RAGBRAI 2012: History lesson at the Pearl Street Social Club

SHELLSBURG, Ia. For a quiet drinking experience in Shellsburg, many riders found their way to the Pearl Street Social Club.

Nobody can say quite how long it’s been here, but former owner Brian Vogt, 50, says it was here throughout his childhood in the town in the 70s.

According to local lore, the bar was a funeral home at one point, but Vogt says he can’t verify that claim.

What makes the Pearl Street Social Club unique is its spacious beer garden, complete with a rusted out car and antique signs.

“Sometimes, there will be 15 cars out front, you walk inside and there won’t be a soul in the bar,” Vogt said. “They’ll all be out here.”

Work on the garden began after Vogt bought the bar in 2001, but a large portion of the work was done by his son, he said. Vogt’s son, Shadoe Vogt, 25, bought the bar from his dad when he turned 21 and has owned and operated it since.

The project became especially important after Iowa’s smoking ban, bemoaned by bar owners across the state, went into effect in 2008, Vogt said.

Most of the treasures ornamenting the garden were just random items donated by people, Shadoe Vogt said. The rusted out truck came from a farmer on the north edge of town, he said.

“Knowing a lot people gets you stuff,” he said.

Shadoe now lives in an apartment of above the bar, and “is married to it,” he said. The beer garden is still designated as his “work in progress.”

While RAGBRAI riders found a shady place to drink at the Pearl Street Social Club, they couldn’t see one of the bar’s most famous sights: a picture of a scantily-clad woman that has hung on the wall since 1969.

The Vogts took it down for the day, fearing it might disappear. But when Brian Vogt bought the bar, there was a clause in the contract dictating that the racy photo must remain hanging.

Father and son Brian and Shadoe Vogt (from left to right) stand in their beer garden behind the family-owned Pearl Street Social Club.

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