Showco’s Dallas Locations
The places where the road was built
Showco’s history was made on stages around the world, but much of the work began in Dallas. These garages, shops, offices, warehouses, and neighboring buildings were where crews prepared tours, engineers solved problems, equipment was built and repaired, and a new live-production industry took shape.
This page is a living location history. Dates and functions below reflect surviving trade publications, directories, government records, company documents, and alumni memories. Where the record is incomplete, the gap is identified rather than guessed.
Jack Maxson’s garage on Beverly Drive — 1970 into 1971
Showco’s touring-sound operation began in Jack Maxson’s garage on Beverly Drive. Jack Calmes, Rusty Brutsche, and Maxson assembled an early system there before the company landed its first national tour with Three Dog Night. A 1978 Dallas Times Herald history reports that the team continued working from the garage until Showco obtained its first shop in 1971.
Function: first system building, testing, storage, and preparation for early touring work.
Current status: private property; the archive should not publish a precise residential address without a clear preservation reason and owner consideration.
The first Showco shop — 1971
Showco moved from the garage into its first dedicated shop in 1971. The exact address has not yet been confirmed from the records reviewed for this draft.
Function: expanded construction, repair, storage, and tour preparation as Showco’s client list grew.
Research note: alumni recollections, early invoices, letterhead, city directories, and equipment paperwork may identify this location.
9011 Governors Row — documented by the late 1970s through 1983
By 1979, Showco advertising listed 9011 Governors Row as the company’s Dallas address. Federal records from 1981 associate this location with Showco’s laser systems, and the 1983 Dallas telephone directory lists Showco, Showco Manufacturing, and the main company number there.
Function: corporate offices, sound and lighting operations, manufacturing, research and development, tour preparation, and the wider Showco/Showlites working complex.
Related address: Showlites was listed at 9019 Governors Row in the 1983 directory.
Current status: the Governors Row industrial district remains active, but Showco no longer occupies this address. Current occupancy should be confirmed before publication.
5200 East Grand Avenue — warehouse documented in 1983
The 1983 Dallas telephone directory separately lists a Showco warehouse at 5200 East Grand Avenue.
Function: warehouse/storage support. The exact equipment and years of operation still need alumni confirmation.
Current status: not yet confirmed for this draft.
201 Regal Row — documented from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s
Industry directories list Showco at 201 Regal Row by 1985–1986. The address appears in 1987 touring-industry listings, 1989 manufacturer listings, 1990–1992 Dallas directories, a 1991 federal trademark proceeding, and a 1993 meeting-industry directory.
Function: Showco headquarters and operating base; sound, touring, manufacturing, Showco Communications Group/Creative Services, and connected Showco/Vari-Lite activity are associated with this era.
Current status: the building survives as an approximately 60,604-square-foot warehouse property. Recent property records show non-Showco commercial use and lease activity.
9029 Governors Row — documented by the late 1990s through the 2000 transition
The 1999–2000 Dallas directory lists Showco at 9029 Governors Row. A 2000 transaction document describes the building as a temporary site used for storing and removing Clearsho assets during the sale of Showco’s assets to Clair Brothers.
Function: late-period Showco operations and transition-era storage/access.
Current status: the 30,000-square-foot industrial building survives and has unrelated commercial occupants.
Las Colinas Studios — Las Colinas, Texas
Opened in 1982 as The Studios at Las Colinas, the complex was an important Dallas-area rehearsal and pre-production facility used by Showco-supported tours. David Bowie, Robert Plant, Genesis, Phil Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and many other artists prepared productions there before heading onto the road.
Relationship to Showco: This was a rehearsal facility—not a Showco office or hangout—but it belongs in the company’s location history because Showco crews and systems supported major productions prepared there.
Current status: The historic complex remains in use as Mercury Studios, an active television and entertainment-production facility.
Archive needs: rehearsal dates, tour names, crew lists, backstage photographs, and firsthand stories from the artists and Showco teams who worked there.
Help identify the missing pieces
Did you work at one of these locations? Do you remember when a department moved, what was built in each shop, or the address of the first 1971 facility? Please use Add to the Story to share dates, photographs, floor plans, invoices, letterhead, or corrections.
Every confirmed detail helps preserve not only where Showco worked, but how the company grew.
Source notes for the draft
Dallas Times Herald, March 12, 1978: garage origin and first shop in 1971.
Billboard International Talent Directory, 1979–1980: 9011 Governors Row.
Federal Register, August 18, 1981: Showco laser products at 9011 Governors Row.
Greater Dallas Telephone Directory, April 1983: 9011 Governors Row; 5200 East Grand warehouse; 9019 Governors Row Showlites.
Greater Dallas Yellow Pages, 1985–1986; Billboard Talent & Touring Directory, 1987; Mix manufacturer directory, 1989: 201 Regal Row.
Dallas directories, 1990–1992; USPTO proceeding filed 1991; MPI DFW directory, 1993: 201 Regal Row.
Greater Dallas White Pages, 1999–2000; 2000 Showco asset-sale agreement: 9029 Governors Row.