I began my search for information in the most obvious way, by going onto the internet. But this quickly proved fruitless - there were no hits via Google or Bing, nor any that came up via a search of social media and discussion groups related to DFW music history. Finding any information was made even more difficult by the plethora of venues across the state and greater Southwest which use or have used the name "Silver Dollar" or some variant thereof. I had the flyer, of course, but there was no address on it - like so many local flyers of its era, it was assumed the recipient was already familiar with the venue and its location. Unfortunately, that was of little help to me more than thirty years later. What did seem clear from my efforts at digging up information was that the Silver Dollar had NOT been located in or near Deep Ellum. Fortunately, I had an ace up my sleeve in the form of a couple of contacts from my time in the Dallas music scene. My first real tip came by way of one of these contacts, who brought up the name of someone with ties to the local 1980s metal scene who might remember the venue. A message was subsequently relayed to me via one of these contacts - not only did this individual remember the Silver Dollar, he identified it as having been a topless bar located off Northwest Highway.
Today, Northwest Highway is the scene of various banks, automotive places, restaurants, gas stations, convenience retail, shopping strips, and condos. For me, it's mainly been a connector route and the home of Half Price Books' flagship store, one of my favorite hangouts. That being said, it does still have its stretches of bars and liquor stores, and in the 1980s it was apparently known even more so for some of these over on its west side. The 1980s contact suggested that the Silver Dollar was next door to LaBare, and a quick online search turned up an address for LaBare of 2102 W Northwest Highway in Dallas. Sure enough, there appeared to be a barbecue "saloon" next door to that address. Could this be the old location of the Silver Dollar? I drove out that way and quietly reconnoitered the area, finding a decent sized, though smallish, parking lot, and, with a quick stop inside, what looked to be a small potential performance space adjoining some billiards tables. I took a photo of the saloon from the outside and called it a day, assuming I had found the erstwhile home of the Silver Dollar Rock Shop.
This wasn't the end of the story, however: I still needed to find information about the actual venue. After some digging, I eventually came across some video clips uploaded to YouTube, recordings of an old cable access show called Dallas Music Videos. The show broadcast during the late 1980s and showcased numerous then-current local rock and metal bands including Talon (later Sedition), Rigor Mortis, Deadly Force, and others. Included among these clips was a 1989 interview of a progressive metal/rock band by the name of Process Revealed, of especial note to me due to the interview having been conducted in front of the Silver Dollar. It was via this video that I finally got my first look at the exterior of the club, and firm confirmation that the earlier barbecue place was in fact not the same building. Unfortunately, there was not enough shown in the video to firmly ID the location. I was back at square one, it seemed... except that I wasn't. My YouTube deep dive had also unearthed a video of Process Revealed playing a set inside the Silver Dollar the year earlier, which led me in turn to Steve Murphy. Bassist, guitarist, and sometimes vocalist for numerous progressive and hardcore metal outfits during the '80s and '90s, including Process Revealed, Steve is someone with whom I have a couple of mutual acquaintances and a musician who is still active in the Dallas music scene. I made contact with him, and he was able to provide me with flyer images of some of the band's shows from that time period. One of them included the address for the Silver Dollar, 3221 W. Northwest Highway, some three miles east of what I had originally thought to be the location.
Not much seems to be known today about the Silver Dollar. Based on my interviews and conversations with people who were a part of the music scene during the late '80s, it seems to have been a largely unremarkable and unmemorable place. Those who do recall the Silver Dollar don't recall very much about it, and most of those who played there seem only to have played once, with scant memories of the club other than it being a supposedly topless bar inside a shopping strip near to a liquor store. It must have had at least some times where topless wasn't the name of the game, given the $5 minors' cover charge stated prominently on the Deadly Force flyer. The venue featured live music on weekends, beginning on Thursdays and carrying forward on each night in turn through Sunday. At least some of these shows appear to have been booked by Jerry Warden of KNON radio, the oft-christened "Godfather of Metal" in the DFW metroplex. Acts known to have played the Silver Dollar include the aforementioned Process Revealed and Deadly Force, Assassin, HYD, Arcane, Krazed, and Domestic Violence, a band with high school aged members who were booked there by Jerry Warden. The admonishment to "Listen to KNON from 12-4:00 Saturday Night" on the Deadly Force flyer suggests that Warden likely booked that show as well, given that "KMA Promotions" or some variant thereof often appeared as a tagline for his metal shows. And while there was indeed an adult entertainment club next door, it was not LaBare but the Chez Pussycat, a clip joint with no liquor license that catered to a male clientele.
