The Garage Bar and Grill Gears up for a Fundraiser and Revs up for National Acts

Sitting on 10 acres in Alvin (1755 Hwy. 35 North Bypass Rd.) The Garage Bar’s giant red tin building has become the home away from home for many people from different neighborhoods in the surrounding cities and from all walks of life. It’s a ginourmous neighborhood bar that’s part sports bar (with extra large HDTVs), part pub (with a pool table, dart board, 20 draft beers on tap, and a corn hole setup out back), part family restaurant, part live music venue, and part biker bar (with a large brick and cement covered parking area out front for motorcycles only).

Built from the ground up and conceptualized by a “gear head” who takes the love of classic American cars to never-before-seen heights, The Garage Bar parks an American classic car, smack-dab in the middle of the over-sized, warehouse-like interior, 2-stories up, on top of the first floor bathrooms. Yep. INSIDE the bar. A real-life, life-sized, American classic car. Never mind, the “HOW in the world did y’all get that car up there?” question that first-time visitors inevitably ask, another great question is, “WHO keeps parking their car up there?” A different classic car is displayed every month and donated by regular customers and/or classic car aficionados. This month it is a silver ’67 Chevelle). The garage and hot-rod theme is carried throughout the bar, with a vintage gas pump, checkered flags, license plates and other clever car-related details displayed throughout the enormous space.

The cocktail menu includes items with clever names like, “Route 66 Black Cherry Limeade, Gojo Cosmo and Knuckle Buster Margarita; and the expansive food menu has sections like “Start Your Engine” for the appetizers, “Tune Ups” for their sandwiches and wraps and customers can “Get Fueled Up” with entrée selections like their Smothered Pork Chops, Stuffed Chicken, 10 ounce Ribeye or Chicken Fried Steak. The desserts are listed under the section labeled “Finish Line”, of course. Customer faves include the Steak Peppers (juicy jalapeños loaded with ribeye steak, topped with four cheese stuffing and broiled to perfection), Homemade Boudin Balls, Broiled Meatballs and New York Strip Steak.

But, according to long-time customer, Ray Daugherty, “Believe it or not, the very best thing on the menu is by far, the Frito Pie.”

They offer a $6.99 lunch special Monday through Thursday from 11a.m. – 3p.m. and dinner specials every night of the week include: Meatball Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Wing Wednesdays, Steak Night on Thursday and Fish Friday. The bartenders call the shots when it comes to the nightly drink specials. Every Friday and Saturday they have live music and occasionally, their line up includes National acts like Wayne Toops (Aug 10), Bart Crow (Oct 26) and Tracy Byrd (Nov 29).

The Garage Bar is the local hangout for those in the Alvin, Santa Fe, Pearland and surrounding areas, and the regular customers are the type of people who pull together to help those in need. With a genuine concern for the people in their communities, the regular customers stepped up to the plate without hesitation when, on the day of the Santa Fe High School shootings, Manager Deanna Luprete decided they should throw a benefit for the victims and their families.

“I had no idea the event would grow exponentially to this magnitude. I just knew we had to help. Santa Fe residents are our closest neighbors, and I wanted to do something to show our support for the families who suffered through such an unimaginable tragedy,” said Luprete.

Benefitting the Santa Fe Strong Fund and Santa Fe Texas Education Foundation, the Fundraiser and Bike Run (motor variety, of course) will take place Sunday, July 15. All bikes are welcome and a police escort will be present; sign up begins at 9a.m. The band line up includes: Promising Lies (School of Rock kids), Turning Point, David Joel, Hourglass, Vince King (Elvis impersonator) and headlining will be Santa Fe native, Pee Wee Bowen.

“I have done many, many fundraisers for years. Of course, this event is very special. All my children went to school in Santa Fe in the ’80s. I worked with 4H, was on the Galveston County Fair Board for many years working with Santa Fe youth,” said Bowen, “When i first heard of the shooting, I was one of the folks that thought this would not happen to us. I was upset about Florida shooting; however, this one hit home plate. My band made a huge donation memorial day when i performed at Haak winery,” said Bowen, “Sante Fe is no longer a small town, she now has to deal with big events (good or bad). This is a challenge that has brought her back to a small town relationship again – to survive and unite with God’s help.”

The benefit has been garnering a lot of interest and record numbers are expected to attend the family-friendly event. In addition to the impressive live music line up, there will be a bouncy castle, games, BBQ, raffles an auction and more. T-shirts will be available and many students have already volunteered to help; the high school’s Culinary Art students will be helping with the food. Save the date, mark your calendars and get out to Garage Bar to show your support for a community who has endured a terrible tragedy.