12 <strong>JAVA</strong> MAGAZINE By Tom Reardon
For many of us, the late, great Chez Nous cocktail lounge on the southeast corner of Seventh Avenue and Indian School in Phoenix was a cool refuge from both the sun and real life, perfect for day or night drinking, conversation, dancing and fun. The one-story building doesn’t even exist anymore, thanks to a string of developers who eventually put a Fresh & Easy (now home to Natural Grocers) on the property, but for those who remember it, the feeling of venturing through the three or four steps it took to walk through Chez Nous’ entryway was completely unique. Simply put, Chez Nous transported patrons to a different world and was unlike any other establishment in Phoenix. The first thing you noticed was the darkness. Chez Nous was dark. If you’ve ever had your eyes dilated during an eye exam, you know the feeling of helplessness when you can’t adjust quickly enough to the daylight outside the doctor’s office. The experience of entering Chez Nous was the extreme opposite of this. Even if you were a regular and knew what was coming, you would enter the bar and it would take a few minutes to really be able to see anything. When the joint was jumping on a Friday or Saturday night and the dance floor was full, it was difficult to really get a good look at anyone who wasn’t directly in front of you, which made the place great for feeling anonymous in your pursuit of a good time. It took a trained and well-adjusted eye to see all the little nuances that made Chez Nous like no other place. The flocked wallpaper was exquisite, with an intricate French-themed pattern that would occasionally seem to glow in the light of the bar. The dance floor was tiny, and when Roscoe Taylor was playing, good luck finding a spot without making some friends. For years, Taylor and his musical partners were the main attraction, and no one commanded the room the way Taylor did. No one. “I started off [at Chez Nous] with two nights a week, then three nights a week, and then I made Bob [Pavlovic, who owned the club at the time] an offer to do five nights a week. Every month we had a business meeting, the owners, staff and everybody, about how we could make the club better. He [Pavlovic] made you feel like a family member. That’s why I stayed so long. I was part of the family. I was not just a hired musician,” shares Taylor over a beer at another great neighborhood joint, the Original Wineburger on 19th Avenue. Taylor exudes charm and charisma. It’s hard to imagine him not seeing someone he knows just about every place he goes, and every person he sees gets the same great energy and acceptance as someone he’s known for years. He worked the room at Chez Nous like it was his own living room and you were there for a party. Taylor continued, “I just greeted everybody. I made sure everybody at every table was going to get a handshake to let them know how much we appreciated them being there. The next thing I knew, I had such a big family. I didn’t know everybody by name, but I knew faces, <strong>JAVA</strong> 13 MAGAZINE