City of Amarillo condemns former Crystal Pistol building

The former Crystal Pistol building along Route 66 in Amarillo, Texas, was condemned by the city for code violations. If the owner doesn’t do anything to address those, the structure will be demolished.

KVII-TV in Amarillo explains why:

Since 2012, the Amarillo Police Department has been called out to 907 E Amarillo Blvd approximately 122 times. […]

Amarillo building official Randy Schuster said that is just part of the reason why the city condemned it on Thursday afternoon last week.

“They had improper heat, they were using heating appliances that could emit carbon monoxide there was cases of illegal or dangerous wiring,” said Schuster.

The property owner has about 10 days to figure out what to do. That gives him until next week to act. If nothing happens to resolve those problems, the city will demolish the former nightclub.

The building 907 E. Amarillo Blvd., aka Route 66, also was known as Soul Club. It was heavily damaged by fire in the summer of 2016.

According to county property records, longtime owner Jimmy Dunn still holds the property.

The building, which may be as much as 100 years old, also was a notable country-music venue called Rainbow Gardens. One online source tells about Rainbow Gardens regularly hosting country-music shows as early as 1930. One regular band was the Amarillo Nighthawks dance group, which performed live on local radio station KGRS.

Dunn told the Amarillo Globe-News two years ago country stars Willie Nelson and Hank Thompson also performed at Rainbow Gardens. Dunn said it was one of the oldest lounges on Route 66, and he didn’t want to give it up for that reason.

(Excerpted image of Soul Town, aka Crystal Pistol, in Amarillo, Texas, from Google Street View)

One thought on “City of Amarillo condemns former Crystal Pistol building

  1. So, a 100 year old building in the USA – a country not even 300 years old – can be demolished by the state because its electrics and means of heating are not up to standard. Then just remove the wiring and heaters. Or does Amarillo town council always drain the lake to get of the alligators?

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