03/17/10 6:35pm

Never mind that wine bars the Wine Bucket, the Corkscrew, and the Tasting Room in Midtown have all been poured down the drain since January. Krutar Patel says he’s planning to open his brand new wine bar, Winetopia, this May. He’s already added his placard to the giant brick sign in front of the Fairmont on San Felipe at 6363 San Felipe.

The midrise apartment complex with a retail center on its ground level is already home to a martial-arts studio and a Subway. Winetopia will sandwich itself between the two businesses. Patrons will be able to stumble upstairs to their apartments or, if necessary, to the 24-hour St. Luke’s Community Emergency Center in the same center, conveniently located just yards away.

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02/16/10 4:37pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HERE COME THE ALMEDA PROMOTERS “Washington ave is already done. . . . Whats next you ask….Almeda (59 to med center)….two bars opening right now and four more planned on the way. Wide streets, lots of empty places to park, a community who wants the crowd and can handle it better than wash or mid town. The two bars that are going in are building out in empty spaces right now but more on the way with some new buildings planned. You will all want to know where I get my info but [ride] down and you will see for your self what I know.” [Dj Ashby, commenting on Comment of the Day: Reading the Washington Ave Crystal Ball]

02/15/10 3:45pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: READING THE WASHINGTON AVE CRYSTAL BALL “Eventually people will get sick of having no place to park and the hot spot will move on. Prediction is for Brixx to go out of business within six months, Eight will turn into a restaurant within a year and Taps will probably stay as it is. Not sure about Roosevelt – could become a restaurant as it does have a parking lot of its own.” [MC, commenting on What It’s Like to Live on Center St.]

02/11/10 12:50pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: SANDMAN BROUGHT ME A DREAM “I live near the Sandman Center, what some people erroneously call Shepherd Square (Shepherd Square is @ Westheimer; Sandman is @ Richmond), and this sort of thing is exactly what our neighborhood experienced during the heyday of the late 90s when the ‘in’ scene was concentrated at Richmond and Greenbriar with 8.0, the Pig Live, Guava Lamp, and all the others. Drunk people wandering up and down the streets looking for their cars, unable to remember which residential street they parked on, yelling to each other, peeing in your yard, leaving their beer bottles in your yard, etc. Add to that the fun of having your cement lawn sculptures thrown through your windows, as some of my neighbors experienced. The only remnant of the chaos of that period is the road humps on Colquitt and West Main, although at one time I believe those streets had ‘no parking this side of street’ signs, or “no parking midnight to 6AM”, or something like that. Be patient; in a couple of years the ‘in’ scene will move to someone else’s neighborhood, and your property values will triple. Ours did. But hey, I once found a $20 bill on the sidewalk while I was on my way to the post office.” [GoogleMaster, commenting on What It’s Like to Live on Center St.]

02/10/10 6:01pm

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO LIVE ON CENTER ST. From the Houston Press‘s magnum opus on the Washington Avenue scene: “Drunk people walk through the yard, pee on the house, sit on the porch swing and bark at the dogs. They scream and yell and fight until all hours every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, and now during the day on Sunday. The music from District can be clearly heard from the driveway. ‘Right now you could go sit in my bedroom and feel how the house just thuds. The windows rattle,’ [longtime Center St. resident and property owner Helen] Espinoza said. There are constant accidents at the nearby intersection. With police focused on Washington, late-night drag racers take to Center Street. Espinoza says she has a hard time getting cops to come at all. [Neighbor Marie] Martinez, meanwhile, spends much of her time fighting new liquor licenses in court. She can’t hold them off forever, though, and while she’s fighting one bar, others pop up. Five liquor licenses are pending in the area right now. As more nightspots open, more people flood into the neighborhood to park. They block driveways or sometimes just use them, tear up the grass and get stuck in the drainage ditches. Marlene Gafrick, the director of city planning, says her department began working on the parking problems in March and has tried to bring each of the 35 to 40 bars and restaurants up to code. She too must hustle to keep pace with the development. Soon after one bar finally agreed to rent a nearby lot, for instance, the lot went under construction. . . . After a long fight, Espinoza finally won ‘No Parking’ signs on her side of the street. The factory across the way put up its own, with chicken wire, along its long and tall chain-link fence. People just cut them down.” [Houston Press]

02/08/10 3:30pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE SOUND OF LIQUOR SALES “There’s been much incidental info over 50 yrs or so (and specific studies since the 80’s) showing that increasing noise in drinking establishments predicts higher rates of consumption. I’m sure that’s in every every bar-owner’s bag of tricks now. In fact, there’s a point in the evening when the lights are perceptably dimmed and the background music gets louder.” [movocelot, commenting on How Does a Nice Meal at Discovery Green Sound?]

02/01/10 10:03am

A loyal Swamplot tipster alerts us to a copy of a letter that appeared on a neighborhood email list late last week. The letter is signed by Mark Thuesen, president of the condominium association at the 2520 Robinhood at Kirby condos. Loyal Swamplot readers, of course, will recognize that name — Thuesen is one of 3 condo residents named in a lawsuit by the owners of Hans’ Bier Haus, the little outdoorish bar that’s next door to the 16-story Rice Village residential tower. The lawsuit claims that Theusen and 2 others attacked patrons at the bar several times, throwing beer cans, bottles, and eggs at them from above, as well as spraying performing musicians with water.

Unsurprisingly, Thuesen does not specifically mention those allegations in his letter, which we presume is meant for fellow condo residents. But he is kind enough to include a copy of the temporary injunction handed down by Judge Patricia Hancock last week, which specifically prohibits Theusen [sic], 2 codefendants, and all residents of 2520 Robinhood from “throwing any sort of object whatsoever” or “intentionally running or pouring water or any other liquid upon” Hans’ Bier Haus.

Thuesen does, however, draw attention to the now-famous incident on December 13th of last year, in which Hans’ Bier Haus co-owner Bill Cave stormed into the condo lobby and dragged the concierge by his tie into an elevator — on a quest to turn off the water that was spraying onto bar patrons and musicians from a hose connected to the patio of an upper-story condo resident:

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01/22/10 12:27pm

The Corkscrew wine bar at 1919 Washington Ave. will be closing for good on February 9th. Appearing in its place by March will be a new “organic bar” from the same owners. Bee Love will serve infused cocktails and other drinks with fresh, local, organic ingredients and no syrups or mixes, reports the HBJ‘s Allison Wollam. And the bar will grow its own limes, oranges, and lemons.

[Corkscrew co-owner] Andrew Adams, who also owns The Washington Avenue Drinkery at 4115 Washington Ave., says it may take a little longer to get a drink at Bee Love than at other rowdy bars along the Washington Avenue corridor because the drinks will be made for “experiencing,” not just drinking.

Adams also says that by the end of March he plans to open a new over-30 nightclub right next door to Bee Love. It’ll be called Trixie’s and feature eighties music.

Photo: Heights Blog

01/19/10 1:31pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: AND THE NEXT NEW HOT SPOT WILL BE UNCLE JOE’S CLUB ON HILLCROFT “. . . My problem is that it is getting harder and harder to find places that are ‘unbeautiful.’ I want a bar, not a drinking experience. It’s not a hard formula: old building + inexpensive spiritsinterior design planning = bar. I guess I’ll just have to stick to Uncle Joe’s and stay away from downtown altogether from now on.” [Brad, commenting on Leon’s Lounge Takes a Turnover Break]

01/19/10 8:40am

Leon’s Lounge owner Scarlett Yarborough “has made it clear to everyone involved that no major changes will be made” when she sells turns over operation of the 57-year-old Midtown bar on McGowen near Main St. to Under the Volcano owner Pete Mitchell, the Houston Press‘s Craig Hlavaty reports. But Hlavaty also writes that Mitchell will be shutting Leon’s down “at least for a few months while [he] overhauls and renovates the establishment.”

Photo: Michelle Calabretta [license]

01/13/10 1:05pm

When will the ongoing feud between Hans’ Bier Haus and the 2520 Robinhood at Kirby condos be optioned for television? Fortunately for the scriptwriters among you busy preparing your treatments, the tale of the little open-air bar in the Rice Village and the residents of the 16-story condo tower next door who like to pour water and heave beer cans, bottles, eggs onto its patrons isn’t just a simple melodrama. It’s a simple melodrama with a rich lineup of stock supporting characters. Reporter Angela Grant introduces a few of them in her report on yesterday’s court hearing:

The helpful concierge. Reggie McGowan, the condo-building concierge Bill Cave dragged by the necktie into the elevator on the night of December 13th, had no idea what was happening, and feared the angry and shouting Bier Haus co-owner was going to bring him up to the roof and throw him off:

When the pair exited the elevator onto the 4th floor, McGowan said he heard Cave say that water was spraying the bar and he wanted to turn it off.

“I said oh, I understand. I can take care of that,” McGowan said. “I had already picked up the hose Wednesday morning of that week.”

The disgruntled former employee. Condo management company employee Alton Smith was fired on December 15th, after a confrontation with 2 of the 3 condo residents the lawsuit claims had been throwing items at the bar. Conveniently, both of those men — Mark Theusen and Richard Booker — “happen to serve on the condo association’s board of directors, which is responsible for firing decisions,” writes Grant.

The water that rained down on partygoers at Hans’ Bier Haus two nights earlier came from a hose that was connected to a spigot on a patio belonging to Robert Souders, the lawsuit’s 3rd defendant. But Smith told the court he had seen the hose in the same Bier-Haus-soaking configuration at least 2 times before that night. Writes Grant:

“Angry about his firing, Smith approached the Hans’ Bier Haus owners, told them what he knew about the incidents and he named the three defendants as the perpetrators.”

More bit parts that may soon be available:

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01/05/10 5:11pm

The long-simmering feud between Rice Village bocce bastion Hans’ Bier Haus and some residents of the 2520 Robinhood condo tower next door has reached the courts. The condo association and residents are now subject to a restraining order that forbids them from tossing “produce, water, or anything” onto the bar patrons below. Hans’ Bier Haus’s owners are seeking a permanent injunction and compensation for the damage and lost business caused by projectiles coming their way from the 16-story condos. And 3 Robinhood residents have apparently been planning their own civil lawsuit against the bar owners.

But as of today, the battle’s obviously become much more serious, as the story has found its way into . . . the newspaper! Writing in the Chronicle, Mary Flood adds a colorful account of a few details bar co-owner Bill Cave appears to have glossed over in the description he gave to the Houston Press — namely, how he wound up with a misdemeanor assault charge after a scuttled gig on that fateful December 13th:

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12/24/09 9:35am

The notable lifestyle advantages of taking up residence at 2520 Robinhood, the condo building off Kirby just north of the Rice Village: convenient shopping nearby, no lawn maintenance, plus . . . it’s so easy to tweak those pesky customers at the tiny little mostly open-air bar right next door!

“They have been tormenting us, basically, for the last five years,” Hans’ Bier Haus owner Bill Cave tattles to the Houston Press‘s Craig Malisow. How?

throwing eggs and roofing tacks; using a laser-sighted gun scope to train a red dot on various customers, thus freaking them out; throwing beer bottles and cans . . .

Sure, it sounds like a little fun nighttime activity from condo balconies above such an easy target. But do the merry residents of 2520 Robinhood realize the people they’re toying with have been . . . drinking?! Cave tells Malisow he’s “decided to file a lawsuit against every resident, because even if a particular resident didn’t take an active part in the war, they all were complicit” in the off-bar games.

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12/09/09 10:14am

Owner Carolyn Wenglar reports she is having a few problems getting a permit for the planned expansion of La Carafe across from Market Square Downtown. Wenglar recently purchased the adjacent vacant lot on the corner of Travis and Congress, and had plans to turn it into a beer and wine garden for long-storied bar she’s owned for more than 20 years. John Nova Lomax reports:

. . . she has been told that patrons would not be allowed to carry drinks from the bar to the tables on the lot. Wenglar told Hair Balls that the narrow space between the two properties is a city-owned alley, and to cross that alley with booze in hand would . . . be in violation of Texas liquor laws, and thus have held up her permit.

The La Carafe building, which began its life in 1847 as a bakery — and at one point served as a Pony Express station — is just 15 ft. wide. The alley runs along its east side.

Photo: Flickr user Richart