Gilley's Club
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The famed bar/honky tonk was founded in 1971 by country singer Mickey Gilley in Pasadena, Texas [1]. Pasadena was enshrined in film history when John Travolta, Debra Winger and others descended on the city to film the 1980 hit movie Urban Cowboy, which depicted life and young love in Pasadena. The film centered around the city's enormous honky-tonk bar, Gilley's Club, which was co-owned by country music star Mickey Gilley and Sherwood Cryer.
It was a tin building that housed multiple bars and mechanical bulls. Connected to Gilley's club was a small rodeo arena that would also host both bicycle and motorcycle motocross races on Friday and Saturday nights. Lone Star beer flowed abundantly and soon there was even a Gilley's Beer added to the bars there.
Gilley's bumper stickers were a common sight on Houston-area streets and freeways during the 1970s. The stickers displayed a red Gilley's logo on a white reflective background (which conveniently glowed when illuminated by headlights). Gilley's employees applied the stickers to every vehicle parked in the club's lot each night. Patrons who didn't want a sticker were advised to leave their sun visors down.
During Gilley's heyday in the late 1970s and eary 1980s, Cryer operated several bars and businesses throughout Pasadena. Locals whispered that he was connected with organized crime, including a shadowy Pasadena hitman known as "Honest Al." These allegations were never proven.
Gilley's closed after a falling out between Gilley and Cryer. In 1989 Gilley's suffered an arson fire that gutted the interior -- rumored to have been started by Cryer so he could collect insurance -- but the building's shell was still standing until 2006 when it was demolished by the Pasadena Independent School District, its current owner. Only the old sound recording studio remains. (the old sign can be found at the Cowboy Ranch, a local restaurant). Gilley still makes his home in Pasadena.
On October 2, 2003, Gilley's was reopened: this time in the larger urban center of Dallas-Fort Worth. The new club features a 26,000 square foot main show room and the original mechanical bull, El Toro, featured in the movie Urban Cowboy. In total, the new club has 91,000 square feet of restaurant, entertainment, meeting, and private function space [2].
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