LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — If you stop by 7th and Chester on a Friday night, you never know what you might find inside Vino's Brew Pub.
Nearly 35 years before nights of beers and body slams from Saturday night wrestling, owner Henry Lee and his partners were just hoping to get Vino’s off the mat.
"[We] decided there wasn’t a place in town to eat a good pizza or drink a good beer, so we decided we were going to open one,” Lee said.
Coming out of the investment business, Lee chose to put his money where his mouth was and opened the doors to this historic spot in 1990.
“We looked around numerous places and finally just kept coming back to this building. There was just something about it, it just felt good," he described. "They were doing some underground music at the time, and we decided to pick it up and get started and we were the first place in the state to bring in imported beers on tap.”
In 1991, Vino's brought in more than beer— they booked a young punk rock band out of California called Green Day.
“When Green Day played here within the first couple of months we opened, I mean we poured 500 people in here and it was crazy,” he recalled.
That show opened the door for some of the most popular bands of the 90s and 2000s to get their start right here.
“Rancid, Evanescence, and some of those guys. Everything from Fairport Convention which is an international folk group to Billy Lee Riley from right here in Newport, Arkansas. Just all kinds of stuff, anything but cover bands basically," Lee said.
Shows and craft beer kept folks like Chris New coming back again and again.
“There was Vino’s and a place called Mr. Dunderbak’s in McCain Mall," Lee added. "That was the only place you could get a decent beer.”
Chris loved Vino’s so much that he began working for Henry. Now he’s the General Manager, where every day he sees people from all walks of life.
"You’ve got a table full of lawyers and next to them is a bunch of train-hopping punk rock kids. It is what it is, and I think that’s what people enjoy about Vino's. It’s comfortable for everybody," New said.
And in a time of such divisiveness, one thing we can all agree on is food. Lee highly recommends the calzone if you've never tried one before.
"If I don’t have anything to do the rest of the day, I’d have a calzone," he said.
Lee is very proud of the menu that Vino's continues to offer at a good price for his customers, including high-quality pizza.
“It’s my favorite style of pizza baked on stone. Really nice and crunchy on the bottom with a little bit of bread on the edges and the calzones. I think they’re the best around," he said.
After three-plus decades of pilsners, pizza, and punk rock, Henry hopes that Vino’s will continue to be a place for anyone and everyone.
“Forget about politics. Forget about all that, just get together and listen to good music and watch some good bands," he said.