It goes by The Hang Out.
But it could just as easily be called teenager heaven.
There are funky lights.
Kids have a chance to deejay.
Food prices won’t take a big bite out of the allowance.
There also are rules, security cameras and an owner who is determined to create a safe, attractive place where young people can have fun.
“This is their club,” said Byron Guertzgen, who opened The Hang Out on May 28. “I want them to take care of it.”
So far, it’s been all thumbs up from Generation Y, the biggest group of adolescents in America since the Baby Boomers.
“This is a cool hang out spot,” said 13-year-old Jerica Selby.
“There’s no other place that’s fun,” said 11-year-old Makayla Turner.
“It’s fun and exciting,” added eight-year-old Alexis Harvey.
“Until this place, all we had was Dairy Queen and the park,” lamented Greg Darnell.
Taking off
Guertzgen is a Montana native and Navy veteran.
He flew passenger planes for Ozark, Trans World and American Airlines for more than 30 years before retiring in 2002.
In 1999, Guertzgen bought the former Midland Graphics building just a block off the main drag at Fifth and South Carolina in Louisiana.
He spent almost 10 years making major renovations. A bar opened in September 2008 and closed in January of this year. That prompted Guertzgen’s idea for the teen center.
“I loved the building the first day I saw it,” he recalled. “It was a beautiful building, and I didn’t want to sit around waiting for something else to come in. I said, ‘Hey, I’ll give this (teen center) a try and see what happens.’”
Guertzgen is an admitted tinkerer who loves working with his hands, and it wasn’t long before he was adding new lights and other amenities.
Though Guertzgen declined to say how much he’s invested in the club, a tour shows his self-assessment of being “a little tight” with money is not entirely accurate. Guertzgen’s payoff can be found on the faces of the kids.
“There are moments of doubt we have on everything in life,” he said. “But when I see those kids out there dancing, it somehow makes it all worthwhile.”
A little turbulence
Just as with any new business, the trip to bountiful has had a few bumps.
Guertzgen, who came of age on Elvis and doo-wop, at first let the kids download songs from the Internet and play them over the club’s powerful speakers.
He admits “not being in the same universe” when it comes to understanding what today’s artists are saying. A few kids took advantage and played inappropriate or suggestive songs.
Enter volunteer Becca Mangum.
She knows the difference between Snoop Dogg and Pitbull. Mangum began vetting tunes and downloading them on her personal computer before loading the music into the club’s system.
The kids still get to pick which songs they want to hear, but the tunes are not full of filth.
“They do want boundaries,” Guertzgen said. “They do want rules.”
And the club’s laws are straightforward and unequivocal -- no cussing, fighting, smoking, drinking, illegal drugs or inappropriate behavior. There’s a dress code, and everybody must sign in with name and time when they arrive and do the same when they leave.
There are more than a dozen video cameras that keep track of things inside and outside the club. For security reasons, Guertzgen won’t say how long images are stored, but the system has a big memory.
“It makes me feel safe,” said 11-year-old Faith Henry.
The Hang Out has not had to throw anyone out yet, although Guertzgen admits that “a couple of times, it was pretty close.”
“We have had our share of glitches, but we’re trying to get them worked out,” he said. “I love to solve problems. Once you talk to them, they generally respond very well.”
