I went to another blue-collar dive in Arlington’s industrial area along Galleria Drive, north of the Six Flags Mall, or Plaza Central as it is currently known. What a treat it is to drive around that place and wonder what will happen to it when all commerce, at this point propped up by a Tinseltown movie theater and a Dillard’s that’s only open from noon to 7pm on Mondays, disappears. Do they raze malls? It seems like a major undertaking. But luckily for the businesses that exist outside the boundaries of the mall’s parking lot, the last gasps of an outdated retail model seem to be mostly immune. At least Mac’s Tavern and Grill is still around, in other words.
If I had to guess, I’d say the bar has been around for 20 years or so –– maybe less, because it was clean and polished, and the paint covering the walls –– Dijon mustard yellow and a green falling between avocado and sage –– appeared to be relatively new. In any case, it’s what you’d expect from that kind of place: six macrobrews on tap, a kitchen offering a wide variety of fried food, middle-aged regulars, a friendly woman behind the bar, shuffleboard and billiards, darts and slot machines, and TV screens flickering with sports and VH1 Classic.
I bellied up to the bar and got comfortable with a Bud, my feet resting on the brass rail running along the bottom of the bar. At the opposite end, a man in his 50s or 60s wearing a tie-dyed bandana picked his way through a basket of fried shrimp. He seemed kind of nervy, but that was only because I could feel him tapping his feet against the rail. Maybe he was just trying to send me a message written in Morse code. The bartender had asked me if I wanted any food, so maybe he was trying to make a recommendation. If I hadn’t already made lunch plans, I would’ve gotten a BLT, though that might not have been what he was suggesting.
On a TV above the bar, Tom Petty and Kim Bassinger celebrated “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” prompting me to imagine who was sitting in my seat when that song was climbing the charts. I was in high school, so it wasn’t me, obviously, but the line about summer creepin’ in and making Petty feel tired of his town again kinda hit home. It made me wonder what I’d be missing if I paid my tab and disappeared to parts unknown for a few weeks. I didn’t ask the TV, but according to VHI Classic’s commercials, an impromptu road trip would take up time I could spend using a Bowflex or watching the new season of Dating Naked.
“I gotta get out of here,” I thought. But then the Roxette video for “It Must Have Been Love” aired, and, before it was over, I’d ordered a second beer. Did you know that song was on the Pretty Woman soundtrack? You should ask your mom if she remembers that tune, because she probably saw that movie. I bet she got into an argument with your dad about Richard Gere.
The song ended, fading into Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game,” aka the video where he rolls around on the beach with then-supermodel Helena Christensen. Looking around the room, I got a glimpse of the mall though the bar’s Venetian blinds, the acres of parking lot empty save for a handful of cars and tufts of weeds poking through the asphalt. I assumed that it would’ve been full of cars in 1990, but according to the Wikipedia, it was already in decline. Maybe Mac’s is of a more recent vintage? I guess it’s hard to make assumptions about time. When I had that thought, I realized I was gonna be late for lunch. I paid my tab and hit the road, thinking about the rest of the afternoon, leaving the mall’s cracks and weeds in the past. –– Steve Steward
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Mac’s Tavern and Grill
2821 Galleria Dr
Arlington, TX 76011
817-649-1700
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