It’s no secret that much of Austin prefers its music
rootsy. None of that achy-breaky; give us Don Walser and steel guitar. The same
applies to our Tejano tastes. While synthesizer-slick and hip hop-influenced
modern Tejano certainly has plenty of fans here, there are many who would
rather have an old-style accordion and bajo sexto beat keeping a crowded dance
floor in a polka frenzy.
Unfortunately, most West Siders have only experienced
conjunto music in places like La Zona Rosa or Antone’s. With all due respect to
those clubs for their attempts at multiculturalism, why not experience the real
thing in the real setting? All it takes is a short trip across the Great Wall
of I-35 to find some great conjunto clubs, and this is first of a series of
installments blatantly aimed at gringos to help them satisfy their squeezebox
urges.
One of the first places you should take your cowboy
hat
and boots to is Happy Days Lounge #2, at 508 Chicon Street. (that’s the
southwest corner of Sixth and Chicon). Don’t bother looking for Happy Days #1
as owners Mingo and Janie Villela shut it down years ago, but the younger
version, going strong for about 10 years now, has plenty of charm to spare.
Dropping in during the day will give you three pool
tables and a great jukebox loaded with classic Tejano; Friday nights gives you
the Villelas themselves singing in front of their own conjunto sextet called
Happy Days Plus II (and somehow continuing to serve beer at the same time).
Saturday nights bring both local and touring bands, and quite likely, Los
Pinkys, Austin’s new conjunto favorites who have solidly claimed Happy Days as
their home base. In fact, they’ve been holding down happy hour on Sundays now
for quite some time now.
The music at Happy Days tends to be more Texas-style
conjunto rather than the Mexican norte�o that is growing in popularity
here (although Mingo Villela shared my opinion that the differences between the
two styles are subtle almost to the point of nonexistence). Either way, be
prepared to dance in close quarters, as Happy Days is about as hole-in-the wall
as it gets, and its patrons always fill the floor to capacity. And learn to
dance in a counterclockwise circle! All that in-and-out stuff of Austin’s
two-step crowd will just cause collisions in this tradition-laden place.
Happy Days recently won the Chronicle reader’s
poll award for “Best Family Dance Club,” and you’ll quickly figure out why.
A place this friendly deserves the name
Happy Days. – Lee Nichols
This article appears in June 2 • 1995 and June 2 • 1995 (Cover).