Nightlife returns to reopened Fort Worth, Arlington bars amid coronavirus pandemic
After months of relatively empty streets and sidewalks, Fort Worth’s West 7th bars came back to life in the wee hours of Friday morning and again Friday night.
Bars there — like many across Texas — turned on the music, lit their neon signs and started pouring drinks for crowds of customers at midnight Friday. These bars have been closed since Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order in March, restricting restaurants and closing bars in efforts to lessen the spread of coronavirus.
Most of the bars in the West 7th district were back up and running. The Durty Crow, The Local, Concrete Cowboy, Your Mom’s House, Reservoir and Bodega hosted between 10 and 40 people at any given point during their first two hours back in business Friday morning.
While bars in the area experienced a low turnout between midnight and 2 a.m. Friday, the next night brought lines of people waiting to get inside the establishments, which are restricted to 25% of capacity.
Friday night and into Saturday morning, more Tarrant County bars returned to some semblance of normality.
Outside the West 7th area, some bars waited until Friday night to reopen. The Usual, a bar on the Magnolia Avenue, was one of only a few such establishments to open in the district.
Manager Tommy Fogle said The Usual didn’t want to reopen this early for public health concerns, but needed to financially.
“It’s early for the type of bar this is, too,” Fogle said. “This is a bring 10 of your friends with you and socialize type of bar.”
He said to make sure the bar is doing everything it can to keep its patrons safe, The Usual is overstaffed. The extra staff are being used to regularly sanitize everything customers touch. There will be two employees every day to watch the front door, check IDs and use a hand towel to open the door so customers don’t have to touch the handle.
In Arlington, local staples like J Gilligan’s, Kool Keg and Tanstaafl Pub opened up their bars.
J Gilligan’s has been offering takeout food and cocktail kits since the bar was forced to close because of the pandemic, and Kool Keg has been selling kegs and frozen drinks to go.
Mel LeRoy, manager of Tanstaafl Pub, said their business hasn’t had that luxury. They were able to make it the two months they were closed in part because of their more than 40 years in the community, LeRoy said, but the business wouldn’t have lasted much longer.
All three Arlington bars staunchly enforce the rules laid out in Abbott’s conditions for reopening. Kool Keg is going beyond that, offering hand sanitizer made by Musgrove Family Farms that manager Zack Scott says is CDC certified for use in hospitals. There’s a sticker on the bottle saying as much.
The hand sanitizer, scented with lavender and lemongrass, is popular with customers, Scott said. Kool Keg is splattered with signs outlining the rules for social distancing in the small taproom. Throughout most of the day Friday, the bar had between five and 10 people inside at any given time.
Scott, a self-proclaimed germaphobe, said he believes the bar is doing more than is necessary to keep it clean. Surfaces are disinfected every time a customer leaves and tables are at least 6 feet apart, with many spaced further.
Most West 7th bars the second night had at least 40 people between their indoor seating and patio options between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Carlos Cueva, an avid supporter of local bars and eateries, said he was excited to see people getting back to work.
“Out here you have a chance to give money to people who are finally able to get back to work,” Cueva said. “And not to mention the owners. A lot of the local owners have been taking a big hit during this shutdown. I’m here because I’m glad they’re still open.”
Bar goers early Friday morning echoed Cueva’s sentiment: They were there to show support to bartenders, servers, bouncers, managers and owners.
Some, like Brian Crain, said they’re tipping extra. Sitting at Bodega on the west side of West 7th, Crain left a 100% tip for the bartenders who have been out of work.
Bodega bartenders Jared Carman and Buck Gavrel said that kind of tipping was common on their first night back open.
The two said they’ve been receiving a lot of love from regulars.
They had about 10 customers in the bar around 1:30 a.m. Friday, but by 10 p.m. the next night the bar was asking people to wait outside.
Carman could be found behind the bar dancing as he mixed drinks and served beers.
Most of the bars in the area were conforming to Texas’ rules for reopening, like placing tables at bartops to prevent people from gathering there and strictly enforcing social distancing.
Varsity, a bar that opted to open Friday night instead of Thursday night, was one of many using a handheld counter to make sure the bar was staying at 25% capacity. Ninety-one people were allowed inside the bar.
Some, like Reservoir, The Durty Crow and Your Mom’s House, required people to use hand sanitizer before entering. Many had hand sanitizer at tables, and had employees wearing masks.
Christian Meshmesh said he went to Reservoir on Thursday night with high expectations for safety precautions and the bar exceeded them.
“This is my favorite bar,” he said. “I come here all the time, so I know they run a tight ship. What they’ve got here is more than I expected from anybody.”
The busiest of the newly reopened West 7th businesses was Texas Republic. With hip-hop audible from a block away, Texas Republic had at least 100 people dancing and drinking on its rooftop patio.
Most patrons of the locally owned watering holes didn’t stay at one place too long. With only two hours to celebrate their return to business Friday morning, Pearl Jassawalla said she was planning to have one drink per bar and move to the next.
Jassawalla, from Plano, came to West 7th on the first night to celebrate her birthday a week late. She frequents the bars in the area, having become friends with many of the owners and bartenders when visiting friends who attend TCU.
“It’s a lot slower than normal, but I guess that’s what you can expect on the first night back, on a Thursday, with only two hours to go out and have some fun,” Jassawalla said.
She started her night out at The Durty Crow with her friends Christopher Nyeche and Sarah Bluhm, planning to visit as many of the local establishments as she could before 2 a.m.
While life may be returning to Fort Worth’s bars and restaurants, the city’s culinary options are going to look different. While many of the eateries and watering holes made it out of the coronavirus-induced shutdown, others like Bird Cafe and Fred’s Texas Cafe won’t be reopening their doors.
Cueva said it’s important to get back out and frequent these establishments as soon as possible, or they may fold as well.
But many in the crowd said they’re going to make sure their favorites are here to stay.
When 2 a.m. Saturday rolled around on West 7th, patrons made their way out of the bars and to their rides. Storm clouds moved into the area as the bright display of lights coming from bar windows, on for the first time since March, flickered out.
For many the road to recovering from financial hardships brought on by COVID-19 won’t be an easy one.
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 8:26 AM.