Keeping Stepping Culture in Places and Spaces Like The Fifty in Chicago

INSPIRED BY THE RENOVATION OF THE LADIES’ RESTROOMS AT THE FIFTY IN CHICAGO

The name of a place, a street, or a neighborhood can elicit powerful nostalgia and trigger memories for many people I have met in the Stepping community. During interviews, I see or hear steppers lost in thought, smiling, and talking about where they went stepping – the Dungeon, Keyman’s Club, Budland, and others. The clubs, banquet halls, ballrooms, and bars – present and past – hold culture, reverence, and relevance to the people and the dance’s story and history. Location, location, location plays a big part in the history and culture of Chicago Stepping. Over the years, places have come, and places have gone. Some are renamed, remodeled, rebuilt, burned down, fall into disrepair, and some stay almost the same. 

The 50 Yard Line Sports Bar [The Fifty] in Chicago is one of the places that has stayed for years. It feels nostalgic to me. Although I have only been stepping since 2012, I can tell you some stories from The Fifty. Secretly, I hope for nothing ever to change there and for it to be around for many more years.

I love the small dance floor, the high stools, the three bars, the different bartenders, the two sides, the cubby for a DJ booth, the different DJs, and the narrow pathway from the entrance to the sky box where I must pass through hugs, smiles, and steppers dancing to get to a seat. When I saw the restroom renovations, I was surprised. Oh no! Are they going to fancify The Fifty?!! Here I go investigating and asking questions of Al, the owner. I wanted to know what was going on and what his plans were. I spared no questions! Let us get into the interview. 

Al Jones of The 50 Yard Line

Alonzo “Al” Jones, also known as Louisiana Al, has been stepping since the late 80s and early 90s when he went to clubs like The Godfather, The Other Place, and Slick Ricks. He was introduced to Stepping at The Fifty in the late 80s and early 90s. However, he says his dance has been improving since he has been the owner of The 50 Yard Line Sports Bar.

“I came up to The Fifty and saw steppers. It was fascinating to me to see men and women grooving together on the dance floor and looking so elegant while doing it. That caught my eye right then and there.” 

Al

How long have you owned The 50 Yard Line Sports Bar and Grill? What made you decide to take on ownership? 

It has been about three years, and the opportunity presented itself, and I was sold. The Fifty has so much history to it. It is a different type of club when you go back to its history – a small but nice-sized club with a family-oriented atmosphere. Everybody knows everybody and likes to have fun with each other while still looking elegant. 

Seeing the renovations with the ladies’ restrooms, are there other plans for change or renovations at The Fifty? 

Oh, definitely. We must take time with it. The Fifty is something that I don’t want to rush. Sometimes you can rush things in a club and lose the club’s feel. I don’t want to lose the feel of The Fifty. I still want it to look good and be comfortable. With the bathrooms, I looked to the ladies, and they came through with ideas and opinions. I took on a lot of opinions and listened to a lot of complaints. Those ideas influenced what I came up with for the bathrooms. The next will probably be flooring, and I’m going to do some things in the kitchen. 

What are some things you hope never to change about The Fifty? 

The feel and the atmosphere. 

What do you think contributes to the feel and atmosphere of The Fifty? 

The age limit, the crowd, and the attire. A lot of people who come, come in and make The Fifty. I don’t want to chase those people away because they contribute to the club’s feel. When people come in from out of town, they come to The Fifty and look for certain attire or people with certain attitudes. They talk and laugh. Some people dress a certain way. The way the men and women interact with each other, not only on the dance floor but at the bar, also contributes to the atmosphere. 

With crowds of patrons in a single day at times, why haven’t you tried to expand the dance floor? 

Expanding the dance floor comes with a lot more to it. I looked into that. Expanding the dance floor by width or length cuts out the social part of the club. If you go lengthwise, then that cuts into the walkway where people stand, talk, and congregate. It cuts into the seating if you expand it widthwise. When I got there, I looked at many things for expansion.

I also looked at expanding the sky box to get more seating there which might happen. That’s the only reason that the dance floor hasn’t been expanded. If there’s a way I can do it, then I will, but it has to be worth it. When you expand the dance floor, you’re gaining one thing but losing something else. I must weigh the pros and cons of it and see if it’s worth it or not. 

To be sure, my question is not a petition for expanding the dance floor because I love The Fifty the way it is. A lot of people at first thought believe, “This place is so popular. Why don’t they make the dance floor bigger?“ I am asking questions from not only my perspective.

This is fine. I like that. It gives me a chance to give answers to my crowd so they don’t think that I am just ignoring them. 

What about The Fifty makes it renowned today so steppers everywhere know they must make it to The Fifty when they visit Chicago? What do you think gives that appeal? 

The camaraderie, the atmosphere, and the togetherness. Everyone likes to come in to see friends and people they know. They like being acknowledged when they walk in the door. My staff will acknowledge you, especially by name, if you’re a regular when you come in the door. They’re going to talk to you and do it with a smile. Each of my bartenders and staff members has a unique personality – something else people come to Chicago to see.

The music from the DJs that come in and play also makes it renowned. We have some of the finest DJs in Chicago when it comes to Stepping. A lot of different clubs don’t recognize that stepping DJs are unique. They are different from a regular DJ partying or a club DJ. Stepping DJs must play music. They play music from the past and present. Stepping DJs can go back to the fifties and blend with music that’s current today and keep a crowded dance floor. A lot of club DJs only play trending music. We have DJs in the club that keep these things flowing well also. 

How do you choose the DJs? There are many DJs in Chicago, even stepping DJs. How do you know which ones are the right fit? 

I listen to my crowd, and I listen to my people. I talked to them and interacted with them. They will let me know. I make it so people can talk to me about anything in that club. And sometimes they tell me about things that are not going on with the club. It helps me to know my crowd and interact with them. They’ll let me know if they don’t like a DJ there, and when they don’t, then I don’t have them there. I try to keep them there and lock them in when they do. 

Any night can be the right night for someone at The Fifty in Chicago. Why do you believe that The Fifty can attract such a diverse crowd any day of the week and be packed on any given night? 

It’s the music.  It’s the atmosphere. All DJs are not alike. They’re not. Even though they play music alike, they’re not alike. Every stepper is not alike. Every stepper is unique and has his or her style and flow. We can still sit back and say, wow, these guys are great steppers or that lady she can step. She can jam. But each has a unique flavor and style to the dance. In a steppers competition, all the contestants can step and jam, but they all have different flavors.

It’s the same thing that goes with DJs. They all can jam, but they all have different flavors. A crowd will want to hear a certain DJ on a certain night. Some steppers come in and want to sit with a certain bartender. That is the whole flavor in the club at that moment, along with the food. Food plays a big part in it too. We’ve been blessed to have good nights most of the week for all these reasons. 

How are you marketing The Fifty? Do you market at all? 

I don’t necessarily market. My crowd markets The Fifty. They market their club. It’s my crowd’s club, so they market their club. When they have birthday parties, and steppers come in, that markets The Fifty. Steppers also do it word of mouth, which is the biggest way of marketing. They talk about it everywhere they go. I get phone calls from people saying they heard somebody talking about The Fifty. That’s the best advertisement ever. You can pass out pluggers, and people look at them and try to write down information or sling it on the floor. But it resonates in their mind when you can sit down and grab somebody, have a conversation, and talk about a club. They’ll remember it even the next day.

“Say, man, you know what? Somebody was just talking to me about that club. I think I’m gonna stop by there.”

Best advertisement ever! I have my patrons market the club themselves. 

I look around at The Fifty and see interesting things. Tell me about the memorabilia and posters on the walls. 

Some things on the wall are from other DJs, some who aren’t here anymore. Maybe it was a nice set, and people talked about it, so we left it there to let people know we recognized the DJs that we had. There are posters of elected officials or people running for different positions in our community. I like to support any person of color trying to better the community by getting into a position that would make it better for all of us. So sometimes you see political posters up on the wall.  

A lot of my patrons are promoters. They may have events for a trip like a Blues Fest, a Jazz Festival, or anything like that. And that’s their way of living. I allow them to post their posters to help support them in their endeavors to try to keep a flow of income for themselves. I always try to support them in doing that. Lastly, I always support other clubs. If we don’t support each other, we’ll drown and have no other clubs. You have nowhere else for people to go. When people come in and have different posters or flyers for other clubs, I don’t have a problem with that. We must support each other, especially in our race. That’s probably why you see a lot of those different things. 

What are you actively doing to keep The Fifty great and around for many more years? 

I interact with the community, let alone, to keep the right atmosphere in the club and make sure that my patrons are protected. When patrons are at The Fifty, they feel safe when they arrive and leave. I also interact with the community to know what’s happening around the club. You hear a lot of different things. Neighbors might have a complaint I want to know about so I can respond and do my best to fix it. Or just neighborhood activities that are going on, whether good or bad – I want to know, so I know how to handle things with my patrons. That helps to keep The Fifty going forward even after me. 

There were vehicle break-ins in the parking lot next to The Fifty some time ago. How did you address those safety concerns? 

That goes in part with dealing with the community. When I said interacting with the community, whether good or bad, to find out what’s happening, and keeping your ear to the street. I came to find out that it was an isolated incident. I am thankful for the community around The Fifty. I’ve been blessed for them to give me a lot of support and love and watch over The Fifty. They let me know what’s going on, so I can be somewhat of a liaison between the community and the Police Department. 

Keeping my word and ear to the street helps me find out exactly what’s going on. Since then, we haven’t had any issues around there. I’m not saying that it cannot happen again, but when you have the support of the community around you and know I care, the community watches over you also. I’ve been getting a lot of support from the community. So far, so good. I keep my security walking around. They walk my female patrons out to the car. The great gentlemen that come to The 50 Yard Line will walk a lady to her car before my security even gets a chance to offer to walk them to the car. That alone makes The Fifty a special place. 

Thank you, Al, for tolerating and answering my investigative questions and sharing your plans for the 50 Yard Line Sports Bar & Grill. I appreciate your transparency in letting steppers know how you think about evolving the Fifty “carefully.” I know I am not the only stepper who wants to see The Fifty around for more decades. It is one of the few places in Chicago that has been around for this long, survived the COVID pandemic, and gives many steppers of all ages a place to enjoy Chicago Stepping.

Places and Spaces Steppers Have Been 

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Welcome! I am the writer Sonji Stewart. These are my travel stories about my Chicago Stepping experiences, traveling from city to city to dance. I hope my stories encourage you to join me in the adventure.

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