Cheapest Drinks In Town?

Inside Midtown's Status Lounge, the land of 30-cent drinks & cheaper romance

Since I do go to school here in Houston, I safely assume most of us who aren't kept by our parents, boy/girlfriend, or even a sugar daddy/mother need to work to support themselves.

I know of many friends who are moonlighting as food servers by day, but are rock gods, soon to be doctors, and poets by night. Or we are currently in our internships while going to school, attempting to end the slavery college has on our finances and the time it has been taking away from us.

Sometimes it feels like the only thing that can get us through the week is a nice cold adult beverage.

Much like the song "Out Tonight" from RENT (based on Jonathan Larson's life), "So let's find a bar, so dark we forget who we are, where all the scars, from the nevers and maybes die."

Instead of making (and dying from drinking) moonshine, you could just spend 30 cents at Status Lounge. They currently have a special for wells drinks only costing 30 cents on Thursdays and 50 cents on Friday. (Wells drinks are made from cheap, house liquor.)

Now, this is a club/bar, but if you don't like to dance, you can sit outside on the patio where there's a cool-comfy sitting area overlooking midtown. It's a great spot to smoke, especially in a city where there aren't many places to comfortably do that.

Drunken madness (if you like to point and watch girls fall to the floor, Status Lounge is the spot) often provides a free sideshow. All the failed pickups are another source of humor. The reasonable price and very relaxed atmosphere outside (and not-so-relaxed atmosphere inside) sort of makes this a place to bring varying group of friends.

Since the drinks are cheap, the people are young (not the old guys hitting on girls though), and with music going on, there is no reason you can't find someone. Or at least leave with some stories to tell.

I'm definitely not the best pick-up artist, but one night at Status I realized I was the target. I asked the guy if he was hitting on me. He said he was. Then, I asked whether he was gay or straight. He commenced to pull off his shirt and tell me, "I'm whatever you want me to be."

Now Status doesn't really target the gay market (the club's flyers have bikini babes on them and the place is usually full of hetero couples showing little restraint), so I was one shocked, and two really surprised. I hadn't shaved in a couple of days so my beard was a bit longer than usual, and I literally went in the worst attire possible.

Alcoholic goggles at its best I guess.

But do you expect when the drinks are 30 cents each? Sophisticated courtship isn't exactly on the menu.

unspecified

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

undefined

Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”