Long vacant Tower nightclub reopens as Fresno brewery takes over. Here’s a look inside

It’s been nearly a decade since Audie’s Olympic Tavern announced it was closing and shut its doors, ending the run of what had been an iconic Tower District nightspot.

The building, with its art deco facade and neon flourishes, has mostly been dark since.

It reopened last week as the third location for Summer Fox Brewing Company.

It happened to be St. Patrick’s Day when the brewery got the go-ahead on its ABC license.

“Three hours later, we were open,” says Jason Hatwig, a partner in the Fresno/Clovis brewing company.

It was a soft opening. An official grand opening is planned for April.

But even with little notice or publicity, word got out and a nice crowd showed up. They were eager to see what the brewery has in store for this block of Van Ness Avenue.

“The neighborhood out here,” Hatwig says, “they were so good.”

Revisiting the Olympic/Club Fred

When Summer Fox announced its intention to move into the space last April, the building was still branded with large yellow letters as Full Circle Olympic; the name it took when that brewery briefly opened a tap room there in 2019.

The doors and windows had been hit with graffiti.

It had been empty since 2020 and hadn’t seen much in the way of potential business interests after plans fell through for the Artist Tree to open a cannabis dispensary in the spot.

The Los Anegles-based dispensary/art gallery had leased the building, only to have its cannabis license for that location denied on appeal by the city council.

Summer Fox repainted the building to the signature orange and black of the brewery. Its name is spelled out in stylized white letters that are visible from across the street.

The two circular windows, which had been blacked out from the inside and used as a makeshift community bulletin board on the outside, have been restored and are now open to the street.

One was even moved so that on nights when bands are playing passersby can get a good glimpse of the action.

A roll-up door opens up on to a fenced patio out front. Long-term plans include a second patio opening up around back.

Inside, the room bares little resemblance to the old nightclub.

Gone are the pool table and cozy couch seating. The chandelier that used to hang from the center of the room has been replaced by rows of string lights. The wooden back bar — which had been chock full of knickknacks, beer signage and decor — is now a row of 20 taps running from a walk-in cooler filled with kegs.

The stage remains.

But it’s missing the original blue shag carpet.

Also missing: the so-called “Freds” mural, which ran along the back wall and depicted several famous Freds (think Sanford, Kruger). It was installed when the venue was owned by Fred Martinez and known as Club Fred.

But there are Easter eggs to spot.

You can still find an original wall or two, textured to look a bit smashed and crumbling. The back door is also original, layered with hundreds of stickers from the bands the clubs have has hosted over the years. The brewery has started its own sticker wall near the bathrooms.

There are smaller things, too.

Hidden on a shelf of Summer Fox beer steins is a miniature claw foot bathtub. If you look inside, it’s filled with miniature beers.

That’s a tribute to the full-sized ice-filled bath tub that sat behind the bar at Audie’s Olympic. The brewery has a refrigerator for its canned beer and other offerings now.

“We wanted to have a tip of the hat to all of those that were here before us,” says Hatwig, who remembers playing at the venue when he was in bands in the 1990s.

“This place just had some really great vibes.”

Hatwig says the intent is to bring back live music, with a focus on local and original content. He doesn’t know yet if those will be ticketed events or how soon any of that might start happening.

“That will take time, I am sure.”

But there is a drum kit already on the stage and a small sound system set up for live entertainment, which will likely happen on Friday nights.

The neighborhood will certainly have some input, Hatwig says. Being a business coming into the Tower District carries a set of responsibilities, he says. While community members are loyal in their support, they are also vocal when things don’t reflect the character or vibe of the neighborhood.

“They will absolutely tell us.”

Craft beer in the Tower District

The opening of the tap room comes at an opportune time.

The Tower District is dealing with the loss of two popular craft beer microbrewery spots.

Spokeasy Public House closed in September after a fire broke out in the alley behind the business.

Sequoia Brewing Company closed all three of its Valley locations last month, including its base location on Olive Avenue, where it owed the city $12,797.76 in unpaid rent.

Meanwhile, Summer Fox has grown substantially since it opened in 2019 as one of the first craft breweries in north Fresno. In 2022, the brewery moved into Clovis with a second location in a shopping center on Clovis Avenue, north of Gettysburg Avenue.

And just last year, it announced an ownership change and merger with two other breweries — Fresno’s Grayview Brewing Company and San Diego’s Intergalactic Brewing Company.

The three now operate under a single umbrella company. The logo features a fox, a cow and an alien, as a representation of all three brands.

Beer from all three will be available on the 20 taps at the Tower location. (It’s actually 21 taps, if you count what Hatwig calls the “secret brewery industry tap.”)

The beer menu is sectioned out by taste, with sections for light and dark beers, malty and hoppy beers and then the sours, fruit beers and seltzers. “We want to have a nice diversity,” Hatwig says

A kitchen has been added in back so the taproom can offer simple bar foods; things like pizza, nachos and the like. That should be online by the grand opening in April and be similar to what Summer Fox offers at its other locations.

But each location is distinct, Hatwig says. Clovis certainly has its own vibe.

“They have line dancing.”

The Tower taproom will lean into the legacy and history of its location, and also neighborhood events, like Tower Porchfest, which happens this year on April 26.

“We want to get this block happening again.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 2:09 PM.