Disco music, mechanical bulls and nickel pitchers, those were the days. It was the 1980s in Wichita and the clubs were hotter than ever.
Even the 18 bars were jumping. Before the drinking age changed in 1985, young adults could enjoy 3.2 beers at bars like Pogo’s, Flicker, Backstage, College Inn and the Stadium.
If you were over 21, you spent your nights at The Cowboy, Fireside, Coyote Club, Lettuce or The Hatch, just to name a few. People lined the streets before the clubs opened, just waiting to get in.
“That was by design,” admits Tom Smith who managed the Cowboy for 18 years. “We limited the seating and offered free cover before 7:00. People knew if they didn’t get there first, they wouldn’t get a table and it would cost them to get in. Before that, nights in the clubs didn’t start until after 9 or 10.”
You just had to have the proper I.D. and a membership card. I remember working at the Airport Hilton, where several times a night I had to try to explain our laws to hotel guests, while I issued them a “temporary membership” so they could have a drink in the bar.
Smith was one of the many club owners who were thrilled when Liquor by the Drink was passed in the mid 80s. “Of course we found ways around the membership laws,” he admits now. “We all reciprocated our memberships; The Cowboy, Fox Canyon, Steak & Ale, Scotch & Sirloin, Pat O’Briens and others.”
“Whatever it takes” has always been Smith’s motto. He is a local legend in the bar industry and set the standard for club promotions; whether it was male dancers every Thursday, Jello wrestling on Friday nights, food buffets for after work parties, or concert ticket giveaways.
“The best promo I ever did was with Garth Brooks tickets,” he says. “I bought 200 tickets and locked them in the safe. The concert sold out in one day. Two weeks before the show I did a promotion: you could win 10 pairs of tickets every night for 10 straight nights. From country concerts to N-Sync in KC, ticket give-aways were money in the bank.”
After 13 years on east Kellogg and six years downtown, Tom Smith saw and heard it all. The stories he can tell; from bachelor and bachelorette parties, marriage proposals on the dance floor, to the ruckuses that broke out once in a while. “People still come up to me and say, ‘I met my wife at The Cowboy,’” says Smith. “I almost hate to ask them, ‘Are you still married?’ I always breathe a sigh of relief when they say yes.”
It seems everyone has a favorite club they frequented in their youth, whether it was The Cowboy, Tanners, Street Lights or Charades.
Today, those places only exist in our memories. We grew up, got married, started our families. Backyard barbeques and soccer games replaced line dancing and quarters in the bars.
But the memories are still good and when we’re sitting on our decks on hot summer nights, enjoying a pitcher of Margaritas with our friends, we can’t help but reminisce about the “good ole days” when Tim Peters had to DJ in silence for a year on KEYN or Martina McBride sang at the Fireside. Some of us still have the t-shirts from the night Lettuce closed its doors for the last time.
We would love it if you would visit WomensFocus.com and follow us on Twitter and share your stories of your favorite clubs, the bouncer who set you on the curb more times than you’d like to admit, or the promotion that never failed to get you in the door.
|
