It started with a bar called Mom’s …
Tootsies Orchid Lounge, situated on Nashville's bustling Broadway, stands as an iconic honky tonk with a storied history. Since its inception in 1960, when Hattie Louise "Tootsie" Bess purchased the bar originally named Mom's, it has become a legendary hub for country music. She credits a painter with naming Tootsie's. She came in one day to find that he had painted her place orchid … thus the name Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.
Tootsie herself cultivated a reputation for generosity towards struggling musicians, counting among her patrons early — career artists like Kris Kristofferson, Faron Young, and Willie Nelson. Additional famous early customers were Dolly Parton, Tom T. Hall, Hank Cochran, Mel Tillis, Roger Miller, Webb Pierce, Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline and many more. Performers at the Opry would sometimes sneak out the side door and grab a drink at Tootsie’s between sets.
The walls of Tootsie's are adorned with photos and memorabilia, forming what is affectionately known as "Tootsies Wall of Fame." The venue even made its mark in cinematic history, featuring in a scene from the Loretta Lynn biopic "Coal Miner's Daughter."
Over the years, Tootsie's has not only hosted but also nurtured the careers of numerous country music legends. Its role in shaping Music City's future stars has solidified its status as a cultural institution in its own right.
Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson
FUN FACTS ABOUT TOOTSIES
• A segment of the Dean Martin summer show was filmed at Tootsie’s.
• TNN (The Nashville Network) did a 30-minute show about Tootsie’s, produced by Gus Barba.
• Esquire and Penthouse magazines did articles about Tootsie’s.
• Willie Nelson got his first songwriting job after singing at Tootsie’s.
• The photo and memorabilia lined walls are called the “Wall of Fame.”
• Tootsie was known to slip $5s and $10s into the pockets of luckless writers and pickers.
• It was said that she had a cigar box behind the counter full of IOU’s from where she had given drinks and food to hungry pickers and writers. Supposedly, at each years end, a bunch of Opry Performers would take all the IOUs and pay Tootsie so she wouldn’t lose the money.
• At her funeral were Tom T. Hall, Roy Acuff and Faron Young. She was buried in an orchid gown, with an orchid placed in the orchid-colored casket, so she could take her favorite flower with her to heaven. Connie Smith sang some of Tootsie’s favorite hymns at the funeral.