Gay bar no more, this historic Garden City nightclub will reopen with ‘hard-partying fun’
A historic Garden City watering hole with a rearing palomino above it is returning to its roots.
The Ranch Club, 3544 W. Chinden Blvd., will ride again.
Closed in October, the building will reopen with the name it had for roughly seven decades before rebranding as Somewhere Bar in 2021. That concept described itself as “Boise’s only gay owned LGBTQIA+ community bar.”
The goal at the reincarnated Ranch Club will be to revive it “as the hard-partying, fun bar it was,” said Ryan Steinbroner, who has taken it over. Steinbroner owns the Fireside Inn in Boise, the Frontier Club, Roosevelt and 127 Saloon in Meridian, and the 1918 Lounge in Nampa.
The Ranch Club’s neon signage is being restored. New hardwood floors will be installed inside. The plan is to reopen around the middle of February, he said.
Bargoers should expect an environment similar to Steinbroner’s Frontier Club: DJ music, dancing, pool tables — “fun times,” he said. The Frontier and Roosevelt, which share a patio and liquor license, purchased more hard alcohol in fiscal 2024 than any other Treasure Valley bar — a testament to their popularity.
At 4,700 square feet, the Ranch Club includes a kitchen. Food won’t be served initially, though. That will be rolled out over the summer.
Steinbroner tried to get his hands on the Ranch Club several years ago, “and it didn’t happen then,” he explained.
“I just love the building. I think it’s worth saving. And I love the neighborhood.”
The original Ranch Club was transported to Garden City in pieces from New Plymouth in 1949. Slot machines cranked inside the club until gambling was made illegal in 1953.
As Idaho movie buffs know, a scene in Clint Eastwood’s 1980 movie “Bronco Billy” was filmed out front.
For 75 years, motorists on Chinden Boulevard have found themselves briefly distracted by the majestic horse — or, more accurately, horses. Black-and-white photographic evidence shows a different stallion many decades ago. It had a cowboy riding on it and waving an illuminated lasso.
In the 1990s, a vandal chopped off the Ranch Club stallion’s, um, manhood. The bar’s sign company quickly replaced the horse’s missing privates.
However old that current bronco truly is?
“It’s in pretty good shape,” Steinbroner said.
This story was originally published December 31, 2024 at 2:23 PM.