For a good time:
It may have started as just a bar, all those years ago, but it has been much more than that to many aggies. For over 40 years, we’ve been on Northgate, celebrating the big wins, knocking back a few after a tough test, reminiscing and reconnecting with friends. We’ve been there for the awkward first dates, the 20 year wedding anniversaries, the nights to remember and the nights to forget!
What's the worst the could happen taking your date to a concert?
It was 1998ish and I was living in (and B.T.H.O. Bonfire with) McInnis Hall on Northside (which unfortunately got torn down to build some fancy schmancy dorm with a Starbucks in it, but I digress)…. and one night I was on a date with a girl from FHK. We walked over to the Dixie Chicken to get a Freddy Burger and to see this brand new Texas County singer/songwriter named Kevin Fowler, who just so happened to be playing an acoustic set inside that night. Well, Kevin had a little merch table set up, but didn’t have anyone to stand there and sell his merch while he was playing. So, he asked if anyone would help him out, to which my date happily volunteered (because of course she did).
So Kevin is playing, my date is selling merch, and I am sitting there awkwardly by myself eating a cheeseburger. When he finished the show, he hung out at his merch table for a while and talked to all the folks who wanted to say hi. As things started to wind down, and all the merch-selling duties appeared to be over, I asked my date if she was ready to go. This is when she leaned over and informed me that she was just going to stay a little longer and hang out with Kevin for a while and that I could go ahead and go because she would not be walking back to the dorms with me that night. Ouch. As I strolled back across University Avenue to my dorm all alone and confused about the drastic turn of events that had just occurred, I thought to myself…” surely there has got to be something to be learned from this experience”. That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks….girls like guys that play guitar! And dang it, I needed to learn how to play the guitar! So I did just that.
I guess when it comes down to it, if it had not been for the Dixie Chicken, there would probably not be a Brandon McDermott Band..(not that we are a big deal or anything, but we have a lot of fun playing music). Because after that night I learned how to play guitar, started writing songs, put a Texas Country band together, released some albums and have even shared the stage with Kevin Fowler himself multiple times, who went on to become a huge star in the Texas Music Scene, and by the way turns out is a really nice guy…though when we play shows with him, I definitely don’t let my wife volunteer to sell his merch.
Love Story
Welcome to Miller Time
Friday, February 3, 1989, my husband, Dennis looked up from playing a game of pool to see me (a 5’2 blonde, blue eyed girl) walking through the crowd carrying and trying not to spill a pitcher of beer. My girlfriend and I had gone out to dinner and then headed over to the Chicken that evening. She knew one of the guys playing pool with Dennis, and we hung out with them and drank way too much! We were married almost 15 months later (April 28, 1990) and are inseparable! We have the pleasure of coming back to visit the Chicken through the years (especially when our son was going to school class of ’14) and enjoy how welcoming young Ags are when we older Ags come in!
Gig ’em and God Bless,
Dennis ’88, ’92 and Peggy Hill
Sometimes, a little Chicken time can make you smile!
I started drinking at the Dixie Chicken...
I started drinking at the Dixie Chicken in June 1979 during Freshman Orientation. I’m Class of 1983 and have attached a photo of my friends, Donald Drastata,Sheryl Barrett, and myself at our 15th Reunion in the fall of 1994. My husband, Paul Hons, and I became engaged here and return every year as we visit family and check on our retirement land. Our engagement story is already on your stories page. Gig’em!
– Cindy Dobbs Hons ’83
aka Don's Boys
Back in the late 80’s I worked on the bud crew. I am not sure who reads this email but in case you do not know what the bud crew was, we were basically Don’s boys. We did whatever needed to be handled. Some days it might have been mowing his yard, the next mopping the Chicken, and the next catching his cows. I spent one summer working on Alfred T. Hornback’s. I forget what is was before that but an old carpenter named Ben and I did most of the work to make it a pool hall. I was also one of the guys that replaced the floor at the front bar. I probably have more stories than I have time to write but here are a couple of quick ones.
The little door that kind of hides the ice machine at the front bar was built by me. In true Don fashion I was given a hand saw, a few pieces of wood, a hammer, and a few nails. That was it. I built the door and hung it in such a fashion that when open it would hang the floor to keep it open. It all worked out great. Don looked at it and liked it but felt something was wrong. After thinking he realized that it looked too clean. He had me take it down, take it outside, and rub it down with mud. With a little effort it pretty much matched the rest of the Chicken so I put it back in place. I have not been there in the last few years but the last time I was there the door was still in place.
-John
Still the best hire I've ever made...
In January of 1988 I was working as a Manager for the Dixie Chicken. During the week before classes started, a young woman brought her mother in to show her “The Chicken”. As they walked in the front door, her Mom noticed the “Help Wanted, Apply Upstairs” sign and told her daughter, “You need to get a job, go upstairs and apply”. So she did.
Just as she finished turning in the application, I walked upstairs. Peggy, the secretary said, “Larry, this is Beth Partheymuller, she is looking for a job”.
I asked, “Can you work Tuesday & Thursday lunch rushes?”
“Yes.”
“You’re hired, I’ll see you at 11:00 on Tuesday.”
We started dating a couple of months later, then got married in November of 1988.
It has now been 30 years and that was still the best hire I’ve ever made.
We took the family to the Chicken in January of 2018 for a “pilgrimage” to where it all started for us.
Larry Odom ’88 (actual grad ’91)
Beth Odom ’91 (actual grad ’92)
Archive
Roger Creager playing to the crowd.
Dub Miller singing "Fightin' Texas Aggie"
June 14, 2014, the Dixie Chicken celebrated its 40th birthday with live music from Aggies and local talent.
Pat Ryan, Austin English, Dallas Shipp, Geoff Spahr, Rosehill, Clayton Gardner, Dub Miller, and Roger Creager all shared their talents to a large crowd packed throughout the promenade.
we shared a couple pitchers talked for hours...
Well I’ve finally gotten around to sending you some pictures and telling our story….the summer of 95 I was working at the chicken…first in the kitchen flipping burgers, then the bar pouring drafts and finally a manager. Although just about every night was memorable at work at the Chicken, one was more so…the night I met a girl who worked upstairs counting money with Peggy. Looking back over 20 years we still have slight variations of the “true” story but the one common element we both recall is that life changed for both of us that night. After work we shared a couple pitchers talked for hours and 6 months later, we were engaged to be married. We took our engagement pictures on the front porch and had our reception party at shadow canyon. The Dixie Chicken has always been such a huge part of our lives that when we finally built a house 20 years later, we built a room that resembled the place we met, with wood walls, animal trophies hanging, pictures of good friends, license plates, neon signs, beer mirrors and even an authentic domino table we bought at an auction. Some of the best moments of our lives with some of the best friends we’ll ever have were right there in the famous Dixie Chicken.
Erick, c/o ’95, & Erin, c/o ’97, Westerholm
Archive
Used to tie up our horses in the back when we road over from the Cav barn during weekend excursions. That was when the Cav Jocks supplied our own (personal) horses. Behind the Chicken was just an alley and we’d ride over , tie up and play dominos and dispense pitchers while chewing tobacco or dipping snuff.
Danny Hill, ‘85
I bought my first legal beer there in '76...
I bought my first legal beer there in ’76, when you just had to be 18. Worked for Don & Donnie summer/fall of ’79, when all the beer was iced down longnecks. 50¢ for most beer, Lone Star was 35¢. Wine coolers 60¢.
To his daughters: He used to have an office upstairs with a cute picture of you two with makeup all over your faces. He would use that to warn us about stealing and said: “When you steal from me, you steal from them”.
College Choices
Every summer my dad and I would take a trip to Galveston together and after my sophomore year of high school we were heading back home to Dallas and my dad said “why don’t we go check out college station?” knowing that I wanted to attend A&M. So we jumped off 45 and headed to Aggieland. But instead of going straight to campus or on a campus tour we went straight to the Dixie Chicken. Had a burger and dad had a beer (of course) and we hung around talking with the bartenders on staff. When we finally walked out of the chicken, probably 3 hours later, we both were blown away at how friendly everyone was and how when asked about Aggieland and Texas A&M their faces would light up, you could just see how much they loved this place and how different the environment was. I knew right then and there I wanted to be a Fightin’ Texas Aggie. I didn’t need a campus tour, I just needed a visit to the Dixie Chicken! ????�
Today it is still my favorite place to go on a Friday night. My husband and I have played many games of dominoes in there and it will forever hold a place in my heart.
(Also worked at Chicken Oil for about a year in 2010-2011)
Brittany Coker ‘14
Kid on a mission...
My husband (’04) and I (’05) loved Aggieland so much, we moved back to College Station in 2015 to raise our family. Now that they’re old enough, we are trying to take the kids to all the Aggieland classics. So, of course we started with lunch at the Dixie Chicken before catching their first Aggie Baseball game! My youngest was so excited to see the famous rattlesnake and was on a mission to see it as soon as we walked in.
– Katie Brading ’05