A North County Koo : Music: Owner of Leo’s Little Bit O’ Country has earned his share of success since arriving from South Korea.

“I have a very simple philosophy: Work hard and care about how you treat people, and you’ll do well. Other clubs, all they care about is business. Money, money, money. That’s what makes Leo’s different. We care about the people who come here. So they come back again and again.”

James Koo, 52, leaned back in his wooden, ranch-style chair and surveyed his spread, a 7,800-square-foot country-Western nightclub in San Marcos called Leo’s Little Bit O’ Country. Situated at the junction of San Marcos Boulevard and California 78, roughly 10 miles inland from Interstate 5, Leo’s is a second home for many North County residents, who come here to drink, dance, schmooze and listen to live country music.

In a few hours, Leo’s would open for business, but now it was an oasis of Western-accoutered calm. Mid-afternoon sunlight ignited the windows and probed fingers of shade across the empty dance floor. Only the burbling of an unattended video game broke the stillness. The only thing missing were the creaking of louvered saloon doors and the distant clopping of horses hoofs.

Upbeat, forthcoming but not glib, wearing a casual but immaculate outfit topped with a cowboy hat and bola tie, Koo seemed a man in complete harmony with his surroundings.

“Leo’s is more than a nightclub,” he said, picking up the thread. “We have 25,000 to 30,000 people in here every month, and 70% of our business is repeat business. When someone from Escondido wants to get together with someone from Oceanside, they say, ‘I’ll meet you at Leo’s.’ I have made it . . . a social club.”

Pleased with his pronouncement, Koo unleashed the broad smile that would flash at regular intervals throughout the recent interview. It is the same smile that greets patrons at the door, where Koo can be found Tuesday through Sunday nights. His manifesto, however, omitted some salient points about the differences between his and other nightclubs.

Koo could have mentioned, for example, that Leo’s is widely regarded as the best place in San Diego County to hear live country-Western music, and that it might be the only country venue in America owned and operated by a Korean who emigrated for political reasons. Koo became an American citizen in 1975.

“I had to leave South Korea because I was opposed to the political situation there,” Koo said. “I came to this country in 1967 to study, and I attended several schools in the Los Angeles area. While I was living there, I got involved in the import business.”

In 1970, Koo, his wife and young daughter (a son and second daughter were born in North County) moved to Oceanside, where he opened both an Oriental gift shop and a wig shop on Mission Avenue. A man named Leo ran a Western-wear store named for himself next door, and the two became friends.

“When Leo turned 59, he said he wanted to semi-retire, so I asked him to teach the business to me,” Koo remembered. “I worked with him for a year, and then I took over. In 1977, I opened a second store, a giant, 10,000-square-foot place in the Gemco shopping center on El Camino Real. It was the biggest Western-wear store in California. I sold saddlery, supplies, clothes, everything.”

Business boomed, and Koo diversified, eventually operating five enterprises. By the time he sold the Mission Avenue store in 1982, he was a major stockholder in a small North County bank. In 1984, in his role as a coordinator of syndicated loans with other local banks, Koo learned that the owner of a corner lot in San Marcos had filed Chapter 11. On the lot was a disco called Charlie’s. Koo bought the property, and, although he lacked experience running a nightclub, he never had a doubt as to what kind of place it should be, or what it would be called.

“I first heard country music at the store on Mission Avenue. Every day, all day, the radio played country music, and I liked it. Now, I don’t listen to anything else. Well, sometimes I listen to Korean music,” he added, laughing.

During the first three years of Leo’s existence, Koo had others manage the club while he tended to his concerns. Leo’s served lunch and dinner and featured live music every night, but business fluctuated as Koo learned the ropes of the nightclub trade. Then, in 1987, he took the reins himself and began molding the club to fit his vision of it.

Koo converted the kitchen at the rear of the place into a combination stool-and-cocktail-counter corral and Western-wear boutique, and turned the dining area into a game space featuring videos and pool tables. To accommodate smokers, he added a large patio just outside the dancing area. Smack in the middle of the room, Koo erected an octagonal, gazebo-like “shooter bar” that serves only shooters and beer chasers, no mixed drinks. Business swung upward.

In February, 1989, Koo sold the giant Leo’s Western-wear store to devote full time to his club. Two years later, Leo’s is a North County institution, and Koo himself is “Leo” to a lot of his customers, although his close friends still call him Jim.

Usually, the live music is performed by locals, either Char Carroll and the Durango Band or Red Lane and the Full House Band. But Leo’s has continued a popular, monthly series of Sunday night concerts, featuring name artists in the country field, that Koo inaugurated in September, 1984.

“We brought in Jim Glaser for our grand opening,” he recalled, “and we had about three other concerts that first year. Since then, we’ve had many, many big stars. Johnny Lee, Carlene Carter, Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Patty Loveless, Holly Dunn, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Charlie Daniels. Michael Martin Murphey is my favorite, but Johnny Lee is the best entertainer. He’s played here three times.”

Koo concedes that attendance at Leo’s is not immune to the fickleness of the concert business--the popularity of the artist, the timing of shows with regard to coincidental events, and economic considerations. Some shows sell out the 350-seat facility, others fall short of half-capacity. He’s still learning new things about that end of the business.

Koo expressed surprise, for example, at the stampede of ticket sales for last Sunday’s shows by Gary Morris, a country-music sex symbol who made his first appearance at Leo’s.

“I can’t believe it,” Koo said. “I’ve gotten calls about tickets from people in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Burbank, Ventura, Scottsdale, Phoenix--almost all women!”

Koo believes that his hands-on approach will preserve the club’s special qualities. He’s there from 14 to 18 hours a day, six days a week. He opens and closes Leo’s, personally, welcoming all patrons, and gives at least a few minutes of his undivided attention to each table.

“Unlike other clubs, our regulars range from age 25 to 65,” he said. “People wear jeans and cowboy hats, and some of them come in dirty from working the land. But country-Western people are honest, hard-working people, and that’s why I like them. We’ve had a lot of wedding receptions here. People feel comfortable at Leo’s.”

Koo credits the amity engendered by Leo’s atmosphere with the fact that there is almost never any violence of the type that occurs at other country bars.

“We don’t have bouncers like other clubs,” he said. “We don’t need them. People here respect each other, and they respect me. One reason is because I’ve been in the Western-wear business for so long, so I’ve dealt with three generations of customers. But mostly, everybody likes me because I treat them like guests.”

Soon, Koo will more literally be treating his customers that way. He’s in escrow now to buy the Travelodge motel across the street from Leo’s. He hopes to make it an affordable crash pad for people who have traveled great distances to Leo’s only to drink more than would make them safe drivers on the long trek home.

Though Koo’s success as a country-music entrepreneur ratifies his philosophy about hard work and care for others, it hasn’t won him total acceptance from some blue-collar types.

He says, however, that he rarely encounters racism these days, and, when he does, it’s usually in the form of misplaced condescension.

“When I was first working on Mission Avenue and someone would say something bad, it made me very angry,” he said, reprising his familiar smile. “But now, people are very nice to me. And, when someone tries to look down at me, I think, ‘I have more money, more experience, and more education than you do.’ Now, it doesn’t bother me.”

Leo’s Little Bit O’ Country, 680 West San Marcos Blvd., is open Tuesday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.; and Sunday, 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. The club is closed Mondays. Leo’s next headliner is Johnny Paycheck on Dec. 15. For more information, call 744-4120.