Tough Biker Bar is an Easy Sell

Tough biker bar is an easy sell

01:13 PM CST on Thursday, February 15, 2007

LESLEY TÉLLEZ UP ALL NIGHT

Reno's Chop Shop is a biker bar, but it's not the kind of place where the wrong look earns you a knife in the gut.

[Click image for a larger version] JASON JANIK/Special Contributor

JASON JANIK/Special Contributor

Lindsey Allen (left) and Eric Szyndrowski soak up the beer and the view at Reno's Chop Shop.

The regulars at the Deep Ellum haunt are badass but friendly. They greet each other with hugs and slaps on the back. Many are tattooed and pierced, but they don't seem to care if you are or not. They're too busy enjoying each other's company and quaffing cheap beer.

Rock is king at Reno's. Thursdays is old-school metal and $1 drafts, with Ayo from "The Edge" KDGE-FM (102.1) playing anything from Motörhead to AC/DC. On Fridays and the weekend, the bar hosts bands, usually metal or rockabilly.

Musicians are known to hang out there, too. Vinnie Paul has stopped by; so have members of Drowning Pool, Seether, Danzig and 30 Seconds to Mars.

On a recent chilly Thursday around midnight, Reno's was dark, thick with smoke and comfortably crowded.

AC/DC's "Squealer" blared. Casually dressed twentysomethings – and an old guy with long, stringy gray hair – sat at Reno's rectangular bar, which was papered with $1 bills autographed by customers.

Anyone is welcome to put his or her own name up there, owner Alan Keyes says. The only rule is that it doesn't disparage another motorcycle bar or a band.

Since we weren't on a first-name basis with Reno's yet, we took a seat at a table, one of several lined up against the black walls.

A massive portrait of burlesque star Dita Von Teese wearing pasties, thigh highs and a sultry look stared down at us.

Very sexy, but no big deal for the clientele. They seemed more into the music.

"Do ya'll want to hear some [expletive] metal?" Ayo yelled.

A short time later, he cued Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock." A group of guys in T-shirts and hoodies gathered around the DJ booth, pumping their fists and yelling: "I wanna rock! ROCK!"