An earlier version of this place holds an important spot in music history as well as the history of Lubbock; that’s probably not a thing you could intuit from looking at this photo, though.

The Cotton Club first opened in Lubbock in 1938 as a place for the fancy people to hear orchestras, jazz, and swing bands. The place was air conditioned, which seems pretty ahead of its time. There was a lot of music played in that original Cotton Club, including five appearances in 1955 by Elvis Presley. It’s said that a young Buddy Holly attended one of those shows and was inspired to a career in music. The Cotton Club was the first integrated dance hall in Lubbock and during the 1940s many well known Black musicians performed there.

Eventually, the club relocated. Times changes, music changed, buildings burned down (mysteriously), and more of the usual stuff that happens on a downward trajectory. The building’s still there, in rough neighborhood out on the Slaton Highway, but it’s been closed since 1984.

(Editorial Comment: Lubbock’s pretty proud of its musical history, but not quite proud enough to be able to save some of the actual places where important things happened.)

Cotton Club
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 1.17.2025