Cowgirls Oasis

1200 West Magnolia Avenue

Cowgirls Oasis

Location: 1200 West Magnolia Avenue, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Opened: July 14, 1995

Closed: 1996? A little later?

Buried somewhere in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, between August 1995 and January 1996, is the story of Carolyn Miles and the Cowgirls Oasis.

After a 10-year career at American Airlines, Carolyn decided to open her own lesbian bar. She wanted to create a nice place, a place geared toward gay women professionals. When the Cowgirls Oasis finally opened up for business in July 1995, it must have felt like a dream come true.

But in just three weeks, the dream had turned into the proverbial nightmare. Neighborhood opposition sprang up. Just a dozen people or so, but it was enough to make a big stink. It now looked like the place's liquor license was in jeopardy. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission got pulled into the mess, and a state hearing was held in September. At this point, Carolyn's bar was only 8-weeks old--practically a newborn--and really struggling.

In November, it was finally recommended that the Cowgirls Oasis receive her liquor license. And in January, Carolyn finally got it.

And then?

The media apparently dropped the story, so I can't tell you anything more.

Not only that, but every news story connected with the Cowgirls Oasis is a $2.95 pay-per-view. Now I love all you Lost readers like my own sisters, but if I'm going to spend $25 on you, I'd like to get lunch out of the deal at the very least. That's obviously not happening here. So everything recounted above is patched together from the brief descriptions generated by Google. I've tried teasing out longer and longer descriptions by piling on more and more search words (kind of like adding letters in Wheel of Fortune), but there's only so much you can do before the system gets wise to your shenanigans.

I did find out that by 1998, Carolyn had become president of the Tarrant County Lesbian-Gay Alliance in Fort Worth, so I'm thinking that the Cowgirls Oasis didn't survive all the legal hassles. At least not for long.

Today the space is occuped by West Magnolia Plastic Surgery.