted with the dance stage almost immediately upon entering the front entrance.
The Tiger Room’s occupation of the real estate near Glitter Gulch would not last long. Black smoke poured out of the Tiger Room in the early morning hours of February 22, 1984. A fire had started inside the topless bar after closing and rapidly consumed the interior of the structure. The building was engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived at 4:11 a.m.
Investigators scoured the gutted remains of the Tiger Room in a search for the cause of the fire. The blaze that destroyed the seedy little bar was eventually determined to be “suspicious.”
While no suspects were ever named in relation to the potential arson, the owner of the Tiger Room never reopened at the downtown location and eventually petitioned the Las Vegas City Council to transfer the establishment’s liquor license to Harry Vonderheide, owner of the Third Street Bar & Grill. An interesting side note is that Leonard Shapiro had previously run afoul of the Las Vegas City Council in 1979 when he was fined and sternly admonished for permitting lewd acts and serving alcohol to minors at the Crazy Horse Saloon.
Leonard Shapiro did not reopen the Tiger Room after the bar was destroyed. Shapiro had run into legal difficulties in 1979 during his time running the Crazy Horse topless bar for permitting lewd acts and serving alcohol to minors. (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District)
Two Suspicious Fires in One Night
The blaze at the Tiger Room wasn’t the only suspicious fire to hit Las Vegas the night of February 22, 1984.
A second fire broke out at the offices of architect Dennis E. Rusk on South Eastern Avenue at 3:54 a.m. The flames caused over $80,000.00 in damages. Fire investigators also ruled the fire at the architectural firm as “suspicious.” Just as with the culprits behind the likely arson at the Tiger Room, no suspects were named in relation to the fire that torched Rusk’s offices.
Given the short time it would have taken to drive from Rusk’s architectural firm offices to the Tiger Room, as well as the tight timeframe in which the fires originated at the respective establishments, it seems possible the fires may have been linked.
However, there was also a spate of violence targeting those in the adult entertainment industry in Las Vegas and Los Angeles in the early 80’s. And as we said at the beginning of this story, suspicious fires were not uncommon in 80’s Las Vegas. Perhaps two different businesses went up in flames within minutes of each other for entirely different reasons that are now only known to those that felt the warmth of the fires they had set on a cold desert night four decades ago.