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Leon's Lounge

There's no other bar in Midtown -- or in Houston, for that matter -- like Leon's Lounge. Not only does it boast an existence spanning nearly six decades -- quite a feat, considering the blink-and-you-missed-it nature of Houston businesses -- it's also the most interesting place you can find any night of the week in Midtown.

The legend of Leon's Lounge:

The original occupant of the building at 1006 McGowen was a barcalled either “La Bamba Bar” or “La Bomba Bar” (the city directory is not consistent) from 1949 to1954. Leon Yarborough bought the property in 1953, but may not have changed the bar’s nameimmediately, as the city directory first lists “Leon’s Bar” at the address in 1955. The bar’s name changed to “Leon’s Lounge & Bar” a few years later, and appears to have operated continuously at that location, under that name, until 1984, when the city directory shows the building as vacant (this appears to have coincided with Leon’s death, upon which his daughter, Scarlett Yarborough, inherited the building and business). The bar is listed again soon thereafter, under the name “Leon’s Lounge”, and has operated at the same location ever since.

Nevertheless, based on the facts discussed above, Leon’s Lounge has a particularly strong claim tothe title of the oldest bar in Houston. Unlike a restaurant or an open-air ice house, Leon’s falls cleanly into most people’s definition of a “bar.” And though the businesses that evolved into Leon’s and Marquis II both began in 1949, with only short (if any) interruptions of operation since, Leon’s has never changed locations and, indeed, is still operating out of the same building. That building may not be as old as the Kennedy Bakery, but it became a bar more than 10 years earlier than La Carafe.

While not boasting any objective, distinguishing feature, Leon’s feels most like Houston’s oldest bar. Even though the West Alabama Ice House, Kay’s Lounge, and the Marquis have played significant roles in the city’s social history, all are located in newer neighborhoods than Third Ward/Midtown. Leon’s, just off Main Street, lives up to the implicit promise of its battered sign outside. Today, it is a remnant from a long-neglected neighborhood which once thrived where developers now rampage virtually unchecked (with the predictable aesthetic results). Inside, its narrow main room, dominated by a long wood bar, is decorated with old stained-glass windows that, rumor has it, were salvaged from one of the many Main Street mansions in the area torn down around the time the bar opened. One of the two back rooms boasts a pool table; the other, a second ornate wood bar, more stained glass, and a piano--at which you may be lucky enough to find Blues legend Little Joe Washington.

www.amnesiahouston.org