CLEVELAND, Ohio -- She's a tough one, even at 105 years old. Even when she sat closed and neglected, her light never stopped flickering.

EUCLID TAVERN

Fine Food

LIQUOR

Come Oct. 9, the flicker will come to life when the local institution is reborn as the Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern.

The project will operate as an East Side satellite of the Happy Dog while staying true to the spirit of the storied Euclid Tavern, according to co-owner Sean Watterson.

"We don't want to change too much here," he says, "because we see ourselves more as caretakers of the club."

Since 1909, the Euc has been one of the most recognizable draws to the area that has come to be known as Uptown. The Euc has played host to scruffy rockers, blues buffs and college students for decades. Chrissie Hynde and Peter Laughner played there. So did Mr. Stress, Jesus Lizard and Green Day. So did Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox, in the 1987 flick "Light of Day."

It closed in May 2013 when the building that housed the Euclid Tavern, 11702 Euclid Ave., was sold to University Circle Inc., a development organization in the area.

In November, the owners of the Happy Dog signed on to take it over, hot dogs and all. That was thrown in doubt when Happy Dog co-owner Sean Kilbane died in a tragic accident – until Watterson had a conversation with himself and asked, "What would Sean (Kilbane) do?"

"We wanted the Euc to have its own separate identity, but we did bring one thing over from the Happy Dog," says Watterson, pointing behind the bar to a picture of the Replacements, Kilbane's favorite band.

There are other changes.

The new configuration has bands playing at the south end of the club, with their backs facing Euclid Avenue. It was a decision based on sound and acoustics made by Jason Tarulli. The studio engineer and Black Keys soundman handled the sound set-up and designed the stage, which is higher up and more spacious than any the Euc has had in the past.

"The stage had to be moved -- it was almost the entire depth of the room and the p.a. was aimed at the wall instead of the audience," says Tarulli. "We also wanted the place to be band-friendly and now we have a door behind the stage that goes out to the street, so bands don't have to carry gear through the audience like before."

Tarulli spent much of the summer in and out of the club working on the sound system amid a team of construction workers.

"I started going to the Euclid Tavern back in the late-1990s," he adds. "I know some people are going to be nostalgic for how the stage and place was all set up, but it's set up better now."

The version Tarulli remembers was stocked with scruffy rock hounds and Rolling Rock guzzlers -- until it closed in 2001. It sat shuttered for years, until reopening in 2008. Not the same Euc, it had undergone a makeover in 2008 that included steak and Japanese noodles on the menu.

The latest version reveals a different kind of makeover.

Yes, hot dogs will be served, along with those Happy Dog tater tots.

The root-top patio of the old version is gone, but there's a basement bar where you can get away for a drink. The back room houses a wall of pinball machines, brought in by Happy Dog employee, musician and pinball wizard Brian Hill.

"We'll be hosting our weekly pinball league here on Tuesday," said Hill. "There are real good ones – like check out this Blue Max game from 1975."

The AC/DC pinball, the youngest of the bunch, looks pretty rocking.

The Euclid Tavern will still do weekly talks, a popular series that Watterson stared at the Happy Dog. Greg Boyd, who books the West Side spot, will handle the Euclid Tavern bookings.

"There will be a lot of similarities in the bands," says Boyd, who's played drums in a number of bands. His first show at the Euclid Tavern came when he was 13 years old.

"It was They Might Be Giants," he says. "I'm slightly embarrassed about that."

Much of the staff of the Happy Dog is made up of area musicians. Expect the same with the Euclid.

"The band booking has always been an outgrowth of our staff," says Watterson. "We have a lot of musicians here and I would like to see it as a place where musicians could form bands – not just play in them."

Euclid Tavern bar manager Tony Cross, a musician with Little Bighorn, has found little time to play of late.

"I've been so busy working on set up," he says. "The cool thing about this place is that you have so many musicians on staff; it's a place that's really defined by the staff."

It's also a place defined by another time, which sets it apart from the new construction surrounding it in the Uptown development. The development project has brought a number of businesses to the area, but it has come at the expense of parking -- which previous operators cited as a reason for declining business.

Watterson isn't worried.

The old Cleveland Food Co-Op, located at 11702 Euclid Ave., has been torn down, and the space will be available to Euclid Tavern patrons, according to Watterson.

"We're going to make it work for people," he says. "We understand that the Euclid Tavern has a special place in the city's history, and we want to make it come back to life."

(Note: The reference in the beginning to the Euclid Tavern as a lady is in no way meant to infer that Euclid the famous Greek mathematician was a drag queen.)