Veteran Fayetteville barmeister plans to give LR a shot

Breaking the ice would take on a new, if limited, meaning with the opening of the Shotz bar in the River Market District early next year.

The Shotz gimmick is liquor served in glasses made of ice. Imbibers can celebrate shooting the hooch down the hatch by smashing the “glass” on the floor.

Dave Bass, a veteran bar owner, is bringing the concept from Dickson Street — the Bourbon Street of Fayetteville — in partnership with Gary Barrett, a Little Rock lawyer.

If the plan is approved by the city, the bar and its companion lounge, Stir, will be ensconced in 5,000 square feet of what is now the LaHarpe’s Office Furniture showroom at 318 President Clinton Ave.

Shotz would be open seven nights a week, and Stir a night or two, Bass said.

Rusty Matchett says he plans to eventually move La- Harpe’s, which he co-owns with his sister, Suzanne Hicks, from where it has been for nearly 40 years.

LaHarpe’s is the last streetlevel retailer in the River Market District that doesn’t fit in the arts and entertainment mold.

Matchett says he is “negotiating with a couple of other tenants” for the rest of the 17,000 square feet in LaHarpe’s.

He has asked city planners to grant private club zoning status to the property, giving it an extra hour on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Also, he has asked for permission to build a rooftop deck that would extend off the back of the building to accommodate revelers.

The requests are scheduled to be taken up Oct. 3 by the Planning Commission; if approved, the plan would go to the city Board of Directors, possibly in December.

Slipping and sliding has been no problem at the Fayetteville Shotz, Bass said.

Shotz staff will be ready to dispose of the shattered ice to keep footing safe, he said, adding that French drains will be installed to help with that.

Smashing the “glass” is optional.

A Little Rock couple have made a pre-emptive strike in the name of what they consider good neighborhoods. Mark Brown and his wife, Jill Judy, have bought a strip of lots on the east side of South Scott Street between Ninth and Tenth streets.

The couple own three restored Queen Anne houses across Scott and want to “protect” them, Brown said.

Brown and Judy have no plans yet for the block-long property, but he said they’re “thinking residential, [though] we don’t have a specific plan,” Brown said.

The lot at 901 Scott, site of a long-abandoned gas station, was bought from Hood and Co. for $145,000, Brown said. The lot at 915, an old parking lot, was bought from the Scottish Rite Bodies of the Valley of Little Rock for $72,500, and the lots at 917 and 923 Scott were bought for $90,000 from Greg L. Hatcher.

The couple bought the Eastside Lofts at 1401 S. Scott in March and renamed them the SoMa Lofts to reflect the so-called SoMa district, short for Southside Main Street, that is gaining support as an artsy area.

Scott runs parallel to and one block east of Main. Brown said he and his wife own several “luxury apartments” in downtown, but declined to say where or how many.

How about another Marriott?

Already dominating central Arkansas with 10 hotels under various brands — including the 418-room former Peabody in downtown Little Rock — the chain has opened another.

The latest is the Courtyard Little Rock North at 4339 Warden Road in North Little Rock.

The franchise is owned by Shree Jalaram Bapa Associates and is managed by the Kana Hotel Group of Knoxville, Tenn.

It joins two Courtyards in Little Rock, one at 10900 Financial Centre Parkway and the other at 521 President Clinton Ave. If you have a tip, call Jack Weatherly at (501) 378-3518 or e-mail him at

jweatherly@arkansasonline.com