A Matchbook Menagerie

Remember when restaurants had original, one-of-a-kind names?  Cute names, that you didn't forget and didn't blend in, unlike the generic restaurant chains so prevalent today?

The KC Matchgirl invites you to join her at the Bird Cage Piano Lounge, where she imagines that in the land of long-ago matchcovers, one could enjoy light libations amidst the soothing sounds of the tinkling ivories...

Or, for something different, we'll just go around the corner to the Lazy Leopard Lounge and check out the Spear Bar (what ever that is).

That's right, the Bird Cage and the Lazy Leopard are not only part of the same complex, they are both featured on the same matchbook.  Once called the New Tower Hotel Courts, it was originally affiliated with Master Hosts and boasted 220 comfortable, luxurious rooms.  By the 1970's the complex grew to 330 rooms, was renamed the New Tower Inn, and was affiliated with Best Western.  Stretched between Omaha's N. 78th St. and the Little Papillion Creek, New Tower had multiple connected buildings; motel rooms, Solar-Dome pool, and the restaurants- in a round building that was perhaps referred to as the "tower". Note that restaurant is plural: 2 coffee shops, 2 dining rooms, and 3 "unique" bars and cocktail lounges.  The Bird Cage and the Lazy Leopard are the only ones advertised here, which means it's a mystery to solve the remaining "unique" name.  Was it the Goldfish Bowl?  The Peppy Panda?  Someday, the KC Matchgirl hopes to find out.

By 1997, when the New Tower had become a Quality Inn, a deal was struck and the Blazak family that had owned the property since 1934 sold the whole shebang to a developer.  The KC Matchgirl imagines that the business started as an old-time motor court on the outskirts of Omaha that was rebuilt and remodeled over the years into a modern complex, which all became rubble to make way for a strip mall named "Tower Plaza".

However, the Lazy Leopard  Lounge as well as other portions of the complex had its moment of fame in 1995 and will live on cinematically, having been used for scenes in the movie, "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar" starring Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo, and the late Patrick Swayze.

New Tower Hotel Courts was located at 7764 Dodge St, Omaha, Nebraska.  This matchcover dates to the early 1970's.