Esquire Ballroom

Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon is an LGBT bar/honky tonk that was founded as the Esquire Ballroom in 1955 by Raymond Proske in Houston, Texas at 11410 Hempstead northwest of downtown.

The Broadway musical Always... Patsy Cline takes place in the bar. Produced by Ted Swindley in 1988, the story was taken and expanded from a section of the Cline biography, Honky Tonk Angel, written by Ellis Nassour. Always... Patsy Cline chronicles the real-life story of her encounter in 1961 with Louise Seger, a fan and Mississippi native who arrived early at The Esquire Ballroom in Houston for Cline's performance. In a chance encounter before the show, the two met and formed a lasting friendship.

In the 1970s and 1980s the club was considered the main rival to Gilley's Club across town in Pasadena. The Esquire Ballroom closed in 1995 and remained unused for a number of years.

The nightclub reopened as Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon in August 2013 as the largest gay country and western genre bar in the Southern United States, the second largest gay bar in the state of Texas, and largest gay bar in Houston. It continues to host music acts on the same stage that it used as the Esquire Ballroom. The venue has a huge a huge heterosexual and mainstream following as well.

In March 28, 2014, USA Today named Neon Boots "One of the top ten dance halls in Texas" in their "10 Great Places" series.

After his son Billy was born in 1958, Willie Nelson and his family moved to Houston. On the way, Nelson stopped by the Esquire Ballroom to sell his original songs to house band singer Larry Butler. Butler refused to purchase the song "Mr. Record Man" for $10, instead giving Nelson a six-night job singing in the club and a $50 loan to rent an apartment. Nelson rented an apartment near Houston, in Pasadena, Texas, where he also worked at the radio station as the sign-on disk jockey.

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Wikipedia