The majority of these stories, looking back at Cayman’s history, have featured a favourite watering hole, shop or venue that no longer exists, but in this case, the proud name of Lone Star still stands on West Bay Road.
When Lone Star first opened its doors in 1985, it instantly became a hub for the social crowd. I don’t think I started frequenting the place until a few years later, and it already had that well-lived-in look. Scores of T-shirts hung from the ceiling and sports memorabilia and posters adorned the walls. There was a particularly memorable large poster of a sultry lady sporting snorkel gear, and precious little else. She sat on the wall next to the bar stool where Dude could always be found. (More on him in a bit.)
Owners and staff
Mike Flowers and his wife, Bobbi, ran the joint, and what a fabulous pair they were – completely hands-on, and often almost like surrogate parents to their staff. Mike had a Cheshire Cat smile, and the same sense of mischief about him, which made him a favoured boss and wildly popular with customers.
Mark Busby, on a Facebook post thread about Lone Star, recalled “two back-to-back Don Foster’s Dive birthday celebrations on consecutive nights. The first one was a raucous, messy affair. On the [second] one, Mike came out of the kitchen wearing a black bin liner, carrying a birthday cake and said: ‘No food fights!’”
Mike was so liked that even when he had to dispense a bit of tough love, people understood and paid attention.
Jim Frichter remembered post-rugby match celebrations that got quite… lively.
“[At] Lone Star after rugby games, when we got out of hand, big Mike would just point at the door. So much respect we had for him [that] once he pointed, we gathered up the team and left, and as always, we were welcomed [back] the next day.”
Behind the bar, you’d often find Violet Watler, a fiery Caymanian bartender who was just the right mix of no-nonsense, personality, and a big heart. She was the perfect person to handle the slew of patrons that walked through the doors every day, which included dive staff, sports teams, hospitality workers, lawyers and accountants. Lone Star was the great equaliser. No matter what your background or employment, once you pulled up a chair to the bar, you were just like everyone else in the place.
The fact that most customers were a little bit scared of Violet helped keep order. As Anastasia Gill recalled, Violet was known for announcing, “You don’t have to go home, but ya can’t stay here!” at closing time. Very few challenged her.
Local restaurateur Neil Bryington said, “Oh, to know the amount of people Ms Violet banned from the bar, and how many people came back… the first thing that [you] did was go and apologise to her.”
Elaine Strachan also gave a perfect example of why Violet was one of a kind.
“I returned to Cayman and a job at Don Foster’s after six years away… Violet remembered my name – and my drink!”
Mike and Bobbi were such well-respected bosses – and Lone Star was so popular – that anyone hired by them tended to stay for the long term. It was great for the clients, as the staff in the bar and restaurant were familiar faces and became friends.
“[Mike] was a great guy to work for,” said Travis Loof, former employee. “I worked for them in kitchen till I started working at the Hyatt.”
Joanne Heath echoed Travis’s sentiments, adding, “Mike is the best. Lone Star was amazing to work at! Too much fun!”
Sarah Harre simply said, “Best and kindest boss EVER!”
Unforgettable food
There was a basketball hoop arcade game in the main bar, where I spent many a quarter confirming why I was never called up to the WNBA, and the dining area through the doorless-doorway was home to casual booths and tables with red-and-white, liquid-repelling checkered covers. At the back of that same room were the only bathrooms, and on a busy night, it was not unusual for the lineup for the toilets to snake well past the tables. It allowed for easy conversation with the diners as a way to pass the time, until it was your turn to be called up to the porcelain throne.
There was also an outdoor dining area, much like there is now, with servers flying back and forth through the doors in the main building, conveying sizzling delights to waiting tables. The menu was extensive, with specials every night of the week but Sundays. Tuesdays were all about the Texas BBQ; steaks were on special on Wednesdays; Fridays brought prime rib lovers out in droves; and Saturdays promised a “rib roaring good time”. What most people remember, however, were Fajita Rita Mondays and Thursdays – so nice, they offered it twice, and all that. There were all-you-can-eat beef or chicken fajitas for $11.99 with pitchers of top shelf margaritas at $15.99 and buckets of Corona for $11.50.
Nigel Holmes, a customer back in the day, tried to step up to a fajitas challenge in order to get a free meal, but he didn’t make it.
“I remember that if you ate three hot plates of fajitas, you got them for free,” Nigel said. “I got through two-and-a-half once before keeling over and having to pay for the lot.”
The regular menu was not for the faint of heart, with lists of rib-sticking Tex-Mex dishes over two pages. The huge nacho plates alone gave big eaters cause to pause, but that didn’t stop them from ordering. On any given night of the week, locals and tourists filled the place, either sitting in the dining room, out on the patio, or along the long bar, where they could also watch sports on TV.
Certain regulars had their particular areas where they always sat, particularly the Red Sail Sports gang. Often, one section was just a sea of red T-shirts as the staff enjoyed some beers after a long day at work. One could get to the bar by entering the front door of the premises and taking a couple of steps up, or through the rear door at the back of the building. If you chose the latter, you’d be walking the gauntlet a bit, as people tended to congregate near it and it was arguably the darkest part of the room. By the time your eyes adjusted to the dimness, you’d realise it had been sheer folly on a busy night to attempt that route, and have to either pull a 180 or prepare for a squeezefest.
Famous people
Just as white-collar and blue-collar workers mingled at Lone Star, so it was for celebrities who were visiting the island. Woody Harrelson and Larry Flynt, who were working on the subsequently award-winning film ‘The People vs. Larry Flynt’ back in the ‘90s, stopped in for drinks quite often. In fact, Harrelson swung by on 24 Dec. and then followed a local group back to their place for their Christmas party.
“Woody and his crew came… to our little place on Marsh Road, LOL,” said Joan Connolly Gregg. Apparently the actor waltzed in and asked for a Heineken, but was told there was none, and he’d just have to drink Guinness or nothing.
“No one was starstruck,” she recalled, laughing.
Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman found the bar when they were on the island filming ‘The Firm’, and Heather Locklear also became a customer when she was on her honeymoon with Tommy Lee.
One of the most memorable celebrity sightings was when none other than Keith Hernandez stepped in to work for a night.
“I recall one Friday walking in and finding baseball great Keith Hernandez bartending with Mike. Seems they were tight in college!” said past customer Thomas Thompson.
But, among all these international stars, one shone brightest of all, and was probably better known than all of them put together: The man simply known as ‘Dude’.
Who was Dude? Anyone who hung out at Lone Star in those days knew Dude (whose real name may have been Don). An American construction worker with long, wavy grey-blond hair – who kinda resembled Kris Kristofferson on a good day – Dude was an enigma wrapped in toilet paper… which literally happened one night. He was incredibly knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects, very imaginative, and a unique character. One minute he was wrapping himself in toilet paper like a performance artist, and the next, he was using old cigarette butts as charcoal to create scenes on paper.
His standard outfit was a T-shirt with jean shorts (ragged hems, of course) and work boots, if not bare feet. He would take his place at the end of that bar and chat with anyone and everyone. We weren’t really sure of his background, and Dude was pretty coy about it. I think I heard he was a history professor at one point, but honestly, he could have been everything from an ex-CIA operative to the man who invented Silly Putty. He equally might have been a multi-millionaire or had only 50 cents in his bank account, living off his charm and wits.
If Lone Star had been the setting for ‘Cheers’, Dude would have been one of the lead actors – he was a very welcome part of the furniture.
Drink tabs and diver meals
These days, finding a bar that will allow tabs is a fairly rare occurrence, but Mike at Lone Star would run them for quite a few regular customers, understanding that some jobs didn’t pay as well as others, and that paycheques were only distributed on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. He trusted the patrons that were given this accommodation, and they appreciated his kindness.
“I remember my interview for a bar tab!” Derrick Powell said.
Paul Tyler, whose own interview must have gone well, as he was granted a tab, added that he “left Cayman for 6 months and left a tab there. [Six] months later, I came back to pay and Mike said ‘I knew you would be back’. He got my tab out of the white box behind the bar and I paid it off.”
Mike and Bobbi’s generosity didn’t just extend to giving clients time to pay their bills. They also looked after the island’s dive staff every Thanksgiving with free dinner.
“We could always count on Mike and Bobbi for Thanksgiving dinner!” said Kelly Reinking, one of the grateful recipients from those days.
Wendy-Ann Foster was at a dive shop out in East End, an hour’s drive from the restaurant, yet said they were not forgotten. “We were working out at Tortuga Divers and [Mike] would call and ask how many [dinners we needed] and have them ready for one of the divemasters to go and collect. A True Gent x.”
Emily Campbell mentioned the meals at her own Thanksgiving in 2021, saying, “My Thanksgiving memory I shared at dinner… was of the free Thanksgiving dinners all of us divemasters received from Lone Star each year. Thanks to Mike Flowers… gave an American a bit of home.”
Outdoor events
Before the Esterley Tibbetts bypass went in, there was a lot of land behind Lone Star, and Mike took advantage of the extra space for special events, concerts (my band played there at least once on a stage nestled among the foliage), and volleyball tournaments. He set up a net, put sand on the ground all around it, and the players were off to the races.
It was also a useful area for overflow when it came to celebrations like Super Bowl Sunday. As one of the main sports bars on the island, Lone Star was ground zero for fans, as well as those who just wanted to go along to soak in the atmosphere. Even with the building’s decent capacity when you included the main bar, the indoor restaurant and the patio, it was no match for the hundreds that descended each year. I’d hate to think how many buckets of beer were consumed on those days, or how the staff managed to keep up. They were all troupers.
Mike’s penchant for outdoor festivals took him further afield in the 1980s when he started a fledgling food event that would later become the Taste of Cayman we now know. He, along with a few other restaurants from the Cayman Islands Restaurant Association, set up on the beach near where The Westin now resides for the Chili Cookoff, a competition to see which stall could produce the best bean-based classic dish.
Not long after, it moved to the then-open lot between Cayman Falls and now, The Ritz-Carlton.
The purpose of the Chili Cookoff was not just to create a fun foodie gathering that highlighted local restaurants; Mike also created it to raise money for local charities. He became as well known for his presence at Lone Star, as for his willingness to help others.
Even when the island, and his own business, was hard hit by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, he and his family rallied to support the rebuilding efforts.
“What Mike and family did for this island post-Ivan was phenomenal,” said Sara Harbison Mackay. “ [They] ran the kitchen of the Baptist Church/school, [making it] into a feeding station for Police and Firemen and all kinds of workers. Great hot food… complete [with their] daughters waitressing.”
Still here
Those of us who are older are becoming our parents, in that we find ourselves talking about the “good old days” more often. One only has to look at the Facebook pages that have reunited old friends with shared memories to see how precious our youth in Cayman was. Lone Star figures quite prominently in all of them.
Again, luckily, it still stands on West Bay Road. The bypass has gone in, there is new ownership, and a large outdoor bar sits on the patio, but there is still a Tex-Mex menu and an all-you-can-eat fajitas night, although it’s now on Fridays. The 101 Shooter Menu is a thing of the past, but then maybe everyone’s liver needed a break anyway.
A present member of staff who appreciates the history of the building said, “If these walls could talk.” Luckily, many have posted pictures and stories from the early years of Lone Star (and those we don’t remember are probably best left forgotten, ahem).
Mike and his family moved back to the US – last I heard, to his beloved Texas. I really hope he reads this article and sees how much everyone loved and appreciated him and Bobbi.
There’s no way I could possibly mention every member of staff or fun time I had there – it would take a book. Hopefully, this retrospective jogs some great memories for those who were there, and offers a window for others into how the legend began.
As Paul Tyler said in one of the posts, “Greatest days of my life and many great friends from it.”
Amen.
| Do you have memories of Lone Star? Email them to us at [email protected] or comment on the story online.
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Vicky, I can see you were a keen fan, keen enough to write a great book about it!.
Always staying at LaCovia, it became our go-to for family dinner many times for a gazillion years. We were inches from purchasing Lone Star once upon a time. There is a reason they call it “The Good Old Days.” Interesting, how many stories of families, Caymanians, good times of the heart and soul of the island exist in our memory banks. So kudos to the Lone Star for staying true to itself!! If kept in check, growth can be a good thing and not cross that greed line, so the heart and soul no longer exist. “Be careful what you wish for.”
FABULOUS article, Vicki!! You brought back so many precious and fond memories of Lone Star & the Flowers! Those were indeed the days when Cayman was still a community based Island!
We seriously miss those days but are so thankful and blessed that we had the opportunity to know the island back then – when it was charming, low keyed, small enough that everyone knew one another (even as repeat tourists) and everyone looked out for one another.
Sadly those days are long gone and now it seems that revenue has become the driving force with Cayman of today. Lucky us to have lived there during the best of times!!!