If you are feeling the luck of the Irish, or just want an excuse to don your favorite green apparel, there is a place in downtown Texarkana to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day for three nights, beginning tonight.
The 1923 Banana Club, a speakeasy that opened around late October, is creating some buzz in Texarkana as a place of entertainment unlike anywhere else, owner David Peavy said.
Part of the reason is like the original speakeasy establishments popular in America from about 1917 to 1930, the Banana 1923 club requires a code to get in the doors on 223 Front Street. It is inside the same building as the upstairs 1894 Gallery, also owned by Peavy. Originally the business was a wholesaler for Mom-and-Pop grocery stores.
“1923 was right in the middle of that time, before the economic crash,” Peavy said. “Everyone was happy, and things were being built so it was a fun time. What we are doing is trying to go back to that time.”
For the next three nights at the club, Irish food, beverages, and music will be offered, said Tonia Chambers, the manager, or as she calls it running the joint. Chambers, who is a vintage collector and stylist, has one of the largest collections of vintage clothing in the area. She became involved with the club after giving Peavy tips on decorating the establishment, she said.
“We are going to have potato soup, corn beef hash, cabbage, carrots and potatoes and cornbread,” said Chambers, who always wears second-hand or vintage clothing. “We have Guinness beer and other Irish beer. We have what they call an Irish Car Bomb which is half a pint of Guinness and Irish cream, so you have to drink it fast before the Irish cream curdles.”
The Irish ales will be $3.50, and the Coffee with Irish cream will be $3.50 also. The Irish Car Bomb specialty drink will be $5. The corn beef meal with vegetables is $14.95. Potato soup is either $5.95 for a cup or $8.95 for a bowl. Reservations are recommended for parties who want their own table. Call 903-824-7674. Doors open at 7 p.m. Thursday and at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.
The entertainment for all three nights is going to be musician, tattoo artist and chef Allan McEneaney. Chambers said McEneaney has been playing shows in Texarkana so some of the crowd may be familiar with him. She describes him as a human jukebox who can sing almost any song someone suggests.
McEneaney is Irish and has also performed in London’s West End.
“At times it will be like an Irish pub sing along. He will tell stories about being in Ireland, so he’s more than just some guy playing covers, he’s putting on a show.”
The LED lights that highlight the bar and the bar itself, which contains moving water bubbles and glitter, will all be lit up green to welcome those who want to celebrate their heritage or just a fun occasion to celebrate the heritage of others.
For those who have not yet been to the club, they may recognize the plush chairs around the tables in front of the stage. Like most of the items inside Peavy’s club, these are secondhand by choice — to give the place a look from the past. The chairs were originally at the popular restaurant at the King’s Row Inn on State Line Avenue, he said.
There are also pictures of immigrants and downtown Texarkana of yesteryear and portraits of mobsters who spent their fair share of time in places like the club, gambling, drinking, and looking for dates.
The club also honors silent film star Corinne Griffith, who spent part of her childhood in Texarkana. Griffith later made $12,000 a week. Through savvy investing, she had accumlated a fortune estimated $150 million at the time of her death.
Texarkana’s own Scott Joplin, known as the “King of Ragtime,” is honored as well.
There is no dress code inside the club, but it is the kind of place where people enjoy dressing up to come and have a good time, Chambers said.
Peavy said he would not describe his opening the club a dream of his, but said it was just something he thought needed to be done. At the time he was looking at the building, he had the thought that no one would recognize downtown in three years, and he said he thinks he was correct based on the activity that downtown Texarkana now has.
“If it’s not true, it’s coming true,” Peavy said. “It doesn’t look like the economic desert it once did. Suddenly there are more destination places, and we think of this as a destination place because you have to drive across the interstate to be here. It is old down here and it feels old. I mean the brick is 120 years old behind some of the paintings.”
