Sixties Ex-Dry Cleaning Spot To Be Made Over as a Brays-Side Wine Bar

The scenic view from behind the former Pilgrim Cleaners building at 4005 N. Braeswood Blvd. will reportedly belong soon to a second location of West University-adjacent wine lounge Bacco. The 1966 building (northwest of the Stella Link Rd. bridge over Brays Bayou) operated as a dry cleaner prior to its conversion to a clothing donation drop spot for the Shriner’s Hospital for Children.  Ralph Bivins notes this week in Realty News Report that the location may encourage traffic from Bayou Greenway hikers and bikers; a reader’s photos from the scene show that the trail on the north side of the bayou in this section is still sporting the au naturel look, though the trail on the south side is fully paved:

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The spot sits catty-corner to the Walgreen’s-centered shopping complex northeast of the Stella Link-N. Braeswood intersection; the other 2 corners contain a Shell station and the Valero where those trees got stumped last summer.

Photos: Frank Karbarz

Reborn on the Bayou

14 Comment

  • I have always liked this little building … wish I knew it was for sale(?) as I might have made a run for it.

  • Flooding be dammed! Meanwhile, Stella Link shopping center just across the Bayou is nearly deserted, because of flood danger, everyone says.

  • Sweet, love the idea of a wine bar in the area. The shopping center in the south is empty in my opinion of the poor management. The parking lot sucks and it looks very run down. The shopping center north of the bayou is full.

  • The new location will be dubbed “Bacco on the Bayou”.

  • Is the new business going to incorporate the bayou, or keep its back turned to it? Would be nice to see the trend continue of businesses along the bayous turning around and accepting the existence of a recreational green belt/trail network in its backyard, rather than using that as the side for the dumpsters.

  • A certain native Houstonian says the location initially was a Toddle House type of diner.

  • Garden patio planned for bayou side; maybe a rooftop patio, as well.

  • I don’t recall there being a ton of parking here, particularly if they expand it all. It will be a pretty significant walk from any neighborhood parking (in Houston that means anything more than a block) and you will have to cross a major intersection.

  • Was this the dry cleaner where that teacher was murdered in front of his family in 1997? Or was that on the other side of the bayou?

  • I wish I could remember all the things that building has been. A dry cleaners (maybe a couple of times), a bank, a used clothing drop off site, a bike store, a company for Senior Citizen/service referrals…

  • @Thomas that was the other dry cleaners across the bayou next to Three Bros. Looking forward to biking over and checking out the new digs on the bayou. Now if they could only update the nearly empty strip center across the bayou!

  • Thomas, it was on the South side of the bayou. I don’t know if Texas has given the P.O.S. the ol’ dirt nap yet.

  • Thanks, guys. Apparently, the murderer is still alive and on death row; his execution was stayed almost two years ago:

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2015/08/25/texas-appeals-court-halts-nicaraguan-killers-execution

  • Google Maps shows the site as having nine parking spaces……