New Bar District

This old house has been turned into a funky bar called the Lustre Pearl. It is on Rainey Street in that area of east downtown that has been sprinkled with hip new condos and apartments (to join the venerable Villas and Towers of Town Lake). The stark and beautiful Mexican American Cultural Center was constructed there. Old houses and derelict business buildings have remained, most with 'for sale, zoned commercial' signs. We noticed on our walk Wednesday that another place called Clive will soon join the Lustre Pearl. We also noticed some other old houses that had applications to sell alcohol in the windows. (The permit process takes so long that it's the first thing that has to start, I guess.) It will be interesting to see where this new bar district goes. Will it attract people from the nearby living spaces and the Convention Center? Will Four Seasons patrons wander down to slum a bit from the Four Seasons bar and make record deals during SXSW? Will the bar flies crowd IHOP on Cesar Chavez after hours eating pancakes? It's interesting to see the dynamics of a micro-neighborhood change.