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Club ponytail reunion party
The Club Ponytail was a nationally known teen dance club featuring major rock and roll acts of the 1960s.
Contents
- Club ponytail reunion party
- Club Manitou becomes the Club Ponytail
- Stan and Jean Douglas
- The Beachboys Roy Orbison
- The patio stars
- Fire
- Final year
- References
The Club Manitou (1929–1954) on Pleasantview Road, Harbor Springs, Michigan, morphed into the Club Ponytail teen nightclub during the early summer of 1962. The business had begun as the Prohibition era's Club Manitou in 1929. It was an adult entertainment “speakeasy” and “casino” during the last years of this nation's alcohol prohibition. Club Manitou never advertised. It existed only for the wealthy summer resorters of northern Michigan who would hear about it by word of mouth. Locals were not welcome and were not allowed entrance. By the mid 1950s Club Manitou was closed. The building, located near Harbor Springs, Michigan, would then become the famous Club Ponytail.
Club Manitou becomes the Club Ponytail
The famous Club Ponytail opened its doors June 12, 1962. It was a teen-collegiate nightclub. Unlike its predecessor Club Manitou (1929–1954), liquor and gambling were no longer part of the offerings.However, fine entertainment and dancing was still offered.The Club Ponytail was one of the first of many teen entertainment and dance clubs beginning to operate in the United States during the early 1960s. Dick Clark's American Bandstand helped popularize dancing throughout the country. This new dance craze among teenagers helped spur the development of teen centers such as the Club Ponytail. Its official name was the “Club Ponytail Teen & Collegiate Nite Club.” The house drink was Green River Soda and "Poni's Pizza" was the favorite food offering of the establishment.
Stan and Jean Douglas
Club owners Stan and Jean Douglas, of Petoskey, Michigan, opened the teen dance center, with the idea of making money,and also providing a safe nightly venue for the area's teens. The large influx of mid-western vacationers to the Petoskey-Harbor Springs area of northern Michigan allowed the booking of major national rock and roll acts.The Douglas family wanted to provide summer resorter and local parents, with a wholesome, safe chaperoned environment for the night time gatherings of their teenagers. In order to draw in the teen crowd, Stan Douglas knew he needed the top names in entertainment for that age group.
The Beachboys-Roy Orbison
Northern Michigan's "Tip of the Mitt" area tripled in its size every July and August due to the influx of mid-west city dwellers. They came to their cottages, resort homes and resort hotels to enjoy Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay. Using the Detroit Federation of Musicians as their main booking agent(also used by Detroit's famous Roostertail nightclub), Stan and Jean Douglas were able to bring such popular acts to the Ponytail as the Beachboys (August, 1963), Bobby Vinton, Del Shannon, Bob Seger, Bobby Vee, the Kingsmen (Louie Louie), Freddie Canon, Dee Dee Sharp (Mash Potatoes), the Four Tops, and Roy Orbison.
The patio stars
An enclosed brick-wall patio with two stages was added in 1965 and the ensuing outside venues drew crowds of 2,500 at a time. In the summer of 1965, Club Ponytail's house band that year was an Ann Arbor group called The Iguanas, featuring Jim Osterberg, who later became known as Iggy Pop. The Animals performed there on August 26, 1966 as well as THEM in August 1968. During the winter season, the Ponytail brought rock and roll stars to northern Michigan during the Christmas season when mid-western skiers flocked to the nearby hills of Boyne Highlands and Nob’s Nob ski resorts.
Fire
The last band to play the Club Poytail of Harbor Springs was Dean Mann's, The March Brother’s Band, on Sunday March 15, 1969. Two days later, on Tuesday evening March 18, the Ponytail was destroyed by fire. Local firemen theorized that fumes from a gas furnace caused an explosion and the building was immediately engulfed in flame. Though the Douglas family vowed to rebuild the Club Ponytail, it was not to be. The insurance payment for the building was not enough to warrant reconstruction. What was left of the dance center was removed. Only the patio and the original Club Manitou building remained.
Final year
The final acts were already booked when the building was destroyed. So during the summer of 1969, they performed on the patio and inside the other Douglas owned nearby establishment, the Golden Horseshoe Supper Club. Those acts included the Electric Prunes, the Pleasure Seekers, Mitch Ryder,and the Boyfriends. By the early 1970s teen clubs were dying out. It was now the era of large concert venues The Club Ponytail demise was soon followed by the opening of (in the nearby summer resort town of Charlevoix, Michigan) Castle Farms “Rock n’ Roll Central” in 1976. Its outside concert facility featured such acts as Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and once again, The Beach Boys. Summertime in Northern Michigan was what Kid Rock sang about.