Cowgirl offers smokers an alternative to standing on street corners.
On a recent, unseasonably chilly night, a crowd of patrons from the Cowgirl BBQ and Western Grill stood outside the popular Santa Fe establishment and stared, awestruck at the sight in front of them.
"Can we really smoke in there?" one man asked incredulously.
"Ohmigod! Are you serious!" another woman giggled.
"This is crazy!" her friend blurted out.
The object of their collective
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disbelief was an off-white, Euro-style bus that looks awfully similar to the kind of official vehicle you see tearing around Heathrow Airport.
The bus is actually from Denver, not London, and it's the pride and joy of Cowgirl co-owner Nicholas Ballas. More important, it's the bar's answer to the city's nascent smoking ban, which went into effect June 30. The Smoke-Free Ordinance nixes smoking in virtually all businesses within city limits. It also prohibits people from lighting up on patios and within 25 feet of the entrance to any business.
The bus, however, allows smokers to indulge away from nonsmokers, while also meeting city code.
"Smokers are some of our best customers," Ballas says. "We didn't want to see them skulk around in the darkness, furtively sucking down cigarettes."
Earlier this month, Ballas found the vehicle, an out-of-use Denver city bus for the handicapped, on eBay and tried to purchase it. Though a Denver man outbid him, Ballas was able to subsequently negotiate a "good deal" and buy the bus for his own.
Nearly two weeks ago, he traveled to Denver with his wife to pick up the 1998 Chevrolet El Dorado and take it back to Santa Fe.
"We ended up meeting the guy behind this strip club called Cheerleaders." Ballas chuckles about the adventure.
Ballas has earned the right to speak his mind on the issue. A longtime smoker, Ballas quit two decades ago and hasn't had a puff since. Earlier this year, doctors told him he had transitional cell carcinoma caused by secondhand smoke. Doctors eventually removed Ballas' kidney, as well as a small tumor from his bladder. He also became one of the ordinance's most vocal supporters.
Incidentally, Cowgirl co-owner Barry Secular differs with Ballas on the smoking issue. Secular, who believes that municipalities should not interfere with local businesses, jokingly recalls how he and Ballas used to speak out on different sides of the issue when the City Council considered a ban in previous years. This time, though, Secular decided to support his partner.
"I thought it would be disrespectful to Nicholas to come out against the ordinance," Secular, also a nonsmoker, says. "It would have been insensitive for me to take a public stance."
Instead, Secular started coming up with ways the Cowgirl could abide by the law but also satisfy the cravings of the many smokers who flock to the bar.
"I was thinking a flatbed with couches, but that was in July," Secular says. "With so much rain and the winter coming, it became apparent that we needed a practical solution. We have smoking customers too."
Since his sojourn to Colorado, Ballas' bus has been parked near the Cowgirl on Guadalupe Street and appears to sit 25 feet from the indoor entrances to the Cowgirl; therefore Ballas believes it's in accordance with city code. He also thinks he may have found a safe solution to the potential safety hazard caused by the ordinance's distance requirement. During the late evening, people are likely safer inside the heated bus than standing on the somewhat deserted corner of Guadalupe and Aztec streets, Ballas says.
So far, the bus has provoked a quiet curiosity from city officials.
Sevastian Gurulé, constituent services manager for City Manager Asenath Kepler, says he wasn't aware of the bus prior to SFR's inquiry but that he's interested in the concept.
Gurulé notes that most people and businesses are abiding by the law. He adds that so far, the city has issued no citations, but has instead handed out approximately 15 handwritten warnings. One of those went to the Cowgirl, according to Ballas.
Councilor Patti Bushee, the ordinance's primary sponsor, says she'd like to actually see the bus before weighing in. But, Bushee says, as long as the Cowgirl plays by the rules, she's supportive.
"I don't see anything wrong with it, if it meets the letter of the law," she says. "I think the ordinance, so far, is working, generally speaking."
Ballas and Secular say the response to the bus has so far been overwhelmingly positive.
Nights at the Cowgirl often find a small straggle of smokers cheerfully discussing the merits of the bus from within its confines (no food or beverages are allowed). Interestingly, a few nonsmokers have climbed aboard too, presumably to see what all the fuss is about. The thick plumes of smoke, much of which wafts out the bus's open doors into the night air, haven't seemed to irk anyone yet.
The Cowgirl will soon sponsor a design contest to spice up the bus's decor. It will also get a name.
"Right now I'm thinking Bessie, Lucinda, Emmylou or Wynona," Ballas says with a grin, making a pointed reference to legendary female vocalists. He glances at the bus, then his bar, before taking a more serious tone.
"This is a more convenient and safer way of taking care of all of our customers."
