Texas Venue Directory
Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon
Country dance hall and LGBTQ+ honky-tonk · Houston
Houston dance hall and saloon with country dancing, lessons, live entertainment, and community events.
About this room
Raymond Proske built the Esquire Ballroom in 1955 on Hempstead Highway, then the edge of Houston. It became one of the major Texas country rooms of the fifties and sixties: George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Ray Price, Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Kitty Wells, Merle Haggard. It was also where a broke young Willie Nelson, newly moved to Houston in 1958, tried to sell his songs outright to the house band's singer. The Esquire closed in 1995 and the building passed through several ventures before reopening in August 2013 as Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon, a country and western LGBTQ+ bar and one of the largest country bars in Texas. The new owners kept the history and built a room around it.
History sources checked August 29, 2026.
Things you may not know
- Willie Nelson tried to sell his songs here for ten dollars apiece and was turned down for his own good. House singer Larry Butler refused to buy them, said they were too good to sell, and instead gave Nelson a $50 loan and a job singing at the club. Source
- Nelson wrote 'Night Life' on the commute to work here, driving in from Pasadena, where he was also working as the sign-on DJ at a radio station. Source
- A Broadway musical is set in this room. 'Always...Patsy Cline' dramatizes Cline's real 1961 encounter at the Esquire with a fan named Louise Seger who had arrived early for the show; they became lasting friends. Source
- The room where Willie Nelson got his start is now Houston's biggest gay country bar, and the owners preserved the Esquire's memorabilia in a dedicated room rather than clearing it out. Source
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