..
..History of Rox's (first posted in 2007)
History of Rox's (first posted in 2007)My name is Glenn"Rocko"Caillouet and this a short history of how Rox's
came to be.....Rox's was opened by my grandfather Raul "Rox"Bernard.He
was in business with his brother Rene Bernard when he decided to go on
his own,so in 1955 he bought the house right next door to Rene's and
converted it into Rox's Bar.As a matter of fact,there was a door
connecting the two bars for years.Thank God he didn't find somthing
across town because we would have never had the TRIANGLE,Rox's,Rene's
and the Red Goose!!! Rox's was what use to be called a working man's
bar,open 7 days a week starting at 5 or 6 in the morning untill the
old boys went home.No women were allowed !!! My uncles Major,Doddie
and Yockey worked with Rox untill his death in 1966 when Major and
Doddie took over.Yockey had some time before gotten a job with
McDermott where he was head of personal for about 100 years.Yockey is
who I'm talking about when I say that instead of Carry Yooky we have
Carry Yockey,after Yockey gets drunk we carry him to his car !!! Ha ha
Haaa. Major and Doddie ran the bar untill 1980 when they retired and
leased it Edmond"Coach"Gros who was actually my coach in high school.I
always kid him that we were the reason he got out of coaching !!!
Coach pretty much ran it the same way and did a fine job but in 1985
the oil field went bust and it killed his business.So he decided to
get out and went to work for cresent crown where he is still
employed.The next two guys to take over ,believe it or not,were the
present Mayor of Thibodaux, L. Charles"Charlie"Caillouet(my cousin)and
Tucker Chauvin who all you Houma guys know as the owner of Uptowns
Pool Hall .Charlie,who wasn't the Mayor yet,and Tucker pretty much ran
the place as a hobbie.They really didn't have much time for it
because Chuck was a lawyer and Tuck worked for the phone
company.Business got better but it never got back to where it was
before,so after a year and a halve they decided they were going to get
out at the end of their two year lease.This is where it starts to get
good.....I was working as an electrician at McDermott supporting a
family and raising Bad Brad,who at this time was just in his pre hunk
stage !!!! (that wasn't in the original draft...I just added it today
!!!! Ha ha Haaaaa)when my cousin Little Stevie"Reno"Bernard mentioned
to me one day that Rox's was going to be avilable and we should go in
together.Well he dropped out a few days later so I called my friends
Lance Ford and Mac LeBlanc and told my uncles that we wanted the lease
and the rest as they say ,was HISTORY !!!!!!!!! We did some cleaning
and a little carpenter work and with the help from some of our painter
friends,Gordy,Noon,Randy,and Mitch we got the place painted and open
right after Mardi Gras in Feb of 1987.The first night we were packed
but soon after buiness went to crap.Not getting any better after a
year and a half Lance and Mac decided to get out,so i bought their
shares in Facowee Inc.and put my head down and went to work.I knew I
had to get away from the workings man bar tag but it was hard to
shake.I knew what it had to become------A College Bar !!!!!! My dad
Abel"Harry"Caillouet had open a colege bar in the late 60's called the
Colonels Retreat which did very well.Thats where I learned the bar
business from top to bottom.I did everything from cleaning toilets to
eventually working behind the bar,and everything in between.So that
was my model.......I started putting speakers all over the building
and CRANKING IT UP !!!!!!!!!!!! I only had two other guys working for
me at the time---Andrew Caillouet(another cousin) and
Randy"Mop"Gros.Well gradually we started to see more and more college
students comming in then it just snowballed.Thats when things got a
little CRAZY !!!!!!!!Things would happen in Rox's that you would only
see in old wild west movies.Just ask some of the "OLD SCHOOL" guys on
my friends list,they were there.....The S--T HIT THE FAN !!!!!!!! If
there wern't 5 fights a night somthing was wrong....People would be
flying thourgh the air and you couldn't get a drink because so many
people were dancing on the bar.If you passed out you wouldn't hit the
ground because people were so jammed up !!!!!! There were two
ocassions when I went home,took off what i was wearing and threw it in
the garbage can,thats how messed up and dirty my cloth were !!!! As
the years went by things calmed down a bit and every now and then me
and my buddy Troy"Chicken" Morvant would get out my hammer and saw and
add somthing new to get it to the way you see it now.It's been a
great 20 years and I want to THANK EVERYBODY......All my friends that
I've met over the years,all you guys and girls still comming to the
Bar,and especilly all the people who worked their ass's off for me and
had to listen to me ramble on and on while we were iceing up after
closing...I can still hear you'll now,Thats right Rocko,you are
alway's right,can we go now !!!!!! Ha Haaaaaa.........And the crew who
is still working now,,,you know who you are,there are to many to
mention.Without ALL of you,and I mean this, there would be no Rox's
Bar,so from the bottom of my Heart----THANKS FOR SHOPPING AT ROX'S
!!!!!!!!!!!!
ROCKO.....P.S.-------Lets try another 20 !!!!!!!!!
The "Godfather"......T-Boy !!!!!!!!!!!!