Swackhammer’s Ditches Nightclub For Billiards
The thumping bass sounds of the latest rap jams and the small group of jive-time wanna-be gangsters that used to hang out at Swackhammer’s nightclub are long gone.
They’ve been replaced by pool tables.
At least one neighbor said he’s glad the dance club is a memory.
“It’ll be beneficial for the neighborhood,” said Jim Clark, manager of American Car Centers located near the former nightclub.
McQ’s Entertainment bought Swackhammer’s in August and changed the nightclub, known as the Cadillac Club, into a pool hall.
Swackhammer’s Cafe Rio, the restaurant adjoining the nightclub, will remain intact.
The Cadillac Club has been turned into McQ’s Billiards North. The club is now an upscale New York-style billiard parlor.
McQ’s entertainment also owns and runs McQ’s Billiards and Prime Time Grill on East Sprague in the Valley and The Magic Lantern Theater downtown.
The billiard parlor features Brunswick Gold Crown and Olhausen tables on hourly rates. Darts and satellite sports programming are also available.
All ages are allowed in the club until 9 p.m.; afterward, only those 21 and over are admitted.
The change will mean a big difference for surrounding businesses. Clark said it was quite common for him and his employees to have to clean up broken glass from car windows in his store’s parking lot.
Clark said his employees often found stolen purses and wallets in Dumpsters outside his store that he believes were taken from the nightclub.
W.D. Hall, marketing director of McQ’s entertainment, said the company wants to make McQ’s Billiards North more family oriented.
“We saw the North Side market as a viable market for that,” Hall said. “We saw the restaurant as a positive. We wanted to get away from the nightclub part, the part that seemed to cause the most trouble.”
Said Clark of McQ’s: “It’s a different establishment. It’s more recreational and there’s a lot less hard-core partying going on.”
Swackhammer’s was often in the news.
In February, Spokane police investigated an alleged assault of Gregory R. Rogers by officers that was captured on a Swackhammer’s video camera.
Rogers was with his friend, Raymond Marks, when Marks got into a fight with other members of his Gypsy family. Police thought Rogers was a witness and attempted to question him when he shoved an officer.
A police review board found that the police did not use excessive force when they subdued and hit Rogers.
Early on the morning of Jan. 1, Spokane police arrested two Moscow, Idaho, men, Shawn K. Dirden, 22, and David A. Miyatake, 24, on charges of assaulting police officers and resisting arrest.
A club bouncer was accidentally hit in the ribs that night by a police officer who didn’t recognize the man as a bouncer. The employee suffered broken ribs in the fracas.
Managers at the club that night shut the place down 30 minutes before its normal closing hours because of the number of fights.
Swackhammer’s also had the reputation of pouring more drunken drivers onto the streets than any other bar in the state.
From April of 1989 to April of 1996, 285 people arrested on suspicion of drunken driving told law enforcement officers they bought their last drink at Swackhammer’s before slipping behind the wheel, according to the state’s Liquor Control Board.
Former Swackhammer’s owners Eddie Ambriz and Tom Lynch did not return phone calls asking for comment.
One woman who lives behind the club said Friday and Saturday nights were extremely loud nights at Swackhammer’s.
“After five years I just kind of got used to it,” said the woman, who asked to remain unidentified. “I guess it was like living by any other major activity place.”
McQ’s North officials say they hope their new club is successful. They think the chances of it succeeding are good.
, DataTimes