Still Holding On

Photos by Tim Cox
Story by Yvette Herrera

Forty-nine years ago, a small, simple lounge opened up just minutes away from TCU. Dim lights hung from the ceiling as smoke filled the dusky rooms that were dotted with pool tables and small tables to sit at. The wooden bar sat about 15 customers as they sipped on ice cold beer during happy hour or any other time of the day.

Forty-eight years later, a fire destroyed the history and photos that remained in the Oui Lounge, located at 3509 Bluebonnet Cir., in less than 45 minutes. Customers of all ages watched the Oui burn.

Bartenders and the manager of the Oui Lounge were all left without a job, but more importantly, without a home.

After 20 years of bartending and later becoming the manager of the Oui, Kathy Graham sought a part-time job at a card and gift shop near Bluebonnet Circle.

There was a difference in lifestyle and money, Graham said.

During happy hour at the Oui Lounge customers like Liz Hudson enjoy a glass of chardonnay or a Budweiser on tap after a long day’s work.

“We did what we had to do to get through it,” she said. “And now we’re all trying to get back to the bartending lifestyle of staying up late and being on our feet.”

The walls that once filled the lounge with photos of regular customers, including many TCU alumni, are now left bare.

Graham said she has a sack full of old photos stored away, and she plans on sorting through them to fill the paneling and bring back a part of the Oui that was burned Oct. 25.

A little more than two weeks ago, 108 days after the fire, the Oui Lounge had its grand re-opening, bringing back students, neighbors and alumni together at a place they once called home.

“(The customers) were just glad that we were back,” Graham said. “They were glad to be home.”

Graham, along with the other bartenders who work at the Oui, said she never had any doubt that the Oui would open again.

Rumiko Andrews, day bartender at the Oui, also had to find another job while the Oui as being rebuilt. She said it took a few days, but she found another bartending job.

She said her new employer understood that her job with him was only temporary.

“It was so different,” Andrews said. “I missed the regular customers and the money. I’m glad to be back.”

During the grand opening, customers complimented the bartenders on how nice the bar looked. Only one thing was missing: the old photos.

“We’re still trying to put things together,” Andrews said. “Hopefully we can take new photos to add to the wall.”

The Oui continued showing its support to TCU through advertisements placed in the TCU Daily Skiff, saying, “Oui’ll be back soon.” The first ad was printed just days after the lounge had been destroyed. Spray painted signs hung on what were once the front windows of the Oui that also reassured the construction of the building.

Maria Castillo, owner of Sugar and Spice, a children’s boutique next door to the lounge, reported the fire at 9:22 a.m. after she saw and smelled smoke coming into the boutique from the ceiling.

The lit pool table stands alone during happy hour, but customers wait in line on weekends for a chance to play pool with their friends.

She said that when she stepped outside of her boutique, she immediately saw the smoke coming from the Oui.

The Fort Worth Fire Department arrived about five minutes after the call was received and stayed all day, recovering broken glass from the front windows and searching the building for the initial cause of the fire.

Fort Worth Fire Chief Fernando Gonzales said the fire was started by an electrical problem in the lounge’s water heater wiring. Most of the damage was in the front room and the bar. He said the back area, where there is a pool table and the stook room, only had smoke damage.

Mike Moore, owner of the Oui, said the lounge was covered by insurance, and at the time of the fire he had hoped to rebuild it soon.

“I spent most of my life working in that bar, and the fire took memories of generations of people with it,” Moore said at the time of the fire.
A little more than three months seemed like a lifetime to some regular customers.

Chris Maunder, a senior advertising/public relations major, said he has been going to the Oui for years. Maunder grew up in Fort Worth and said his high school buddies always talked about how the place had been around forever.

“It was a huge loss to a lot of people,” Maunder said. “But it’s back. The pictures on the walls are missing, but I’m sure they’ll take some more to add to the memories of a lounge that can never be destroyed.”

Yvette Herrera