The big rooms of the 1980s: Mitchell's Indiana Club and Pardner's

to 7 January 1988

Mitchell's: The nightclub era's South Bend form was the big multi-use room that took the universities' formal trade. Its documented exemplar is Mitchell's Indiana Club, which frequently hosted Notre Dame and Saint Mary's senior-class events — the Weddingless Reception and the Senior Christmas Formal among them, both, the senior class president told the Observer, events that "went over really well" — and which closed on 7 January 1988 for lack of business, in its owner Steve Mitchell's account as the Observer reported it on 27 January. The building's owners, Mike Sellers and Tom Cavinder, had forced Mitchell out ahead of his lease's 15 January expiry and were weighing, the Tribune reported, a club of their own, a lease to another operator, or a different use — honoring the club's bookings in the meantime, including the already-booked band Dr. Bop for Senior Week. The senior events booked into Mitchell's for that spring — one, featuring the Kinetics, set for 16 January — were cancelled or moved. The club's address is not stated in the Observer's coverage reached, and no opening year for Mitchell's was found; the entry stands at the size of its documented closing.

Pardner's: The other big room of the decade stands documented in the university's Building South Bend property record: the Knights of Columbus Building at 320 West Jefferson Boulevard, sold in 1939 to the Indiana Club — an organization, not Mitchell's — which held it until a 1976 foreclosure, and thereafter offices; "for a large part of the 1980s," the record states, "Pardner's Nightclub was located here." Whether Mitchell's Indiana Club and the Indiana Club's Jefferson Boulevard building were connected, the record reached does not say, and the two are printed separately rather than merged on a guess.

Sources:

1. The Observer (Notre Dame), 27 January 1988 — Mitchell's Indiana Club closed 7 January 1988 for lack of business (owner Steve Mitchell); the lease to 15 January and the owners' early forcing-out; Mike Sellers and Tom Cavinder's options, per the South Bend Tribune; the cancelled senior events, the Weddingless Reception and Senior Christmas Formal, and the Dr. Bop booking.
2. Building South Bend (University of Notre Dame), property ND-SB-00198, Knights of Columbus Building, 320 West Jefferson — the Indiana Club's ownership 1939–1976 and foreclosure; offices thereafter; Pardner's Nightclub in the building for a large part of the 1980s.