The White Elephant obliges in two ways: There’s the owner-chef’s Love Shack right outside the saloon doors in the beer garden immediately adjacent and there’s a new chili parlor operating inside the saloon. On Tuesday nights, the Texas Music Showcase gives aspiring talents a chance to step up and take the spotlight, with house musicians helping win over the crowd.Īfter a few spins on the well-worn dance floor, my gang and I are usually ready to eat. Among a hefty roster of local country musicians, fiddler Rachel Stacy usually headlines Monday nights, while Steve Carrasco is the singer on Friday afternoons. There’s live music here every night and on weekend afternoons, and musicians encourage patrons to get up and dance. And always, the bartenders engage in amusing repartee with guests. Spirits lovers can always ask for a dram of aged whiskeys. The saloon also keeps Chef Love’s favorite liqueur, a vanilla-citrus brandy from Italy called Tuaca, chilled on tap. More often than not, customers want a cold beer, asking for Lone Star or local products from Rahr & Sons, but good choices also include a specialty cocktail such as a Paloma, a cousin to the margarita that incorporates grapefruit soda. The bartenders working behind the L-shaped bar (under a painting of a cartoonish white elephant reclined on a chaise longue) hustle to keep up with requests. Nailed to the ceiling, hundreds of worn cowboy hats are noted with names of the donors on plaques. Behind the bar and in glass-front cases along one wall, there’s a collection of thousands of white elephant figurines, gifts to the saloon owners from friends. The saloon’s doorway sits almost directly beneath the famous Fort Worth Stockyards sign, which soars overhead across Exchange Avenue.įamed local chef Tim Love bought the saloon a few years ago, but the place remains blessedly unchanged in looks and spirit.
And if we’re lucky, we happen upon a local character in period costume known as Wild Bill, posing for photos and sharing jokes with the regulars.
Other times, the place is packed with a combination of regulars, tourists from Australia and Germany, and people like me, bringing friends in for a longneck and a game of shuffleboard. Sometimes, it’s a relatively tame get-together of a few friends hanging out at the aged brass rail along the wooden bar, listening to a crooner on the adjacent stage singing about the rodeo, love, and loss. To step inside the saloon is to land in a friendly, ongoing celebration. I enjoy watching locals and tourists alike snap photographs under the sign and then wander into the White Elephant for a cold one. The saloon’s doorway sits almost directly beneath the famous Fort Worth Stockyards sign, which soars overhead across Exchange. It’s easily the most iconic bar in town, offering a mix of personality and good food and drinks. Just as much fun is catching the re-enactments of an 1880s Longhorn cattle drive, which take place twice daily on the weathered bricks that cover North Main Street and Exchange Avenue, the crossroads at the Stockyards’ heart.Īnd when said pals and relatives also want a true taste of Texas history, it’s all right here on Exchange Avenue, as well: The White Elephant Saloon is a treasure straight from Fort Worth’s gun-slinging days, with roots in the 1890s-though the present bar opened in the 1970s. After what seems like hundreds of trips through the beloved old neighborhood, I still get a kick out of seeing our mounted city police force in their cowboy hats with their beautiful horses. Piece of cake, I say, and we head out for the north side of town to explore the Stockyards National Historic District. When friends and family visit me in Fort Worth, they ask to see the real Cowtown.
Historical photo gun behind bar saloon plus#
This iconic bar in the Fort Worth Stockyards boasts hundreds of cowboy hats nailed to the ceiling and walls, plus live music every night.
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