News Outpost Tavern burns down

[Orbinaut Pete]

The infamous Outpost Tavern, which is located just down the road from JSC in Houston, TX, has been the Astronaut bar & hangout of choice since the days of Mercury & Gemini.

Yesterday, the owners announced that it will close for good in Jan 2010.

There have been many similar announcements in the past, but the JSC community has always come together to generate the funds required to keep The Outpost open.

However, the owners say that this time, closure is definite, as the land on which The Outpost is located has been sold to a new owner – who has no interest in keeping The Outpost open.

OP Is Closing In January 2010
(posted 8:25am Dec 1, 2009)​

The Outpost is Closing. . .

. . . And this time, it is for good.

Together, Gene Ross, my mother, Sharon, and myself, have kept the Outpost Tavern going for the last thirty years, it has stayed open. My Mom and Gene being the bulk of it, I was meant to be the “Closer” of this deal! J Good or bad, whatever anyone thinks of how we did it, we kept it open for you!

However, like many good things in life, sometimes “we” are not in charge. In this case, the property that the OP sits on has been going through many changes ownership-wise, since Pete Wright died, and there has always been a certain air of uncertainty about what may happen in the future. Well, the future is here. I have been informed that the property has been sold to another party.

Rather than wait, wondering when or if someone would come in and say “get out by Friday,” I would like to give everyone notice that in January, we close. Finished. The End.

This way, we can enjoy the place a while longer, and make plans on how to save what we can. I would rather have the Outpost close my way, instead of having someone shut us down one day without so much as a “fare-well.”

All-in-all, you must admit that it has been an interesting and fun run for this little bar. I hope that in the next several weeks, as we wind down the Outpost Tavern, we can see old faces once again. I was about eleven-years old when the OP first opened as “The Outpost,” and now I have two kids and just celebrated my something-ith-birthday. Some who have been coming in have been there for longer, since it was Fort Terry’s. You know who you are!

This is not a time to get mad, but instead to remember all the fun that everyone has had here. Most everyone who has been around here for any length of time has known for years that eventually, this day would come. I hate it. You hate it. But, here we are.

In 2010, it will be thirty years (yes!) since Gene bought the place from Terry. So, to end the Outpost Tavern, we will have one hell of a blow-out thirtieth Anniversary party. Hope everyone can attend!

Love to everyone,

Stephanie

www.outpost-tavern.net/OP Farewell.htm
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A piece of NASA history is about to die.

----------
Outpost Tavern historical photo gallery:
www.outpost-tavern.net/picturegallery/OPOView/OPOViewGallery1.htm:thumbup:

 

[garyw]

I'd always hoped to go to JSC and stop by the Outpost Tavern just to say that I had been there. Seems that another piece of NASA history bites the dust and it's such a shame.

 

[Star Voyager]

I've been there, and my parents (sinced they worked at JSC for 15 years before me) absolutely love that place! I had fun playing air hocky and picking up a VERY greasy burger. I'm shocked that it's closing. It might be because of the same reason the Happy Bottom Riding Club at Pancho's closed.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Being serious here: Why can't they put it on the back of one of those house-moving trucks, and put it in a museum or something.
I'm sure the JSC community could help to arrange/fund that.

That bar contains far too much history to just let it die.

 

[tblaxland]

It might be because of the same reason the Happy Bottom Riding Club at Pancho's closed.

What? There are no plans for the government to purchase the land, there are no allegations of "inappropriate conduct" on the site, no-one has been banned from going there by the Air Force (or NASA for that matter), and finally, the thing has not been destroyed by fire (the reasons why Happy Bottom Riding Club closed, as far as I am aware). I think the reasons for closing are fairly well outlined in the letter on their website, unless you have some other information you would care to share?

---------- Post added at 09:16 ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 ----------

Being serious here: Why can't they put it on the back of one of those house-moving trucks, and put it in a museum or something.

Well, they did it once already in 1965.

 

[n72.75]

The government is pretty much out of money by at this point.

 

[Star Voyager]

What? There are no plans for the government to purchase the land, there are no allegations of "inappropriate conduct" on the site, no-one has been banned from going there by the Air Force (or NASA for that matter), and finally, the thing has not been destroyed by fire (the reasons why Happy Bottom Riding Club closed, as far as I am aware). I think the reasons for closing are fairly well outlined in the letter on their website, unless you have some other information you would care to share?

I'm not saying that's exactly why it's closing, but I'm sure they're not going to post every single detail.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Well, they did it once already in 1965.

Well, then it shouldn't be too hard to do it again!

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I thought I might as well put this here rather than start a new thread.

The Outpost Tavern burned to the ground last night, in a fire that is being described as "certainly suspicious", due to the fact that no electricity ran to The Outpost, and that ownership of The Outpost's contents were the subject of a legal dispute.

The good news is that the firemen haven't found any space memorabilia among the remains of The Outpost - which means that it may have been removed before it burned down.

However, The Outpost was certainly a treasure chest of American space history, that is now lost forever.

collectSPACE: "Former astronaut hangout destroyed in fire".

 

[Star Voyager]

Not all of it burned down. All my family on my mother's side live in the Houston area (have been for a couple of hundred years!). They know I love NASA and that I had been to the Outpost before and understood it's significance. So as a birthday present (their usually a couple of moths late), my uncle swiped a couple of pieces from the Outpost last month and mailed them to me. Here's a picture:

 

[Fabri91]

Kind of ironic...today I watched The Right Stuff for the first time, and there also a bar burns down...

 

[Hielor]

Huh. I drove by there all the time and never knew that it was such an important landmark.

 

[jedidia]

letting pass this quote by tblaxland:

There are no plans for the government to purchase the land, there are no allegations of "inappropriate conduct" on the site, no-one has been banned from going there by the Air Force (or NASA for that matter), and finally, the thing has not been destroyed by fire (the reasons why Happy Bottom Riding Club closed, as far as I am aware).

gives me a kind of really weird feeling...

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

letting pass this quote by tblaxland:

There are no plans for the government to purchase the land, there are no allegations of "inappropriate conduct" on the site, no-one has been banned from going there by the Air Force (or NASA for that matter), and finally, the thing has not been destroyed by fire (the reasons why Happy Bottom Riding Club closed, as far as I am aware).

gives me a kind of really weird feeling...

tblaxland! How could you! :lol:

 

[Star Voyager]

I think it was my fault. I spoke too soon on the situation, thinking some astronauts MIGHT be misbehaving. Afterall, there was a report a few years back that some of them went up slightly hungover.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Includes an interview with the former Outpost owner's daughter - some nice flashbacks to the past!

The Galveston Daily News: "Popular NASA hangout Outpost burns down".

"Used to be that when shuttle astronauts returned from a mission, they would bet on who could get through the debriefing first and get their butts on a stool at the bar," Ross' daughter Vicki Ralowiez said.

 

[Tex]

Wow! I just drove past this building...err, whats left of it anyway...just today! I've noticed it sitting there vacant for sometime now, but today it was a freshly charred pile of rubble. :idk:

 

[tblaxland]

tblaxland! How could you! :lol:

:lol: It's just a "million monkeys" scenario - eventually a coincidence will look like a prediction

Anyway, some interesting reading on the subject by a NASA engineer:
http://www.imp-detail.org/archive.php?apid=110#110

Another aging NASA institution died tonight. Rest In Peace, The Outpost. Does this mean we can we get on with exploring?