How do you get into Sidebar?
We have not confirmed it. Sidebar is in the directory because it calls itself a speakeasy, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
Drinks of the era
We have not seen this venue’s own list, so what follows is the period rather than the bar: Bee’s Knees, Southside, and Last Word are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
Where Sidebar sits
Sidebar is in Houston, Texas, in Harris County, in the Southwest of the United States.
Our directory currently lists ten speakeasies and hidden bars in Houston. The full list is on our guide to hidden bars in Houston.
Measured from the map pins, the closest of those to Sidebar are Ndahtx, about 15.1 km away, The Speakeasy Comedy Lounge at 1701 Webster St, about 16.2 km away, and Secret Garden, about 16.7 km away.
Texas holds 110 listed venues in this directory. See them all on our Texas speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in Texas
Texas did not wait for the federal government. Statewide prohibition took effect here in 1918, two years before the Eighteenth Amendment came into force nationally on 17 January 1920. By the time the Volstead Act was being enforced across the country, Texas already had an established illegal trade and the habits that went with it.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in Texas.
What the newspapers recorded in Texas
Searching the Library of Congress run of Texas newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Texas:
- El Paso herald, May 27, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Brownsville herald, July 2, 1922 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Snyder signal, June 11, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Laredo weekly times, August 15, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
You can reach Sidebar by phone on (713) 568-2422, through its own website, and on Facebook and Instagram.
The address is 9757 Katy Freeway, Houston, TX 77024. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For Sidebar we hold street address, telephone number, official website, social accounts, and an online booking link. We do not yet hold opening hours, a published drinks list, or a listed-building record.
It is in the directory because the description in the source data describes it as a speakeasy.
Two independent open datasets, OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, both carry this venue at this location. Agreement between them is the strongest existence check we can make without visiting.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.