The famed Buck Owens Crystal Palace, where music legends such as Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Garth Brooks and a young Taylor Swift have played, is for sale; the foundation that runs the Bakersfield venue plans to list it for $7 million on Monday.
The nightclub, museum and steakhouse was owned by its namesake, Buck Owens, the country music pioneer who defied Nashville’s commercial tunes to adopt a distinctly West Coast drawl. Owens opened the Crystal Palace in 1996 and saw it become a top venue for country music’s biggest names, including himself. Buck and the Buckaroos played there every Friday and Saturday night until his death in 2006.
Jim Shaw, a member of the Buckaroos and director of the Buck Owens Private Foundation, said that after 28 years of running the famous venue, the Owens family plans to step back and find new owners amid a challenging business climate. The foundation said in a statement that “since Buck's passing in 2006, we have tried to maintain the excellence he expected, even as it became increasingly difficult during these trying times of rising food and labor costs.”
The venue will not close and scheduled events will continue as planned, Shaw said.
“For now everything remains the same,” Shaw said. “Ideally, someone who wants to keep it exactly the same would come forward.”
Owens' youngest son, Johnny Owens, wrote on Facebook that the family's hope “is that a buyer comes forward with a vision for the future and a sense of reverence” for his father and Bakersfield Sound.
The Crystal Palace, located on Buck Owens Boulevard, is a major tourist attraction in Bakersfield. The 18,000-square-foot facility is adjacent to the entrance to downtown.
“It’s the number one tourist attraction in Bakersfield,” Shaw said. “There are people who are getting excited about doing it and we’re waiting to see what happens. I’m getting a lot of phone calls. I’m anxious to see what happens.”
