This program is supported by the Elizabeth Huth Caotes Charitable Foundation.

Howdy, folks.

I'm so glad that you're here.

You know, we've covered a lot of great dance halls.

This one stands out at the top of the list as far as major sparkle and the guest.

Come on.

You're right.

It's Green Hall and green Texas, which is right on the doorstep of New Braunfels.

The road to this current role of top music venue started in 1975 with Pat Moore, who saw this building, and he bought this 100 year old dusty building for like hay bales and old furniture.

But he had a dream and that dream became a great fruition.

But many of the greats who played here, not just Willie and Merle, but a long list.

So let's go inside.

Now his daughter Katy is right here.

Katy, you're talking about me?

Yes, ma'am.

How are you?

I'm good.

Welcome.

So, I've got some questions for you.

Do you want to go into the dance hall?

That'd be great.

Come on in.

Wonderful.

Okay.

GRUENE It looks like GRUN, but I sound like green it█s a hundred and something year old dance hall.

Now, Katy, I've been talking about the great musicians that have come here, but there've been some move, a movie and some commercials.

How else is produced?

Yeah, it's kind of got an interesting storied past as far as movies and documentaries, but one of my favorite memories was when John Travolta film cycle here back in the day.

They kind of brought this whole film crew in for about five days, closed off all the streets, and they filmed the famous bar scene back in the bar here.

It's interesting.

They renamed the dance hall Joe's and it.

And so they redid the whole facade of the dance hall, and there was just a big Joe's in front of it.

But there have also been documentaries that have been filmed here.

Jimmy Top just did something for Netflix a few years back, and a lot of commercials.

There's been a Budweiser commercial over the years, and most recently at Super Bowl commercial.

And so it's kind of needed.

Now let's go back to the beginning of a green hall.

But not just Green Hall.

The green Texas A man named Henry Green moved here.

And he built a dance hall in 1878.

And he was a cotton farmer.

And so his vision was really kind of to build this area around the cotton farming community.

So, there's a, a restaurant now, actually, that used to be an old cotton gin, but Green Hall was kind of their community center.

So people would drive in from, you know, their farms and they'd spend weekend evenings here just mingling as a community.

It was everything from weddings to city council meetings to, you know, funerals.

And it was kind of their place to gather.

Now it was built in 1878, as is it, pretty much the way it was back in 1878.

You know, we've worked really hard to not change much of anything.

The floors are still mostly original.

We've had to obviously patch some when when some of the woods gone away.

The chicken wire on the windows is not original, but it's it's very reminiscent of what it was.

There's some advertisements behind me that are from the 30s and 40s, and a little bit later, the roof is its original.

And so we've really done our best to not change what we had control over.

And now we jump 100 years into the future.

Yeah.

1974.

And your father, he had a vision 50 years ago, in 1975.

My dad was really in the Austin music scene, and it was kind of this emerging outlaw country type situation.

After he left Austin, he moved back to San Antonio and he tried his hand at stockbroking, and he just couldn't, couldn't see it for himself.

And so on the weekends.

And when he had time, he'd kind of drive through the whole country, and he was really looking for a dancehall.

He just had a vision of what it could be.

And he stumbled upon Green Hall, and when he did, it was open because it's the oldest continually operating dance hall in Texas.

It is not shuttered.

Its doors.

So he went into the front bar, and the whole back half of it was closed.

And so he had to use the restroom, and he opened the back to walk back to the men's bathroom and kind of just was able to really see he had another vision.

We were very fortunate that he did have the ability and the vision to grab hold of it and to maintain it, because I think it's still really something special and and historic.

It was it was perfect timing.

He built a dance hall and then the Austin movement.

Yeah.

And Willie and everybody moving to the Austin area and playing.

But he was very fortuitous.

Yeah, he was there.

And now it is the really the Mecca for great musicians.

Well, my dad also had a great ear.

I mean, how Ketcham was the carpenter and the beer garden for a really long time.

He built the first basketball hoop out there.

He'd fix all the tables and he started playing in the front bar just on weeknights for free, and he slowly moved his way up to the back seat and then to the main stage.

And so I think you're able to really see the potential not only in the place, but in all of the musicians, too.

It brought new life into this place, and it really just created something special.

It was kind of this launching ground for Texas artists.

Hey baby, get my son.

What?

What is the lure for them to come here?

There's just an intimacy, and and there's something about, you know, it's 800 capacity.

I don't have a movable stage.

I don't have a big light show.

But he ain't playing green.

And so we can't really compete with these big arenas.

But there's something that all these big names have sold here.

And maybe it was because it was installed, like on their rides, but they want to come back and they want to feel that kind of crowd right there with them.

And, yeah.

And so they just kind of stay.

There's a sort of magic.

But I notice if you come here, you can kind of leave your own little bit here and put your name, and all the tables have all kinds of carvings.

You know, there's a rite of passage for the musicians to play here, but there's also these rites of passage for all the guests that come to whether it's I'm going to go have my first beer at Green Hall or, you know, let's go find our names, leave it on this table and we try not to replace them until we absolutely have to.

So we really don't plan to change much of anything.

We obviously have to keep up and stay relevant.

And it's a very, very fine line between doing that and changing.

And so we we kind of walk that path every day.

But you've done a great job, and I wanted you to show me a few things out.

So yeah, I'd like to.

As we go outside we see buildings that have Henry Green's name on them.

He built these buildings?

Yep.

The original mercantile building housed obviously Americans, you know, but it was also a post office.

And there a bank.

There's still an original bank vault that is in there.

It's really pretty cool.

But that was kind of their Commerce center while Green Hall was the community gathering spot.

Now, originally this was his cornfield right here.

And so straight ahead, we've got the cotton mill.

Yep.

And what's the history of that?

Yeah.

So all of this land is right on the bluff of the Guadalupe River.

And so he had his cotton gin.

It was right back here.

It's now the grist mill restaurant, but the cotton gin burned down.

But there's still a lot of the original brick work that you can see.

And it really is a historic building.

So, you know, we've got straight up here.

We have the water tower.

Yep.

And I hear your father was a big fighter to keep that there.

They wanted to build an apartment or something.

Yeah, they really wanted to develop this land.

And they were going to tear down the gristmill and the water tower, and he put up a big fight to save that.

So it's really a neat kind of marker of the town now.

And this is one of our most storied pieces of Green Hall.

You know, when the artist started getting so big that they couldn't walk through the crowds anymore, they were like, well, how how am I going to get an how am I going to get to the stage and so Willie Nelson came and my dad decided that they'd cut down some of this chicken wire.

And this actually feeds right into the men's restroom.

But they kind of made some haphazard stairs, and they went right onto the stage.

And so now it's been deemed the Willie door.

And it's kind of a rite of passage for a lot of the artists that will come through the hall.

No other dance hall has a really door.

That is very true.

Where are unique in that aspect.

I feel like really now how about that for?

I'm with Jane Spivey and she is an executive director with the Texas Dance Hall Preservation.

Now, how did that get started?

I got started in 2007.

There were a group of people who got together and said, we are losing our precious Texas dance halls.

At one time there were more than 1000 people.

We think maybe there's 400 left, but they're not all dance halls and it's all over Texas.

So basically Texas dance hall preservation was created to help dance halls survive and thrive.

Because the history of Texas dance halls is unique.

Other states don't have this much.

But I would assume if you're preserving the dance hall, you probably know some more of the history of it to make sure they're doing it the right way.

Well, that is very important to our preservation committee in terms of what people want to change or fix or how they change or fix it, because we really want the buildings to exist the way they did back when they were built.

Well, except that, you know, now we have some of them have air conditioning and toilets.

Oh, well, actually, they all done.

Some of them still don't have air conditioning.

No, no.

Well some of them were built in 1878, 1890s, things like that.

Oh yeah.

So so that's a great service to help revive.

Well, I think that there are so many stories.

I was at another dance hall about a couple months ago, and I met this couple that met at that dance hall, and they have been married for 60 years.

Wow, wow.

So just generations of generations of people bringing their kids here, of growing up here, meeting their spouses.

I mean, the the number of stories and connections is just amazing and and truly heartwarming.

I. Well, when you're in Green Hall, you don't know how to dance already.

You got to learn to dance.

And I've got Aaron Frazier with the Blue Moon Dance Company to teach me a few stuff.

Let's do it.

I'm going to start with a little tiny step.

How am I going to hold in a closed call just like this?

And the leader will be underneath.

So we're going to start with your left foot for the leader and right for the follow.

And we're going to start forward with a quick flick and then a slow slow.

So we'll go quick quick slow slow quick quick slow slow.

Very good quick quick slow.

Keep going and I'll turn quick quick slow.

Very good.

All right.

Should we try a little waltz.

Let's do it.

Let's do it I do that okay.

So we're going to start the same way.

We're going to hold closed here like this.

Good.

Now we're going to start with your left and my right.

We're going to do A123123 okay.

So we're just going to go forward.

This is pretty casual.

So we're going to go 12345601.

There you go.

345612.

Very good.

456123.

Good bad six one.

Keep going.

And 45601.

Very good.

It's working the truth.

Very good.

You're a good teacher.

Thank you.

And 1234.

You got it.

Four.

Five.

6123456123456.

And one.

Beautiful.

Oh, here we go.

Thank you.

Very, very good.

I'm a dancer.

How about that?

Let's becomes a Blue moon dance company.

And Erin Frazier here at Grune Hall cant beat that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Everybody on the road again.

Actually, we do have to go out on the road now because we're going to Martinez, Texas and the Martinez Social Club.

One more mama.

Don't let your cowboys grow up to be baby.

What?

I gotta go, I gotta go.

Bye, everybody.

We'll see you next time.

Here on San Antonio's near Eastside, we have the Martinez Social club and dance hall and bowling alley.

Our other dance halls.

We're a community gathering place for farmers getting together and dancing and music.

But the origin of this place is much different.

I'd say it was an effort of love.

In 1912, the gentleman that lived out here, Mr.

Leake, he lived in Martinez, Texas, which was a very small town, just a rail crossing and a few houses.

But his daughter wanted to get married.

That's when he realized that there were no halls, no buildings to have a great wedding reception for his daughter.

So he and his friends came out here, and they built Martinez Social Club for his daughter's wedding.

After the wedding, he decided he was open up to the community for all their celebrations, and they've been celebrating ever since.

Let's go inside.

Okay, that's good for our day in the gates, then.

Lloyd Morgan school busses lost their legs.

Hola, Hola.

You must be J. Oh, yes.

Barbara.

You pass.

This is Barbara Dean.

She is the person out here.

She got care a poem.

She knows all the history, everything.

And she's going to give us a little tour.

Okay.

Now you're speaking German.

Yes.

So this was a German community.

It was in my generation.

The, the German farmers and ranchers and businessmen.

Businessmen are the ones that got this, club organized.

It was a beautiful place.

Thank you.

And so, I would assume, as a German community, it's, started with Hocus Pocus Waltz in two steps.

Yes.

Now I'm going to be dancing.

I lag a little bit after we finish.

Tell me about what I can do.

Okay.

Are you single?

Maybe.

Yeah.

Okay.

You want to sit on that side on this?

Oh, so, singles on this side and married people on that side.

So you don't ask somebody that's married if they can dance with you and come over here, or unless you see their husband coming and dancing with some of the singles, there's this promise made with you.

So speaking of dancing here, there's different kinds of steps to the kinds of dances about the men and the women.

Tell me about quite, about an hour and a half into the dancing.

We have a, a deal that's called the stroll.

The women line up on this side.

The men are on this side, and they meet in the middle and they dance.

And then the the man dances them around over to the line for the women to get back.

And the band usually plays four songs right in a row.

Okay.

For about to get in.

Have a good time.

Very good.

Can you pick which lady you want to dance with at that point?

No.

No hooker.

You just dance with the one that lines up with you.

Now, there's a lot of history here.

But the dance has been active all these years.

Now what?

I hear that during the depression, there was a problem.

A crisis, right?

During the depression.

The members, we only had nine members at that time.

And, they were they had a $70 debt.

So they were thinking about tearing the building down and, selling the lumber to pay the debt.

And the an active members, all the members, they got together and decided, no, that can't happen.

They got together, paid the debt, and, the dance hall is still.

So it's kind of like at the end of It's a Wonderful Life.

Everybody came around under House act.

Exactly.

This is a very special place, a lot of great history.

What else do you have?

Well, we do have more.

We have a surprise over on the other side.

The surprise.

Come on.

The show me the.

Come here.

Take a look at this.

Oh, wow.

Our nine pin bowling alley.

Nine, ten.

Nine pin.

Okay.

That's German, right?

Nine.

Come.

Well, it came from Germany.

Yes.

Oh, right.

I'm getting good at this.

Right.

Now, folks.

Guesses we've gotten.

Now this is our dance, man.

Now, what's your title here.

This is Roger.

Good.

Thank you.

I'm vice president of the Martinez Social Club dance hall.

So you take care of the problems, attempt to attempt to as a crutch to.

But you also dance as well.

Yes, I do, I've been dancing since I was six years old.

I started dancing with my mother to focus on waltzes.

At that time, it was predominantly German music and then just graduated from that to country, Western, traditional country and Western.

And I've done that my entire life.

Now, mentioning that I heard that this was polka only in the beginning.

That's exactly right.

This was a German community church.

Yes.

And German and Czech.

Polish, Polish, yes.

And so we did a lot of, polkas and then, I guess added waltzes.

Yes.

And then later on.

Right.

You've gone into the country Western.

Sorry, country western.

Two step.

We have just a great number of people who just enjoy dancing the two step and focus on waltzes.

A lot of times with a country band, they will request a polka.

Also.

And this floor is pretty amazing.

This was original.

Yeah.

The floor on the on the dance hall is original from 1912.

It's never been refinished.

The thing that maintains the integrity of it, of which dancers love, is the fact that, it's just dance wax put on it.

So the individuals who dance keep our floor polished.

We use the dance wax here and spread it out prior to a dance.

And then as the dance progresses, the dancers move it around with their feet as you're dancing, and that acts as almost like a sanding property, keeping it smooth and keeping it polished.

Cool.

No, that's that's great, because some of the old, other historic, dance halls have the woods got traction out of creeks and all that.

And this is this is like a Formica flooring anymore.

So it's a beautiful floor.

They say it's one of the most impressive floors.

A lot of people who come, and have come from different areas of the state, even from out of state, you know, they comment continuously to their friends that this is one of the best flats, dancehall floors in the state of Texas.

It's beautiful.

Thank you.

Let's see you on the dance floor.

You bet.

I wonder if Mr.

Lake knew that after all these years, the structure he built for his daughter's wedding reception is still a community gathering spot.

You know, after I've learned about all these Texas dance halls, I'm amazed at their staying power and the power of community.

It's been good to have you on for the ride.

We'll see you next time.

Take care.

When I decided to write one called Let's Get Back to the Honkey Talks Again.

Let's get back to those.

How it all began.

And to step to those toes from way back when.

It started by the numbers.

Count me in.

Let's get back to those.

How it all began.

Flashing neon lights and swinging doors and yeah.

Born boots shuffling across the floor.

Girl that looks so pretty.

It just felt.

I'd give it back to those who don't get all the bells.

But what do you say?

Hey, let's get back to those on the dance again.

And to step to those terms from way back when.

It started by the number down them.

Hey, let's get back to those.

I'll be tall to cut.

It.

Get back to those.

honkey tonk.

That's all I really want to get back to go.

those Honkey tonks again.

This program is supported by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation.