Tanque Verde country

"If you're looking for country, honey, you've found it," said Whiting, 36, who took part in a girls night out on a recent Tuesday. "If you're looking for good beer and good dancing, look no further."

Tucsonans and visitors with two-stepping fever or a hankering for prime rib have long haunted this cluster of country-Western joints, where mesquite-grilled steaks rule and where most outfits feature boots, brims and buckles.

This week that stretch of Tanque Verde is expecting big crowds as La Fiesta de los Vaqueros continues with its 82nd annual rodeo through Sunday.

Though the Tucson Rodeo's official nightclub sponsor is the Cactus Moon, 5470 E. Broadway, the stretch along Tanque Verde will be busy, said Gary Williams, the rodeo's general manager.

"The (Cactus) Moon draws a younger crowd, while the Maverick tends to draw older people who are more settled," Williams said. "There are plenty of places to go in Tucson. These places offer a lot for everyone."

Back in the day

When Lulu Padias arrived in Tucson in 1948, cowboys commonly rode their horses from East Side ranches toward "the town that wasn't yet there."

"The city pretty much ended at Country Club Road," said Padias, now 77, who has worked more than 40 years at Trail Dust Town's Pinnacle Peak restaurant. At the time, there were few places outside Down-town for ranchers to go, she said.

That was before "Restaurant Row" developed along Tanque Verde and before Trail Dust Town became a draw for shoppers and diners. The theme park was built from the remnants of an abandoned 1950s movie starring Glenn Ford.

Jerry Woods, 42, remembers going to Trail Dust Town as a kid. He now directs the stunt shows there.

"The Pinnacle was popular. No one else really had a restaurant out here," said Woods, explaining how its steaks drew ranching families. "Eventually, dozens of other restaurants popped up along the area."

A rodeo arena also drew cowboys.

"People would ride here, and they would come to the hitching post," said Padias, who became known as "Mama Lulu" to patrons. "They'd ride in for food, fun and roping."

The way it is now

These days it's rare to see horses this far west on Tanque Verde Road. Cowgirls and cowboys now make their way there in dually pickups, Jeeps, and motorcycles.

"I love being on Tanque Verde Road," said Karen Markovich, the managing partner of the Maverick, which first opened in 1962 on East 22nd Street in Midtown. After a 2002 fire, it reopened across from Trail Dust Town.

"You can have a great steak dinner there and come right across the street for two-stepping here," she said.

On a recent Tuesday, while Vince Moreno and Sundown sang Dwight Yoakam's "Guitars, Cadillacs," Linda Guel and Terry Libbert shimmied under a glistening silver horse saddle.

"This place makes me feel like I'm home," said Guel, a banker who hails from San Antonio. "This is a great local establishment. You can dress up or down; everything's OK, as long as you can work it on the dance floor."

Jerry Moreno, 24, (no relation to the band) recently visited the Maverick for the first time and said he's becoming a fan.

"I'm giving country its props," he said. "We normally go to random places, mostly hip-hop, but I'm tapping into this place."

Markovich said keeping the feel of a classic honky-tonk helps maintain Tucson's true country roots.

"The Maverick is a Tucson tradition," said Markovich, who bought the 45-year-old bar two years ago with her partners. "We play music that was popular in the '40s and '50s. We still have our old cowboys out there who still want to hear Hank Williams."

Though cowboys sometimes saunter into the 21-year-old Saddlehorn Saloon, they're joined by bikers, college students and young professionals.

Rodeo memorabilia and glossy black-and-white pics of crooning country stars still line the walls, but don't be thrown by the music. You're more likely to hear hip-hop from Cypress Hill than a classic by George Strait.

"You name it, we got it, from rap to Western," said owner Lynn Hadler.

"We get a lot of cowboys who roll up in here and hop back and forth to other bars," he said. "But this place is for everyone. It's a laid-back place to hang out, shoot pool and have a few in a neighborhood bar."

Inside the Cow Pony Bar & Grill, cow-print drapes complement the boots, bridles and spurs hanging from the rafters.

When the Cow Pony opened in the 1950s, it was a cowboy hangout, said owner Jay Healy. Today it's a melting pot, he said.

"We see everybody . . . cowboys, bikers, yuppies and millionaires. . . . That's what Tucson is," said Healy, a noncowboy with a Boston accent. "You'll come in here and see people from different walks of life."