La Carafe occupies an 1847 brick building on Congress Street at the edge of Market Square — by most reckonings, the oldest commercial building in Houston still operating in its original use. The building has been many things across its 180 years. The current bar — gas-lit, sloped wooden floors, a back bar that has not been substantially altered in eighty years, mostly playing Patsy Cline and Hank Williams from the jukebox — has been operating since the 1950s. Five lives, in sequence.
La Carafe is cash-only, the bathrooms are old (this is part of the visit, not a bug), and the bar is busy on Friday and Saturday evenings. Walk in; sit; do not stay more than ninety minutes. The visit is the room, not the drinks. Open daily from noon to 2am.