Beginning tonight (Saturday, April 1), Fort Worth’s Rainbow Lounge is going smoke free.
According to a notice posted Friday afternoon, management of the bar, located at 651 S. Jennings St., said, “We want to satisfy all of our patrons, and will continue to provide a fabulous patio area for our smoking clientele.”
That sounds great to me.
I smoked for more than 35 years. Was an at-least-a-pack-a-day smoker. When I would drink, I smoked even more. I was quite indignant when Dallas passed its smoking ban, and was always glad I lived in Fort Worth where I could still light up a cig with my bourbon and coke at the bar.
But I stopped smoking just over four years ago, and during a recent visit to a Fort Worth bar, I realized exactly why my non-smoking partner and friends hated going out in Fort Worth. Within 10 minutes of walking into the smokey bar, my eyes were burning like mad and I was developing a killer headache.
These days, my partner and I don’t go out much — even though sometimes we really want to just hang in a bar and have a drink and chat with folks. Neither of us can tolerate the smoke, and driving to Dallas for a drink is just too much work.
But now, we have a closer, smoke-free option! And now, maybe I’ll get to see the amazing performers in Rainbow Lounge’s Saturday night Illusions of Drag show.