The PUB closing May 18th

[Frog Wild]

I was thinking of The HOP - good pizza and tiny music venue with the stage on the east wall. It was at 2905 West Berry. Appears that space became part of the Aardvark and now the location of Jon’s Grille?

Magical Misery Tour

Memento scavengers made hit-and-run stops for two days, stepping out of their cars to survey the pile of rubble in hopes of nabbing a brick, a fixture, a cinder block painted a familiar blue, any reminder of Fort Worth's most recent rock 'n' roll casualty. The demolition guy understood people's...

www.fwweekly.com

The HOP (an acronym for House of Pizza) was small, which added to its charm. Jim Colegrove arrived in Fort Worth in 1974 from Woodstock and formed a band with Stephen Bruton called Little Whisper and the Rumors. They played one of their earliest gigs at the little pizza joint. “The room was probably half as big as it is now,” Colegrove said. “It would hold 100 people when it was full. It was extremely eclectic, and I heard all kinds of bands in there.” The vibe attracted the voice of a generation. “Bob Dylan came into the club one night when Little Whisper and the Rumors were playing,” he said. “Not long after that, [club management] hung a big portrait of him by the table where he’d been sitting.”

The stage was on the north wall. Little Whisper and the Rumors, The Juke Jumpers, Robert Ealey, The Fort Worth Cats, The Ralphs, The Ham Brothers, The Raft, Timbuk 3, Ray Sharpe, Little Junior and the Blasting Caps, Schwantz Lefantz, Red and the Red Hots, Unlce Walt's Band, etc. played there. I met my wife there.

 

[frogetaboutit]

The stage was on the north wall. Little Whisper and the Rumors, The Juke Jumpers, Robert Ealey, The Fort Worth Cats, The Ralphs, The Ham Brothers, The Raft, Timbuk 3, Ray Sharpe, Little Junior and the Blasting Caps, Schwantz Lefantz, Red and the Red Hots, Unlce Walt's Band, etc. played there. I met my wife there.

Yup. Also Steve Goodman, Ray Wylie Hubbard and BW Stevenson if you were in to hard Texas country.

 

[froginaustin]

TCU Drug store faced University Drive. Eatery/bar in the backside--think it was called the Frog Pond then renovated and renamed The Library back in the late 60's.

Anchored the strip that also had a dry cleaners, barber shop, and the TCU Theater.

Very familiar in my dreaming of old times. Wildest bar in the ‘hood was The Chrystal Ship, for the few months between its opening and the Fort Worth cops (or maybe the Sheriff’s Department) busting the place up.

 

[peacock]

and there's your answer.

Not so fast my friend! #TeamPub

 

[FroggleRock]

Not so fast my friend! #TeamPub

I knew Bonnell’s story didn’t make any freaking sense. It’s pretty apparent what happened now. JB wanted the space, told the owner of the building he would pay a price he knew The Pub owners couldn’t match and pushed them out. Even if that’s not *exactly* what happened, why else would he just flat out lie and slander the business? Lost a lot of respect for Bonnell.

 

[FroggleRock]

Not so fast my friend! #TeamPub

Here’s the whole thing from the owner:

 

[peacock]

If I’m the owner of Buffalo Bros. I would do anything possible to preserve the photo walls of the Pub. They would be beyond stupid to not want to keep the photos up!

 

[Hemingway]

Here’s the whole thing from the owner:

Dave wrote that ?

 

[Chongo94]

Here’s the whole thing from the owner:

Just infuriating. Never want to go to Buffalo Bros again.

 

[FroggleRock]

Just infuriating. Never want to go to Buffalo Bros again.

Or any Bonnell establishment really. Dude had plans drawn as Pub owners were fighting to keep their lease, and then turns around and says “it’s out of my hands”.

 

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

I think I have read here that TCU owns the property. If so, then they control who occupies the space, correct? So let’s hear from them if The Pub is important to TCU culture and alums. Point to them and maybe the admin has good rational behind this, and I don’t think simply a bit more rent money from Buffalo should matter if The Pub staying is important to enough peeps.

But I would have rather saved the Hi-Hat and The HOP

 

[FroggleRock]

I think I have read here that TCU owns the property. If so, then they control who occupies the space, correct? So let’s hear from them if The Pub is important to TCU culture and alums. Point to them. Maybe the admin has good rational behind this and I don’t think simply a bit more rent money from Buffalo should matter if The Pub staying is important to many.

But I would have rather saved the Hi-Hat

I think that was me and I believe I’m incorrect. In the post from the owners, they referred to being pushed out by a management company.

However you can directly blame TCU for the demise of Hi-Hat/Cellar

 

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

Maybe with all the new retail space being developed there by TCU, they can offer some low rent space for one or two quaint low budget TCU hangouts.

Rice University has Valhalla, on campus, established in 1970, and it is below ground level in an old campus building - a cellar.

 

[The Bad Guy]

Maybe with all the new retail space being developed there by TCU, they can offer some low rent space for one or two quaint low budget TCU hangouts.

I don't think they will. Granted I am not TCU alumni, my wife holds that degree but from an outsider's view, it seems like TCU does not care about their campus social life for students. I always thought it was kind of odd that the students go everywhere else to drink (clearfork, stockyards, downtown etc) .

I definitely preferred going to a school where a majority of the social life was actually on the campus itself.

 

[An-Cap Frog]

Please explain this to me like I am 5.

 

[NovaScotiaFrog]

Maybe with all the new retail space being developed there by TCU, they can offer some low rent space

TCU reading that post:

 

[FroggleRock]

Please explain this to me like I am 5.

Without knowing all the facts and exact details, it appears to have basically shaken out like this:

1) Jon Bonnell (owner of Buff Bros) wanted to expand his dining area.

2) Targeted The Pub as the space he wanted and went to the property management (with expansion plans in hand) to convince them to not renew his neighbor.

3) Management said it’s yours (assuming for more money than Pub was currently paying).

4) The Pub owners, despite doing everything right, were not given an option to renew their lease.

5) Bonnell released statement to save face and essentially slandered the business and lied about city codes and little to no revenue as the reason for The Pub going out of business.

6) Pub owners released their own statement saying, in the nicest way possible, that Bonnell is full of it and he’s the reason they’re being forced out.

 

[Brog]

Looks like whoever ends up owning the space, they will have to depend mostly on TCU students for their business, especially as all the parking lots back behind are turning into great big dormitories.

 

[Mean Purple]

I was thinking of The HOP - good pizza and tiny music venue with the stage on the east wall. It was at 2905 West Berry. Appears that space became part of the Aardvark and now the location of Jon’s Grille?

Magical Misery Tour

Memento scavengers made hit-and-run stops for two days, stepping out of their cars to survey the pile of rubble in hopes of nabbing a brick, a fixture, a cinder block painted a familiar blue, any reminder of Fort Worth's most recent rock 'n' roll casualty. The demolition guy understood people's...

www.fwweekly.com

The HOP (an acronym for House of Pizza) was small, which added to its charm. Jim Colegrove arrived in Fort Worth in 1974 from Woodstock and formed a band with Stephen Bruton called Little Whisper and the Rumors. They played one of their earliest gigs at the little pizza joint. “The room was probably half as big as it is now,” Colegrove said. “It would hold 100 people when it was full. It was extremely eclectic, and I heard all kinds of bands in there.” The vibe attracted the voice of a generation. “Bob Dylan came into the club one night when Little Whisper and the Rumors were playing,” he said. “Not long after that, [club management] hung a big portrait of him by the table where he’d been sitting.”

The HOP. That brings some memories. liked that place.

 

[peacock]

Speaking of the students…most of the outrage is coming from the alums …..where is the anger from the student body?!? If they tried to close the Pub in this fashion in the early 90s we would be outside on the sidewalk protesting every day! It’s been crickets so far from the kids, is the Pub no longer the “last call” bar?!?