DECADES-OLD JIMMY’S ICE HOUSE ON WHITE OAK DR. TO TURN BRAUN, CHANGE NAME, TENANTS 
The current owners of Jimmy’s Ice House at the corner of White Oak Dr. and Threlkeld St. are in the middle of working out a sales agreement with serial redeveloper Braun Enterprises, Jim Reynolds reports this week. The late eponymous Jimmie Murray opened the place back in the late 1940s; the bar is currently owned by a group including Jimmie’s son’s widow. Current co-owner Eric Quinn says the likely plan is for Braun to lease the space out to a new tenant, who definitely won’t use the Jimmy’s Ice House name; he also notes that various grandfathered building code violations mean remodeling may be prohibitively expensive. Jimmy’s Ice House sits across Threlkeld from the Studewood BB’s Cafe, and across White Oak Dr. from the South Heights Retail Center, near both Fitzgerald’s and Christian’s Tailgate. The -ie to -y swap looks to have happened around the time the current owners bought the place in 2008, as part of the signage switch from Jimmie’s Place. [The Leader] Photo of Jimmy’s Ice House at 2803 White Oak Dr.: David Richmond/Houston Ice House
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I’m crossing my fingers for another blade-runner themed panda express knock-off.
Poke and Hugs!
lame
Oh man that place is a dump. ha
Douchify – verb; to change the nature of something that prior to the change was unique and had character; variations: douchification. douchified. Examples: Stretches of Washington Avenue In Houston have been douchified in recent years. Parts of White Oak in the Houston Heights area are undergoing douchification.
I smell a neighborhood mattress store.
I am not a fan of ice houses. Too many Harleys for my taste. I also do not know the circumstances behind Jimmy’s closing. But do not blame the people moving into the Heights. Yuppies and hipsters love dive bars and ice houses. If anything, I am tired of hearing some of the more well to do neighbors of mine in the Heights go on about how they were hanging out at Shiloh or Alice’s Tall Texan. I get it. You are down with the common man even though the next night you ran up a $350 bill at Glass Wall.
The problem, Old School, is not too many bikers, but rather too few ice houses. Back in the day when there were ice houses every couple blocks around Houston and Harris County the bikers were spread out and there were no concentrations to annoy neighbors.
@OldSchool…. Am with you 90%. Hipsters and yuppies love dive bars – problem is, local developers (in the Heights) love to charge $7/beer, and that ain’t gonna happen at Jimmys…but it’ll happen at Jimmys 2.0, which will have a paid parking lot and a couple dozen TVs hanging on the walls.
I’ve wanted to own an ice house ever since I moved to TX and learned what one was!
A low-key gathering spot for locals and passers-through.
I’d have live music, craft beer, a daily menu of healthy eats, farmer’s market, a meeting room, a couple of burly bouncers and, of course, a huge chunk of ice!
either for sale (ice-pick available upon request) or for air-conditioning the place.