Published January 20, 2025 | Updated April 14, 2026

Today a historic building along Dodge Street in Dundee is home to a lounge started by two musicians from Omaha’s indie music scene: Pageturners Lounge.

The lounge sits sandwiched between the more recognizable Dundee Theater to the east and Goldberg’s to the west. The building that the lounge now occupies was constructed in 1933. At that time, it was the home to Old English Inn, operated by the beloved Northrup-Jones restaurant. Northrup had locations at 1617 Farnam Street and at the northeast corner of 36th and Farnam Street.

Over the next few decades, this small bay that is 22 feet wide and 1,650 square feet saw a number of tenants. Among those were the offices of Imperial Casualty and Indemnity Company (1955-1962), Arne M. Mattson’s shoe store until 1977, World Book Childcraft International, and Franco Hair Stylists Internationale, Inc. in 1981.

Starting in 1991, building owner Cliff Herman leased the building to Pageturner Used Book Store. Cliff held on to the building after the owner of the bookstore changed. Ten years later, when Starbucks came calling and made Cliff a sizable offer for the location, he turned them down. Cliff, it seems, operated the aforementioned World Book and made enough money selling encyclopedias that he was in a position to turn the world’s most famous coffee company down. Instead, he preferred to let owner Jeff Armstrong and his collection of 40,000 books stay.

After the bookstore closed, Omaha native musicians Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and Phil Schaffart of Con Dios opened a lounge at 5004 Dodge Street. The musicians and friends had considered several locations but found this one to be ideal. Initially there were concerns among neighbors that the lounge would serve as a music venue and that the increased traffic would further exacerbate the parking situation on Capitol Avenue and other nearby streets in the Dundee neighborhood. They retained the Pageturners name when the bar opened in 2012, but renovated the interior and added a patio space along Dodge.

The neighborhood lounge features a sunken bar, vintage wood-paneled walls, black vinyl chairs, and a semi-private room that was once a part of Old English Inn decades earlier. The space with its small stage and piano seems to host musical acts a little more often these days, though it’s still primarily a neighborhood joint.

During my visit, I found the lounge with its sunken, L-shaped bar to be comfortable with a low-key vibe. For me, it fits perfectly in the Dundee neighborhood even if Dodge Street feels a bit disconnected with all of the traffic whizzing by along Omaha’s main thoroughfare. Pageturners is known for serving some of the area’s best cocktails and hosting events including literary pub quizzes, karaoke, and femme open mic night.

This lounge, which pays tribute to those businesses that came before it, seems like a natural fit for this space and along this stretch of road.

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