Published September 14, 2023 | Updated June 18, 2026

Across the street from the Field Club of Omaha is a gas station turned patio bar.

The property was first used by Standard Oil, which opened its service station in 1921. At that time, the only other business on the street separating the Hanscom Park and Field Club neighborhoods was Clanton’s Grocery to the east.

Located at the intersection of 36th and Center Streets, the original service station was demolished in 1932 and replaced with the building that still stands today and has been repurposed over the years.

Its days as a service station came to an end in the early 1970s. By that time, there were complaints that junk cars were being stored in a parking lot to the east of the gas station.

Barman Fred Dettmer first looked to move his lounge, which had been located at 1415 Douglas Street. The building that housed it was razed in 1975 to make way for the W. Dale Clark Library. The attempt failed after neighbors objected. Fred ended up a mile west at 4973 Center Street in the building that is home to The Elbow Room. By 1975, the old service station was turned into an auto repair garage.

After failing to purchase the old Center Theater a block east for their Italian Village concept, Don and Marie Losole pivoted to purchasing this building instead. They had just opened their extremely popular Italian restaurant, Lo Sole Mio, three years earlier in 1992. By this time, the building was in a state of disrepair and required extensive renovation. The Losoles removed the hydraulic lifts in addition to replacing the garage doors with windows and adding restrooms and a walk-in cooler.

Modeled after the Italian delis that were popular in places like Chicago, they opened their new concept, Lo Sole Mio Trattoria, in 1995. Its food offerings included deli sandwiches, salad, pizza, cold lasagna, imported Italian groceries, meats, cheeses, olives, bread, and its popular tomato basil bruschetta, and some sauces from the restaurant. During weekends in the summer, they blocked off the parking lot, fired up the grill, put out picnic tables, and hired musicians to play. Unfortunately, the location didn’t offer the mass exposure needed to make it worthwhile, so after the Losole children who ran the deli moved on to other ventures, Don and Marie opted to close it and focus on the restaurant.

The building found new life when it reopened as Noah’s Bark doggie daycare. Not quite large enough for dog kennels, its owners used couches instead. The patio was converted into a play area for the pups. While there were a number of similar places in West Omaha, this was likely the only one in mid- or downtown Omaha at the time.

The area began to be redeveloped in the 2020s following the success of Vis Major Brewing Company. The gas station-turned-doggie daycare was forced to close due to the pandemic and was the last to be occupied afterwards.

It reopened in 2022 as a Teddy Roosevelt-themed bar named The Bull Moose. Inspired by Roosevelt’s visit to the Field Club in 1910, the occasion is on display on a large mural painted on one of the interior brick walls. The walls are also lined with other Roosevelt-inspired memorabilia such as posters for various national parks, maps, and photographs.

Before closing in 2026, its outdoor patio allowed for glimpses of the sunset over the golf course, and musical acts that conjured up memories of the 2000s when the Losoles operated the place.

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Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives