This magnificent place had Bolo ties,  Cowboy hats,  Mechanical bulls and Cowboy boots. Gilley's was THE place to see and be seen in Pasadena, Texas and started a resurgence of Country Music.  The fashion was light years different than the glittery disco outfits worn in more urban clubs.

Jon Cryer's iconic Duckie Dale from the Eighties John Hughes classic Pretty in Pink might not seem to have a lot in common with a dancehall on the fringes of Southeast Texas. But you could link one item — that leather-stringed Western bolo tie cinched loosely around Duckie's neck — directly to a honky-tonk named Gilley's and the movie that brought western fashion and country music into the mainstream. This year, the 1980 John Travolta film Urban Cowboy celebrates its 35th anniversary and CMT is chronicling the rise of the Urban Cowboy movement in a time-warping new documentary.

Hard to believe it's 35 years old!  Makes a body feel really old really fast…..

Urban Cowboy: The Rise and Fall of Gilley's, premiering on CMT on Saturday, June 13th, at 9:00 p.m., explores the origins of Gilley's and the implications of how national attention, followed by rampant commercialization, can be a lifetime boon for some — and a downfall for others. Directed by the same team that produces the innovative 30 for 30 series on ESPN, the documentary features interviews with Gilley, Travolta and others who were integral to the Urban Cowboy scene. It also looks at the real-life “urban cowboys” that inspired the film — most of whom went back to their normal lives on the oil rig while the rest of America became enamored with every stitch on Travolta's collar and finally welcomed country music into the mainstream.

Country bars started popping up all over the country, mirroring Gilley's. There's even one in my hometown, a little Burg in Southwestern Ohio, still in operation, mechanical bull and all.

Based on a 1979 Esquire Magazine story, Urban Cowboy told the tale of a country music love affair between Travolta's Bud and Debra Winger's Sissy in the town of Pasadena, Texas. The action was all set in Gilley's, where real-life “Gilleyrats,” as they affectionately named themselves, spent their nights and money dancing, drinking beer and riding the bar's famed mechanical bull. At the center was singer-pianist Mickey Gilley (a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis), who invested in the club with his business partner, Sherwood Cryer, when his music career had stalled.

Do you have any memories of this place? If so make sure to tell us about it and how amazing it looked from the inside!

Read on to find out the impact the film had on the bar at: Rolling Stone.

Photo Source: My Freedom To Roam