Published June 29, 2026 | Updated June 29, 2026

Just like that, a hole opened in the heart of the Blackstone District. It was located in front of a vacant building that had long been the home to Brothers Lounge. The bar was a longtime fixture of the neighborhood that had fallen on hard times decades earlier and served as a one-way thoroughfare designed to get people to and from downtown as quickly as possible. As the neighborhood evolved into one of the city’s most popular nightlife spots, many of the historic buildings that surrounded it were repurposed. Brothers, however, remained vacant.  

The building at 3812 Farnam Street had been the home to Brothers Lounge for 55 years when the owners abruptly closed it in 2021. The building went up for sale around the time the streetcar project was announced in 2022. While the streetcar was successful in spurring a substantial amount of development along the track which will run right in front of Brothers, it remained on the market. The building requires extensive renovation to bring it up to code, which kept buyers like Chad Shoeman away. The owner of the Red Lion Lounge and Shoeman’s Liquor & More told the Omaha World-Herald that the cost would exceed $1 million.

After the foundation wall collapsed on Sunday, June 21, it left a large void where the sidewalk once sat in front of its entrance. While some insist it is a sinkhole, that label is inaccurate, according to Omaha Public Works Assistant Director and City Engineer Austin Rowser. Sinkholes form slowly over time before caving in. Whatever you call it, it appears that water collected in front of the building due to streetcar excavation. After heavy rainfalls, the water that fell to the east and west accumulated in a low spot which happened to be directly in front of Brothers. Even prior to the collapse, recent heavy rains had caused mud to exit the rear of the building to the north.

The problems didn’t start there, however. Over the last decade, the deteriorating building started to lean towards the Colonial Hotel Apartments to its east and required the installation of braces to alleviate the pressure on it. The pressure from the extra water was too much for an already deteriorated structure to withstand, causing the wall to fail, the soil and sidewalk to fill the basement, and a void to open that prompted brief evacuations of Cunningham’s and the apartments until both were determined to be structurally independent and sound.

While workers filled the hole, the area remains blocked off, thereby creating a 10-minute detour for customers trying to reach nearby businesses like Cunningham’s, Early Bird, or Red Lion. Meanwhile, the city, engineers, and the owners continue to investigate the exact cause and determine next steps.

As those discussions take place, it’s worth taking a moment to examine what could be lost should the building prove too expensive to save. The structure was designed by Herbert W. Rathsack, a Nebraska native who subsequently served as an architectural engineer in Washington D.C. for the Navy. Completed in 1926, the one-story building features Tudor Revival influences, most notably in its decorative brickwork. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Gold Coast Historic District decades later in 1997.

For its first forty years, it served as a neighborhood grocery store including Hinky Dinky in addition to the home of Mason Furnace Company, General Housing Company, Forbes Bakery and Delicatessen, and Farnam Laundromat. It found new life in 1966 as Brothers Lounge which was also known as Brothers Firmature, a swanky cocktail lounge. The establishment was started by the Firmature brothers: Bob, Joseph (Jay), and Ernie. The trio learned the business working at Trentino’s in Little Italy. It was within the family restaurant that they opened their first cocktail lounge. The restaurant was one of the first Italian steakhouses in Omaha when it opened in 1933 and later became Angie’s before closing in 2007. The family went on to open other popular establishments including the Tickertape, Gas Lamp, and Sidewalk Cafe.

Described as something out of a Mad Men episode in a Hear Nebraska article, Brothers attracted professionals who lived nearby. The interior had Early American living room decor with carpeted floors, drapes on the windows, and seating that ran from sofas and loveseats to rocking chairs and captain’s chairs. When it opened, Bob said, “We want to make our customers so comfortable they won’t want to hit the noisy night spots.”

Large enough to seat 65, the lounge also had a small dance floor and a jukebox with “no rock n’ roll records, just soft, danceable tunes,” according to Bob, who added that the music “might not make us very popular with the younger, swinger set, but customers 30 and over like it.” Born in 1934, Bob was 32 at the time. Advertisements specify that prospective cocktail waitresses “must be able to wear costume.” That costume, it seems, consisted of bustiers similar to those worn in the exclusive Playboy nightclubs.

While Bob remained committed to the business and even commuted from Missouri Valley six days a week, age and the demands began to wear on him. The last of the original founders stepped away from day-to-day operation of the business that introduced him to his wife, Arleta Plummer, after she visited the bar with co-workers following her shift at the telephone company in 1968. They married six months later and started a family.

Thirty years after that fateful encounter, Bob turned Brothers Lounge over to Trey and Lallaya Lalley. By then, the bar had changed with the neighborhood, shedding its refined image for a more working-class Cheers vibe. At the time, the Lalleys were running Capitol Bar downtown and had earned a reputation for booking both local and national punk and indie acts. Aware of the toll and demands of running a bar, Bob advised his children to find less demanding work even though five of the six worked in the family’s restaurants.

By 2003, the Lalleys took ownership of the bar. They turned it into a neighborhood bar known for stiff drinks, live music, and a punk-centric old-school jukebox filled with hand-selected CDs, attracting a younger crowd in the process. After purchasing the building in 2012, they continued to operate Brothers for another nine years before closing. At that time, Brothers Lounge was among the oldest businesses in the Blackstone District. 

As for Brothers founders, Ernie passed away in 2012, followed by Bob in 2014 and Jay in 2018. The question now is whether its longtime home, with all of its history, will remain standing when the streetcar finally runs along the tracks outside its front door in 2028, or whether it will be razed and replaced with something that may be serviceable but devoid of any charm.

Omaha Exploration, 2026. All rights reserved. Excerpts and links are welcome with full credit given to Omaha Exploration and a link back to the original content.