Big Top Lounge

The Big Top is the little brother of the Continental Club next door and the surlier cousin of uber-hipster watering hole The Mink around the corner. This block is one of Houston's most colorful, its restaurants and music venues teeming with life on the weekends. As hinted in its moniker, the Big Top is heavy on circus decor, festooned with dusty, quaint portraits and signs from that bygone yet uniquely American era of hucksters and freak shows. But that is just a small part of the bar's story. Live music happens most nights the Big Top is open, from garage-rock DJs to various Americana and covers acts playing under a big birdcage in the corner of the bar. If you feel like getting some fresh air under the stars, the back door opens onto the Continental's backyard and the outdoor Pachinko Hut bar.