Neon Boots Dancehall and Saloon, Houston

About Neon Boots Dancehall and Saloon

Neon Boots is the largest LGBTQ+ country-western dancehall in Texas, opened in 2013 by a group of six local Houstonians on Hempstead Road in northwest Houston. It runs out of a genuine piece of music history: the building was the Esquire Ballroom, a 1955 honky-tonk that hosted George Jones, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn, and where a young Willie Nelson got his start in the house band. One bar area is set aside to preserve that legacy, with memorabilia from the room's first life. These days it's a two-step floor first and foremost, with free country-western dance lessons that draw beginners and regulars alike, plus live music and karaoke. The owners are upfront that it's an 'everybody bar' — typically a third of any given night's crowd is straight — and that openness is part of the appeal. It's worth the drive out of Montrose if you want boots-on-the-floor country dancing in a queer-friendly room, and it's earned a spot on Texas Monthly's best-honky-tonks list to back it up.