Tootsies orchid lounge menu
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Tootsies World Famous Orchid Lounge
By the 1990s Tootsies Orchid Lounge was in danger of closing. Steve Smith, who had been renting Tootsies on a month-by-month lease, became determined to save it. By 1997 he had bought and acquired all rights to Tootsies, and through his hard work revived the iconic spot.
Today, Tootsies World Famous Orchid Lounge is a thriving, must-see stop in Nashville for Nashvillians and tourists alike. The honky tonk is packed every night of the week with live bands playing on the first, second, and the recently added third floor patio.
Tootsies continues to receive up-and-coming artists who aspire to establish themselves and potentially get their photo on Tootsies Wall of Fame.
“We call [Tootsies] ‘Honky Tonk Boot camp,’” says Taylor. “We know that a lot of the kids come to get started [here] and we hook them up with the number one songwriters over on Music Row. We put … some of the best new artists in the country working there to become stars of tomorrow. It’s fun working with them and carrying on a tradition that Tootsie got started.”
And this tr
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64 Years Ago: Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge Opens in Nashville
Sixty-four years ago today (March 29, 1960) was an historic day for Nashville, although no one was aware of it at the time. It was on that date that Tootsie's Orchid Lounge opened on Lower Broadway, just steps away from the Ryman Auditorium.
The venue now known as Tootsie's was open prior to 1960 as Mom's, but it changed names when it changed ownership. Hattie Louise "Tootsie" Bess purchased the restaurant and gave it its now-famous name after a painter, to her surprise, painted its exterior purple.
Bess was a singer and comedian in a radio act, Big Jeff & the Radio Playboys; "Big Jeff" was her husband, Jeff Bess, who was also the bandleader. After their radio work ended -- and their marriage dissolved -- Tootsie's became the local hangout for musicians, including Bess' then-teenage stepson, Steve Bess, who was already working as a guitarist for Ray Price.
"A lot of that got started by Ray's band, mainly Jimmy Day, the steel player, and myself," Steve
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Tootsie Bess
- Legendary former owner of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Lower Broadway in Nashville
- Support icon for such artists as Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, Kris Kristofferson, and Patsy Cline
Born in 1914 in Hohenwald, Tenn., Hattie Louise "Tootsie" Bess was a well-known and loved member of Nashville's music scene. In 1960, she purchased a bar called Mom's on Lower Broadway which backed up to the legendary Ryman Auditorium. Opry announcer Grant Turner said, "You could leave Tootsie's at 7:58 and still be on stage at the Opry at 8 o'clock." Many Opry performers did just that.
Without her, musicians and performers like Tom T. Hall, Kris Kristofferson, Roger Miller, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, or Hank Williams may not have reached the heights of stardom that they did. Willie Nelson got his first songwriting job after singing at Tootsie's.
Tootsie would hire down-on-their-luck writers and pickers, feeding them while they worked and often slipping $5 and $10 bills in their pockets. She kept a cigar box full of IOUs under the counter and it's said that at the end of ever
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