New Super Disco at (Where Else?) Greenville and Park

Tired of low-rent rendezvous in nightspots resembling pre-fab ski resorts-turned-discos? So was John S. Walker, the discotheque entrepreneur who made a tidy fortune three years ago with his overnight smash, H.P. Cassidy’s. After a year of stalking the after-dark scene from New York to Beverly Hills, Walker has returned to Dallas with the assessment: “There’s no place for the pretty people to go in Dallas.”

To remedy that, Walker and his investors – Tony Goble of Pawn Shop fame and sometimes-Dallasite Craig Morton – plan to open Le Jardin, a disco, in mid-December at Park Lane and Greenville Avenue. Walker is adding trinkets daily, like plug-in telephones available at every table, a fog machine to periodically obscure dancers from the waist down, a shoeshine man, gazebos and garden areas, and a stainless steel dance area (shades of Oz?).

Drinks will sell at the affordable price of about $1.50, but, yes, there is a catch. According to Walker, “We want to cater to a class crowd.” So prepare for a $5 cover charge which can be waived by plunking down a cool $100 for a lifetime cover charge. “You can’t have a private club in a wet area,” Walker says, “so we thought this arrangement – making it exclusive – would accommodate the kind of people we want to bring together.” He adds, “It isn’t that much money when you consider a lot of these people spend $150 a night to go to a society party. It will be a combination of people from North Dallas, Highland Park and the class crowd – not the regular crowd – from Greenville Avenue.”



So determined was Walker in his “exclusive” venture that he offered $25,000 to keep the drive-thru Beer Barn from building in the parking lot of his new disco. But his offer fell on deaf ears – and the beer business on the corner is booming.



Walker remains undaunted, assured that his $150,000 club will take Dallas by storm, although the comparably chic Oz has had its share of problems. “Le Jardin will be a success because of its location. It will be the Oz of Greenville Avenue. Oz’s downfall was its location, and Greenville Avenue is still the best club location in town.”