Dark and quirky, Cellar Club gave Fort Worth an underground vibe

The old adage goes: “If you remember the ’60s, you really weren’t there.” Same can be said for The Cellar, one of the most bizarre clubs in Texas.

The beatnik hangout was owned by Pat Kirkwood and managed by Jim Hill. Four cities had a Cellar — Fort Worth, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. The club appeared on the Texas music scene beginning about 1958, first in Fort Worth and later in Houston. These two cities were the most successful locations; the San Antonio Cellar lasted only a few weeks in late 1962, and the Dallas location was never as busy as the first two.

The original Cellar in Fort Worth opened downtown on Houston Street about 1958 and moved several times in the early 1960s. In each location, the décor featured a fireplace, candles, wood-beamed ceilings, beanbags and low tables.

House bands rotated from one Cellar to another. Musicians Doug Sahm, John Nitzinger, Joe Ely, Johnny Nash and others played the Cellar circuit. Comedian George Carlin also performed there. Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, later of ZZ Top, toured through with their band called the American Blues.

All the clubs had the same entertainment format. Each night, after an hourlong warmup performance, two bands played alternating one-hour sets, often lasting until sunup.

In those days, there was no “liquor by the drink” in Texas, so no alcohol was served, just setups. For a cover charge of one buck, a customer could hear both bands and watch bikini-clad waitresses serve soft drinks all night long.

There was no dance floor. The space in front of the stage was covered with old couch cushions where guests could recline and jam to the music.

Photo: Known for its intimate, dimly lit atmosphere, The Cellar drew local hipsters for long sessions of live music.

A footnote to history

Fort Worth’s Cellar gained added notoriety when President John F. Kennedy’s entourage spent a night at the Hotel Texas before a fateful motorcade through downtown Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

About half a dozen members of Kennedy’s Secret Service detail partied at the Cellar before waking up early to continue their presidential duties.

After Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, the LBJ-appointed Warren Commission investigated whether the agents were intoxicated or sleep-deprived. The final report stated that while some agents were out late, an investigation did not find any agent to be intoxicated or unfit for duty.

“You Must Be Weird …”

The various locations of the Cellar closed by the mid-1970s, mainly because Texas voted in liquor by the drink. By that time, Fort Worth police were regularly staging raids to crack down on goings-on at the club.

Owner Pat Kirkwood died in 2000.

A CD, The Cellar Tapes Volume One (2000), features live musical recordings from the club. Throughout the years, a Cellar reunion has been held, including a bash in Fort Worth in 2011. You Must Be Weird or You Wouldn’t Be Here, a documentary film by Giles McCrary, was released in 2013.

Photo: The Cellar, ironically, was on the second floor of a Houston Street building.

Photo: The downtown mainstay gave rise to many of the blues-rock groups that would come out of Texas years later. (Photo stills from You Must Be Weird or You Wouldn’t Be Here documentary.)

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