The Keg Lounge – Sandusky

Many of us that grew up in the 1960s and 70s remember the bars and nightclubs that we patronized once we were finally old enough to drink. In my early drinking days, I remember hanging around included DiSimones (in the same shopping strip as Willow Hardware) because it was very close, only a few minutes from our house on Skyline Drive in Lorain.

My friends and I tended to stay in the immediate area to drink, and rarely ventured out to other cities. Thus I have no memory of a place called Keg Lounge out in Sandusky at 1616 Cleveland Street (US Route 6). But the nightclub was featured in one of those advertisements masquerading as an article in the Lorain Journal back on September 6, 1971 – fifty years ago last month.

The article reveals that there was something going on there almost every night. As the ad notes, “There’s the Ron and Gracie Revue which starts tomorrow night. It features Ron Knight, master of ceremonies, comedian, dancer and singer, and Gracie Darnell, a dancer and singer who along with Ron puts on a 40-minute floor show. (I’m not sure if it is the same Gracie Darnell who was a 1960s Detroit recording artist on the Ruth record label.) 

“There’s dancing to the music of the American Way Band, 20-minute performances by three beautiful go-go-dancers, and the floor shows are at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.

“All this entertainment goes on six night per week – Tuesday through Sunday.”

Interestingly, the nightclub was next door to radio station WLEC.

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I’m not sure how long the Keg Lounge was in business. 

An ad in the January 15, 1971 News-Messenger in Fremont, Ohio refers to it as ’Sandusky’s newest and most exciting Nite Club.” But online mentions of it seem to cease in the late 1970s. 

Today, the radio station is still there (in what looks like a large Quonset Hut) but it appears that the Keg Lounge’s building at 1616 Cleveland Street is no more. After looking at a vintage aerial photo dating back to 1969, I’m pretty sure that the building that was home to the Keg was located where a Dollar General sits today.