Atomic Liquors, Fremont East.

Las Vegas's oldest free standing bar.

Atomic Liquors opened in 1952 on Fremont Street, eight blocks east of the original Vegas casino corridor. The bar took its name from the Nevada Test Site sixty-five miles northwest, where the US government conducted above-ground nuclear tests between 1951 and 1962. The roof of Atomic Liquors offered a clear south-facing view of the test cloud columns, which were visible from Vegas during the morning detonations. The bar's regulars climbed to the roof with cocktails to watch the tests. The roof access has been preserved as a deck and is still open to customers.

The bar is two parts: a front bar with a mid-century horseshoe counter, and a back room with three booths and a small stage. The original 1952 fixtures are intact: the horseshoe bar, the back-bar mirror, the cigarette machine (decorative since 2007), and the original neon "Liquors" sign above the door.

Why this matters. Atomic Liquors is the rare Las Vegas bar that has held its 1952 lease and identity through seventy-three years of Vegas's continuous reinvention. The bar's name is the bar.

Sinatra's stool.

Frank Sinatra drank at Atomic Liquors in the 1950s and 1960s during his Las Vegas residencies at the Sands. His preferred stool was the second stool from the door, which gave him a clear sight line to the front window for spotting paparazzi and to the back room for spotting friends. The bar marks the stool with a small brass plaque dated 1957.

The stool is first come, first served. The bartenders do not reserve it for VIPs. Most Sinatra-aware visitors will sit at the stool for at least one drink. The brass plaque reads simply "Frank's stool, 1957-1968." The bar's owners decline to confirm the exact dates on the plaque are accurate; the plaque was installed in 1969 by an earlier owner.

Atomic Cocktail and a Tito's soda.

• Atomic Cocktail: nine dollars. The bar's house cocktail since 1952: vodka, brandy, sherry, sparkling wine. The recipe was published in a 1953 Vegas magazine.
• Tito's soda: seven dollars. The Vegas regular's choice.
• PBR tallboy: six dollars. The Fremont East default.
• Sinatra Old Fashioned: twelve dollars. Bulleit, sugar, bitters, orange peel. Named for Frank.
• The thing nobody knows: the bar pours a small Crown Royal at six dollars from a bottle that has been on the shelf since the 1980s. Order "the Royal." The bartender will pour without asking.

Tuesday at 5pm. The Fremont East regulars hour.

Atomic Liquors opens at noon and closes at 2am. Tuesday at 5pm is the Fremont East regulars hour: the bar is at 50% capacity, the booths are open, the regulars are reading the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the bartender pours Atomic Cocktails slowly. The roof deck is open if the temperature is below 100 degrees.

The peak hour is Friday and Saturday between 9pm and 1am, when the Fremont East late-night crowd packs the bar. The Sunday afternoon at 2pm hour is the secret experience: the bar is half empty, the roof deck has shade, the regulars are eating bar food at the back booth.

The roof deck is open whenever weather permits. Vegas summer afternoons (May through September) are too hot for the roof until after sunset.

What the bar's clientele saw in the 1950s.

Between 1951 and 1962, the US government conducted 100 above-ground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, sixty-five miles northwest of Atomic Liquors. The detonations occurred at dawn, and the resulting mushroom clouds were visible from downtown Las Vegas for approximately forty-five minutes after each test. Vegas tourism during the 1950s included formal dawn cocktail parties to view the tests. Atomic Liquors hosted at least 47 documented dawn viewing parties between 1952 and 1962.

The roof's south-facing view of the test horizon is now obscured by newer construction, but the deck remains open as a Vegas downtown sunset spot. The bar maintains a small framed photograph on the back wall showing the roof crowd at a 1956 dawn test, with cocktails in hand.

Thirty dollars per person, three drinks.

Plan for twenty-five to thirty-five dollars per person for a three-hour visit. Two Atomic Cocktails at nine, one PBR at six, twenty percent tip. A pair of friends drinks for fifty-five dollars total. Add ten dollars for the Sinatra Old Fashioned upgrade if you sit at his stool.

Cards are accepted. Cash is preferred. Two dollars per drink in cash on the bar is the local norm.

Fremont East regulars, Vegas writers, the history pilgrims.

Atomic Liquors draws three populations. The first: long-tenure Fremont East residents and downtown Vegas working crowd, including a contingent of casino dealers ending shifts. The second: Vegas writers and historians, particularly those tracking the city's mid-century history. The third: the nuclear and Sinatra history pilgrim contingent, often well-read tourists who avoid the Strip.

You will find some Strip tourist crowd, but they tend to filter through. The bar's price point and the Fremont East location filter for a downtown-first audience.

How not to be the worst person at Atomic.

• Do not photograph Sinatra's plaque obsessively. One photo is fine. The plaque is small.
• Do not order a Pina Colada. Atomic Liquors does not pour blender drinks.
• Do not bring a stag party in matching shirts. Fremont East has many other options.
• Do not request the roof deck during peak summer afternoon. The temperature is dangerous. The deck is closed for safety.
• Do not order a craft cocktail beyond the Atomic Cocktail and Sinatra Old Fashioned. The bar pours from the menu.
• Do not, ever, ask if the radiation from the 1950s tests is still in the wood. The bartenders consider the question both technically and socially settled.
• Do not photograph the bartenders. Vegas privacy convention applies.

Atomic Liquors, Velveteen Rabbit, the Griffin.

The classic Fremont East evening: dinner at the small kitchen at Atomic Liquors at 6pm (a short menu of bar food). Walk three blocks west to the Velveteen Rabbit on Main Street at 9pm for a Vegas craft cocktail. End at the Griffin on Fremont at midnight, the Vegas downtown stone-walled dive that completes the Fremont East trinity.

For more bars in the area, see our Las Vegas city guide, the Vegas cocktail bars guide, and the Fremont East hidden gems.

Yes. Vegas's most preserved 1952 dive.