New neighborhood bar to open in vintage downtown Fort Worth building
July 9,2024
See full CultureMap article by Malcom Mayhew here.
Two of Fort Worth’s most well known club owners have joined together to open a new speakeasy-inspired bar downtown. Called FW Thunderbird, it’ll be located at 306 N. Houston St., on the second floor of the Red Goose Saloon building, in the space previously occupied by the Fort Worth Live club.
The concept is from Brian Forella and Danny Weaver, both of whom have owned bars and live music venues in Fort Worth including Lola’s Saloon (later shortened to just Lola's), the Wreck Room, and the Aardvark on West Berry Street.
FW Thunderbird, which they’re hoping to open by the end of July, marks the first time the two nightlife veterans have worked together.
"So many people have said to us, 'What took so long for you guys to do something together?'," says Weaver. “Brian and I have been friends for a long time and we’ve both been in the bar and live music business for a long time — we’re both in our early 50s now. So you can definitely say this has been a long time coming.”
The bar’s name has double meaning: The FW stands for Fort Worth but also the two owners’ last names.
Weaver says the two are envisioning FW Thunderbird to be a bar-bar, something that area of downtown lacks.
“It’s going to be a drinking bar, a place where our friends can come and hang out and people from downtown can drop by when they get off work,” he says. “We’ll have a wide selection of beers, craft cocktails, some specialty drinks. We took a long look at that area and realized there’s nothing like that around there.”
The project came together not long after last year's closure of Lola’s, which had moved from the Cultural District to a seemingly cursed location on Berry Street, where several other businesses have come and gone.
“I posted a question on Facebook asking whether I should open another place or get a regular job,” Forella says. “I got a ton of responses, including one from Danny. He had been itching to do something again and people around me were telling me I needed to open another place. I feel like we both have a lot more in us, that we’re not done yet. So we’re all in.”
The two are currently remodeling the space, adding nearly a dozen TVs, along with pinball machines and pool tables.
“I don’t want to call it a sports bar, but we’ll have sports on,” Weaver says. “We’ll open at 11 on Saturday and have all the football games on. It’ll have a neighborhood bar vibe to it.”
The bar will have a speakeasy component, with its own entrance separate from that of the Red Goose, a longtime pub that occupies the building's ground floor.
“There’s a really cool old staircase that people will be able to access from the sidewalk that leads directly up to our place,” Weaver says. “The building is more than 100 years old. There’s a lot of historical significance there, which is one of the reasons why we’re so excited about it.”
They may do live music, but to what extent is still up in the air.
“I think we’re going to do something maybe once a month, just start slow,” Weaver says. “We love live music. It made us who we are. But doing it makes it harder to keep the doors open. We’re not saying no but if we do it, we’ll take it slow and gauge people’s interest.”
If and when they decide to pursue live music, they’ll be ready to go, Forella says.
“We’re actually expanding the stage, we’re bringing in a new PA,” he says. “We’ll be ready if we do decide to go in that direction. But I’m not looking for a booking agent. I’m not trying to book bands right now. We’re playing all of that by ear.”
Parking downtown is not as difficult as some might believe, Weaver says, pointing out that downtown parking meters are free every night after 6 pm and on weekends. There's also free evening and weekend garage parking at City Center Garage No. 2, at 400 Jones St., The Tower Garage, at 400 Taylor St., and 777 Main Parking Garage, at 601 Commerce St.
Weaver and Forella have played pivotal roles in Fort Worth’s bar and live music scene for nearly 30 years.
Forella owned and operated two of the city’s most well-regarded live music venues, the Wreck Room, opened in 1997, and Lola’s Saloon, which, after the Wreck Room closed, Forella opened in 2008. Both catered to local and national alternative artists and bands, helping fuel Fort Worth’s independent music scene.
Weaver owned the Aardvark, a live music venue in the TCU area, for two decades. Under his direction, the club became known for hosting shows by the biggest local bands in North Texas; the club closed in 2018. Weaver also opened The Moon, a smaller club next door to the Aardvark.
Both have been involved in other bars and restaurants in Fort Worth as well.
The downtown building where their joint venture is opening dates back to 1903, when the two-story structure opened as a furniture store. In the 1930s, it became Solomon's Juvenile Shoe Store, the sign for which still hangs above the sidewalk. The sign depicts a red-feathered Mother Goose promoting “Red Goose” shoes. It has the unusual distinction of being the only building on the block to not be owned by Sundance Square.
In 1999, local entrepreneur Chris Hutchinson took over the space, opening a bar and grill there called Red Goose Saloon, naming it after the business' still-working neon sign.
“That’s another great thing about this project - Chris has been in the bar business as long as we have,” Forella says. “We’ve all come up together, experienced the same ups and downs in this business. We’re going to work well together because we’ve all been through the same experiences.”