How to Save a Houston Dive Bar

Bobby Heugel and Peter Jahnke is likely to be identified for his or her trendy Montrose cocktail bars Anvil and Refuge, however the enterprise companions are doing far more across the metropolis to avoid wasting Houston’s older bars. In the previous couple of years, they’ve purchased Catbirds down the road on Westheimer and Blue Lagoon Club in Spring Branch. So how do you retain a dive bar alive with out…utterly altering the vibe? We spoke with Heugel about preserving these watering holes.

Houstonia: What was the inspiration for purchasing the bars?
Bobby Heugel: Peter and I was roommates, and we lived a couple of blocks away from Catbirds. When the prior proprietor determined to not wish to proceed to function it, we determined to attempt to hold it round. We’ve been profitable at that, and I believe that have went so properly that we thought we might do one thing comparable for Blue Lagoon, which was in the same place.

What are some measures you’ve taken to achieve the belief of regulars?
Well, I believe in Montrose, once we did Catbirds, we have been clearly identified, proper? People have been afraid that we’d flip Catbirds right into a cocktail bar. We had to withstand a few of our previous fame. And at Blue Lagoon, we’re a less-known commodity, proper? That’s a neighborhood the place we [didn’t] have something. People who stay and drink in Spring Branch have a tendency to remain of their neighborhood. 

So, at Catbirds, we needed to form of resist our prior fame, whereas at Blue Lagoon, I believe we’re going through a special hurdle, which is simply making an attempt to get to know individuals and earn their belief as a brand new identification, versus an identification with as a lot baggage as we [had] in Montrose.

Why is it essential to take care of these kinds of bars in Houston?
I believe we’re in a hyperaccelerated novelty cycle on the subject of eating places and bars, the place persons are craving what’s new as a result of it provides them social fairness on their social media feeds. The ramifications of which might be that older locations don’t get the identical consideration, and their worth in a really aggressive restaurant and bar house has been diminished as a result of they don’t provide the identical social fairness {that a} newer enterprise does. That signifies that older areas are actually threatened.

And not solely that, however plenty of these older areas particularly are owned by individuals from the boomer era which might be getting older in life and are taking a look at retirement and are going through rising prices in lease, insurance coverage, and different issues which might be making it arduous for them to proceed as they attain that time of their life. If individuals don’t step in and attempt to save these areas, we are going to miss them.