Bars of old Phoenix

Phoenix once had an abundance of locally owned taverns, from fancy spots to dive bars. I used to reminisce about them with the late John Bouma, managing partner of Snell & Wilmer, over lunch at Durant's. I knew a few: Kren's and the Anchor on McDowell, the Pueblo on Scottsdale Road, the Can Can at Third Street and Roosevelt, and Jerry's Treasure Island on Thomas Road. I had my first beer at the Pueblo bar on Scottsdale Road.

But Bouma was a veritable encyclopedia of old Phoenix bars. Among them, Rocky's Hideaway, Chauncey's, Mister Fat Fingers, the Velvet Hammer, the Blue Grotto, and the Ivanhoe, where the plan to bomb Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was finalized.

Here are a few:

The Clown's Den on Camelback Road around 23rd Street.

The Band Box at 19th Avenue and Campbell, this night featuring Mike Condello's band and Pat McMahon (Brad Hall collection).

Chez Nous at Seventh Avenue and Indian School Road. During business hours it was so dark it took a few minutes for your eyes to adjust to the blackness.

Magoo's at 19th Avenue and west Van Buren Street.

The Hackamore Inn on McDowell Road (Brad Hall collection, photographer unknown).

To the east in Scottsdale was Meadow's Cocktails. Most bars sold package liquor, too, as well as "go cups" of beer at closing time (Brad Hall collection, photographer unknown).

New Yorker Cocktails shared a building with the original Woody's El Nido on McDowell west of Central (Photographer unknown).

Ron Frost's Nite Life, featuring the future Wonder Woman — spelling her name wrong.

The Mustang at 32nd Street and McDowell. I ran a few calls here for fights and stabbings when I was an EMT in the mid-1970s (Brad Hall collection, photographer unknown).

The Islands, a bar and restaurant on Camelback Road (Photographer unknown).

Lazar's Pink Poodle at 18th Avenue and Van Buren Street, 1958 (Photographer unknown).

La Amapola in the Deuce. This was the bar where Ernesto Miranda was stabbed to death on January 31st, 1976. I was off-duty. But Cal was the first detective to arrive (Photographer unknown).

In this heart-of-the-Deuce photos we have Metsa's Cocktail Lounge and the Torch. A-1 was Phoenix's locally brewed beer (Photographer unknown).

Metsa's was still around in 1977 as the Deuce was cleared for Phoenix Civic Plaza. It's the bar Clint Eastwood's character staggers out of at the opening of The Gauntlet (Photographer unknown).

Tom's Tavern at its original location on Adams Street. It opened for a few years at the ground level of the Renaissance Towers, keeping its neon sign but much more respectable then its first incarnation (Photographer unknown).

The Flame on Adams Street just east of First Avenue (Photographer unknown).

On the northeast corner of Van Buren and Central was the tony Chamborde restaurant and cocktail lounge (Photographer unknown).

The Phoenix Playboy Club at Earll Drive and Central in the 1970s (Photographer unknown).

Mr. Lucky's on Grand Avenue always struck me as more of a nightclub than an intimate bar, but many people swore by it for decades (Photographer unknown).

J.D.'s at Scottsdale and Curry Roads (Photographer unknown).

The bar at Durant's, still in business on Central just north of Virginia Street (Photographer unknown).

I put this question out on Facebook and received a number of responses for dive bars and ordinary taverns: Snoopy's at 20th Street and McDowell Road, the Fast Break at 20th Street and Osborn Road (an ambulance bar in the 1970s), the Jolly Joker at 35th Avenue and Durango (a biker bar), the King Bee on Monroe Street east of Central Avenue, the Waggin' Tongue at 27th Avenue and Glendale Road, the Mecca Lounge on Seventh Street, the Royal at Seventh Avenue and Pierce Street, the Aqua Den at 27th Avenue and Van Buren Street, and the Melody Lounge at Scottsdale and Curry roads.

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[James]

Wow, so many great old places. Are there any pictures of the Ivanhoe?

I had to Google 'the Deuce Phoenix' to find out what it was, and found your column from 2011. Great stuff, as always.

[Anonymous]

I hope you're not asking about photos from INSIDE the Ivanhoe.

Anybody taking a picture in there would have had the film pulled from the camera and an ER doctor would have had to extract the camera from that place named after a planet.

Uranus.

[Cal Lash]

I got inside, The Clowns Den, The Band Box,The Islands, The Amapola, Toms Tavern and The Flame. Not mentioned is the still open, Highlighter. A bar that years ago had a varied population including off duty cops and a need for bouncers.
Phil's on the West side was the Cop only bar. A place where a few not to smart civilans woke up in the alley.
Toms Tavern had the Best beans and you could make a wager in the back. The best ham and beans bar was at 24th Street and Osborn and visited regularly by Homicide detectives Eloy Yasasi and Dan Dryden. It may have been called the, Ham Bun and Beer.

Ive been twice to Durants. Once at an event for Jon Talton and once when as a union president where i was offered a bribe by two cops and a police fund raising promoter.

I thought the Islands was on 7th Street at Camelback.

And i think it may have gave it up,
but I cant leave out the Do Drop In
at 9600 N 7th Street. You knew it was closing time when you heard MCSO Deputy Bill Brown rack his shotgun.

[Rob]

Go-cups! I recall you could also get them from the drive-thru liquor store.

Thanks for the photos.

[Ruben]

If you do find yourself in a bar today, raise your glass to the individual at the weather service who came up with the idea of choosing a specific day to declare the start of the monsoon. What a Ha-Boob.

Mother Nature sets her criteria, wind shift, dew point, humidity level. Not some bureaucrat.

If your last name is Mapstone, then Durant's is your kind of place. Unless they are a member of the Arizona Club, other Arizonans would never be comfortable in the place.

[Kevin in Preskitt]

When I worked in downtown Phoenix, I once saw boxer Mike Tyson sitting with another guy at a table outside Tom's Tavern (when it was in the Renaissance Towers). He made eye contact with me, and all I could think about was how he bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear.

Your description of Chez Nous reminds me of the old Autumn Court Chinese restaurant that used to be on Central Avenue, north of Indian School Road. It was so dark in there when I'd go in for lunch that it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. They had very private booths, too. I always wondered if any dirty deals had gone down there.

[Paul M]

A few other bars that I used to frequent back in the day:

Caravan Lounge - 15th Ave & Camelback
Inside Out - 7th Ave between Indian School & Camelback
Amber Inn - 43rd Ave & Dunlap
The Boardwalk - 35th Ave & Northern
Shadow Lounge - 43rd Ave & Northern
HB Hanratty's - 7th St & Camelback
Pomeroy's - 7th St & Missouri

[Cal Lash]

Lets not leave out the bar inside the Clarendon hotel.
And for seeing politicians the Cantina in the Oaxaca Resturant and Cantina at
15 Avenue and Van Buren.

[AZREB]

Las Vegas suburbs had the Dew Drop Inn and He’s Not
Here saloon. Always liked those names.

The Mrs. said the Hackamore was a Motorola hang out.

I imagine putting a bar across the street from thousands in a Motorola plant is an AAA+++ business plan.

[Steve Weiss]

My girlfriend in high school, her mom owned the Velvet Hammer on 7th St near Maryland, there's a Jack in the Box there now.

[100 Octane]

James...

PHOENIX. The Ivanhoe is a cocktail lounge at 3033 North Central Avenue. It is a dark place with red carpets and cheap, fake‐medieval décor. The wood paneling is plastic, the antique brick on the walls is imitation, and the fire that seems to flicker in the fireplace is a rotating light bulb. The Ivanhoe opens each morning about 6:30, and before long it begins to fill up with the regulars, who while away their mornings, and then their afternoons, drinking, talking, playing cards and trying to make deals, using the two telephones placed on the bar for customers' use.

Link...

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/20/archives/the-anatomy-of-a-reporters-murder-the-investigators-the.html

I think it was in the bottom of the same building that The Playboy Club was in but I might be mistaken.

The Mustang was later The Dancing Sunshines with 50 cent drafts in the 90s. Now a weed shop I believe.

[Kevin in Preskitt]

100 Octane: I wondered if the Mustang later became the Dancing Sunshines!

When I was a kid in Maryvale, my dad was gone at a union meeting for way too long. My mom told us kids to get in the car, and she drove us across town. We arrived at the Dancing Sunshines, and she told us to wait in the car and keep the doors locked. She emerged from the bar a few minutes later, followed by Dad. Ah, the memories!

[Cal Lash]

Octane thanks for the Lindsey article.
I have one in a scrap book.
Lindsey is now 88. Oscar Long and Lonzo McCraken are deceased. I'm 82 and barley alive.
Let me know if you would care to meet.

[Cal Lash]

Reminds me of a 1975 Lindsey article.
Nixon plays golf with Fitzsimmons at resort built by Teamsters loan..

Also note new comments on Scam again

[100 Octane]

Cal, will send you an email. Away from Phoenix next week.

That picture of Metsa's with the green neon, I swear I've seen that in real life. Anyone know when it was razed? The interior shot of Chez Nous is a knockout. I love diamond pleated anything.

The Knock Kneed Lobster (32nd and Washington) was a strip club years ago, and there were quite a few others. Always wondered was the volume of bars/clubs/restaurants related to the local mob activity? I'm sure some were, just always seemed to be a lot of these places in the past.

[Mariam Cheshire]

Does the Beefeaters count? It may be considered more of a food place but it certainly belongs in history.

I can add Mr. Lucky's (western downstairs), The Islands and the Bunny Club to my occasional outings. Worked next door to the Chez Nous. Went in the back door of Durant's to sell advertising. They didn't accept.

[Dawgzy]

By the time I was old enough to drink I was pretty much out of Phoenix. But I did work a summer as a busboy at Durant’s, and one memorable evening I got drafted to work behind the bar, just keeping things stocked and helping the bartender, though I was 19. There were always some pretty interesting people hanging around in there, including someone reputed to be an ex-pro football lineman, who was said to be muscle for The Boys. The worst that I did was to open some beers. But a fellow busboy took me a few times after we got off to the highlighter. We were careful to go in the back entrance, because neither of us was of age yet. The owners father worked the back door, and all we had to do was flash our drivers licenses, and we sat in the most inconspicuous spot that We could find and got our beers. I don’t remember the beer but I do remember the lovely HAYLEY. What a sight! The first bar that I ever entered was Joe Cannon’s place that was on the north side of Van Buren near five points. He was my maternal grandfather. There was a magical, Wurlitzer jukebox, and plenty of A1 art on the walls. Then there was the mysterious 360 club on East Roosevelt.

[eclecticdog]

The Mustang still exists but is a marijuana store now rather than the strip club it became. Meadow's Cocktails is now the Wanderin. Would have loved to see Mike Condello and McMahan perform their music in a club.

[Cal Lash]

3rd st and Roosevelt to Van Buren was called the "circuit." In 73 Nixon had me and my (gay) informant (PJ) riding the circut buying "illegal " maryjane.

On Grand Avenue and just east of whats now I-17 was the infamous Wagon Wheel bar.

[Dawgzy]

Oh. Adams Hotel Men’s Bar.

[Cleve Cavness]

Correction 306 Club on E. Roosevelt.

[B. Franklin]

Wasn't there a place called The Continental on Central somewhere in midtown, with a barber shop next door?

I recall the catch phrase "Happiness is a bucket of booze" underneath their sign.

I believe it was frequented by 'the usual suspects'.

[Innocent Drinker]

Just left El Rancho here in Payson. As I walked to the car I was leaning a little to one side. At first I thought it was the two margaritas. Turns out ground water pumping has tilted the earth a few inches. Shouldn't someone put up a sign. Is it the restaurant's responsibility or the water pumpers responsibility to let us innocent drinkers know that we need to counter the effect of the tilt?

[Allan Starr]

The Islands was just about the hottest bar in town when Ricardo Lemus group was entertaining there. The featured a "Jet Pilot" (a STRONGER mai tai, if you can imagine that); a conction for the German pilots training at Luke AFB.

[Charlie]

Here's a couple more.
Blacksmith shop 6th av Van Buren
The Profile Room 31st av Indian School
And across the street Jay's cocktails

[Noel West]

Anyone remember The Monks Garden? I think it was on 16th street going towards Scotsdale. I lived in Phoenix in 1977 and 78. Soooo much has changed.

[Rick]

I was a regular at Monk's Garden in 1977 & 1978....I was approx 25 and a young professional when 1st started going every weekend. Made friends with the Doorman..l& always got immediately through the door that had huge lines to even get in.....& all VERY attractive ladies were always admitted ASAP.

Frankly, I met and had so many countless flings from all the women I met there. Sandy, the 'Disco record spinner' became a good friend and that Doorman...later became a roommate and a groomsman in a much later wedding to a girl I started
dating when attended ASU before. I was invited there 1st night it ever opened. Spent a small fortune there, as well baxk then. 'MG' was the place to be seen in that era. Everyone dressed up. Suits or sports coats were mandatory for men & dresses...no slacks for the young ladies. It was so cool fun wand like a bit of a self challange to myself to leave there with the most beautiful lady in that place each visit. I had a "good batting average"

[Frank Murray]

Why no mention of the Under 3, in downtown Phoenix, opposite the Adams? It was owned by Gabe Tarantino, and Jimmy Giordano and Jack Weaver in association with Papa Joe Tocco of the Chicago mob, and, for a time the most important made mafia member in Phoenix. The federal organized crime squad in the FBI had several 302 reports on this, a part of their effort to warn of the corruption in the Phoenix Police Department.

[Jamie Kirkegaard]

Need to validate the location of the Meadows. The article says 56th St & McDowell, but that would put it on the military base, and the picture of it is near Hayden or Miller and McDowell.