Basement space that was Lancers Club in ’70s Wichita is a time capsule ready for new life

The year was 1971, and for evening entertainment, Wichitans would often crowd into private clubs for dinner, dancing and live music.

One of the most popular places for such an evening on the town was Lancers Club, a restaurant and nightclub tucked into the basement area of Century Plaza, the 12-story 1920 building that sits just east of Century II.

People would enter the club through double doors just off of Finlay Ross Park, which modern-day Wichitans will recognize for the fountains outside and as the spot where the city always erects its swimming dragon Christmas decoration. Once inside, patrons would slide into deep booths set against carpeted walls. They’d order dinner and wait for that night’s lounge act — who would often be borderline famous — to take the stage. Dancing ensued.

Lancers Club closed in May 1984, and the massive underground space was home to a variety of other businesses in the following decades, including other night clubs and even a Chinese restaurant.

Now, the space is back up for lease, and stepping down into it is like stepping back in time. The stage is still there, and its parquet floors still look good. The sound booth is still there, opposite of the stage and behind the booths and tables that dot the multi-level lounge area. The dressing rooms could use some work, but they’re otherwise ready for a performer to screw some light bulbs and sit down to apply some stage makeup.

All the space needs to return to its former Lancers Club glory, says Landmark Commercial Real Estate’s Brett Harris — who has the listing — is an entrepreneur with a vision.

The space was recently remodeled and upgraded by building owner Sophokles Anthimides, who also owns Athena Jewelry in downtown Wichita. About three years ago, he announced plans to turn the space into a Greek restaurant, but that never came to fruition.

Now, it’s ready for new life, and Harris said he envisions it as a jazz club that serves food or maybe even a country bar. The 6,000 square-foot-space has a dance floor, a full kitchen and the kind of space people are looking for as they come out of the pandemic.

“You could come in here with a menu — and people want to hear music,” he said. “And there’s plenty of room to social distance.”

But social distance was not what patrons were after when Lancers Club opened 50 years ago.

’Turn-away crowds’

The birth of the popular basement Lancers Club can be directly attributed to the blizzard that hit Wichita in February of 1971 and briefly brought life to a standstill.

Owners Vic and Lola Harris — known for running nightclubs on the edge of town like The Stardust and the Rock Castle — had in the late 1940s taken over a building at 138 N. Market and run it as a restaurant called Vic’s.

In the 1950s, they got a liquor license, and they changed the name of the business to Lancers Club. In the late 1960s, the couple partnered with Tom Vickers, who opened another Lancers Club, called Lancers East, at Normandie Shopping Center. (That building could soon be torn down to make way for a new McDonald’s.)

Though the east-side Lancers lasted only until the early 1970s, Vickers was able to build a following by offering Las Vegas-style lounge acts. The Harris’ decided they’d try to capture that magic downtown, too, and they added on a lounge where they planned to offer live music.

But that 1971 blizzard, famous for dumping 13 inches of snow on the city, also deposited a foot of snow on the downtown club’s roof, causing it to collapse. No one was hurt in the incident, but the Harris’ had to move the club. That’s when they found the space in Century Plaza, and they spent $250,000 building it into a venue worthy of top traveling lounge acts like Frank Sinatra Jr., who performed there in September 1977. Some of the other regional and national acts who were booked in the club were names like Jesse Lopez, the brother of recording star Trini Lopez. Comedians also were frequently booked.

“We are the only club in Wichita that has been using Las Vegas type entertainment,” Gregg Harris told The Wichita Beacon in 1971. “And the new show stage will be the only one like it operating in this area. I don’t think there are any in Kansas City that will equal what we are doing.”

In September of 1971, the Wichita Eagle reported that the new Lancers was attracting “turn-away crowds.” Its big draw was the multi-level lounge facing the stage. Lancers could seat 270 in the lounge and another 150 in a separate dining room. It also had a couple of private dining rooms.

The club offered live entertainment almost every night, and acts would often book two-week runs. It served a supper club menu in the evening and a lunch buffet in the afternoon that was always stocked with prime rib, corned beef and cabbage, and baked ham. Women who worked downtown, the Eagle reported, would often eat there and every few weeks could catch a fashion show in the club over their lunch hours.

Nighttime crowds were less subdued, and even today, former Lancers Club patrons reminisce about occasionally being over-served and ending up swimming in the fountains outside.

A turn-key nightclub

Lancers Club lasted downtown until the mid-1980s. After it closed, a series of other clubs took over the space with names like Spritzers and Grayfield’s Club. Other nightclubs had brief turns in the space as recently as the early 2000s, but nothing matched the legendary status of Lancers Club.

Brett Harris said that when he first stepped in the building, he was overwhelmed with imagining the acts that had graced the stage over the years. Though he never enjoyed a night at Lancers Club, he loves its unique architecture and the way the glowing bar area brings to mind the bar from the movie “The Shining.”

Photos from deep in the Wichita Eagle archives show that Lancers Club had tables lined with era-appropriate swiveling captain’s chairs, and it’s easy even today to figure out where the photographer was standing in the club when he took a photo of the stage.

Harris imagines that stage filled once again with the type of crooners who could revive the vibe that filled the building a half century ago.

“It’s a downtown, turnkey night club,” he said, looking at the stage. “And you can just see a girl in a dress crooning Diana Krall songs up there.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 2:26 PM.

Denise Neil

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6327

Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.