The Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas has a colorful history and a bright future.
The music venue opened in 1950 as a home base for the Western swing legend Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Originally called Bob Wills’ Ranch House, the music complex on an island in the Trinity River included a restaurant and a hotel for visiting musicians.
During the 1950s, Jack Ruby, the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, was the club manager.
Because the ballroom technically was outside of the Dallas city limits, Ruby could avoid Jim Crow racial laws, according to Thomas Csorba, a current manager at the Longhorn. In 1954, Ruby brought Nat King Cole to perform before a mixed-race audience.
Although the Longhorn has hosted acts in a variety of musical genres, it was primarily a country venue. Nearly every top country artist from Patsy Cline to George Strait played there, plus Selena, B.B. King, Al Green, and others.
In 1978, the Sex Pistols appeared onstage. At one point a woman bloodied Sid Vicious with a headbutt known as “a Texas kiss.”
Over the years the ballroom has seen many ups and downs. In 2023, it reopened under Edwin Cabaniss, who also restored the Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff and the Heights Theater in Houston.
Cabaniss has big plans for the Longhorn Ballroom. The ballroom has room for 2,200 standing music fans, plus historic displays in cases around the venue. The former motel has become a mixed-use business complex. They are looking for a new restaurant for the building by the historic sign with a giant longhorn. A parking lot has been turned into an outdoor amphitheatre.
The Longhorn Ballroom and Backyard Amphitheater is at 216 Corinth St. in the southeast shadow of downtown Dallas. The Sex Pistols return on Sept. 11 with Frank Carter fronting the band.
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This article appears in August 28 • 2026.
