Located just south of Peony Park and west of the 76 West Dodge Drive-In, the brand new Beverly Hills Plaza Shopping Center was one of many strip malls that opened in Omaha during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Located along Omaha’s main east-west thoroughfare, it was convenient for those that lived nearby, returning from work downtown or visiting nearby attractions. Anchored by Big Chief Supermarket, the mall provided easy parking out front and allowed customers to visit multiple stores in a single trip without the complications of going downtown.
While the strip mall today is entirely connected, it was actually two buildings when it was first constructed. Its first two tenants were Varly Drug and a Socony-Vacuum service station. By the time it opened in 1955, there were a total of 14 tenants which also included Yergey Variety Store, George Sevick’s Western Goods Store, Martin Donut Company, Commercial Savings and Loan, Franco Beauty Salon, Willoughby Barber Shop, Daniel Furniture Store, Roffman’s Delicatessen, King’s Candies, Town and Country Investment Company, Puritan Laundry and a Mobil service station.
The Mainelli brothers saw an opportunity to capitalize on the mall’s ideal location that offered plenty of foot traffic and commuters. It only made sense then that they opened a bar called Holiday Lounge in the one vacant storefront. Perhaps this was always part of the plan as their father, John P. Mainelli, was in charge of both the construction company that built the strip mall and the corporation that was formed to oversee the project. A review of the newspaper archives doesn’t produce anything notable about the bar located at 7846 Dodge St during the 10-year timeframe in which they owned it.
In 1965, Pat Foley took over the Holiday Lounge. Born in Greely, NE in 1924, Pat served in the Merchant Marine and became an avid hunter and golfer. In the late 1940’s, he was a partner of a popular Las Vegas-style nightclub called the Colony Club at 1914 Farnam until it was destroyed by a fire in 1963. While completely renovating the Holiday in 1968, he auctioned off gold vinyl booths, formica tables, wood and vinyl upholstered chairs, wall plaques, baby grand piano and a 40-foot L-shaped bar. The refreshed bar would go on to become a popular gathering place for politicians and business people. Pat would also go on to start the Holiday Golf Classic named after the bar in 1979.
The successful proprietor of numerous cocktail lounges, Pat was open-hearted, generous and seemed to know everyone by their first name. He was also known to help struggling employees pay their college tuition. In 1985 he also opened the Erin Court Convention Center, a banquet and reception hall south of Fort on 120th. He turned the business over to his son, Tom, in 1986 before retiring in 1992. To this day, the bar remains in the hands of the Foley family even though Pat passed away in 1997.
Open 362 days per year, the Holiday Lounge is casual and cozy and offers a welcome respite from the busy West Dodge St corridor out front. While nearly everything around it has changed including the continued expansion of Children’s Hospital to its south, the closure of the amusement park to its north and the drive-in to its east, new construction to its west, the Holiday Lounge remains a constant. It is the longest operating tenant of the nearly 70 year old Beverly Hills Plaza strip mall.
The bar doesn’t appear to have changed much since Pat renovated it in 1968. The sunken U-shaped bar dominates the space. Along the bar are white curved chairs in addition to black bar stools. Round tables are scattered throughout. It also has a few rounded booths which complete the retro vibe. The white chairs combined with the large south facing windows help brighten the space. It takes a minimalist approach to its decor with a few golf posters and horse racing pictures that likely date back to the Aksarben days. For entertainment, there are multiple TVs that play sports, a jukebox and dartboard. The Holiday draws a mixture of nearby workers, neighbors, retirees and younger college aged kids. It has been listed as one of the best cocktail lounges in town.
Please feel free to comment and share your memories. Until next time, keep exploring!
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