Dixie Chicken (bar)

The Dixie Chicken, also known as The Chicken, is a bar located in College Station, Texas, directly across the street from the Texas A&M University campus. The Dixie Chicken claims to serve the most beer per square foot of any bar in the United States.

“One of the most recognizable restaurants in College Station,” the Dixie Chicken is known as Texas A&M's "favorite local watering hole." The Dixie Chicken is the oldest and most famous bar in the Northgate district, has a live rattlesnake on the premises, and is home to a weekly domino tournament.

The Dixie Chicken was founded by local businessmen Don Anz and Don Ganter. Anz had rented a pool hall, the Aggie Den, directly across the street from the Texas A&M University campus. The two businessmen invested about $7,000 to convert the pool hall into a bar. The two renamed the facility the Dixie Chicken, taken from the album of the same name by band Little Feat. The decor was inspired by the cover of a Jerry Jeff Walker album, and featured swinging doors at the entrance, sturdy wooden tables - over time covered in patron's carvings - pool tables, dominoes, and signs on the walls. In a 2014 article, ESPN writer Scott Eden described the bar: "The exterior resembles a honky-tonk as dreamed up by the Disney people who designed Frontierland. On the inside, it's pure Texas, with outlaw country on an infinite loop and Lone Star longnecks sliding down the bars, not to mention photos of old Bonfires all over the walls."

The bar opened on June 15, 1974. It soon became a favored hangout of Texas A&M students and aspiring singers Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett. The two often brought their guitars to the bar and played impromptu concerts on the back porch. In the beginning, they were often kicked out of the bar, but as their playing improved, the owners allowed them to stay and play.

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