Page 23 - Flathead Beacon // 7.23.14

FUNKY TOWN THE PALM & THE DISCO DAZE OF WHITEFISH
FLATHEADBEACON.COM JULY 23, 2014 | 23
walls inlaid with geometric designs of white as- pen and mirrored panels accenting reclaimed barn wood.
The Baalims decided to brand The Palm as a combined discotheque and casino, offering live poker and keno in the front of the bar and danc- ing in the back.
Its decadent motto was “Where Pleasure is the First Resort” and the combination drew a varied clientele from the outset.
“On the first night that The Palm opened, a girl named Bernice was working behind the bar with a beehive hairdo two-feet tall, and then there was this group of good old boys sip- ping blackberry brandy and smoking cigars at the poker table,” said Linda Roberts, one of The Palm’s managers. “It was like two worlds collid- ing. The town was pretty dead in the early ‘70s and The Palm changed it into what it is today. It was like an earthquake. We were a big deal.”
Local law enforcement took an immediate interest in The Palm, which was a new breed of bar for Whitefish. Blankenship recalls how the influx of employees – the disco hired 45 – quick- ly raised the vigilance of the police.
“They were on us like white on rice,” he said. “The town was full of cowboy bars and The Palm broke it loose.”
Lonnie Herman was Whitefish’s assistant police chief at the time and recalls The Palm’s seismic impact on the downtown scene.
“I remember when they built it. That was
a big deal. There were people coming from all over – Idaho, Canada, California. It filled up downtown Whitefish. They really packed it in. It had that lighted dance floor that was all the rage. It was pretty impressive for its time,” Her- man said. “Back then there was more of a coun- try mentality ... and then The Palm came along. That little gin mill kept us busy for a lot of years. It used to be quite an adventure. As far as a drinking, partying, pub-crawling, let’s-have-a- good-time crowd, they were it.”
Canadians began arriving in Whitefish by the busload, which stirred resentment in a ski town that prided itself for its anti-resort aes- thetic. “Gut shoot ‘em at the border” was a pop-
ular saying, recalls Roberts, but they filled The Palm night after night, rankling locals but se- curing the discotheque as a new establishment in town.
“A lot of the scene when I got there was kind of poker games and country music,” Pieroni said. “These blue-collar guys would come to town and hoot and holler and then go back in the woods to work. But The Palm really brought out the ski scene and the Canadians. The Cana- dians started coming down like gangbusters. I think it changed the town immensely.”
It wasn’t uncommon for a half-dozen bus- es to unload Canadians on Friday and linger downtown for the entire weekend before de-
“It had that lighted dance floor that was all the rage. It was pretty impressive for its time. Back then there
was more of a country mentality ... and then The Palm came along. That little gin mill kept us busy for a lot of years. It used to be quite an adventure. As far as a drinking, partying, pub-crawling, let’s-have-a-good- time crowd, they were it.”
Lonnie Herman, Whitefish’s former assistant police chief
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