After 71 years, landmark Garden City nightclub to become a gay bar

Despite being closed, the Ranch Club in Garden City isn’t going anywhere.

It’s going Somewhere.

The landmark bar at 3544 W. Chinden Blvd. will reopen soon with a new name — Somewhere — and will target a new clientele.

Somewhere will be a gay bar, co-owner Rob Covert says. He signed a five-year lease on the building in December with business partner Eli Russell.

They plan to open Somewhere in February and hold a grand opening in March, he says.

Somewhere will fill a need in the Boise area for an LGBTQ bar, Covert says. He and Russell had been hunting for the right spot for about two years.

“Our community doesn’t really have a gay bar here,” Covert, 61, explains. “And one thing that I have found through my life is that a community is really important for friendships and for networking and to be able to network with like-minded individuals, you might say.

“People are very accepting now, but the gay community still needs to have a place that they can call their own, and not have to really worry about what’s going on around them.”

Although the Ranch Club name will vanish, the familiar large horse outside will remain atop the building, Covert says. For decades, that rearing stallion has reminded passing motorists of the nightclub’s long history.

In 1949, the building was transported to Garden City in pieces from New Plymouth. The Ranch Club opened the following year. It had slot machines until gambling was made illegal in 1953.

Famously — at least to Idaho film buffs — a scene in Clint Eastwood’s 1980 movie “Bronco Billy” was filmed in front of the Ranch Club.

After fading into dive bar status in recent years, the Ranch Club was remodeled and reopened in 2017 as an attractive, outlaw country bar with live music. But that closed about a year and a half later. The Ranch Club changed owners once again, reopened again — and then shuttered for good in 2020.

With a built-in clientele of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Idahoans, Covert says he feels good about Somewhere’s potential.

“We’re really excited about it,” he adds. “We think it’s going to be a great location.”

Somewhere will have a liquor license. No permanent food menu is planned. The food-service area will be leased by the hour as a commissary kitchen, Covert said. He envisions food trucks using it and serving Somewhere customers simultaneously.

Although occasional live music might be offered, the stage will be used primarily for drag shows, comedy or other events, he says.

Workers outside are upgrading the building’s front, which won’t have a log-cabin look anymore, he says. The interior will receive a “face-lift,” Covert adds, but no major remodeling is planned.

“We left all that reclaimed wood. We just whitewashed it,” he says. “It’s pretty much staying the same. It’s just not going to look like a country bar any longer. The wagon wheels are gone. Just more of a modern-looking inside.”

So what would Bronco Billy think of all this?

“Bronco Billy would love it,” Covert says with a laugh. “That’s right. That’s for sure.”

In all seriousness? “This is just really something that our community has needed for a while,” Covert says.

This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 2:54 PM.