Kitchen Table Tales - Alarm Clock Club

Maybe people living in big cities think living in a small town would be pretty boring, but living in Pecos in the 1950s or so was pretty much fun for my parents. In those days, TV had just arrived and for years we only got CBS, which might explain why they had to make their own fun.

The Alarm Clock Club was mnade up of couples who agreed to host the group once a year, or so. The host couple provided drinks and three (no more, no fewer) hors d'oeuvres. The guests would arrive at 7 p.m. and the party was over when the alarm clock rang at 9 p.m. exactly. Then they all adjourned to the Pecos Valley Country Club for dinner.

The PVCC at that time was housed in the old air base officers club with a bar, booths and a big hardwood (oak, maybe?) dance floor. Our high school dances were held there, and the different high school sororities would decorate the club with crepe paper and balloons. We would shake out that floor wax so the splinters in the floor would be smoothed over.

The club had shuffleboard games and a pool, with a canteen where you could order food. I think I spent almost every summer day at the pool.

At that time in Texas, only private clubs could serve "liquor by the drink", but restaurants could serve "set ups". They would charge extra for club soda or tonic water, and the patron would bring in a flask or bottle in a brown paper sack and surreptitiously add the booze. Hence the popularity of private clubs.

There was no actual gambling at the PVCC, but sometimes the club would buy those little tickets which if you tore it open and found three cherries, you won more little tickets. It was a great way to keep the kids quiet while we drank our Shirley Temples or Roy Rogers.

The food, as I recall, was pretty good. My favorite was the Steak Diane, which they fixed tableside and flamed! Pretty tall cotton for West Texas.

The Alarm Clock Club spawned a younger version - the Ding-a-Lings.

The Alarm Clock and the PVCC both have dwindled due to deaths and people moving away. One old timer told me that in the old days, they would pay Joe Henry, the long-time bartender and local favorite, to stay open late and that these days they couldn’t even stay up till 9.

The club finally tore down the old club and the new one is in a triple-wide modular building and has an open membership. It still has fried chicken for Sunday lunch, but is even closed on Saturday nights.