Debby's Roadhouse - aka - Drift-On Inn

Years ago Miriam and I decided we wanted to go out dancing.

Having recently been to a “Black Angus” restaurant we saw that they had a dance floor and dancing on Friday and Saturday nights.  We got dressed up, we dropped the kids off with my mom and off we went to a world of twenty-somethings and techno crap music that you couldn’t dance to.  It made me feel both old and out-of-step.  We finally asked the DJ to play something by Elvis or Chuck Berry or SOMETHING that, you know, you could dance to.  Props to him, he did, but then went right back to playing techno crap that, I guess, was “Hip.”

Frustrated by our experience, but still wanting to go dancing, we went searching for another place to “shake our groove things.”

After mentioning this desire to a few friends the response came back with:  “You need to go to Debby’s Roadhouse.”  Just a couple miles away this was a club/restaurant/bar with a casino on the bottom floor.  It was also known as the “Drift-On Inn.”

Drift-On Inn aka Debby's Roadhouse

Heading over there on a Friday or Saturday night we found the place to be packed to the gills, smoke filled and somewhat enjoyable.  $3 cover charge, you had to show your ID when you entered, got stamped on the back of your hand and then made your way through the crowds.  Bar on the left side with pull tabs, booths on the right side (usually the first to fill up) and tables just on the fringes of the dance floor.  Typically these would be pushed back to allow more dancing room.

Done in a 50’s kitsch the place packed them in.  Though it was smoky we found it to be enjoyable.  First, the age range was all over the map from the early 20’s to the early 80’s.  Second, the music they played was from the 50’s to the present day and it was all danceable.  No techno crap music.  The dance floor was crowded and the overall experience was memorable.

How memorable?  Well – we soon found regulars.  Poindexter, a guy dressed up with bow tie (kind of like Eddie Deezen from "Grease") and Babyface, a young man who looked just this side of 21.  He could have been 40, but you couldn’t tell.  He was good looking but he always seemed to be nursing one beer.  Poindexter would ask any woman to dance (and most took him up on it) whereas Babyface wouldn’t ask anyone to dance – but we’d watch to see.  There was also the regular bartender and the regular DJ.

Eddie Deezen from "Grease"

Riding on the wave of popularity we’d show up and find bachelorette parties (with penis necklaces) in full swing.  Or they’d do some sort of promotion (best butt contest) and give away some cash.  This place was swingin’ and we were a part of it.

But then life interrupts and you’ve got to do things and you can’t always get a babysitter and life fills with tasks and plans and “got-to-get-to-bed-early” and we ended up not going to Debby’s for a while.

After the voters voted out cigarette smoking in doors we figured it was time to go hit the dance floor again.  At the very least we wouldn’t smell like cigarette smoke when we got home.  When we arrived it was, pretty much, the same – except for two things:  1. the crowd was decidedly smaller and 2. it was predominantly lesbians.  So, okay, Debby’s Roadhouse was now a lesbian bar.  Fine.

Then the ownership decided to build a new casino/restaurant/club right next door entitled “Club Hollywood” and it was going to be big and hip and new and fancy.

"Club Hollywood" - the bigger younger brother 

Still, Debby’s (aka Drift-On Inn) plugged along and life continued to interrupt and things continued to happen and it was another couple years before we decided to go out dancing again.  This time we found a casino 25 minutes away and enjoyed going dancing there except that because those casinos are part of the Native American Nation – they allow cigarette smoking.  Back again we were faced with a nice night out dancing and smelling like we woke up in an ash tray or hanging out in a lesbian bar.

When that casino club closed down for renovation we were stuck with going back to Debby’s Roadhouse or Club Hollywood.  What would we fine?

At Club Hollywood we found a high school reunion well underway so that wasn’t an option…and back over to Debby’s.  Here it was – an active Friday night and Debby’s had all of 6 people.  Our longtime bartender was there and the DJ and then a smattering of people sitting around the bar area.  No one was dancing (though the music was playing), no cover charge, no bouncer.  No one to check our ID and stamp our hands.  No Poindexter.  No Babyface.  But, hell, that wasn’t going to stop us.  Out on the dance floor we went and, due to the lack of people, we could request whatever songs we wanted.

As we danced two gentlemen (and I use that term loosely) came up from the downstairs casino.  One was drunk and obnoxious while the other seemed to be the designated driver.  The drunk wanted to dance with Miriam and I which meant him REALLY crowding us until his friend pulled him away.  But, within moments, his drunk buddy would sidle up to us again and then the bartender got involved and, eventually, he kicked them out.

Since that time we went back up to the far away casino to dance (as their renovation finally completed) but we still missed Debby’s and our historic past there.

This past Friday (May 29^th) Miriam realized that she didn’t work on Saturday and popped the idea that we go out dancing.  Do we go up to the casino, driving an hour round-trip, and reek of cigarette smoke?  Or do we hit Debby’s Roadhouse or, possibly, Club Hollywood?

Knowing that they have a regular group of bands that play at Club Hollywood, I checked their line-up to see who was playing.  Some band called “The Final Finals” and a quick Google search to see what type of music they played came up with nothing.  But, more importantly, the words “permanently closed” were on the Google link to Drift-On Inn.  Could it be permanently closed?  I mean, yeah, the last time we were there – there was only about 8 people in the entire bar.  But, but, but - PERMANENT?  I called the phone number and was told that the number had "been disconnected or no longer in service."  SIGH.

SEE!  Permanently closed (according to Google).

Miriam asked what I wanted to do and I suggested we go down to Club Hollywood.  I wanted to see how “permanent” the closure of Debby’s/Drift-On was.  Maybe pay our last respects at the hole in the ground.  At the very least we’d see “The Final Finals” and maybe they would be good.

When we arrived Debby’s still looked open and I grabbed a parking spot directly in front (unheard of back in the day).  We went in to watch the band play at Club Hollywood and, though, good – they were a hard rock band that specialized in two things: 1. volume and 2. feedback.  Nothing really remotely danceable and we couldn’t hear each other.  By 11 p.m. they were packing up their stuff and the Club had turned on the lights to indicate that the show was over.

That’s it?  No dancing.  Very little drinking.  Fish-and-Chips were excellent, though.

Miriam and I wandered over to the car and we decided to pop in to Debby’s to see how “permanently closed” they were…they weren’t.  The regular bartender was there (DJ was different) but the place was open.  Dance floor was empty.  About 10 people were at the bar.  Miriam and I decided to go ahead and have a few dances on the dance floor.

One old guy in shorts and missing a hand entertained people by the bar.  A large black man missing his legs and sitting in a wheelchair swayed to the music.  A couple sat on one end of the bar doing pull tabs.

When I went to get Miriam a drink I told the bartender that Google said they were permanently closed.

“What?  We’ve never closed!”

I pulled it up on my phone and showed him.

“Those f**kers!”  He mumbled something about previous owners or something and was pissed.

Miriam and I continued to dance until a handful of people from Club Hollywood made it into Drift-On and danced with us (even “She-Bop” by Cyndi Lauper – via Miriam’s request).  The old guy with one hand drunkenly complemented us on our dancing and even the large legless guy in the wheelchair came out to dance a line dance.

Debby’s/Drift-On wasn’t closed after all.  They have Karaoke on Thursday and I wonder how many people they get for that.  And, still, Friday and Saturday night starting at 10 p.m. they have dancing.  If you’re looking for something to do, give the Drift-On Inn a try.