It was so great seeing all of your smiling faces at the first First Thursday of 2016! We had over 300 people check into the Art Garden and a steady crowd sipping and shopping at the Market. We raised over $1,500 in cash for Houston Center for Photography (HCP) so thank you for coming out and supporting HCP and the block. Be sure to check us out again next month on April 7th…same time, same place benefiting BooTown!
Mid Main FIRST THURSDAY Block Parties return this Spring!
Celebrate First Thursday every month this Spring with an open-air market on Winbern Street carefully curated by Ren Mitchell, formerly of the beloved Tinderbox Craft Collective, along with the regular First Thursday shenanigans including live music, art shows, tasty drinks and appetizer specials. Mid Main also benefits a different local charity each First Thursday, highlighting the wonderful local organizations that make Houston special. In addition to many of the businesses donating 5% of their sales from that evening, Mid Main donates all proceeds from the Art Garden to these non-profits. Be sure to check out the beneficiaries for our First Thursday 2016 Spring Series and head out to EAT SHOP ROCK and support local businesses along with these worthy groups!
COST: $5 donation for entry to the ART GARDEN, Market is FREE
TIMES: 5-10 PM (Art Garden and Market)
BIG love to these Businesses donating 5% of sales: The Continental Club, Tacos A Go-Go, Big Top, My Flaming Heart, Double Trouble, Sig’s Lagoon, Natachee’s Supper N’ Punch and NOW Kat's Meow will offer 5% of sales from that whole day to these awesome orgs!
Special thanks to our generous sponsors: Saint Arnold Brewing Company, Topo Chico, Sparrow Bar + Cookshop, Big Kats, Kat’s Meow, Deep Eddy Vodka, The Place Upstairs, Ensemble Theatre and Main Street Projects.
My Flaming Heart – Hidden Gems Near Houston’s Rail
Raised on the Rail Blog
I’m not really sure if this place is “hidden”, but we think it’s an often overlooked place. In fact, even though I’ve been frequenting the area known as Mid-Main in Midtown for some time, it’s only recently that I hit up the store, My Flaming Heart.
If you’ve been to Midtown you know that there’s not a ton of retail shops, but My Flaming Heart makes up for the lack of options available in the area.
THE FENCE at Mid-Main
Houston Museum District
Houston Center for Photography has partnered with Photoville and Mid Main to bring THE FENCE to Houston for the very first time.THE FENCE is an annual outdoor photographic exhibition inaugurated in 2012 as a sister initiative to Photoville in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Each year, a jury of 40+ photography professionals from around the world selects a group of 40-60 photographers whose work exemplifies the essence of “community” across cultural boundaries and geographical lines.
The Best Breakfast Spot along the Rail for Families
Raised on the Rail Blog
One of the things we love about the rail is that it makes even the most mundane experience an adventure. The rain and dreary weather put a little damper on our weekend plans; however, we didn’t let the rain prevent us from leaving the house OR taking the rail.
On Saturday we hit up one of our favorite Houston restaurants Natachee’s for breakfast, located in the Mid Main Area of Midtown. I’ve mentioned in previous posts that it’s one of our favorite restaurants for dinner and breakfast.
The Best Block in Houston, especially the First Thursday of the Month
Raised on the Rail Blog
In an earlier post, I talked about the best way to spend a Thursday night in Houston. Every Thursday, one of my favorite Houston bands, Beetle, plays at The Continental Club.
Aside from The Continental Club, there are some pretty cool places on the 3700 Block of Main or Mid Main. Some of our favorites are Natachee’s, Tacos a Go Go, Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge, and Double Trouble. These days, we frequent Natachee’s pretty regularly, because we love how family friendly it is, but this past Thursday, we hit up Tacos a Go Go before the Beetle show.
Midtown mixed-use development to finally break ground
Morning Edition, Houston Business Journal
The project was originally supposed to break ground in the spring. In 2013, Rob Rogers of the New York-based Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers, an architect for the project, said the project would not feel like any of the typical Houston developments.
Mid-Main will be integrated with the new Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston, or MATCH, development in that it will likely share a 773-space parking garage.
Mid Main mixed-use development announces groundbreaking ceremony date
David Kaplan, Houston Chronicle
Mid Main, a planned mixed-use development in Midtown containing apartments, shops, restaurants and a 775-car parking garage will have its groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 6 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The invitation-only event will include Mayor Annise Parker.
Mid Main is on Main Street, west of the Ensemble/Houston Community College rail stop. It will be just south of the planned Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston. Mid Main will contain 363 apartment units and 29,000 square feet of retail. The project is an architectural collaboration of Gensler, Rob Rogers and Will Cannady. Construction will begin around the time of the groundbreaking ceremony, said the project’s managing partner Bob Schultz.
“We’re excited to see it come to life,” he said.
Meet the Man Behind the Mid-Main Island
John Lomax & Jack Thompson, Houstonia
These days, on the once-blighted3600 and 3700 blocks of Main St., you will find establishments like Double Trouble (a coffee shop/bar), My Flaming Heart (boutique), Sig’s Lagoon (record shop), Big Kat’s (tattoo parlor/barbershop), Natachee’s Supper ’n Punch and Tacos A Go-Go (restaurants), and the Big Top Lounge (another bar). In addition to possessing colorful names, these places are all independent local businesses. Further, they are local businesses that have the firm support of developer Bob Schultz, who owns the buildings they occupy, as well as the Continental Club, his first foothold on the block and one of the city’s premier music venues.
How Mid Main Plans To Break Up the Apartment Block, Extend Midtown Bustle
Swamplot
The goal, explains writer Meghan Hendley-Lopez, is to open up the project’s central courtyard spaces to the street: “Activity on Main — whether it be passing vehicular traffic or pedestrians visiting the surrounding businesses — will be visible to residents, while passersby on the street will be able to see what is going on in the community spaces of the multi-level development.” Another goal is to extend Midtown’s lone typically bustling blocks of activity — home to the Continental Club, the Big Top Lounge, and Natachee’s — to reach a couple blocks north, and to connect it all the way to the planned site of Midtown arts facility MATCH.