Skies Bar & Grill

Apache Junction’s Hidden Honky-Tonk / The stories

Truth, tall tales
& two-steps.

Every old honky-tonk has stories.
Skies has evidence.

Undercover police. Stolen meat. Canned salmon. Liquor. An Arizona Attorney General report. And that’s before we even get to the bordello rumors.

Most bars have a past. Skies has the kind of past that sounds made up.

For decades, people have gathered at this out-of-the-way Apache Junction landmark to eat, drink, dance and trade stories. Some chapters survive in government records and contemporary reporting. Others have been passed from owner to owner and repeated across the bar. Together, they have become the history—and mythology—of Skies.

Documented historyApache Junction, Arizona / 1988

1988: The sting at
Superstition Skies

In 1988, Superstition Skies found itself in the middle of a stolen-property investigation that reads more like an Arizona crime caper than restaurant history.

Contemporary reporting said Apache Junction police used undercover transactions in a case involving people connected with the restaurant. Among the goods allegedly purchased were meat, cheese, canned salmon, produce and liquor. According to the reporting, law enforcement ultimately seized Superstition Skies as part of the investigation.

The case did not disappear quietly. The Arizona Attorney General’s 1989–1990 annual report separately identified the “Superstition Skies case” and described the restaurant as a location from which allegedly fenced or stolen property was distributed.

The records currently available do not make clear whether “seized Superstition Skies” referred to the real estate, the operating business, assets, inventory or property located at the restaurant. They also do not give us enough information to state the final disposition of the case. What they do establish is already extraordinary: Superstition Skies became part of an official stolen-property case involving undercover police, groceries, liquor and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

This chapter concerns a historical investigation, not today’s owners, managers or employees. It was a stolen-property investigation—not a food-safety case.

Some bars have ghost stories.
Skies has a government case involving stolen meat and canned salmon.

Follow the paper trail ↓

More from the records

And that was
only one chapter…

A few more stops along the way.

Sources and historical records ↓

  1. Around 1967

    The building appears

    Property information places the construction of the building at approximately 1967. Its earliest years remain the least documented part of the story.

    Approximate construction date from property-listing information; official county verification is still needed. This is not a business founding date.

  2. November 15, 1988

    Superstition Skies is documented

    The Apache Junction City Council considered a Series 12 liquor-license application submitted by Ann J. Tasso for Superstition Skies Restaurant & Lounge. The minutes record Richard J. Tasso’s address as 945 E. Scenic Street and the council’s unanimous recommendation for approval.

    A separate city council record linking the Skies name, the restaurant and this location; this application is not evidence of involvement in the stolen-property case.

  3. The honky-tonk years

    A place people pass along

    Country music, dancing, food and a big dance floor became part of the Skies story. We’re collecting records and memories to fill in the years between the early paperwork and the place people know today.

  4. Today

    Still a reason to make the turn

    Skies continues that tradition as Apache Junction’s hidden honky-tonk—a place for live music, dancing, cold drinks and the kind of stories that improve with every retelling.

    See Upcoming Events ↗

After the paper trail / Local lore

What the records can’t quite prove

Not every Skies story comes with a government report. Some have survived through longtime customers, former owners and decades of retelling. We can’t verify them yet—but an old Apache Junction honky-tonk would feel incomplete without a few unresolved legends.

Local lore · Not yet verified

The Clubhouse Story

Local stories say the building may once have served as a clubhouse or gathering place for a nearby trailer community. We have not located records confirming it, but the story continues to be passed down.

Local lore · Not yet verified

The Bordello Rumor

The building’s most scandalous legend is that it may once have operated as a bordello. No documentation has surfaced to prove it, so for now it remains exactly what every historic honky-tonk needs: a story no one can completely confirm or stop repeating.

Local lore · Not yet verified

Famous Faces Under the Skies

An old property listing is said to have claimed that Elvis Presley, Marty Robbins, Kenny Rogers and Ronald Reagan visited the establishment. Some versions of the Elvis story connect his visits to the filming of “Charro!” in the region. We are still looking for the original listing, photographs, newspaper clippings and firsthand accounts capable of separating documented history from a very good bar story.

The next chapter / Help us tell the story

Help us separate history from a really good bar story

Were you here when it happened? Do you remember a former owner, restaurant, performer or unexplained chapter? Send us your photographs, menus, newspaper clippings and firsthand memories. You may help solve one of the lingering mysteries of Skies.

Have a memory to share?

Contact the bar to ask about sharing a memory or photograph. Online submissions are not available at this time.

Contact Skies

Sources and historical records

This archive will grow as records are found and memories are checked.

Not on the main drag. Worth the turn.

Make your own Skies story.

Get Directions ↗