After his discharge from the Army, Bob Parker moved to Enid and opened a restaurant at 514 S. Van Buren called Duffy’s Café in the early 1940s. He then built and opened Parker’s Café just a couple lots south near the intersection of U.S. 412 and U.S. 81 (Garriott and Van Buren) at 520 S. Van Buren.
Prior to 1958, Parker’s Café had been a sandwich shop. Then Bob and his wife Mickie rebranded it as The Flamingo Lounge and upscaled the menu to include steaks, barbecue ribs, chicken, Hungarian goulash, and other short orders along with cold beer.
He doubled the size of the seating area by purchasing the adjacent building, which had been a cleaner’s shop, and opening a doorway between the two spaces. The Flamingo Lounge’s slogan as advertised back then in The Enid Morning News was “where friends meet.”
During a remodel of the lounge in 1968, Bob purchased the bar and mirrors from Vance Air Force Base’s NCO Club that was also undergoing a remodel.
The Parkers owned and operated The Flamingo Lounge until 1986, when they decided to retire to Canton Lake.
They sold the turnkey business to fellow Army veteran Bobby and Judy Wegmiller. They converted it into the favorite dive bar with wood paneling, low lighting, and family-friendly atmosphere it’s still known for today.
Regulars would come into the Flamingo to sit down, drink beer, and play arcade games, pinball machines, pool table, regulation-sized shuffleboard table (which is the only still standing in Enid), and darts while they ate burgers or Frito chili pie.
Judy created her famous barbecue brisket sandwich for the menu and even bottled her own barbecue sauce for a couple of decades. One of the Wegmiller’s three sons, Jay, stood at the grill for many years, quitting his day job with a local electrician to run Flamingo for his parents starting in 2008.
Keeping the legacy alive
As his dad’s health declined (his mother passed in 2009), Jay decided to put The Flamingo Lounge up for sale—several months before the COVID pandemic hit. Then his father passed in late 2020. He said he hasn’t stepped foot inside since he sold it.
It was locally owned for three years by a business group that had wanted to “to keep local business thriving and moving forward,” according to Doug Wade, one of the group members. They changed up the menu a bit, adding fries for the first time, and installed a credit card machine so customers didn’t have to rely on cash only.
However, in the summer of 2023, the Flamingo was listed again for sale as the business group felt it couldn’t dedicate the time needed to run the iconic establishment, Wade told the Enid News and Eagle.
That’s when The Flying Machine Group—a group of six entrepreneurs in Enid that seek to start and/or support struggling small businesses—stepped in.
“We felt like you can’t shut down the oldest burger bar in Northwest Oklahoma. It’s an Enid original,” said Nick Jackson, one of the members of The Flying Machine Group, alongside Lauren Keller, Chef Hesston Swenn, Chad Easton, Elyse Bablewski, and Blake Stevison.
The group also owns multiple locations of DaVinci’s Coffeehouses in the Enid area including Vance AFB, Vitruvian Coffee Roasters, Catapult Cuisine, and Café Volare (the brunch restaurant where Marilyn K’s used to be in the old Youngblood Hotel).
Their goal, Jackson said, was to create synergy and health for every business under the umbrella company known as The Flying Machine Group; it also means gift cards from any of the businesses are universal, thus they can be used at any of the other businesses too. So, patrons who buy gift cards at DaVinci’s can also use them at the Flamingo.
Back to the basics
Since rescuing The Flamingo Lounge in October 2023, Jackson (whose brother Shane owns Jackson’s of Enid car dealership and often stops in to offer business advice) has been restoring the burger joint back to its former glory of the 1980s.
“We went and found the original menus, recreated them, and printed them,” he said. The menu reflects what was served more than 30 years ago: burgers and chili plus standard bar fare including popcorn, bar chips, fried appetizers of toothpicks, pickles, and onion rings, nachos, and an unusual fan favorite of pickled eggs. There is still beer on tap along with the new installation of a soda fountain, so drinks come in collectible plastic cups rather than canned like before.
Customers also can still pick up the Flamingo’s famous brick of chili—which was seasoned ground beef that was leftover and frozen into a brick shape—however, Jackson said it’s technically no longer in brick form.
The décor has remained the same as it was when Judy put it on the walls; “Judy was really into horse racing,” said Flamingo’s general manager Jessica Hosley about the equestrian pictures scattered throughout the bar next to images of old celebrities, circus posters, and neon beer signs.
Hosley worked for Jay Wegmiller from 2010 to 2014. She said the Flamingo drew her back in 2021 and has been there since.
“It’s a family. I raised my kids here. It feels like home,” Hosley said, adding she never intended at 40 years old to be running a restaurant. She started out as a server, but when the cook walked out one day, she stepped into the role of cook. And when Jackson’s group bought the Flamingo, Hosley got promoted to oversee the place.
Jackson, who graduated from Enid High in 2003, also has refreshed the nostalgic branding of The Flamingo Lounge, painting the outer wall that patrons park against in the tiny gravel lot with the original slogan “Where Friends Meet … Since 1958” and selling collectible Flamingo-themed tees, hats, and cups.
The sound system has been upgraded and a small stage area created so the Flamingo can return the bygone era of hosting bands and karaoke nights.
There are hopes, Jackson said, to bring back some of the classic arcade games like Galaga and Pac-Man too.
He knows there’s nothing he can do about the parking problem other than ask for a little grace from patrons who have to circle the block a time or two to find a spot.
“The gravel parking sucks,” Jackson said, wincing at the idea that patrons have to endure severe pot holes when exiting toward Garriott or down the alley in the other direction. Unfortunately, there isn’t a good solution, he said, adding they are at the mercy of borrowing neighboring businesses’ parking spaces.
Regulars—who walk through the back door to enter, unlike newcomers who use the actual front door facing Van Buren—don’t seem to mind too much though.
“Seems like people are willing to fill the tables even if they have to circle back three times,” Jackson said. “The appeal is it’s still a dive bar. We are thankful to the city and to the patronage.”
The Flamingo Lounge is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Call-in orders are welcomed: (580) 234-9006. Cash and credit cards are accepted. Follow them on Facebook @theflamingoenid.
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See the article and photos in full-color in the July-August edition of ETown: etownmagazine-cnhi.newsmemory.com