6A
Friday, February 3, 1995
UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
KU Weekend Lawrence's liquor legacy
Bars in the city have a unique history
Stories bv Jake Arnold Photos bv Sean Crosier
conventional wisdom seems to tell local bar owners to stay in business for five years and then get out.
Wes Kabler, John Wooden, Rick Renfro and Doug Hassig have ignored this advice with much success, however. Together they have nearly 100 years of bar-owning experience—Kabler owns the Flamingo Club, 501 N. Ninth St.; Wooden owns the Wheel Tavern, 507 W. 14th St; and Renfro and Hassig co-
own Johnny's Tavern, 401 N. Second St. Each of the bars has a long history of its own.
Kabler was the first of the four to go into business. He owned the Purple Pig in the early 1960s. When the building was condemned, Kabler bought the Flamingo.
But it wasn't always the Flamingo. Bob Snow, who has lived near the bar since his World War II tour of duty was up, remembers the building being built in 1943. The structure was one of the buildings sold off by
People prepare to dump liquor in Lawrence during Prohibition.
Alcohol and changing names part of Harbour Lights legacy
Some places have spirits — such as the ones that have flitted through 1031 Massachusetts St. for more than 50 years.
Harbour Lights is the present bar there, but it was not the first.
The building and the business es within have seen a succession of owners, but one thing has remained constant since at least 1943 — alcohol.
Curt Melzer and David Heinz bought Harbour Lights in 1993. Since then Melzer has heard many stories about the bar's history.
Melzer was told that John Emick, the current owner of the building, opened a bar there in 1936, and it was rumored to have been a bar before then. Stories are still told of bootleg beer found in the basement.
Emick, who bought the build ing in 1971, said he opened a business there in 1940 and called it Johnny's.
Johnny's Grill first appeared in the phone book at that location in 1943.
But Emick later changed the
name to The Harbour.
"Mother didn't like my name out in front of a bar," Emick said.
Emick named it The Harbour because Sam Dickerson, who had painted several murals for KU, wanted to do paintings of a harbor for the walls of the bar. Emick also put shrimp on his menu to go with the theme.
He took his sign down, and he said that it was the same one that now hangs in front of Johnny's Tavern, 401 N. Second St.
Melzer said the current name, Harbour Lights, came from a popular song in the 1950s. Nearly every owner since then has put a sea-related object in the bar.
"Its name stuck because of the irony of being so far from any seas," Melzer said. "Once I found out about the history of the place, I didn't want to change the name."
In 1945, it was listed in the phone book as The Golden Arrow. It was a Black-owned, Black-frequented cafe that served beer. Robert Alexander, co-owner of the cafe, and his wife were such good cooks that the dinner crowd frequently included whites.
the sunflower Ordinance Plant after the war.
Melzer bought a liquor license in 1993, which enabled the bar to serve liquor as well as beer for the first time, and to be open past midnight and on Sundays.
The building went through several name changes. In 1948, it was Susie's Place; in 1950, it was Miller Barbeque, and in 1955, it became The Golden Arrow again.
In 1963, the Flamingo Club moved in. The Flamingo had been around since 1952 but at a location near where the Turnip is now.
"Everybody knew the name, knew where it was at," Kabler said.
Kabler bought a private-club license so that alcohol other than beer could be on the premises, although customers had to bring their own liquor and have their names put on it at the door.
Kabler bought it in 1967 and decided to keep the name.
Prohibition repealed in 21st Amendment.
Kabler used to bring in live bands, but in the early '70s he started offering topless dancers.
Wooden has been in business nearly as long, but he can attribute his success with the Wheel more to location than to long-time staff.
Located just off-campus, the Wheel is a popular between-classes hang-out for studying, playing cards or just talking.
"I think a little bit of every type of crowd comes here," Wooden said. "I know I get my share of weirdos. I think every weirdo that has gone to KU has come through here."
The building the Wheel is in was built in 1901 as Rolands Book Store. The bars on the windows were put there to stop students from stealing books during the Great Depression.
Wooden said that one Rolands sister owned the building and the other owned the business. The sister who
owned the building kept raising the rent until the other sister went out of business.
The Wagon Wheel Cafe opened in 1967. Wooden bought half the business in 1965 and the other half in 1966
The graffiti all over the bar began in the early '70s and contains such notable names as Dick Vitale, Gene Budig, Johnny Orr, Larry Brown, Gale Saves and Danny Manning.
Wooden has his reasons for staying open so long.
On big basketball and football weekends, the place usually is crowded with alums who fondly remember drinking there.
a grocery again. Slim Wilson bought the place to use as a farm implement store and later let his son, John, open a bar.
"I like the students," he said. "They keep me young."
but he doesn't put in the late hours at the box that he once did
Johnnv'e
Snow, who was a good friend of John Wilson, remembers John as a good guy except when he had been drinking heavily.
It was known as a working man's bar and opened at 7:30 a.m. for people just getting off work.
"My philosophy is nothing smart
happens after 10 p.m.," Wooden said.
The phone book listed it as The Town Tavern in 1953. It officially became Johnny's Town Tavern in 1957. The bar was only a quarter of the size it is now.
Wooden said.
Wooden calls Renfro and Hassig the "boys."
They have only owned Johnny's.
but they have a bar with a long story of its own.
"We'd get drunk bad." Snow said.
since 1978,
The building has been around since 1910, when it was a grocery. For awhile it was a beer hall and pool joint, until Prohibition made it
"He was big. He would put his arm around you and fall all over you. Sometimes he would just clear the place out in the middle of the afternoon so he could drink. When he was drunk, you were better to just go on."
Renfro and Hassig bought it partly because they needed a place for their rowdy rugby friends to hang out. They tried to call the place the Up and Under, a rugby term, but everybody kept calling it Johnny's, so they gave up trying to change the name. Later they would open the Up and Under upstairs from Johnny's in what used to be a flop house.
When Renfro and Hassig wanted to add food to their service they needed a kitchen. They got their rugby friends together and used pickle buckets to pull 27 truck loads of silt and dirt out of the basement, where it had been deposited by the 1951 flood.
Renfro says the bar has lasted because "we didn't do what we were thinking. Instead, we kept the same image of a local neighborhood bar."
Johnny's still caters to the early morning-shift crowd, attracting business people for lunch, blue collar workers after 5 p.m. and students in the evening.
"If I was in it by myself, I would have been out," Renfro said. "Sometimes I wonder why I do it, then six months later I am glad I am still at it."
Renfto and Hassig put long hours into their business, but they are not ready to quit yet.
A portion from the 1961 Polk Directory, showing The Barbour and Johnnie's.
Bear wrestling at Flamingo Club: a one-time event
Some things you have to be really drunk to try — like wrestling a bear.
"If you could get behind him, you were lucky," Rockers said. "It was kind of like watching all-star wrestling."
Rockers put his name in the hat but after watching a few guys get knocked around, he was glad watching was all he did.
names in a hat, and a lucky three goe
the dubious privilege of wrestling
Toby, a 400-pound brown bear.
Toby's claws and front teeth had
been removed, but he still was one
tough customer. The human who
lasted the longest won $100.
Nobody beat Toby.
So what better place for a bear
wrestling match than a bar?
"When you got in the ring with him, you had to get behind him and stay behind him," said Dana Rockers, a Flamingo doorman who was a customer at the time. "If you got in front of him, it was over. He'd wrap those big arms around you and take you right to the mat."
kabler decided to try, though. "He didn't last 30 seconds," said Mace with a laugh.
Kabler decided to try, though.
Mace said one big student almost brought Toby down by getting a hold of his back legs and pulling, but even he got his punishment in the end.
"When the trainer brought the bear in on a chain he was walking on all fours and was only about waist high," Mace said. "One guy thought he was brave and yanked on the bear's chain. The bear reared up, and he was better than 7 feet tall. The guy leaped behind the bar. He wasn't so brave anymore."
"He was pretty smart. He wasn't no dumb bear," Rockers said. "He knew what he was doing."
Jim Mace, bartender there since 1971, remembers it well.
Wes Kaber, owner of Flamingo Club, 501 N. Ninth St., has planned many wild schemes to bring people to his place, but the bear wrestling match on March 3, 1988, sticks in most people's minds.
If a lot of men were scared, they didn't show it beforehand. Rockers said none of the men chickened out.
The rare attraction packed the place.
"They were all drunk. Someone would say, 'I dare you,' and then a guy would do it," Rockers said. "One guy was having a little trouble standing by the time he entered the ring. The ones who did it didn't feel it until the next day."
Nobody beat Toby.
No one was injured beyond bruise, but he
Dressed for success?
Animal rights activists made sure of that.
Prospective contestants put their
Is your professor styl'in and profilin'? Would you like to know how that professor manages to dress so well? Call us at the Kansan, 864-4B10, for your nomination for the best-dressed professors.
Beth Scalet, 9 p.m., no cover charge, at Full Moon Cafe, 803 Massachusetts St.
The Millions with Turquiose Sol and Shallow, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
Aces n Eights, 9:30 p.m. $3, at
Caddiac Ranch, 2515 W. Sixth St.
Tank Farm with Gospel Porch, 10 p.m., $5, at The Jazzhaus, 926 1/2 Massachusetts St.
Floid the Barber, 10:30 p.m.
$3, at Mulligan's, 1016 Massachusetts St.
Chubby Carrier, 9:30 p.m. $7,
at The Grand Emporium, 3832
Main, Kansas City, Mo.
Tomorrow
Tonlight
Events
Tina & The B-Sides with Deep Blue Something, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
The Lonesome Hobos, 9 p.m., no cover charge, at Full Moon Cafe.
Floyd's Funk Revival, 10 p.m.
$4, at the Jazzhaus.
River City Revue with Uptown Mandolin Quartet, Charles Higginson, Ric & Jeanne Averill and Jazz Tap Dancers, S p.m., $15, at Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St.
Chubby Carrier, 9:30 p.m., $7,
at The Grand Emporium.
Sunday
Floyd's Funk Revival. 9 p.m.
$3, at The Grand Emporium.
Aeid Jazz, 10:30 p.m., $1, at Mullian's.
Monday
16 Horse Power, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
Cock Noose, Neckbone, and Tesasse, 9 p.m., $3, at The Grand Emporium.
Mark Whitfield, 8 p.m., $12, at
The Grand Emporium.
Face to Face, Black Calvin and First Year Thief, 6 p.m. cover charge, at The Bottleneck
Matt "Guitar" Murphy, 10 p.m. $5. At the Jazzhaus.
Poetry Night, 7 p.m., no cover charge, at Full Moon Cafe.
The Cats (jazz), 10:30 p.m. $1,
at Mulligan's.
Daymares, 8 p.m., no cover charge, at Full Moon Cafe.
Tuesday
Scroat Belly with Hellcat Trio, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
Cows, Supernova and Billy Winghead, 10 p.m., cover charge, at The Bottleneck.
Wednesday