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 Bill Mraz Dance Hall Houston Burns
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| Author | Topic: Bill Mraz Dance Hall Houston Burns |
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Janice Brooks Moderator From: Pleasant Gap Pa |
posted 24 October 2004 06:14 PM
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Houston lost an historic treasure Sunday morning when fire destroyed the famous Bill Mraz Dance Hall on 34th Street. All 11,000 square feet of the wood frame building burned to the ground. Firefighters said it's too early to know what caused the fire. The dance hall had been around since 1948 and was a favorite of country music fans. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places seven years ago. |
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Mike Brinkmeyer Member From: Houston, Texas U.S.A. |
posted 24 October 2004 06:34 PM
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Sad but true. A historical Texas institution that supported live music since 1948 is gone. Here's the local T.V. news story (with video): http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/102404_local_hallfire.html and the dancehall's website: http://billmrazdancehall.150m.com/ [This message was edited by Mike Brinkmeyer on 24 October 2004 at 08:57 PM.] |
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Jody Sanders Member From: Magnolia,Texas |
posted 24 October 2004 07:29 PM
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This is sad to hear . The hall always had good live country music. I played a lot of great gigs in the Bill Mraz Hall. Jody. |
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Bart Maloney Member From: Houston, Texas (from Tomball, TX) |
posted 24 October 2004 07:58 PM
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I was sitting watching t.v. with my mom tonight and heard about it. We drove past it yesterday, and today it's gone. Too sad. ------------------ [This message was edited by Bart Maloney on 24 October 2004 at 07:58 PM.] |
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Chris Schlotzhauer Member From: Colleyville, Tx. USA |
posted 24 October 2004 08:50 PM
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I just saw that on the news. Wow! I played there 5 or 6 monthes ago. The daughter(I think) of Bill Mraz and her husband re-opened the old dancehall and was a promising venue for traditional country dance. That old, huge dancefloor was beautiful. That is really sad. The family still lives on the property in the back. They have held on to this place in spite of the city development around it. This place was all-wood. I'm sure it went up about as fast as Gruene Hall or The Broken Spoke would if a cow kicked over the candle. [This message was edited by Chris Schlotzhauer on 24 October 2004 at 08:51 PM.] |
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Jody Cameron Member From: Angleton, TX,, USA |
posted 25 October 2004 05:55 AM
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This is terrible indeed. I just played there a couple of weeks ago. It was like stepping back in time. In today's world of Karaoke, DJs and Top 40 watered down pop country, it was one of the few (if not THE only)places remaining in Houston where you could hear real country and/or western swing music. |
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Mark Metdker Member From: North Central Texas, USA |
posted 25 October 2004 09:06 AM
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I've heard of that place for years, but never played there. Sounds like it was a cool place. I hate when we lose a piece of Texas music history like this. I still say Gruene Hall should install fire sprinklers in it. All that 100+ year old wood would burn hot and fast if it ever got started. ------------------ Band Pics My other hobby Work Pics |
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