If you appreciate a watering hole a with a bit of history, and without all the that "hippest and hottest" hoopla, duck into this funky, cash-only bar housed in Houston's oldest commercial building. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the two-story brick structure originally opened as a bakery in 1847, was later used as a pony express station, and, in the 1950s, became the bar that it is today. No fancy mixology here—look for frosty mugs of beer and plenty of wines by the glass in a laid-back setting, the kind of joint where an oil painting of Sam Houston comfortably shares wall space with a mounted moose head topped with a fez. It's dark too, like a great aunt's dusty attic, so be careful navigating the narrow staircase on your way to the best spot in the house, the second-floor patio balcony with downtown views. An eclectic jukebox plays everything from Edith Piaf to Townes Van Zandt to the Beatles.