Legendary Houston Bar to Shutter

One of the Oldest Spots in City Will Be Replaced by a New Gated Community

By James Brock // Aug 17, 2016

It is soon to be no more.

It’s a done deal: Kay’s Lounge will be no more after Labor Day. The bar, which opened “around 1939,” according to Kay’s Facebook page, has been a popular hangout for generations in a city with a dwindling number of holes-in-the-wall and honky tonks.

Nicholas Silvers, of Kay’s Partners, said that representatives of Marshall Hefley reached out to him to “see if we had interest in developing the property.” Silvers says Kay’s Partners is a development entity. Hefley and his brother purchased the bar, and the land it occupies, in 2001. According to Silvers, Hefley began “quietly marketing the property for sale in 2014.”

“Marshall was ready for a break from the bar business, so the timing made sense, Silvers says. “In the end, we reached an agreement to purchase the land. While we do not have any firm plans at the moment, I can say it will not be a mid- or high-rise, but a gated patio community. We love the Rice Village neighborhood and have every intention of adding to its appeal.” Silvers would not comment on the purchase price paid for the property.

Kay’s Lounge alum include Dr. Red Duke, who had a penchant for Shiner Bock, and hundreds of Rice University students.

For your next Houston trivia game: The West Alabama Ice House claims to be the oldest bar in the city (it opened in 1928).