pair of SLICK WILLY'S ashtrays

I happen to think the story behind this pair of little glass ashtrays is kinda fun -- hope y'all enjoy too. :-) :-) :-)

In the late 1970's (preceding our now famous President Bill, even?!) "SLICK WILLY'S WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT" was a kind of local 'grownup arcade' featuring 10K sq.ft. of video games, (a new thing then!) billiards, beer, and pizza. Located in Little Rock, AR in the old Union (Pacific RxR) Station building, it along with several other 'entertainment' businesses were hoped to revitalize the Union Station area at the time. Along with a disco (hey -- the times?!) and a steakhouse, there was eventually also a bar called "Busters", which has since been described as Little Rock's first "fern bar" -- it proved to be quite successful especially given the close proximity to the AR State Capitol Complex, though the 'revitalization' of the area didn't really ever happen as envisioned.

The owners of the bar (a guy named James) and SlickWilly's (a guy named Dave) soon noticed that they shared a lot of cross-traffic -- many folks would come to play at Slick's, eventually ending up at Busters for food/drinks. (or would start at the bar then go play then come back and eat, or whatever??)

By 1982 or so, this observation led the two to become business partners together in a new venture first located in Dallas, TX...which has since gone on to become something y'all might be familiar with, now having locations all over the USA I think...

Anybody ever heard of "DAVE and BUSTERS"?? It started *right here*, kinda sorta... ;-) :-)

http://www.daveandbusters.com/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/7/citys-original-bar-how-busters-birthed-dave-buster/

The original Buster's and Slick's are both now long gone, ironically enough it took until just this previous spring (2017) for our own first "D&B" location to open. The originals were already gone by the time I got here, and I haven't visited the 'new' place yet. And both these ashtrays have been snagged from thrift shops in the meantime.