Liberty Hall was a venue located in downtown

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

from 1971 to 1978. It was located where a parking lot two blocks away from the

Toyota Center Toyota Center is an indoor arena located in Houston, Texas, United States. It is named after the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The arena is home to the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and it was once th ...

is currently. Liberty Hall was owned and operated by Mike Condray, Lynda Herrera, Ryan Trimble, Ken Fontenot, and Roberto Gonzales. It hosted a wide variety of performers, including

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

, and Journey. It is remembered for its low admittance prices of sometimes only two dollars for nationally known entertainers.

History

Before Liberty Hall, Condray and George Banks, the future graphic illustrator of Liberty Hall posters, opened Jubilee Hall which became the Family Hand, a restaurant and entertainment venue. The restaurant was known for its red beans and rice, prepared by Thera Neumann, the African-American female chef. When Condray began looking for a new location to open with Herrera and Trimble, Neumann found the building that would become Liberty Hall. The building was originally a church built in the 1940s and later became the American Legion Post 391. On March 4, 1971, it opened as Liberty Hall. Co-founder Herrera came up with the name. Neumann moved with the owners to Liberty Hall and continued to cook for the performances. The nightclub hosted musicians from the country, rock, zydeco, and blues genre. On Liberty Hall's opening night, the venue hosted the country rock musical ''Earl of Ruston''. Soon after ''Earl of Ruston'', Liberty Hall had a six-week-long blues show with musicians like

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B. The ''Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul'' described Thornton by saying: "Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound fra ...

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its li ...

, and

Freddie King Freddie King (born Fred Christian; September 3, 1934December 28, 1976), also billed as Freddy King, was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King a ...

. Hopkins became close friends with Trimble and performed multiple times at Liberty Hall by himself and with

Mance Lipscomb Beau De Glen "Mance" Lipscomb (April 9, 1895 – January 30, 1976) was an American blues singer, guitarist and songster. Biography Lipscomb was born April 9, 1895, near Navasota, Texas. His father had been born into slavery in Alabama; his ...

. The venue began to gain prominence in Houston. Springsteen mentions Liberty Hall in his song '' This Hard Land''.

KPFT KPFT (90.1 FM) is a listener-sponsored community radio station in Houston, Texas, which began broadcasting March 1, 1970, as the fourth station in the Pacifica radio family. The station airs a variety of music, news, talk, and call-in programs ...

and Liberty Hall worked together to produce live broadcasts of performers like Springsteen,

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, and

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. Besides the many musicians that performed at Liberty Hall, the venue hosted plays and comedy performances.

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performed for a completely sold out four-night stand for two dollars a ticket. Cheech and Chong credit Liberty Hall for their success. Liberty Hall also hosted rock opera director C. C. Courtney's play ''

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'' from March 23 to April 22, 1972. At the time, it was the longest running play in the history of Houston. Courtney made a deal with Liberty Hall to continue directing his rock operas at the venue. His other work performed at Liberty Hall in 1972 was ''Ripped and Wrinkled''. Liberty Hall did not extend only to music and entertainment performances. The venue held benefits for progressive candidates. On September 17, 1972, Liberty Hall hosted a rally for the "candidates of the people." The rally had a performance by the hard rock band Chocolate Glass. Many candidates attended and spoke at the event including

Sissy Farenthold Mary Frances Tarlton "Sissy" Farenthold (October 2, 1926 – September 26, 2021) was an American politician, attorney, activist, and educator. She was best known for her two campaigns for governor of Texas in 1972 and 1974, and for being placed ...

, Gertrude Barnstone, and Curtis Graves.

Marvin Zindler Marvin Harold Zindler (August 10, 1921 – July 29, 2007) was a news reporter for television station KTRK-TV in Houston, Texas, United States. His investigative journalism, through which he mostly represented the city's elderly and working class, ...

, Deputy Sheriff at the time, also attended the event. Red beans and rice were sold for one dollar as a fundraiser. On September 20, 1972, Liberty hall hosted a beans and rice dinner benefit for

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and his presidential campaign. In February 1973, Liberty Hall hosted the first annual convention of the

National Women's Political Caucus The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) is an organization which was founded in 1971 by leaders of the women's liberation movement to promote women's participation in government. The group describes itself as a multi-partisan grassroots or ...

with female leaders

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...

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, and

Betty Friedan Betty Friedan (; February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book '' The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the s ...

. The convention had performances by Tracy Nelson and her band

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along with a New Orleans band called Flavor. In 1975, Condray left Liberty Hall. Trimble believes Liberty Hall put on 300 to 400 shows a year until it closed in 1978 with a performance by

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

. The building that was once Liberty Hall became a Chinese film theater. Eventually, the building was demolished. Today, a parking lot near the Toyota Center sits where Liberty Hall once was.

Design

The venue was relatively small, holding about 450 people. The stage and floors were wooden. The intimate setting allowed for good acoustics, different from popular arena-style venues at the time. Banks constructed the stage and balcony.

References

External links

Guide to the Liberty Hall collection
(Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA)
Liberty Hall online exhibit featuring posters, photographs, and memorabiliaLiberty Hall Facebook page
*http://www.theragblog.com/ivan-koop-kuper-metro-saying-goodbye-to-mike-condray-and-remembering-liberty-hall/ {{Authority control 1971 establishments in Texas Music venues in Houston