Venture-N

2923 Main St

July 1975 through 2002

I loved this bar, logged lotsa hours there.

And, it was briefly, in 1999, called Nighthawks

above right, business card

Opening, July 18, 1975

owner Jim Dondson

1976

1977

from the ads above it appears in the early years it was more of a piano bar
cover design above by co-owner David Szynal

1978

1979

above, co-owner Big Jim Dondson

above and below, co-owner David Szynal at the 1979 March on Washington.
He is at right above and with arm raised below, and below that, center

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1986

1987

1988

1989

actually, I have no idea of the year of this shirt...

1991

1992

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

Nighthawks

Apparently Pec's in Galveston was connected to Nighthawks?
and there's a new owner, Bobby Rood

Note the ad below says "formerly Nighthawks"...
that must have been quite brief

Below.....What Happened at the Venture-N???

These pages from the Houston Area Bears group
from September/October 1999
allude to "events at the Venture-N...serious to the point
that we must discuss whether to keep it as our home bar."
And the decision was made within weeks to stop that affiliation.
And NLA-Houston made the same determination.

What on earth did they do?

Comments (Dec 2024)
I have talked with several people very active in that scene at the time,
and the consensus I hear is that the owner allowed drugs to be sold in
the club, and the customers were young guys (not sure they were old
enough to even be in the bar). Management decided they would rather
have that customer base, as opposed to the former older ones.
So HAB and NLA-H changed their 'home bar' and another community
member who often sponsored events there, moved his events also.

2000

2002

I have not found reliable documentation as to when the Venture-N closed.
The end of 2002 is close but there were not many publications at that exact time,
to reference, and Eclipse (below) still lists the club as late as March of 2003.
Do not know if that was accurate or it just did not get dropped readily from the bar page.

and, current google photo

Below, Venture-N, Tucson

two of the Houston owners were from Tucson and owned a bar there