This is an edited version of an CityView article about Hairy Mary's, a music venue in Des Moines in the 90s and 00s that played punk rock.
Five years after its closing, the legend of Hairy Mary’s remains
The downtown area seemed barren in comparison to what it is today. Many buildings were used as storage, which is exactly why Jeff Wright and John Limke thought it would be the perfect area to open a new live music venue on Southwest 2nd Street (the current home of the High Life Lounge and el Bait Shop).
“We opened the original Hairy Mary’s in 1991 in an old empty warehouse,” said Wright, who owns Church of Choppers and along with Limke and Brad “Fatty” Smith also owns FTW Company, GT Lounge, Kung Fu Tap and Taco and Big Tomato Pizza.
The name was based on a local beauty that caught Wright’s eye...
The neighborhood was so desolate, some local officials didn’t even know Mary’s existed.
“I remember being outside, and we had been open for probably a year, and a police officer rolled up and asked about the bar,” Wright said. “I told him we had been open for a year, and the cop said, ‘This is my beat, and I didn’t even know you guys were here.’ It was a totally underground club, and we were a lot better known nationally than we were locally.”
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| Photo courtesy of The Iowa Underground Archives |
The building was a perfect location for the venue, but the former tenants left something not so desirable behind.
“They used to store hogs in there, and when we had big shows like the Smashing Pumpkins or Mudhoney, the wood would start to sweat, and you could smell the hogs,” Wright laughed. “I remember we probably had 800 people in there, and it was so hot and sweaty, steam was rising off the building. People actually called the fire department because they thought the building was on fire because there was so much steam rising from the body heat.”...
The club, considered the CBGB of Iowa — an iconic music venue in New York City where bands like The Ramones and Blondie got their starts — was so well known on the national level that the music magazine Alternative Press voted the bar Best Live Music Venue.
“Bands loved playing there because we liked to party. There were a lot of wild times down there,” Wright said. “We didn’t set out to open theme bars or throw bacon festivals; we did it for the love of music.”
Other bands that played the original location included Fugazi, Monster Magnet, Firehose, Clutch, X, Supersuckers, Ween, Dumpster Juice, House of Large Sizes and a relatively unknown Dave Matthews Band...
Although the parties were known to survive many challenges, the secret service shut one celebration down during the floods of ’93.
“The water was close, but for some freak reason, we had power, and the bar was dry, so we just moved the speakers outside and started partying,” Wright said. “Then the secret service came by in the row boats and told us to stop and turn the music off because Bill Clinton was going to be coming by as he toured the flood areas. The cops made us close everything down, but we just moved everything to [Mike] Clabaugh’s house.”...
The bar also had a strong following of regulars who came down regardless of who was playing. Kim Huch Hanson, who is married to Bobby but didn’t know him at the time, was one of those people.
“I hung out a lot and remember eating a lot of Pop Tarts there. I think you could get a package of Pop Tarts for like 50 cents. And you could get them hot or cold,” she laughed. “I remember the night before Lollapalooza. There weren’t a lot of people there, but it was so cool to see all of these bands that I was going to see the next day get up on stage and jam together.”...
“Those guys brought the party environment to Des Moines, and people are still talking about it,” Kim said. “Mary’s was the perfect storm, and I have lots of good memories. Bands heard it was a wild place and actually wanted to stop and play Des Moines. There have been other venues in Des Moines, but there will never be another place like Mary’s.”
All good things must come to an end, though, and after advancing the metro music scene in only a handful of years, Hairy Mary’s closed its doors in 1994.
“We were totally burned out,” Wright said. “Working 10 bands a week for years takes its toll. We sold it and moved on to our other ventures.”
But that wasn’t the end of Hairy Mary’s.
The second location
In early 1997, Shawn Crahan of Slipknot had taken over the Safari Club, located at 2307 University Ave. But as Slipknot began to attract more attention from record labels, the bar became a burden and Cranhan closed the Safari Club in late 1997, selling it to another owner.
“Shawn sold the bar to a kid who was running it into the ground, so Jeff approached me about joining up with him and John to reopen Mary’s,” Fatty said. “I was in the media/bar business at the time, but I loved live music so we decided to do it.”
The bar was remodeled from its previous incarnations and reopened in 1998.
“We gutted the place but still wanted to keep it punk rock,” Wright said. “I travel a lot, so when Fatty and I go out of town, we try and search out the Hairy Mary’s of the towns we’re in.”
To many, one of the most memorable aspects of the University Avenue location was the bathroom. When patrons talk about the bar, the bathrooms usually come up. But Wright says you can’t always judge a book by its cover.
“People always said the bathrooms were bad, but we kept them clean. Those bathrooms got bleached and scrubbed as much as any other bathroom,” Wright said. “It just had a graffiti look and feel to it.”...
“The scene revolved around the bar, which you don’t really see anymore. People were there every night, no matter who was playing,” said (David "Davo") Wilkins, owner of Axiom Body Piercing Studio at the Skin Kitchen... “The new Safari Club was being promoted by other people from out of town, but when Jeff, Fatty and John came back, they brought it back to the local, independent promoters.”
Wilkins believes a lot of the shows taking place wouldn’t have happened if the Mary’s crew wasn’t involved.
“All those guys were very supportive of me and the shows I was putting together,” he said...
“That was the beauty of the job, catching bands right as they were on the way up,” Fatty said. “I remember seeing At The Drive-In the first time they came through, and there were like five people there. The next time they stopped, we were well over capacity.”
Other bands that played at the new location included Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon, L7, Biohazard, The Melvins, High on Fire, Linkin Park, Murder City Devils, Fu Manchu, Cursive, Fear, Earthride, William Elliott Whitmore, Exodus, Captured! By Robots, Hatebreed, King’s X, Misfits, Agent Orange, Slipknot and North of Grand...
A motocross event also brought back some fond memories for Fatty.
“There was a motocross event in town, and they all showed up and were driving dirt bikes in the bar,” he said. “One dude put his bike on top of the bar and caught the bar on fire, and people went nuts. It was a blast.”...
“The type of bands that played there were underground. Their motive wasn’t about being signed; it was more about touring and making it across the country,” said Ramirez, who is a co-owner of Bombay Bicycle Club. “It’s nothing like it is now, though. When I was booking the club, I was on the phone all day, aggressively calling people. There was no email or Facebook. It was calling people and promoting shows with flyers.”
Des Moines’ location in the middle of the country offered a unique experience for bands and fans a like.
“I remember seeing a lot of Bay Area bands play their first Midwest date at Mary’s, and the same goes for the east coast bands. Their furthest show west would be at Mary’s. They would be on a bill together, and a year later you’d see them touring together in another part of the country,” Ramirez said. “As much as people think of it as a live venue, it was the locals that kept that place alive. Just like any other bar, you need a great group of regulars, and Mary’s had that.”...
Local act The Vandon Arms even started a band so they could drink for free at Mary’s.
“We all lived together and would have drunken sing-a-longs. We thought we could put a group together and get free beer if we played Hairy Mary’s,” said guitarist Clint Meek...
“I have played in a lot of rock and roll bars, and Mary’s was by far the best venue,” Clabaugh said. “A lot of bars only had cover bands, but Mary’s was the first to say no cover bands, and they opened the door for a lot of local bands to get on stage. There was only one Hairy Mary’s, and there will never be another one like it.”
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Labels: 90s, Des Moines, Hairy Mary's, Iowa, Iowa alternative scene, Iowa punk scene, Iowa venues, Midwest venues, music venues, research, venues
