Green Dot Stables has officially reopened under a new name: The Junction.
While Green Dot Stables was solely a restaurant and bar, The Junction’s new part-owners expanded on the idea of entertainment, now incorporating live music and dancing.
Co-owner Kyle Hickman said the new establishment is a performance space with a restaurant serving good quality bar food.
While the Green Dots sliders will remain on the menu, The Junction is introducing new items like tacos, macaroni and cheese and more items customers might see on a traditional bar menu.
The Junction resides in a building with a history of live entertainment. When the location was known as the Whiskey Barrel Saloon, line dancing was a big hit.
“It was the most popular night in the Whiskey Barrel,” co-owner Nic Bassalone said of line dancing night.
In keeping history alive, the new owners of The Junction have brought in Whiskey Barrel’s former line dance instructors Lois and Rich Klender.
The two have been line dancing for the past 29 years, and they started teaching around 2000.
“We do three dances,” Lois said when describing The Junction’s new Wednesday night line dancing event. “We do a really basic beginner dance for newbies, and then we move on to higher beginner, then we move on to what’s called an improver easy intermediate.”
Not only does The Junction host line dancing, but they also host a wide variety of other events.
“We do have live DJs come in and it’s completely packed with people dancing and then we’ll have sit-down events where people are just at their tables watching artists perform and everything in between,” Bassalone said.
In previous years, the Lansing and East Lansing venues have hosted artists such as rapper and singer Macklemore and violinist Lindsey Stirling. The owners of The Junction hope to bring back some of those big names, feeling as though there aren’t any other large music venues in Lansing.
“Lansing wasn’t just a stopping point,” Hickman said when describing his time working at the now-closed The Loft bar. “It was like a cultural point.”
Not only did the owners want to bring back live music, they also wanted to create a space for the LGTBQ+ community.
After Spiral, a Lansing-area LGBTQ+ alternative night club closed, the owners said they knew there was no dance floor within 50 miles for the LGBTQ+ community. Thus, they decided to host monthly events.
This Saturday, for example, the establishment is hosting a "lesbian night" with a Detroit promoter who specializes in “sexy, lesbian-themed shows.”
“But everyone is welcome as long as they come with a good attitude,” Hickman said.
To host the events, the owners have brought in a new state-of-the-art sound system, lighting system and a stage.
The Junction is located at 410 S. Clippert St.
