After bump in road, Pasadena honors country singer Gilley
Forty years ago, countrymusic star Mickey Gilley helped put Pasadena on the cinematic map when “Urban Cowboy” hit movie theaters, drawing attention to his boisterous honky-tonk with the mechanical bull.
This fall, city leaders sought to honor Gilley’s legacy by renaming a street after the enduring performer and cousin of rock ‘n’ roll great Jerry Lee Lewis — essentially putting Gilley’s name on city maps.
The move wouldn’t seem to be controversial, but in Pasadena, it irked some affected residents who say they were never consulted as well as several City Council members concerned about what they viewed as a lack of transparency.
“I thought, ‘ Oh my God, I don’t want that to happen,’ ” said Sheryl Johns, a 64-year resident of Pasadena whose street was originally to be renamed Mickey Gilley Boulevard. “Apparently in Pasadena they can just change it without ever telling you.”
After hearing from opponents, the Pasadena City Council voted in October to rename part of another route, Pansy Street, for Gilley instead.
Several of the council members who opposed the idea called for the city to develop a policy guiding street name changes.
“I think that our priorities should be actually fixing streets and potholes and sidewalks,” said Council Member Sammy Casados, who voted against the renaming. “We’ve gotten away from the basics.”
For his part, Gilley, now 84, said the street naming held special meaning to him.
“I am appreciative of the fact that after 50-something years in Pasadena, they've given me the honor of naming a street after me,” Gilley said in a statement. “I’ve called this great place my
home for over half of my life and have always tried to share it to a national and international audience. Thank you tomy neighbors and friends!”
Gilley and Pasadena have been linked in the public’s consciousness for a long time.
A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Gilley recalled the glory days of his namesake honky-tonk during an interview aired last June by Houston Public Media.
He said he had played at a club down the street from the future Gilley’s for about 10 years when he was offered a half-stake in the establishment and the chance to see his name in neon lights.
The club had a massive dance floor and reportedly could hold 6,000 patrons, but Gilley said the addition of the mechanical bull — a rodeo-training device, he said — “really turned things all around for us.”
An Esquire magazine story on Houston-area refinery workers who hit honky-tonks like Gilley’s at night led to the hit film starring John Travolta and Debra Winger, as well as a popular soundtrack featuring the music of Gilley, Johnny Lee and Boz Scaggs, among others.
“I never dreamed it was gonna explode into what it became,” Gilley told Houston Public Media. “Because 40 years later, me and Johnny Lee are still doing the musical soundtrack of ‘Urban Cowboy’ and having a good time.”
Fast-forward four decades and Gilley’s is long gone, having burned to the ground in a 1990 blaze ruled an arson. Developers announced plans last year for a family-friendly Gilley’s that would anchor a new entertainment complex in League City, but it has not yet come to pass.
Back in Pasadena, where it all began in 1970, some city leaders began to explore naming a street for Gilley. Not everyone was standing by him, though.
Johns learned about the proposed renaming of her street from the social media app Nextdoor. No officials had notified her or her residential and commercial neighbors, she said.
Johns and several neighbors appeared before the council to say the proposal didn’t square with them, prompting officials to look for another road.
The situation served as the latest example of a divided council in Harris County’s second-largest city, as four members voted against an amended ordinance while four others, along with Mayor Jeff Wagner, backed the measure. The council minority has chafed at Wagner’s leadership style and been pushing for improved services for their constituents, including a growing Latino population.
In interviews, Casados and two other council members who voted against the renaming questioned why the mayor placed the item on the agenda in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic. They also noted that the move came shortly after a radio talk-show host asked Wagner what it would take for him to name a street after Gilley.
Wagner said this week that the honor was fitting given the 40th anniversary of the film.
“His music and his brand have been synonymous with the hardworking community of Pasadena for more than 50 years,” Wagner said, listing a series of Gilley’s accomplishments in a written statement. “Why not honor him?”
Responding to emailed questions, Wagner did not address whether he planned to draft an ordinance to guide street renamings in the future. In this case, he said affected addresses were sent a letter from the city’s planning department.
Council Member Ornaldo Ybarra said the residents who raised questions about the process “brought some valid concerns to us.”
“There wasn’t really a process to it,” he said, adding that he can think of others in the city of 155,000 who also deserve having a street named after them.
Casados noted that the council was weighing the same recognition for fallen police officers.
“I really felt like it was disrespectful to them. They gave their life in the line of duty,” he said.
The original plan called for honoring Gilley on a stretch of Vista Road from Preston Avenue to Space Center Boulevard. The council, ultimately, agreed to rename part of Pansy Street, from Old Vista Road to Crenshaw Road, as Mickey Gilley Boulevard.
“Renaming a Pasadena street in honor of countrymusic legend ‘Mickey Gilley’ has been overdue for a very long time,” wrote Council Member Phil Cayten, whose district includes the renamed roadway, in an email. “Mickey Gilley was gifted enough to have been honored with 17 Number 1 Hits on the Country Western Hit Charts.”
The renaming won’t affect any residential addresses, he added, and the city’s planning department interviewed the few businesses that will be affected.
Travis Smith, co-owner of Crossfit South Belt, said the change won’t present many logistical changes to the gym’s operations other than updating location information on social media pages. Personally, he didn’t mind.
“I get it,” Smith said. “I understand the significance to some of the older population of Pasadena, it probably means something to them.”
Nearby, at Gulf Coast Control Valves, Bob Fortenberry said that when a planning department official told him about the proposal, he responded: “Man, that’s awesome.”
Fortenberry called Gilley a “Pasadena icon.” He remembers the lights at Gilley’s Club and moving signs in front of the cowboy ranch.
After the 1990 arson fire, he walked around the remnants with his aunt. They found a bell froma bull riding machine, a couple of old beer cans and a record.
It was Johnny Lee’s “’ Til The Bars Burn Down.”