Who remembers these places in the evolution of Houston's nightlife? (Galveston: house, university)

[TXDungeonMaster]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

This was before Downing Street. There was also some sort of Biker Bar there too with this chick with one arm... Clockarm we called her. Good looking Blonde. She was the Door Greeter. Flames on Clockarm.

There was also the 8Ball, or Carwash, or something like that... I'll think of them eventually. Whenever I go into Freebirds, I can't help but think of the club that was in there prior to that.

I think you're referring to 8.0 (pronounced 8 Oh). [ mod edit -10 post to link off site] The signature look of the place was the wall artwork which you can see at the top of the website banner.

Carwash was the name of the disco theme night. This was a promoted club event that jumped each Thursday from venue to venue. For example, Crystal mentioned above hosted a number of the Carwash parties.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Does anyone recall, or anyone at Power Tools when they had a horse in the place?!

[robertrulez]

YAY FOR NOTSUOH s!

[EasilyAmused]

La Carafe, INXS, Power Tools and then graduated to Sams Boat/Sams Place/Rons Pub for darts and early days of Mercury Room (it used to be nice)

[inwood dreams]

Originally Posted by TXDungeonMaster

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:

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. Bayou Mama's was also popular out by Gessner/Westheimer. 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.

Around 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. 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). You also had the Mucky Duck and Mc Elroy's around the corner, and then Davenport and Guava Lamp opened up. These places appear to be the only survivors of this period. While not in that area, Crystal (at Hillcroft/59) made a name for itself during this time with disco and ethnic nights. 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. Both of these places are in the Sundance Square area. Also, the original 2826 (from Dallas) re-opens on and off again in Deep Ellum. 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). During this time the Richmond Strip remained quite active, and you had places like Blue Planet, Pete's Wild Life, and Tantra open. Also, random hot spots opened like Roxy and Sempers near Westheimer and Velvet Elvis on Richmond. 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!

In the late 90's, downtown got a jumpstart when Jones Bar, Solero (tapas bar), and Spy launched alongside the larger version of Cabo. And then you had Prague (later M Bar), Tonic, The Mercury Room, State Bar, and Dean's near Main/Prairie/Travis. A bunch of bigger "corporate" money places opened: Sambuca, the bar at the Hotel Icon, Flying Saucer, etc.. You also had a slew of places like Hyperia, Club 808, etc. that catered to the electronica club crowd.

At the turn of the century, due mostly to street construction, downtown was effectively shut down. The landscaped shifted to Midtown. 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. The spots here include(d) Bond Lounge, Escobar, Pub Fiction, Rich's (been there before Midtown was cool), Reef, etc.

Since then, there was a changing of the guard from Midtown to the now "it" Washington Avenue. Of some note, the new Uptown area has also progressed as a secondary destination with Belverde and The Tasting Room. Hopefully, for downtown and Midtown, given their strategic locations, they will never truly "die" but rather find a way to reinvent themselves.

Throughout all of this were some places that have been around forever. "Institutions" include the Black Lab, Blanco's, Ginger Man, Gallant Knight, Kay's, Marfreless, Marquis, Numbers, Rich's, Roxy, Sam's Boat, and Volcano. Too bad Emo's/Some closed and was converted to residences - that's the way it goes...

Of the eras above, I probably enjoyed the Greenbriar/Shepherd one the best followed by the early downtown scene. 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!

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. Oh, yeah, and we can't forget La Strada for brunch!!

BEST POST!!!! Scary how well you remember it all! And sadly, we've been at all the same places for far too many years! Did we really go to bars for 20 years?!?! Made my day...thanks for the stroll down memory lane. And thanks for Davenport. I tried for days to think of the name of that place!!!!

[TXDungeonMaster]

We have to keep the tribal knowledge and tradition alive orally or virtually so that our kids know how cool we really were/are!! Yes, happily we have all been going to bars that long and will likely do so for the next 20 years. Now pass me a vodka tonic and I'll be fine. Heck, pass me one of those as well as a Guinness; I'll double-fist it and encourage the multiplier effect!!

I will say though that the times have changed. There appears to be a movement away from "dance mega-clubs" into "boutique lounges" and "wine bars."

The clouds are beginning to clear in my head from the early downtown days. Here are/were some additional spots: TOC Bar (stands for Totally Out of Control), Liquid Lounge, Boaka Bar, Club 411 (above Jones Bar), Warren's, and Bossa.

A few other places, like Rich's, that trended gay and were/are pretty cool to everyone: Bocados (Wednesday nights were pretty fly), Meteor (between Midtown/Montrose), and South Beach (used to be Heaven I think). Decadance (in the old Tower Theatre on Westheimer) was also popular.

[texas7]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

La Carafe, INXS, Power Tools and then graduated to Sams Boat/Sams Place/Rons Pub for darts and early days of Mercury Room (it used to be nice)

I loved La Carafe and it's still hangin'

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

La Carafe, INXS, Power Tools and then graduated to Sams Boat/Sams Place/Rons Pub for darts and early days of Mercury Room (it used to be nice)

I remember Mercury Room. I went with friends from town around 2000 or 2001 and it was cool and innovative with electronic music. I went again with friends from town again a few years ago and it was not the same, had become R&B and rap??? Never cared to go back after that last time, nor did my friends from town.

[TXDungeonMaster]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

I remember Mercury Room. I went with friends from town around 2000 or 2001 and it was cool and innovative with electronic music. I went again with friends from town again a few years ago and it was not the same, had become R&B and rap??? Never cared to go back after that last time, nor did my friends from town.

In addition to the construction, what hurt downtown was the changing demographics. You used to have a diverse, upscale crowd go to downtown and then it trended towards being primarily more blue-collar folks and minorities. I haven't been there in some time, but some claim this change was partly due to the Super Bowl introducing downtown to the suburban masses and the Katrina effect (not sure how true this is).

In the life cycle of a club, you basically start where in the first 3-6 months a place is totally hot with the "see-and-be-seen" crowd. Then you get the fast followers and the beginnings of the mainstream (but the first movers are still going as well). In most people's minds this is usually the sweet spot in a club's popularity. After another 6-12 months go by (sometimes longer depending on the place), you start on this downward spiral wherein issues arise. It could start with the police coming around too often, parking issues, drugs and/or fights, or something like that. Then, the mainstream crowd is off to the next hot spot, and it goes down from there. Soon the place has lowered any standards it previously held in terms of customers because the management is just trying to fill the place with people. The wait lines disappear... Next, you end up with a few attempts at revitalization through theme nights and gimmicky promotions. After this, it's basically left for whatever niche crowds come and claim the spot. In a lot of cases, this happens to be a minority group. For example, Spy in downtown basically became an exclusively Asian club in its later days. All this is not good or bad - just a case of "it is what it is."

It is the rare bar or club that can maintain a loyal and consistent clientele for years and years. That is what makes the institutions so special! Another institution: Valhalla on the campus of Rice University.

[Slimbodine]

Some of the clubs I recall from a veteran who worked in clubs. Bentley's, Desperado, Daimondback, Topsiders, Randy's, Fool's Gold, Sherlocks, Cowboy, San Antone Rose, Honeycomb, The Place Across the Street, Wood Hollow Club, Wild West, Wells Fargo Club, Longhorn, Rialto, R&R, Cody's, Fast and Cool Club, Country Roads, The Missing Link Club, Dexter's, and many more I can't remember. Wish I had all that money back I blew in those places. Also, everyone used to eat at Harlow's on Hillcroft after everything closed. Boy, have times changed.