A rendering of the Nashville Social Club.
Carson City’s entertainment and dining scene will soon get a big boost. The Nashville Social Club is set to open next spring at 1105 South Carson Street. Owned by long time Northern Nevada residents and married couple John Procaccini and Kitty McKay, the Nashville Social Club will serve hip Southern food and drink in its 125-seat dining room, lounge and sun porch. The venue also features two stages, a Music and Banquet Hall for up to 200 guests as well as a retail promenade with micro boutiques.
The Nashville Social Club is the lifetime expression of the couple, whose experience in live entertainment and hospitality spans the globe and decades. John, has a resume that reads like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kitty brings years of experience in the hospitality industry as well as her unique flair to the project.
John says he’s wanted to do something like this for a long time. “After spending years on the road, decades in fact, touring with various acts, I wanted to bring something special to Carson City. When Covid shut down live entertainment, I had the time to put together this plan,” he said, with Kitty adding, “the pandemic allowed John to focus on planning what he loves to do, which is WOW-ing people with music and entertainment experiences. You could say the birth of the Nashville Social Club is our COVID silver lining.”
The couple says the Club will dish up lunch and dinner, as well as a Sunday Brunch, with a focus on modern southern style dishes. “We’ll also offer a variety of options for gluten free, keto and plant-based diets,” Kitty explains. “The recipe testing and sampling has been super yummy.”
John plans to have live music several evenings per week. “We will have soft acoustic acts in the dining and bar areas, and larger, ticketed touring acts in the Music Hall. In the past, Carson City has embraced the events I’ve produced in the area, so I think people will really enjoy what we are putting together here.”
John, who is currently Vice President of Operations and Touring for Base Entertainment, brings decades of music industry experience to the project. He has managed and produced tours for music super stars including The Doobie Brothers and Peter Frampton and the list of headlining acts he’s brought to Northern Nevada is extensive. It includes performers Michael McDonald, America and Rita Coolidge, among others, while operating the Sierra Starlight Amphitheater in Genoa. He also produced the long running Capital City Music series, and the successful Greenhouse Project’s Concert Under the Stars, which ran for 12 years and featured headliners such as Tower of Power, Jefferson Starship and The Little River Band.
Longtime Carson City residents may also remember the Up Stage Theater. Procaccini and business partner John Pappenfort operated that music venue from 2001 – 2005 and brought in big names including Booker T, Leon Russel and Jessie Colin Young.
Kitty owned and operated the popular Wild Alaskan restaurants, with locations in Incline Village and Reno for many years, following years spent living in Japan while working in the Japanese fashion industry.
Locally she is well-known for her commitment to community and advocacy work, as well as for serving as Director of the Patient Experience at Carson Tahoe Health.
Since neither plan to leave their day jobs, they acknowledge it’s going to be a big undertaking. “Our careers are our calling and we love what we do, so that won’t change,” Kitty says, adding “we look forward to joining up with some super talented people who share our vision for making this a place where people can feel the genuine caring we’re putting into each aspect.”
The couple, who met at Carson Tahoe’s first HopeFest benefit concert in 2011, for patients navigating their cancer diagnosis, says the Nashville Social Club expresses their core values. “John and I really wanted to weave together our love of community, great food, soul-stirring music and philanthropy.” She also points out that having spent a lot of time in Nashville they know that Northern Nevadans will love having the spirit of music city brought to their very own back yards. “Nashville’s vibe is like nowhere else—not only with music, but with its food, culture and soul. Carson City is hungry for a concept like this and we’re excited to deliver.”
The building, which once housed restaurants such as The Station Grill and most recently Taste of India, will undergo a major renovation over the winter. The couple plans to open in April of 2022.
Kitty sums it up by saying “our motto is ‘Love All Y’all’. Once the Nashville Social Club feels like home to the people in our community, we’ll know we’ve accomplished what we set out to do.”