Well, I’ve finally reached that age where my youth is now officially part of History with a capital “H”. A huge part of that youth was (mis)spent in janky clubs and bars in the Fry Street area back when it was the center of Denton’s musical past. You know, back when you had to have a “membership” to a club as part of the byzantine patchwork of laws the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Denton City and County devised to make us all scratch our heads (you could drink an open container on the street but had to drive to Crossroads to buy liquor). So, here’s an homage to some of the places thousands of locals, either temporary or long-time, students and others went for nightlife.
Young folks will always find a way to make a Big Noise some way or another and the fresh crop of musicians, artists and freaks that NTSU/UNT attracted meant there was always some place to empty your wallet seeing bands.
Benny’s Jazz Club occupied 1210 West Hickory from 1981-1985 and eventually became The Library from ’85 to about 1994 . I always thought that was an unusual name for a club until it hit me: if your parents/teacher/significant other/police asked where you’d been, you could just say, “the library” and they might be none the wiser. Here it is as Benny’s in the mid-’80s:
(photo by Alec Williams)
(EYCE performing at The Library, ca 1988. Photo by Alec Williams.)
The Library eventually became Cool Beans and is still there. Occasionally bands would play on their roof back in the day but I doubt that has been the case since the new condo development went up around it.
A block away at the corner of Mulberry Street and Avenue A sat the Green Derby and then Rick’s Place for about a decade. Countless bands played there but what made the place unusual was that it had a balcony which was, according to my friend who was the soundman there for years, a great place for drummers to look down at whoever was playing. Here it is ca. 1999 with a Keith Haring-inspired mural.
(photo by Julie Glover, Denton Municipal Archives)
In another view of Rick’s, we see a young-and-just-on-the-cusp-of-international-fame Norah Jones leaning on the front of her old Caddy.
(photo from DRC Archives)
Behind The Library/Cool Beans, across a broken glass-infested parking lot, sat a nondescript building at 1217 West Oak once known as Otay’s for a hot minute before becoming the great and lamented Argo:
(photo courtesy of local musician Will Kapinos)
Every so often the stars align where people-place-energy combine to create something special. The Argo was that in spades. Denton always had regional musicians visiting (and supplied a bunch in the other direction), but the Argo sought out and hosted national Indie-Rock bands. It helped put Denton on a different, larger map. If you want to learn more about the Argo and see some great realia and archival material, there is a great Instagram page dedicated to those halcyon days: https://www.instagram.com/the_argo_dtx/ Sadly, it didn’t last beyond the ’90s but left a lasting influence on our music scene. As for the building, it was casualty, along with dozens of historical buildings, of the leveling of that whole block in 2007.
The last club I want to mention is the OG Dan’s Bar on South Elm, which lasted about 5 years before closing, moving to Industrial Street in 2002, and renamed Dan’s Silverleaf. Much has been written about Dan Mojica’s influence on our cultural landscape. He was awarded the Community Arts Recognition Award (CARA) by the Great Denton Arts Council and the Bar was profiled on NPR’s World Cafe, bringing him national recognition. The original Dan’s Bar also featured “Pam Food”, culinary delights prepared by his wife Pam Chittenden. Denton would be a much duller place without The Silverleaf. Here is it at the original location ca. 1998:
(photo by Alec Williams)
Here is a by no means exhaustive list of other bars, joints, hole’s-in-the-wall that were here during that time period (and this doesn’t even get into the numerous houses used for “house shows” over the decades): Crossroads, The Enterprise, Delta Lodge, Good/Bad Art Collective, Main Event, The Char Hut, Jackson’s Pizza, J&J’s Dirty Basement, Fry Street Game Room, Jim’s Diner, Imagined Image Hair Salon…
For more resources about this era, please see Alec Williams’ “Fry Street Neighborhood” book at the library https://denton.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S127C1353266 or his awesome Flickr page where he has also annotated many of the photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/frystreet/
Also, the Emily Fowler Library has many, many articles in our vertical files which are available for anyone to view-no library card needed!
Questions, Comments, Corrections? Email chuck.voellinger@cityofdenton.com
Denton Public Library 