Extreme dive bar makeover to transform Old Town’s Unicorn Tavern

Vickki Dozier | Lansing State Journal

LANSING - It's the neighborhood bar with the two unicorns on the awning and the loud music coming from inside on the weekends.

The Unicorn Tavern has been a mainstay in Old Town for the past 31 years. And before it was the Unicorn, it was the Shamrock.

But the Unicorn Tavern's longtime owner, Tommy Malvetis, died in December at age 94.

And, soon, there will be a new unicorn in town.

The Gillespie Group has purchased the property and will undertake something extreme – Lansing’s First Extreme Dive Bar makeover.

A 72-hour makeover was chosen because it will be fun for Lansing, and also to be able to share the new look with the community as soon as possible.

"We're ripping out the entire front of the building and will have an updated new sound system, but will still have live music," said Gillespie Group President Pat Gillespie. "That’s one of our most important pieces we are looking to promote and enhance."

There will also be new flooring, windows, paint, lights, furniture, a back bar area and enhanced bathrooms.

This is the Gillespie Group’s first investment in a development in Old Town. The 2,000 square foot space has a stage for live music.

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With the help of Lansing-based Wieland construction company and a team of more than 50 local contractors, they will work around the clock to refresh the property and make the transformation between Sunday and Tuesday, June 20.

The new Unicorn Lounge will be revealed to the public at 3 p.m. June 23 when the bar opens for business.

Gillespie says they plan to focus on beer and "booze your grandpa drinks," continue the live music and keep the dive bar feel.

"We have ordered a giant unicorn that comes out of the front of the building and another for inside the building, kind of a replica of a taxidermist type head and added a horn to it," Gillespie said. "Unicorns will be well represented."

Malvetis purchased the Shamrock bar in 1978, renaming it the Unicorn Tavern in 1983 in an effort to drive off some of the rougher patrons. Malvetis figured tough guys wouldn't want to say they hung out at a place called the Unicorn.

Malvetis could be seen at his bar cracking jokes and telling stories well into his 90s.

"This is a place I’ve played in for a long time," said Steve "Frog" Forgey, of Frog & The Beeftones. "I was playing music down there when Tommy first bought the place, and so, on and off, with one band or the other, I’ve been playing there for 37 years."

He hopes that will continue.

"We’ve been running a Thursday night jam for 14 years and we get a pretty good response every Thursday night," Forgey said.

"It's kind of what you expect from a little bar on the north side of town."

The Gillespie Group knows what Malvetis and the bar meant to his regulars and the Old Town community — his generosity and love for music — and hope to carry that tradition into the new Unicorn with a lively twist.

Gillespie said they will honor Malvetis with a picture and a tribute to him on display in the new bar.

"I never met Tommy, but the people I’ve met there have told me stories about him, how he sat there for hours and told stories," Gillespie said. "It just seems like his presence is there. We might as well let them celebrate him and let people remember him."

Contact Vickki Dozier at (517) 267-1342 or vdozier@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickkiD.