Richmond's most legendary bar is finally showing its hand. The Family Dog, the storied watering hole at the corner of Water Street and First Street that has sat closed for years, offered fans a sneak peek of its renovated interior during the Millstone Festival, and new owners now expect to open the doors in time for Homecoming.
The glimpse came as part of festival weekend, when the venue offered main-floor tours on Saturday to anyone who purchased a “The Dog” t-shirt, according to WBON TV. Reporter R. David Shew toured the building the Friday before the piece published and found a space still mid-transformation: bathrooms with fresh drywall still awaiting paint, and a top-floor bar nearly finished except for a few final touches on its marble countertop. The renovation also includes professional floor polishing and expanded bathrooms, per the same outlet's reporting.
Jack VanWinkle and Robbie Robertson, the Richmond natives revitalizing the building, purchased the property in mid-February, snatching it up after the bar sat dormant for 26 years, according to Kentucky.com. The building had been largely untouched aside from a brief, one-night resumption during EKU's 2022 Homecoming celebrations, the outlet reported. WKYT similarly described the three-story building, which dates back to the 1940s, as having been dormant for over two decades before the new ownership stepped in.
What's Changing — and What's Staying the Same
VanWinkle and Robertson plan to keep much of The Family Dog's classic aesthetic intact even as they modernize the space, Kentucky.com reports. Renovations include upgrades to bathrooms, plumbing, heating, and electrical systems alongside cosmetic touch-ups, while vintage equipment, decor, and the exterior Dog script are expected to remain. WKYT reports the new owners intend to keep original features while freshening up the space overall.
Per WBON TV's reporting, the reopened venue will feature a disc jockey and a new dance floor on the main floor, while the top floor is planned to host music, comedy, private rentals, and catering. Kentucky.com's earlier reporting described similar plans in more detail, with the middle level slated for country bands, cover acts, and DJs, and the upper room tentatively envisioned as a blues and jazz venue called the Pedigree Club. Plans for the ground floor, which once housed the restaurant Pacos, remained undecided as of that report.
A Timeline With Some Moving Targets
Exactly when the doors will reopen has shifted over the months. The most recent reporting from WBON TV says the venue now expects to open for Homecoming. That marks a change from Kentucky.com's earlier report, which said Robertson and VanWinkle were eyeing an early-August opening, with soft openings planned before the start of fall classes and before Homecoming itself. WBON TV's own earlier coverage had also described plans to get the first floor open around the start of the school year, with the third floor to follow later.
The building's history stretches back decades before any of the current renovation work began. Hugh “Speck” Young opened Speck's as a bar and restaurant just after World War II and operated it until 1959, according to WBON TV's reporting. Frank and Joe Anne Nassida purchased the building and business that year. Eastern Progress reports the Nassidas sold Speck's in 1967, when the new owners began using the Family Dog name. The bar closed in September 2000. WKYT reports that a national publication ranked EKU among the country's top party schools.
Conflicting Accounts of the Bar's Early Years
Sources differ on exactly when the Family Dog name itself took hold. WEKU reports the bar first opened its doors in 1974, while Eastern Progress reports the bar opened in 1967 and closed in September 2000. Kentucky.com's account places The Family Dog on Water Street from 1967 to 2000, following the Speck's era that stretched back to the 1940s. Whichever timeline is correct, the bar's cultural footprint in Richmond is not in dispute.
During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, The Family Dog was the party destination for college students from across Central Kentucky, per WKYT's reporting. The bar hosted themed nights such as Whiskey Wednesdays, Beat the Clock Thursdays, and Dime Drafts on Fridays, and later expanded with an upstairs section called the Top Dog, complete with its own bar and speakers serving both levels, according to Eastern Progress. Students didn't just come from Eastern Kentucky University — crowds from the University of Kentucky and Morehead University made the trip too, Eastern Progress notes.
The venue's enduring pull was on full display during a one-night-only Homecoming walkthrough in October 2022, when close to 2,000 people came through the doors between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., running slightly past schedule to about 10:45 p.m., according to WEKU. That event let former patrons tour the space and take pictures, Eastern Progress reported at the time. The walkthrough took place 22 years after The Family Dog closed in 2000.
Property Concerns Remain Unresolved
Not all of the building's recent history has been nostalgic. The property at 124 South First Street, once known as the Family Dog, was among five properties up for decision at a Richmond Code Enforcement Board meeting, which cited alleged property maintenance violations including boarded-up windows, graffiti, and general disrepair. The property owner requested, and was granted, a 30-day continuance to obtain an attorney before further proceedings with the board, according to the Richmond Register's reporting.
For now, the renovated bathrooms, marble-topped bar, and new dance floor stand as visible proof that Richmond's most storied nightspot is inching back toward reopening. Whether the doors swing open for Homecoming as currently expected, or on another timeline, remains to be seen for a building that has already outlived several names and nearly three decades of silence.
