July 2013 Dallas Police Shield

 

A few years ago I took the liberty of mentioning some clubs that were around in the 1960s through 80’s. Back then there seemed to be a dance club on every corner in Dallas. A lot of D.P.D. officers remember answering calls at these joints, and many were places that police would go off duty. After writing the article, I received more e-mails about this subject than any other. I’m sure a few next ex’s were met at some of these clubs, as well as other relationships that may have lasted the test of time. Most  were just places to hang out with your buddies after getting off work. My squad in Tactical (now Swat) worked central, northeast and north central in the 80’s and 90’s a lot, so I remember seeing a bunch of them come and go.

  I’ve been to some of these, either off duty, working off duty or grabbing a drunk out of some of them on duty. Others, I wish I would have made it to. Like LuAnn’s, a gigantic club that was at Lovers and Greenville Ave. from the 1940’s until 1969. Everyone from Jimmy Dorsey in the forties, to Jeff Beck in 1968 played there. A husband and wife team owned the place, I’ve been told by guys that many of their somewhat underage girlfriends snuck booze in their perfume bottles past the watchful eye of the wife, who would sit in front and pass judgment on who would enter. I was too young (really) to have visited this historic club, but I’m glad I missed the riot by some Highland Park kids (if you can believe it) that happened there in the in the 1960’s. According to a recent D magazine article, it was not the HP kids but the Lakewood Rats that were feared, and were later banned by the club. Speaking of Lakewood, it had the 1960’s dance club Electric Circus where Dixie House is now, and the Lakewood Landing which is still there.

Okay, see if any of these sparks a memory or two. An old bar at Main and Harwood was called the TV Bar. As a young rookie I answered a call there. The bartender then began name dropping every Dallas police chief and captain there ever was. I was scared to death that he would call across the street and complain about something. Heck, I shouldn’t have worried about a call; the chiefs probably were there after work that day! Other police hang outs, were the infamous Cookies, the really infamous Luke’s Outhouse down from the old academy, the Idle Rich Bar downtown, and the old DPA Club (yes the DPA once had an upstairs bar on Young St.)  Later in the 80’s and 90’s were Alley Cats, The Starck Club and The Boiler Room in the West End. Deep Ellum had the Art Bar, Trees, Club Dada, Green Room, Blind Lemon and others I can’t remember!  Downtown in the late 60’s also had the famous “Cellar” on Commerce (Ft.Worth too!) and the not so famous “Cave” bars. The “It’ll Do” was a not so cool dive bar that was addressed on Elm near Carroll Ave. Somewhere there was the Profit Bar, can’t remember where this one was!

Others include Mother Blues on Lemmon, Gerties, Longhorn Ballroom, a rock and roll venue called “End of Cole” where Javier’s is now, ( freaks called it Endacole,)The Old Church around the corner from Travis Street Electric Company and the Players Club near downtown.  On Greenville Avenue you had Belle Star, Café Dallas, Packard’s, the oh so exclusive (supposedly) Elan which is a post office now. Million Dollar Saloon that Vice visited I’m sure a few times, and a few off duty officers too! There was Papagillo (sp) behind Studebakers off Park and Greenville. H.P. Cassidy’s, The Basement, Mad Cap Molly's, and of course Depp Ellum's Son's of Hermann's Hall which is really haunted by the way, Froggy Bottom's, The Fair, The Circus, Texas Tea House, Shakesperes, Randy Tar, In Cahoots, Fanny Anne’s, the Railhead, Borrowed Money and the similarly named but years apart Daddy’s Money. James Comedy later became the popular Whisky River with the advent of the Urban Cowboy craze which was big in Dallas in the late 70’s. Try to remember how you got home from Arthurs, Foxhunter, Scotland Yard, Cardis’, Bijou, Lamp Post, Thirsty Thirties, Caboose and Abbey Inn. Confetti was a popular dance place on Greenville. I have a cool story about us SWAT guys looking for some recent  North Dallas or Village bad guy and running into a popular Dallas newscaster (no longer here) of the time in the parking lot! Funny! Yale had a bunch of bars; Cardinal Puffs, Milo Butterfingers for two. A couple are still there catering to the SMU crowd. Ozona for one is still hopping.

In the late 80’s Playboy clubs were on their way out.  However Dallas received one of the last clubs that were built, and it only lasted a few years. It was at Yale and Central in the old Dallas Cowboys building. Lots of Dallas officers had keys however! Actually, now Playboy casinos are back in places like Las Vegas and other cities. How about “After the Gold Rush?”  Lower Greenville had San Francisco Rose (still there) Stans Blue Note (ditto) and Tango that was in an old bank (with three frogs on the roof) later it was Redux and Nick’s Uptown was further north where this writer saw Vince Vance and the Valiant’s once.

Believe or not European Crossroads at NW and Webb Chapel once was a big Dallas singles hangout. It had Number 3 Lift and also Clicks pool hall. Then there were the Bachelor, Bellringer and Beggar clubs (the three b’s it was called!). I met a girl there once named Olga, and yes she was really from Russia! I saw her years later while I was working the Fair. I said “Hey Olga!” Her really big husband apparently didn’t appreciate this type of interference from an old friend and uniformed officer since she shook her head and just walked off. Oh well.

Circle Disco was nearby, I think! On Harry Hines at one time were Spot 77, and a big C&W place that was in an old movie theater called Cotton Eyed Joe (the building is still there.) Chief Rick Watson I’m sure doesn’t remember, but this academy classmate of mine was there one night when a bunch of us SWAT guys showed up about 1983 and we hung out with him and his buddies off duty. All I remember was Dwight Yoakum’s “Thousand Miles Away” playing. Pappy’s Showland at one time was a really big deal.  The Old Top Rail was at the border of Dallas and Irving.  

You might have answered calls, or were thrown out later off duty at Chelsea Street Pub on McKinney near EndaCole! Or possibly SRO, Harlo’s and Bobby McGee’s at Mockingbird and Abrams. Ask Scotty Holt about Harlo’s! Wills Barn was on Routh Street. Soul City was on Greenville Avenue. The Fog Club was popular at Lemmon and Oak Lawn. The ladies had the really popular La Bere club across from Confetti’s on Greenville. Denim and Diamonds was a C&W joint on Greenville with a fireplace you could see from the street. Later it was a Black Eyed Pea restaurant, not sure what it is now. Diamond Jim’s was another C&W dance place. The Filling Station was on Greenville and Park, it was a very popular date place until the neighborhood around it became the number one crime beat in Dallas. All I remember is a bunch of single cops and their girlfriends living there in the area in the 80’s. It was great! We used to cruise by the swimming pools on Sundays fighting crime and protecting the innocent! Okay don’t tell me you never did?

Others were Greenville Avenue Country Club, Blue Planet dance club, Traxx, and the famous Greenville Avenue Bar and Grill next to Blue Goose. When I was in communications in 1979-80, we would get off on Thursday nights and go see the old guys play jazz at this oldest bar in Dallas, that unfortunately burned a couple of years ago. The sign is still there I believe. Remember Genos Lounge, Max’s 403, Cowboy’s, Stampede, Outlaws, Amnesia, Skillman Street Pub, Ma Brands, KC Disco and Red Dog Saloon on Northwest Highway? Someone has mentioned the Painted Duck. Adair’s, having moved from the Oak Lawn area (near the old Step Ladder Club) is now for a long time in Deep Ellum and is still going strong. For a few years now the Elbow Room on Gaston caters to doctors looking for nurses, and nurses looking for doctors from the nearby Big Baylor hospital. Baby Does was a great date place on Stemmons and well I guess it was actually addressed on Harry Hines. The waterfall is still on a billboard there I believe.  

The Palms, Memphis in Addison, Pasha, the Rio Room, Emerald City, the Iguana Club and the Acapulco Club round out our Wayback Machine tour of fun, decadence and debauchery that was Dallas at one time. Okay there was a time when Dallas was doing great, the City had money, the Cowboys were winning, the DPD was the most technology advanced department around and the Dallas TV show was #1. Now, maybe not so much. Or maybe as time passes it’s just that we remember the good stuff. Yeah that’s it. I guess the officers now have their places to hang out with their friend’s. Lee Harvey’s is one I’ve been to. It’s funny but I don’t like to think of the night that a crazy girlfriend tried to run over a SWAT buddy of mine in her Monte Carlo outside a North Dallas nightclub. He and we jumped out of the way just in time!     

Just remember the good times.