Nightlife

Disaster Aftermath, Nightlife, Quicklink, Restaurants

9 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HURRICANE RITAS “I know there are people who ‘go out for Margaritas’ . . . that is, they are looking for a good â€™Rita and donâ€™t care that much about the food. However, I donâ€™t think that means a place can succeed if thatâ€™s all theyâ€™ve got. No shortage in this town of good â€™Ritas or good Mexican food or places that can do both, like Hugoâ€™s or Sylviaâ€™s. On the other hand, I have a fond memory of the Ninfaâ€™s on Kirby because they were open right after Ike when most of the city was still without power. Under those circumstances, I thought the food was awesome.” [toadfroggy, commenting on Out with Mama Ninfaâ€™s, in with Maggie Ritaâ€™s]

Comments, Disaster Aftermath, Hurricane Ike, Nightlife, Restaurants

Country Club Place

06/25/12 1:23pm

East End Alcohol Report

East End, Idylwood, Nightlife, Quicklink

8 Comments

EAST END ALCOHOL REPORT A reader from the Country Club Place-Idylwood area checks in with rumors, some news, and questions: “A neighbor who does not do computers had a co-worker tell him that there is to be a ‘Latino topless bar’ open soon near Idylwood. For the life of me, I cannot see where he’s talking about. Of course, the definition of ‘near Idylwood’ is the variable. How can I find out where it will be and if this is true? Are alcohol permits available online? The old Helena Motel property on Wayside at 45 is being developed slowly and right now, a Chick fil A is being built next to the relatively new Taco Cabana. I can’t really see an adult entertainment place going in near that location although that block with the corner is prime for a strip shopping center. Demolition of the old Oshman’s property for Walmart is progressing quickly. Last I heard there was still some question as to whether or not this Walmart would sell beer & wine. The back side of the property is too close to the AAMA School on Maxwell. I imagine a lot of people will be unhappy if they can’t do one stop shopping there. Can you offer some suggestions as to where to begin my sleuthing on the topless bar?” [Swamplot inbox]

77023, Bars and Clubs, Country Club Place, East End, Idylwood, Idylwood Walmart, New Construction, Nightlife, Proposed Developments, Restaurants

Crime

05/17/12 3:03pm

Not-so-Local Treasures on the Westheimer Strip

Galleria, Lawsuits, Nightlife, Quicklink

26 Comments

NOT-SO-LOCAL TREASURES ON THE WESTHEIMER STRIP Included in the lawsuit filed yesterday by Houston and Harris County attorneys against the owners of Treasures, which labels the Westheimer strip club a public nuisance and attempts to shut it down: allegations that the venue is a site of “human trafficking” — of dancers from Vegas. From Cindy George’s report: “The trafficking allegations stem from police probes revealing that some of the dancers are transported from Nevada to Texas, then from club to club within Houston, and reside in Galleria- area apartments and condos ‘where they are maintained by the pimps,’ [city attorney David] Feldman said at a news conference. . . . ‘They masquerade as legitimate businesses, but these high-end strip clubs like Treasures really are hubs of human trafficking,’ he said, later noting that the establishment averages $20 million in annual alcohol sales. ‘Treasures happens to be the most prominent of these clubs. It’s the largest. It is clearly the most visible and most notable and prominent. . . . We are hopeful that with this action, we serve notice not only on Treasures, but the other clubs out there that Houston-Harris County is not going to put up with this type of criminal activity.'” [Houston Chronicle]

77056, Crime, Galleria, Lawsuits, Nightclubs, Nightlife

04/25/12 4:47pm

A New York Post Reporter’s Lost Houston Weekend

Quicklink, Restaurants, Shady Acres, Tourism

12 Comments

A NEW YORK POST REPORTER’S LOST HOUSTON WEEKEND “Exhausted and content, I retired to the patio at El Gran Malo, a cool but divey tequila bar on a superbly awful corner facing a shoot â€™nâ€™ stab gas station, a Mexican restaurant and other assorted random Houstonia; I went here because every chef I encountered during my visit told me that this was the spot. I absolutely had to go, they said. So I went and I drank tequila, because thatâ€™s what I saw everyone else doing. A lot of it too, apparently â€” by the end of the night, I vaguely remember being on the other side of town stalking a food truck selling lobster that may or may not have actually existed. Which was fine â€” it would be days before I was in a position to eat a proper meal again.” [New York Post] Photo of El Gran Malo: Almost Veggie Houston

77008, Bars and Clubs, Nightlife, Restaurants, Shady-Acres, Tourism

Midtown

04/25/12 11:47am

Austin Rejection Artist and Bar Partners Opening Midtown Nightclub

Nightlife, Proposed Developments, Renovations

18 Comments

Two-time The Bachelor star Brad Womack is planning to open a nightclub with his business partners in Midtown Houston, right across the street from the Metro Midtown apartments, at the corner of Bagby and McIlhenny. Womack’s twin brother Chad, brother Wes, and partner Jason Carrier — they call their company Carmack Concepts — own Sixth St. bars Chuggin’ Monkey, Dizzy Rooster, Molotov, and Dogwood in Austin. Their Houston bar, which they’ll call Dogwood Houston, will be a transformation of a small 1956 commercial building at 2403 Bagby St.

77006, Bars and Clubs, Midtown, Nightlife, Proposed Developments, Renovations

Downtown

04/17/12 3:31pm

Scott Gertner’s Newest Sky Bar Is Now Going Up on Top of Houston Pavilions

17 Comments

Looking down onto the roof of the couple-month-old Scott Gertner’s venue downtown, you can see the steel parts of the new rooftop bar soon to be made into a pavilion . . . atop Houston Pavilions. A reader sends this photo of the scene, taken from the Pavilions office tower. At the top left of the photo is the intersection of Fannin and Dallas:

The blue box area located in the middle of the set beams has been there since they started construction for roof accessÂ (It used to have the words “No Step” on it). We’ve seen construction workers go in and out of it since then. Most of this work was done last Friday and over the weekend. I’m guessing because of the steel beams they had to close off part of the street to crane it up there.

That’s a good guess, judging from this photo posted on the bar’s Facebook page on Sunday:

77002, Bars and Clubs, Construction Materials, Downtown, Houston Pavilions, Nightlife

Comments

02/15/12 9:52pm

Comment of the Day: But a Spoonful of Sugar Will Help the History Go Down

Houston History, Montrose, Nightlife, Quicklink, Westheimer Curve

13 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUT A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR WILL HELP THE HISTORY GO DOWN “If you wonâ€™t drink coffee at the former Maryâ€™s building, then you probably donâ€™t want to know what went on at The Empire Cafe, when it was known as The Locker.” [Darogr, commenting on Restored Maryâ€™s Mural on Westheimer Painted Over Again]

77006, Bars and Clubs, Comments, Houston History, Montrose, Nightlife, Westheimer Curve

02/06/12 11:31am

Setting Sail from Beer Island

Openings and Closings, Renovations, Woodland Heights

10 Comments

A self-proclaimed “loyal reader from the First Ward” ventures into Woodland Heights to snap and send this photo documenting construction taking place at the former gas station at 2631 White Oak — home most recently to Beer Island — and the continuing transformation of White Oak Dr. When construction is complete, the spot on the corner of Studewood will become the 5th Houston location of Little Woodrow’s.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77009, Bars, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Woodland Heights

02/06/12 9:27am

February Is Guadalajara Bakery Closing Month

Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Washington Ave

14 Comments

You’ll have the remainder of this month to say goodbye to another piece of the old Washington Ave: The Guadalajara Bakery at 4003 Washington announces, through a sign posted in a front window, that it’ll be closing down on February 29th, after 45 years in business. The Houston Press‘s Katherine Shilcutt reports that new building owners have plans to turn the breakfast-taco spot on the corner of Leverkuhn into a bar, and gave the bakery 30 days to vacate; the Chavez family has no plans to reopen elsewhere.

Openings & Closings: January 2012 [Eating Our Words]

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77007, Bars, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Washington Ave.

01/05/12 10:45am

Moon Tower Inn’s New Shipping Container Beer Cooler

Quicklink, Renovations, Restaurants

1 Comment

MOON TOWER INN’S NEW SHIPPING CONTAINER BEER COOLER A few details on the brewery redo taking place on the hotdog reinvention grounds of the (currently shuttered) Moon Tower Inn at 3004 Canal St. in the Second Ward, from blogger Leslie Sprague: “One of the two new shipping containers being used to renovate the old space, to expand the kitchen and the tap wall to 42 taps, will be a walk-in cooler for cold storage. The brewhouse will be set-up in part of the office space, behind the old ordering counter. I wasnâ€™t even aware there was an office. They have a 3 1/2 barrel brewhouse on order from Portland Kettleworks and are expecting delivery in mid-February. Thatâ€™s definitely cutting it close to the planned February reopening.” [Lushtastic] Photo: Marty E.

77003, Breweries, Nightlife, Renovations, Restaurants, Second Ward, Shipping-Containers

01/04/12 5:45pm

Caught Watering Ditches: Your Latest Photo Guide To Off-Washington-Ave Nightlife

Streets, Washington Corridor

29 Comments

“People are always peeing on my street, so I bought a Q-Beam.” With that informative epigram, blogger Jay Rascoe takes his focus off his usual guns and tacos beat for a wee bit in his new Tumblelog, OneBlockOffWashington. There he catalogs his growing collection of caught-peeing, caught-puking, and caught-in-a-ditch videos shot from his home perch, which is, apparently, a block off Washington Ave. Rascoe’s frequent late-night interactions with would-be sidewalk urinators wandering back from club visits are frequently aided by the million candles’ worth of halogen in a pistol grip he points at perpetrators. But some of his most entertaining street-scene captures use only available light:

77007, Nightlife, Photos, Streetlife, Washington Corridor

Montrose

11/29/11 11:41pm

Drinking for the Greater Good

Nightlife, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Restaurants

2 Comments

DRINKING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Among the goals of OKRA, the new business organization founded by a group of mostly Montrose-area restaurant and bar owners (including Anvil’s Bobby Heugel, Chris Shepherd of the upcoming Underbelly, and Greenway coffee couple David Buehrer and Ecky Prabanto): Opening a new, collectively run non-profit neighborhood bar as early this summer — preferably in the refurbished digs of some recently shuttered for-profit drinking establishment. All proceeds would go to a different charity each month, which drinkers would get to vote on. Also coming this spring from the group: “a multi-pig roast unlike Houston has ever seen.” [Facebook; more from 29-95, Culturemap, and Eater Houston]

Bars, Montrose, Nightlife, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Restaurants

Adaptive Reuse

11/17/11 2:09pm

Where the New Walter’s Is Opening, off Washington

Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Warehouse District

8 Comments

After a couple years of threats, live-music straggler Walter’s on Washington finally closed its doors at 4215 Washington Ave. this summer. Almost exactly 6 months later, it’ll open for a Christmas show in a new location: This former classic-car showroom, video-production studio, car-parts distribution center, and cabinet shop at 1120 Naylor St. just north of Downtown, behind DiverseWorks and the UH-Downtown parking garage. Owner Pam Robinson had hoped to open the 190-person-capacity venue much earlier. She told the Houston Press‘s Chris Gray in June that she had run into problems meeting city parking requirements for the location.

Walter’s Finally Has New Digs: Roky Moon Christmas Gig Announced and Walter’s No Longer On Washington, But Not Gone Either [Rocks Off]
Previously on Swamplot: Guess Where Walterâ€™s on Washington Is Moving!, Walterâ€™s Was the Only One Left: The Death of Live Music on Washington Ave

Photo: LoopNet

77002, Adaptive Reuse, Bars and Clubs, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Warehouse District

Demolitions

11/01/11 5:30pm

Washington Ave’s Nett Loss

Nightlife, Washington Corridor, West End

10 Comments

A reader wants to know what’s behind last week’s demo work (pictured) at the former used car lot operated by Sarco Enterprises at the northeast corner of Shepherd and Nett St., 2 blocks north of Washington Ave. Across Nett St. from the site: nightspots Nox, Diem Lounge, and Fox Hollow. “Maybe a new retail development or a new restaurant or a new club?” asks the reader. “The property is a great extension of the happenings along the Washington corridor.”