World City Guide

Nightlife

Downtown Houston is a vibrant area that is buzzing day and night with restaurants, bars, clubs, cinemas and theatres. Richmond Avenue (on the west side of the city adjacent to the Galleria) is a particularly happening place. Many bars and clubs generally charge around US$10 and drinks cost US$3-5. Smart dress is expected in most of the clubs and bars, although venues that are more like pubs are fairly casual. Bars are generally open from lunchtime until 0200 in the morning. The minimum drinking age is 21 years.

The Main Event is a weekly party every Friday and Saturday night from 1600 to 0200 when Main Street is closed to traffic between Congress and Capitol Streets and the fun starts with live music, laser light shows and street cafes.

The city listings paper, The Houston Press (website: www.houstonpress.com), is published on Thursdays and has an extensive list of which bars and clubs to go to and what’s on where.

Bars: An upmarket bar, The Dive Lounge at the Downtown Aquarium at 410 Bagby at Memorial is great for pre- or post-dinner drinks, while the Flying Saucer at 705 Main Street at Capitol, boasts a vast number of international beers on tap. The State Bar, Texas Avenue, is a popular and stylish place for a drink, while The Ginger Man, Morningside Drive, has a very relaxed atmosphere and a good selection of beers from around the world. Every city has an Irish bar and Houston is no exception – Kenneally’s Irish Pub on South Shepherd.

Casinos: These are not permitted in Texas – the nearest ones are in New Orleans.

Clubs: HUSH (website: www.hushonline.com) is a vast, dazzling dance club with international DJ’s at 15625 Katy Freeway with a sunken dance floor and a colourful light show all played to loud house, techno, hip hop and latin music. Liquid (website: www.liquidhouston.com), located at 10531 Gulf Freeway, is a funky dance high-energy club with surround sound pumping out hip hop and Latin dance music. The same kind of music can be enjoyed at Roxy (website: www.clubroxy.com) on West Alabama and Rice Avenue. It has an aquarium backdrop and regular foam parties. Belvedere(website: www.belvedereinfo.com) is a smart but relaxed club with regular DJs playing a mix of funk, house and 80’s remix. There are a number of dance halls in the Houston area, including Wild West (website: www.wildwesthouston.com), 6101 Richmond Avenue, which attracts a young crowd to hear its serving of pure country music. Six clubs in one venue, City Streets, Richmond Avenue, comes complete with disco, country music and more, a piano bar and karaoke room.

Live Music: McGonigel’s Mucky Duck (website: www.mcgonigels.com), on Norfolk Street near Shepherd Drive, is one of the best venues for acoustic music and features a variety of folk acts. The Mercury Room (website: www.mercuryroom.com), Prairie Street, is rather upmarket with a wide selection of live music and one of the hottest clubs around. Jazz lovers are drawn to the laid back Red Cat Jazz Café (website: www.redcatjazzcafe.com), Congress Street, while dance music and great views of the city can be enjoyed from the top floor of the Sky Bar (website: www.scottgertner.com) on Montrose Boulevard at Hawthorne. The Big Easy (website: www.bigeasyblues.com) on Kirby Drive in the Rice Village area features live blues music, and is a perennial favourite.