Water Rails & Oil - Historic Mid & South Jefferson County

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ASSOCIATED
BUILDERS &
CONTRACTORS
OF SOUTHEAST
TEXAS
ABC Training Center.
Associated Builders & Contractors of
Southeast Texas (ABCSETX) is one of
eighty-three ABC chapters nationwide, with
its home office in Arlington, Virginia.
Nationally, ABC represents approximately
26,000 members; the local ABCSETX
Chapter was established in January 1988
and is headquartered at 2700 North Twin
City Highway in Nederland, Texas. With
130 members within the industrial sector,
ABCSETX promotes pro-business, free
enterprise companies by representation in
numerous civic and political organizations.
The building that now houses ABCSETX
was built in 1959 as a bowling alley
called Thunder Bowl and converted in the
mid-sixties to the Mecca Club, where the
British invasion group The Dave Clark Five and
even James Brown played. During its ten-year
span as the Lighthouse Club, it offered a DJ booth
and a live drummer pounding out the beat. Its
mirrored columns, circular dance floor and
“traveling wall of lights” made this the
Mecca of Southeast Texas dancers and partiers.
This complex housed an unusual number of
restaurants, bars, and even a beauty parlor. Many
area baby boomers are grateful that walls do not
talk. During its twenty-plus-year nightclub
incarnation, it was also named the Blue Heron and
when country/western music took over the area,
became Texas Swing before being occupied
by ABCSETX.
80 ✦ WATER, RAILS & OIL