The Bachelors Den, located in Kenmore at 15 LaSalle Ave. at the corner of Delaware Ave.

Former location of the Bachelor’s Den: 15 LaSalle Avenue. Corner of Delaware Ave, Kenmore NY.

I don’t remember a whole lot about this club other than it being small with a regular clientele that was very rowdy.  Lot’s of Baseball teams came here after the game for a libation or two (x 10).  That’s O.K. in our book.  We liked them rowdy…   Maybe the alcohol somehow agreed with our band’s ear-splitting volume levels?

Parousia’s debut at the Bachelor’s Den, Kenmore NY. May 02, 1981.

Parousia performed here once on a Saturday night May 2,1981.  I think it took just one time for the club owner to realize that a seven-piece rock band ‘turning it up to 11’ was a bit too intense for his intimate club of baseball buddies especially when a sound-system and a dartboard would work just as well.

Our gigs were coming in fast and furious. We were relieved to hit a stretch of shows based near our homes, like Dad’s Cafe, the Old Harmony Bar, the Starting Gate Cafe and now the Bachelor’s Den.  But overall, it felt like more and more we were playing less and less in the big city of Buffalo and too often playing far-off in rural NY like Holland, Olcott and Westfield.  We did have some ‘reach’. Much of our popularity was generated from word of mouth, advertising and airplay on local radio stations playing our song “Miss Ogyny” from the 97 Rock album released three-months earlier.

This gig was part of a very busy month for us.  We had twelve gigs in May that included the Starting Gate Cafe, Graffiti’s, the Holland Willows, The Old Harmony Bar, the Eagles Roost, Dad’s Café, New York New York and at the end of the month, the fated Lou’s Inn.

Parousia: Coming to a bar near you… eventually

Financial Statement May 2, 1981

The Bachelor’s Den paid us $75.00 for Parousia to “do their thang” on a Saturday night. That didn’t exactly put us in the green. Our head roadie, Dave Styn was paid $35.00 and our lighting tech Mike Carroll was paid $40.00. Hey, that’s $75.00 right there! Out of our savings we had to pay Steve, i got $10.00 and Barry got $10.00. The rental truck cost us $80.00 but that expense was shared from the previous nights gig at the Starting Gate Cafe.

The Bachelors Den had some unfortunate history:

On January 6, 1981, the bartender Kenneth Wienckowski (son of the owner) was stabbed after he asked a patron, Daniel O’Neil, age 22 to leave the bar.  Talk about your surly drunks!

But the most unfortunate story is about the owner’s daughter, Amanda Wienckowski.

Amanda grew up in Kenmore, where her Dad, Andrew, owned and operated the Bachelors Den.  The young woman with wholesome good looks who grew up in the supposed safety of suburbia was a junkie.  To support her heroin habit, she began selling her body.  In December 2009, she disappeared.  One week later, her frozen body was found stuffed inside a trash tote on Buffalo’s East Side.  The jury is still out as to whether Amanda died of an overdose or at the hands of someone.  But there is no question heroin had a significant role in her downfall.

In April of 1993, Kenmore businessman Richard C. Wienckowski, owner of the Bachelor’s Den lounge died in his North Tonawanda home.  He opened the Bachelor’s Den in 1971 and sponsored more than 100 adult softball teams each year.