In July, one of Erie’s oldest clubs — the one with a yellow school bus upstairs, the one where Bo Diddley, Alice in Chains and current jam-band kings Goose have played, the one with decor that’s funkier than James Brown, the one with chess sets, pool tables and board games galore — will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
King’s Rook Club, incorporated in July 1976, opened as a chess and gaming club for friends with just 16 members. The following year, 32 buddies belonged. By 1985, the club boasted nearly 10,000 members who grew to love the club’s eclectic mix of DJ dances, live bands, Monday Night Football, wing nights, dart leagues and other events that routinely packed the place up to seven days a week.
“It’s a very, very great entertainment place that has had a lot of different types of entertainment through the years and different phases of the club,” said Chuck Alloway, a member from the Rook’s inception and its current board president. “We just kind of moved along with the times.”
Membership has ebbed and flowed over the years; currently more than 1,000 people — with an average age of 35 — belong, according to Khristina Juarez, the club’s social media manager and co-booker the past four years.
Today’s Rook thrives by welcoming top regional bands — such as New York’s Jimkata and Cleveland’s Tropidelic — plus scores of local ones on its intimate upstairs stage and the larger one on the main floor that features tiered seating and multiple bars.
Expanding its musical scope
Jonny Evans, the other co-booker, said the Rook has expanded its musical scope in recent years. Jam bands dominated before and still play, but the Rook also features metal, alternative acts, tribute artists, and more
On May 22, Mighty Mystic — a reggae band with Kevin Mark Holness, the younger brother of Jamaica’s current Prime Minister — will appear at the Rook. Emo rockers Mallory Run played in January. A tribute to goth legends The Cure played the club in February, while New Year’s Eve featured a tribute to late hip-hop star Mac Miller.
“Mallory Run isn’t a band that would have played there the last decade,” said Evans, who has booked bands there nearly four years. “It just wasn’t the genre they wanted. We had to fight for that. Our bosses were like, ‘We want a certain dynamic, a certain crowd.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not going to book bands if I can’t book all bands.”
Both local and regional bands say the Rook is a vital place to play.
“It’s really important for the live music scene in Erie because there’s not a lot of venues, and they have a big variety of bands,” said Ethan Foulk, singer and guitarist with Kactai. “I think that’s really, really important. Some venues will only book certain acts or cover bands. This is a really good place for people to get their start. And bigger acts come though here.”
No band is bigger at the Rook than Tropidelic, the high energy funk/hip-hop rockers from Cleveland who routinely sell out the club and have played it for more than a decade.
“This is one of my favorite places to play. Super incredible place,” said Matt Roads, Tropidelic’s lead singer and guitarist. ”It just holds a special place in my heart. Admittedly, part of it is the convenience (from Cleveland), but there’s also just nothing like it. Other places try to be what the King’s Rook is but, you know, this is just authentic.”
Decor like no other, including a school bus
Part of what makes the Rook so unique is its utterly wacko, anything-goes decor; the place is crammed with memorabilia, old photos, vintage posters, mounted fish, stuffed animal heads, bizarre liquor ads, a hanging Schwinn bicycle and more.
Look up, there’s Spuds McKenzie. Is that a neon-blue Greyhound Bus Sign? Why is a card table with beer cans, poker chips, playing cards and dead bugs all affixed, hanging from the rafters? Because an artist — and member — wanted to preserve that scene.
“Everybody was involved with the stuff you see hanging on the walls,” said Jim Wallin, an original member and the Rook’s treasurer. “People said, ‘Oh, I saw this and it looked like something we could hang because it’s cool looking. It’s a good conversation piece.’”
“He wants it to be like a museum,” Evans said.
No piece conjures more conversation than the school bus parked upstairs since 1985.
“If I tell someone I work at the Rook,’” Evans said, “they usually say, ‘Wow, I used to go there back in the day’ And two, they say, ‘Is the bus still there?’ Like where is it going to go?”
Wallin said when DJ music took off in the 1980s, the club decided it needed to add a DJ booth.
“Someone had been somewhere where there was a club that had a diesel truck cab that was turned into a DJ booth. We were like, ‘We could do that with a school bus.’ One thing led to another.”
Wallin bought a pair of used buses for $2,000. A dedicated team of Rook members meticulously dismantled one bus, which was parked next door, and reassembled it “screw by screw, rivet by rivet” — in the upstairs bar. They completed the hush-hush project on a Monday Wings Night, with puzzled members staring on.
“That was the birthing of the bus,” Wallin said. “And you know, it was crazy, but it became the Boogie on the Bus on us (theme). That made everybody happy.”
Members today can still sit inside the back of the bus but the front is used for storage, not as a DJ booth. The entire bus is decked out with hundreds of stickers from artists who’ve played the Rook over the years, including Goose, Spiritual Rez, Aqueous and more.
Wallin says the crazy let’s-do-this spirit that willed a bus upstairs is the key to the Rook’s success. Sure, over the years, it featured the biggest artists of the day (Hit and Run, Ventura, the Stabilizers, Character, and hundreds more since then). But it’s also stayed alive by taking suggestions from board and club members.
Games, karaoke, music and memories at the Rook
The spacious outdoor deck, with two bars and stages, once featured volleyball but now offers cornhole. Gaming remains a staple with chess and checkers, but also Jenga, Connect 4 and newer titles. The Rook has also featured trivia nights, drag events, movie nights, karaoke, open mic, Latin dance nights, Catch a Rising Star, comedy, and Jackbox tournaments. Evans said the club hopes to open another weeknight in 2026; it’s currently open Thursdays through Saturdays with a kitchen that features assorted menus from pop-up chefs. Memberships are still $10.
Evans said the “overall aesthetic and culture” of King’s Rook make it special, and for both him and Jaurez, one particular night epitomizes that. Syracuse band Sophistafunk — which frequently plays at parties for Chef Guy Fieri — visited the Rook in March 2023. Just before The LEC — Evans’ band, back then — opened the show, the power cut out from a raging wind storm.
With a big crowd on hand — and power expected to be restored by midnight — Evans urged members to stay. Then, the LEC played in the near-dark in modified form with acoustic bass, a glockenspiel, Evans rapping and a drummer lightly using the Sophistafunk kit. Jack Brown, Sophistafunk’s leader, even sat in with them for a song.
“Everyone stayed, except maybe 5 to 10 people,” Evans said. “We did the song with (Brown) and it was so cool. The crowd was so engaged; they’re cheering and yelling and I’m on stage, almost teared up. I was so moved by everybody hanging out.”
“It was amazing,’ Juarez said. “It reminded me of a Tiny Desk Concert. That’s one of my favorite memories of the Rook ever.”
Moments after the LEC finished, up came the lights and Sophistafunk slayed. Magical music nights like that are key to the Rook’s half-century success.
“We’re all about the music,” Evans said. “It’s about the culture. The history here is amazing. The bands that come here, they tell me, ‘Wow, this is the coolest venue I’ve been in.’”
“That makes it all worth it,” Juarez said.
