White Water Tavern

History

Paul Black and Mike Galbraith leased the old Pitcher, a neighborhood beer joint dating to the 1940s, in September 1976 and named the bar White Water after the White River, hanging a canoe inside. Larry “Goose” Garrison became a partner in 1979 and ran it until 2007. It was an early Little Rock room for local blues and rock and later booked a wide mix, from country songwriters to hip-hop and metal. Fires, including arson in 1980 and 1982, closed it more than once. It shut during the pandemic and reopened in August 2021 under new owners.