Boot Hill Saloon buys Broken Antler

The Boot Hill Saloon, one of the most venerable and celebrated watering holes on Main Street in Daytona Beach, has bid to become an equally popular party spot at The Weirs by acquiring the Broken Antler at the junction of Watson Road and Route 3.

"I was looking for a third location," said Karin Gehris, the owner of the "Boot," which also operates in Ormond, Florida. "I was looking at Sturgis (South Dakota) and Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) when Chris Perl (owner of the Broken Antler) called and asked if I would be interested in Laconia."

Although the "Boot" is the self-proclaimed "cornerstone" of Bike Week and Biketoberfest In Daytona, Gehris said that she had never been to Laconia Motorcycle Week and was "not really" drawn to The Weirs by the rally. "I fell in love with the whole area," she continued. "It's much prettier than Sturgis!"

Gehris declined to disclose the terms of the transaction. However, according to records of the City Assessor, Gehris purchased the real estate — a 6.6 acre parcel and 5,700 square foot building — for $825,000, considerably more than its assessed value of $487,200.

"We hope to be up and running by the end of this week," Gehris said. "The employees have had some down time and I know those people need the work." She said that the "Boot" will be "a year round business, not a seasonal business."

Gehris said she has also begun preparing for Bike Week. "I've got all the information about the event and what we have to do," she said, adding that she would be relying on the experience of the personnel she inherited with the business. "I'm looking forward to Bike Week," she remarked.

The Boot Hill Saloon originated as a child of Bike Week in Daytona. It began life as The Kit Kat Club, one of the hot spots on the beach in the early 1900s. But, later as motorcycle racing spread from the beach to the street, the owners grew steadily disenchanted, regularly closing the club when the bikers came to town. Ultimately the aging owners sold the club to one of their bartenders who lent the bar a western motif, welcomed bikers and, with a cemetery right across the street, dubbed it The Boot Hill Saloon.

The Boot Hill Saloon is well known for a long-standing tradition and a catchy slogan, both of which may or may not play as well at The Weirs as in Daytona. The tradition has it that women who visit leave their bras hanging from the ceiling. The slogan goes "order a drink and have a seat, you're better off here than across the street." But, at The Weirs, instead of a cemetery across the street, The Boot Hill Saloon will be facing a shrine to kindred spirits — the Broken Spoke Saloon.

Jay Allen bills the original Broken Spoke in Sturgis as "undisputedly, the world's biggest biker bar" and his Laconia saloon in one of three others he also owns. The other two, interestingly enough, are in Daytona and Myrtle Beach.

The Broken Spoke has not been open over the winter months in recent years.