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