165 Church Street

Some buildings were just meant to be bars and the infamous second story club on lower Church Street now called Club Toast is one of those places. Chris Parizo digs for the dirt and finds some sordid stories to spread.

You have seen national touring acts stop by and play some amazing shows, and sometimes you have seen a local act put on a show that blew nationals out of the water. Some of you have had the time of your life (whether it be natural or under the influence of some sort of barley and hops), and maybe some of you have had to deal with the "air-born flight down the stairs" after you said some sort of smart-ass comment to a much larger bouncer. Whatever the reason, the soldiers within the Burlington music community will all have some memory of the business establishments that have occupied 165 Church Street: The Red Dog, The Lighthouse, Texas, Prohibitions, KD Churchill's or the current residents Club Toast.

The Red Dog: The Red Dog reputation was pretty much the same as Club Toast, just a little rougher. The drinking age was 18 so the place would be filled with college students and high school kids. Cover bands ruled. The Red Dog was the old stomping ground for my father when he was my age, and he was so dedicated to the business that he even played softball for the bar.

Dale Parizo: "It was pretty quiet. It was the same people most of the time and everyone pretty much knew everyone else. It occasionally got a little hectic, but nothing too bad. It got worse towards the end."

Fights became a nightly occurrence and a police cruiser could always be seen hiding across the street. The owners eventually decided to leave behind the live music venue and open a sit-down bar away from the downtown area.

The Lighthouse: And then all hell broke loose . . . disco had arrived to Burlington. The beer stained floor (that already had a stickiness to it) was ripped up and a dance floor was installed that was lit from the bottom. The ceiling was covered with neon lights bent into geometric designs.

The Lighthouse also started a trend that holds true to today . . . The V.I.P. room. The upstairs was sectioned off to friends of the establishment or others who could furnish people with certain "luxuries". Glamour drugs were left out in the open and people were known to have sex . . . openly . . . in the room. Today, that same room offers a refrigerator to keep your soda cold.

Texas: Texas was rough. To give you an idea of what type of bar Texas was, here is a good hint: mechanical bull. This was the age of the "Urban Cowboy" and the mechanical bull was popular with drunken rednecks, bikers and lots of ladies.

Texas was crazy. Bands like Run 21, Quadra and 8084 packed the place. Jimmy "OXO" Carter: "I remember one night that Run 21 played. It was New Year's Eve, I can't remember the year, but the line outside went down Church Street and around the corner. The room was packed and everyone was jumping up and down, you could feel the floor bending under the weight on the stage . . . I was absolutely sure that it was going to give in.

One night we were playing and Armored Saint was opening for Quiet Riot over at the Auditorium. We were at Texas and the guys from Saint walked in after their show. The lead singer sang some song with us...the guys from Riot went up to the band room and hung out. They were such jerks. Talking about how great they were and how they don't need to practice anymore or write songs... we worshipped them."

Things at Texas were way out of hand. Texas always had a sort of danger/excitement in the air. You could count on five or six people being thrown down those stairs every night.

The memory that everyone seems to recall is the night of the fire. Apparently a band had left an amplifier turned on over night and the room was gutted by fire. The property was close to destroyed, but somehow the owner rebuilt the room.

Carter continues: "I remember that you use to be able to spot people hanging out the windows by their ankles, sometimes naked, screaming and hollering.

The biggest night that I remember from Texas, is the last night that the drinking age was 18. Everyone who was between the ages of 18 and 21 went out and partied, because they knew that that was going to be their last night to get drunk legally for awhile. There were people on the floor, yelling and screaming. It was a mess."

Prohibitions: With the drinking age stuck at 21, the new owners of Prohibitions tried to keep the younger crowd in the club by building a huge plexiglass wall that separated the drinking crowd from the under-agers.

Jake Ryman: "The place turned into an aquarium. I was too young to drink so I use to be stuck on one side of the glass with my friends, looking at girls on the other side and being like: `Ah man, she is hot! Too bad she's over there!' It was really ridiculous."

Prohibitions became an 18 plus club. The music was still mostly cover bands, but Burlington musicians were beginning to get creative and a small group of bands began to write their own material, a small rumbling had started within the city.

K.D. Churchill's: To this day, most people still have no clue who K.D. Churchill was. However, KD's became a 21+ club on a regular basis. An "under the hill night" became insanely popular with the local high school crowd At this time, Dennis Wygmans began to DJ at the club.

Club Toast: Now it is known as Club Toast, owned by Dennis and Justin Wygmans. It is Burlington's best known rock bar. Club Toast is the place to find live music six nights out of the week, every week, all year long.

No matter what the business is called, the location is a part of our musical heritage. 165 Church Street is a cornerstone of local music. When certain club "hot spots" closed their doors and turned into ski shops or... a parking lot . . . 165 continued on. Hopefully, it will continue.

Chris Parizo just says no.