A recent PBS show on Roy Orbison reminded me of one of my big regrets. Sometime in the late ’70s or early to mid-80s, I saw a notice in The Post that Roy Orbison was going to do a concert in a small venue in, of all places, Baileys Crossroads in Virginia. I’ve always regretted that I never tried to get tickets. Did that concert actually take place and why would Roy Orbison be performing at some small venue in Baileys Crossroads?

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       — John Stinson, Chevy Chase, Md.

       Small venue? Far from it. That Roy Orbison concert wasn’t scheduled for Louie’s Rock Village or Louie’s Rock Town. No, it was supposed to be at Louie’s Rock City on Aug. 5, 1981.

       Supposed to be. We’ll get to why it wasn’t shortly, but first, who was Louie?

       That’s a long story. The club at 3501 S. Jefferson St. — “Across from Korvettes,” as newspaper ads helpfully noted — traced its origins to the District. In 1960, a restaurant called the Place Where Louie Dwells opened at 235 G St. NW. The name came from the opening lines of the Whiffenpoof Song: “To the tables down at Mory’s, to the place where Louis dwells …”

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       “It is a long, narrow, dark and intime sort of restaurant specializing in steaks,” the Evening Star wrote. “A pianist plays nostalgic tunes on a battered old upright.”

       In 1966, planned road construction forced the Place Where Louis Dwells to move to 1000 Fourth St. SW. Owner Bill Reisinger eventually sold it to a man named Mike Munley, who was a part owner of the Bayou in Georgetown. By 1976, Munley had his eye on a much larger — and quite different — venue: the Royal Hawaiian, a refined supper club in Baileys Crossroads.

       In a June 3, 1976, story about the Royal Hawaiian’s sale to Munley and his partner in the venture, Jack Corry, the Star noted, “Entertainment policies will remain the same, catering to adult audiences.”

       Adults, yes — except for those with fake IDs — but there was a definite shift in entertainment policies. Munley changed the name to Louie’s Rock City and brought in rock acts.

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       The venue was cavernous. It was housed in a former Giant supermarket and had room for around 1,000 concertgoers, at tables and on a dance floor. An ad in the Unicorn Times trumpeted “Rock concert every night. No matter what.”

       Those concerts included national touring acts such as Leslie West, Edgar Winter, Eddie Money and Rainbow and hard-working local bands such as the Nighthawks, Danny Gatton and Sinbad. Louie’s was also the setting for hotly contested battles of the bands.

       Niven Redditt grew up behind the club. He started washing dishes there at 15, while a student at J.E.B. Stuart High.

       Niven hadn’t worked at Louie’s long when he was asked if he wanted to learn how to run lights. He was soon training a spotlight on stars such as Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis.

       “It was just a great place to work,” he told Answer Man.

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       Jimbo Manion was a bouncer at the club and a lead guitarist — one of two — in Jazzbo McMann, a local southern rock band that played there often.

       “Every kid in the late ’70s was trying to get in there,” he said.

       From 1977 to 1981, Sheryl Robbin was a Louie’s waitress. She still remembers the first time she made$100 in tips. It was the evening Judas Priest played two shows. She still runs into people who remember her from Louie’s — and remember the skimpy outfits the waitresses wore.

       “Little black skirts with black trunks underneath,” Sheryl said.

       Platform shoes, too. A high-heeled waitress who could weave through a drunken crowd bearing a tray full of drinks was as skilled as any fleet-fingered guitarist.

       “Of course, we were in our 20s so we could do anything,” she said.

       Mike Munley seems to have been a great boss. He owned a huge house in West Virginia — “a poor folks home he bought at auction,” Niven said — and would throw a company picnic there every summer.

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       “He had horses, a spring water pond,” Niven said. “He would buy steaks and beer and bring a band or two up.”

       Munley was a pilot with his own plane. Said Sheryl: “He flew us to Atlantic City one day, me and four other waitresses.”

       So what happened to the Roy Orbison show? Well, some citizens were not so fond of Louie’s Rock City. Neighbors complained about noise. Parents complained about underage drinking. Fights occasionally broke out in and around the club.

       In July 1981, the Alcoholic Beverage Commission hit the club with a 45-day suspension. Owner Munley had already agreed not to serve hard liquor. The Orbison show was canceled and moved to the Empress Cafe, a restaurant in Rockville Mall. The contract for the show — which was arranged by Michael Schreibman’s New Era Concerts — is in the collection of the performing arts library at the University of Maryland. (Orbison was to be paid $7,500 for two shows.)

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       But three days before the show, the Empress’s ad in The Post said it had been postponed, as was a Three Dog Night show. Answer Man isn’t sure it was rescheduled.

       Before the year ended, Louie’s Rock City had closed its doors for good.

       When Munley was battling the ABC, he told the Evening Star, “Rock and roll is here to stay, whether [county officials] like it or not.”

       The same could not be said for Louie’s Rock City.