Last, not necessarily "nightlife" related, but House of Pies, Katz's, Mai's (she's rebuilding), Tan Tan, and others have been staples of late-night dining. I liked these the most since they were the most walkable to go from one spot to the next and that made it really easy to go club/bar hopping! Of the eras above, I probably enjoyed the Greenbriar/Shepherd one the best followed by the early downtown scene. Too bad Emo's/Some closed and was converted to residences - that's the way it goes. "Institutions" include the Black Lab, Blanco's, Ginger Man, Gallant Knight, Kay's, Marfreless, Marquis, Numbers, Rich's, Roxy, Sam's Boat, and Volcano.
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Throughout all of this were some places that have been around forever. Hopefully, for downtown and Midtown, given their strategic locations, they will never truly "die" but rather find a way to reinvent themselves. Of some note, the new Uptown area has also progressed as a secondary destination with Belverde and The Tasting Room. Since then, there was a changing of the guard from Midtown to the now "it" Washington Avenue. The spots here include(d) Bond Lounge, Escobar, Pub Fiction, Rich's (been there before Midtown was cool), Reef, etc. Midtown benefited from having been designated a TIRZ (basically, a tax shelter for redevelopment) and was sprouting residences (townhomes and apartments) at warp speed so you had a high density of singles. that catered to the electronica club crowd.Īt the turn of the century, due mostly to street construction, downtown was effectively shut down. You also had a slew of places like Hyperia, Club 808, etc. A bunch of bigger "corporate" money places opened: Sambuca, the bar at the Hotel Icon, Flying Saucer, etc. And then you had Prague (later M Bar), Tonic, The Mercury Room, State Bar, and Dean's near Main/Prairie/Travis. In the late 90's, downtown got a jumpstart when Jones Bar, Solero (tapas bar), and Spy launched alongside the larger version of Cabo. This time period was especially cool for nightlife since the Houston Rockets won the finals in 1994-1995 and that made for some great times! Also, random hot spots opened like Roxy and Sempers near Westheimer and Velvet Elvis on Richmond. During this time the Richmond Strip remained quite active, and you had places like Blue Planet, Pete's Wild Life, and Tantra open. Interestingly, I've been inside the place and it's modeled quite closely to the one in Houston (which is now sadly a car service shop). Also, the original 2826 (from Dallas) re-opens on and off again in Deep Ellum. Both of these places are in the Sundance Square area. For those interested in the checking out the shadows of yesterday in a different city, in Fort Worth, 8.0 still exists and Cabo spawned Cabo Grande. While not in that area, Crystal (at Hillcroft/59) made a name for itself during this time with disco and ethnic nights. These places appear to be the only survivors of this period. You also had the Mucky Duck and Mc Elroy's around the corner, and then Davenport and Guava Lamp opened up. Other spots sprung up including The Ballroom (beautiful pool club), Q Cafe (the latin crowd lived here), and 2826 (which became Revere and then Peccavi). Though not in the same area, places like Lizard Lounge, Power Tools, DV8, 6400, and D2R were crossing over from the 80's for the dance set.Īround the mid 90's, with the opening of Cabo on Greenbriar, the nexus of Cabo/Live Bait/8.0 awakened the Greenbriar/Shepherd area as the "it" upscale spot.
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Bayou Mama's was also popular out by Gessner/Westheimer. In the early 90's, the 'Richmond Strip" was pretty popular when Sam's Boat, Yucatan Liquor Stand, and then City Streets were in their heyday. And, there is one more, by late 1970 The Tattooed Lady was in that location.Ĭheck out the Mining Company’s grand opening ad below.Here is my recollection of the "evolution" of the last twenty years or so in H-town from a dance club/bar point-of-view: But before that….ads in gay publications in February 1975 showed the Pacific Street Station at that address, not sure if it stayed in business until Uncle Charlie’s took over the space. In January 1977 Uncle Charlie’s opened as a combination restaurant and bar, though its ads gave the impression the restaurant part was phased out as it later billed itself as “Houston’s Newest Cruise Bar,” and it lasted just over a year. It opened 3/25/78, but there’s gay bar history at the 805 Pacific Street location before that. Houston historian JD Doyle reports that the late Frank Caven, a Texas gay bar tycoon, opened the Mining Company before selling it to Armstrong, his business associate, eight years later. Again, THANK YOU Houston for an amazing 36 years! Teaching ideas based on New York Times content. None of this would have been possible without The Mining Company’s staff and each of your support. Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site.