What's the deal with it? I saw the rendering Josh Rath posted and see that it's included in the plans and not just an afterthought, so what's the significance? It's been driving me nuts!

The thought is to make it look as if it has been on Main Street for a long time. Older building tend to have large oversized, by modern standards, windows replaced by smaller, newer, more energy efficient ones then filled in around them. The bricking around the windows creates an illusion of the new building being older, looking more like the original one on that spot.

No no steve. There was a window in the spot, and they removed it. sealing the hole with brick... leaving the upper tiny window.

Here are a few recent photos of the Cellar Casino construction.



http://www.flickr.com/pho...517717783/



http://www.flickr.com/pho...518309556/



http://www.flickr.com/pho...518309288/

Don't you know that little window is there to remind people of a prison! Yep, i heard that they are going to name the place "The Joint", pretty sneaky don't ya think? Once marijuana becomes completely legal the citizens from all over the world will be able to come to "The Friendliest Little Town in Montana" The one place that they can seek sanctuary from the Drug War. A vitual Tourist Mecca if you will. The entire floor will be a reputable Medical Marijuana dispensary and natural food sandwich bar serving healthy cannabis infused food and drink. No Booze allowed! A separate partition on the ground floor where there will exist a casino and restaurant. No mingling with each other --- no tobacco allowed upstairs unless vaporized..vaporizers at every table and lava lamps and low lights and a different music system in every room upstairs.

It would have to be wheelchair accesible with an elevator and a separate fire iscape...surely it isn't too late for an elevator! I think our legislators should allow for this when they rewrite the rules and regulations.

With the entire country asking questions about medical marijuana i can see more and more states adopting the rules of our progressive tourist industry involved state. Why not prepare for the future one might ask....well i ask. Is there anyone else out there that can add to the scenario of weed or booze (the big Q) Can they live with one another?

No lava lamps you say..how about Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley posters on the wall, surely thay would incorporate those into the decorum!

I appreciate their efforts to make it blend in with the historic buildings on Main, but it's still obvious it's a new building. Windows downtown are covered up/filled in with much later (and different) brick, plywood, or various types of sheet metal, not generally with the very brick they were constructed with. I was hoping there was some cool story to it, and that we'd see an interesting explanation on a plaque or something on the building. I was thinking along the lines of some gambling superstition or ghost story... In the absence of some significant backstory, it strikes me as an odd thing to do on a building that must cost a small fortune.

On the positive side, it's a great-looking building and the windows are a-ma-zing. Wow.

....oooh - ghost story!

I vote for this! If we do it right we could come up with a base "tale" to tell and in a few years of it getting told and retold the story of that one, lone, window will be permanently stuck in the MC lexicon of lore.

Just don't tell Amorette.

I love that they have reproduced the "old" look. Too bad they couldn't use bricks from the original building. Now to complete the transformation from old building to newer building, they need to wrap it with a gawd awful awning that lights up the night and a flashing sign. NOT!

That lower roof area on the left front, is that going to be a balcony? That'd be an awesome place to hang out during BHS festivities!