TONOPAH, Ariz. — A popular Tonopah watering hole is no more after it was the victim of another early morning fire on Wednesday, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said.
Tin Top Bar & Grill appears to be a "total loss" after it was fully engulfed in flames near the intersection of Wintersburg Road and Salome Highway, deputies said. No one was injured and officials are investigating what started the fire.
Many in the community heard about the fire in the early morning hours as it was still in flames, including Michelle Davis who got a call from her friend around 12:30 a.m.
"I could actually see the flames from my backyard," Davis said.
Joe Berg, who's worked at the Tin Top Bar & Grill for years, and lives down the street, was there as the restaurant burned.
"It was engulfed pretty bad," Berg said.
The signs on the side of the Tin Top with white background and red and black letters are now burned, the roof collapsed and chairs from the patio are left charred.
"Just kind of devastating," Berg said. "All those signs – I freehand painted all those signs myself."
It's a place that community members say was more than just a restaurant or a place to grab drinks.
Berg talks about Halloween parties, big haunted houses, Christmas light displays and much more as part of the joyful moments that the Tin Top was the backdrop for.
"I live right down the road and I hear karaoke out here – some of them were great, I give them all props. Some of them sound like they’re getting squeezed by a duck," Berg said with a laugh. "But it’s great, we all have fun, we have a blast. We had so much fun here."
Davis called the Tin Top the "Tonopah Cheers."
"Everybody knew everybody," Davis said.
She started going to the Tin Top when she moved out to Tonopah almost four years ago.
"We have a women's group out there and we would use the upstairs area and do crochet nights every other Tuesday night and they do paint nights and just all kinds of stuff," Davis said.
But the restaurant was also a place holding difficult moments too.
"I lost my wife in the parking lot three years ago," Berg said. "This place means a whole lot to us, a whole lot."
The difficult moments are now coming for the more than two dozen staff members who worked at the restaurant. Davis started a GoFundMe for them.
"Just knowing that they can't just go down the street tomorrow to Applebee's or somewhere else – if they chose to stay in that line of work," Davis said. "It's going to be a rough patch for everybody."
The current owner told 12News off camera he's owned the restaurant for 17 years and isn't sure what the next steps are for the Tin Top.
But the community is hoping the fire won't mean the end for the bar and grill.
"Hopefully we can bring it back again," Berg said.
It's not the first time the restaurant property has faced fire. In its more than 30 years of operation, Tin Top has seen at least two other fires on the property, according to its website.
"The Tin Top Bar & Grill has been many things through time," the restaurant's website said. "Buildings on this property have burned to the ground at least twice."
The restaurant thanked the community for its support during this time in a Facebook post.
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