Cowboys Hops Across Calgary

The world-famous Cowboys Nightclub in Calgary – known for its weekly Stampede parties, live music, celebrity spottings, silicon-enhanced beer maidens and a controversial visit by Prince Harry – is no more. But it’s coming back.

Cowboys shuttered in mid-July with one last party and 2,000 of its closest friends before a wrecking ball made room for a new $2 billion skyscraper. The venue will reopen in September at an old office products store at 4 Avenue and 5 Street S.W., taking $100 million worth of booze with it, according to the Calgary Sun.

Cowboys opened in June 1996 and is the stuff of Canadian legend. Prince once tried to rent out the entire club and was turned down (they gave him one room on the busy Saturday night), according to the Sun. Cuba Gooding Jr. was turned away at the door because he didn’t have his I.D. (he promptly went back to his hotel room and got it). Wayne Gretsky, Snoop Dogg and the Prince of Monaco are fans. Kevin Costner, Tom Selleck and Samuel Jackson have been volunteer bartenders.

Then there was the time – actually, in May – when Britain’s Prince Harry popped in with his military mates and drunkenly hit on one of the renowned beer maidens. One of the staffers sold her story about the evening to the British tabloids for $30,000, the paper said.

Cowboys representatives – probably busy moving that booze across town – could not be reached for further comment.