Washington Avenue is a road in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is named for Washington County, as it is part of the original route from Houston to

Brenham Brenham ( ) is a city in east-central Texas in Washington County, United States, with a population of 17,369 according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the county seat of Washington County. Washington County is known as the "Birthplace of Texas, ...

, the seat of Washington County.

U.S. Highway 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. With the exception of a short-lived ...

was routed along Washington Avenue prior to the opening of the

Katy Freeway Katy or KATY may refer to: People * Katy, a short form of the name Katherine * Katy (given name) * Katy (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a fictional character * Katy Perry Places Serbia * Kać, Serbia ( hu, Káty, link=no) United States * Katy, Mi ...

. Ralph Bivins stated in a newspaper article published by the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' that decades before 1995 the area along Washington Avenue was a "major corridor of commerce" as people used the road to travel between

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45, ...

, the Sixth Ward, and the

Houston Heights Houston Heights (often referred to simply as "The Heights") is a community in northwest-central Houston, Texas, United States. "The Heights" is often referred to colloquially to describe a larger collection of neighborhoods next to and including ...

. Bivins described Washington Avenue in 1995 as a "decrepit" road with used car lots, "boarded-up" buildings, and second-hand stores. Around 2009 the area around the road gentrified and gained a "

Yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

" population.

Entertainment district

Around 2009 the area became a popular entertainment area due to its location near

and the

, a community within Houston that forbids the sale of alcohol within its boundaries. By May 2009, the Washington Avenue area gained expensive town houses and condominiums, restaurants, and bars. John Nova Lomax of the ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...

'' argues that the spread-out nature of Washington Avenue could cause issues that lead to the decline of the Richmond Strip, a popular party-going district in the 1990s.McGuff, Mike.
Richmond Strip not dead yet
" ''

KIAH-TV KIAH (channel 39) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from The CW. Owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios adjacent to the Westpark Tollway on t ...

''. October 8, 2010. Retrieved on May 27, 2012. "

t was T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

firearms, autos and alcohol in too great of concentration I think," said John Nova Lomax of the Houston Press." To alleviate the issue, the clubs on Washington Avenue added jitneys and similar tools to ferry people between clubs. Craig Hlavaty said "Most Houstonians look at Washington as a destination for Outer Loopers (people living outside of the

610 Loop Interstate 610 (I-610) is a freeway that forms a loop around the inner city sector of the city of Houston, Texas. I-610, colloquially known as The Loop, Loop 610, The Inner Loop, or just 610, traditionally marks the border between the i ...

) hoping to live out a club-life fantasy. For suburbanites, the bottle service, flashing lights, valets, dress codes, long lines and discriminating bouncers are more inviting than off-putting" while "For a seasoned Inner Looper (a person who lives within the 610 Loop), though, one step into Blue Label Lounge or Reign is enough to beat a hasty retreat to Domy Books. The seizure-inducing lighting, random Asian businessmen, pukey-faced girls, fire-breathing bartenders, dancing lingerie models and bachelorette parties chugging bottles of

Grey Goose The waterfowl genus ''Anser'' includes the grey geese and the white geese. It belongs to the true geese and swan subfamily (Anserinae). The genus has a Holarctic distribution, with at least one species breeding in any open, wet habitats in th ...

give these clubs a larger-than-life cartoon quality that beats anything on an

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

reality show."Hlavaty, Craig. "Washington Life." In: Hlavaty, Craig, Shea Serrano, and Mike Giglio.
Wild on Washington
" ''

''. February 9, 2010. Retrieved on October 23, 2012. In 2012, Katharine Shilcutt of the ''Houston Press'' said that the entertainment "scene" began moving to Midtown and the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. As a result, many restaurants in the corridor began to increase the quality of the food and many of the clubs had closed. Shilcutt argued that it was more likely that Washington Avenue would become a restaurant-focused area than become a decrepit area like the Richmond Strip.Shilcutt, Katharine.
Top 10 Restaurants on Washington Avenue
" ''

Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the ''Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston Po ...

''. Tuesday October 23, 2012. Retrieved on October 23, 2012. In his 2010 article, Hlavaty said that Washington Avenue's main area extended for , from TC Jester to Houston Avenue, "plus one block (give or take) to the north and south." In her 2012 article, Shilcutt defined the club district as on Washington Avenue, between Studemont Road and Westcott Street; she said this was because the area east of Studemont is the Old Sixth Ward and the area west of Westcott is

Rice Military Rice Military is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States. The Beer Can House is located in Rice Military. History The name originates from nearby Camp Logan, a World War I-era U.S. Army training camp, which was replaced by Memorial Park ...

. The Rice Military Civic Club defines Westcott as its western boundary.Martin, Betty L.
RICE MILITARY/WOODCREST / Realtors, builders look to neighborhood for continued growth
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

''. Thursday April 17, 2008. ThisWeek 7. Retrieved on October 21, 2012. In December 2012 administrators of the city government planned to seek approval to install

parking meters A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street par ...

along the corridor.Miller, Doug.
Parking meters may soon pop up on Washington Avenue
" ''

KHOU KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe, Texas, Conroe-licensed Quest (American TV network), Quest station KTBU (channel 55). Both sta ...

Entertainment district

Gallery

See also

References

External links