A DJ Screw mural is featured at By The Wayside in Houston’s Second Ward. (Photo Credit: Keenan Vaughan/Houston Public Media)
A mural featuring a Houston Texans logo with a screw going through it is located at By The Wayside in the Second Ward. (Photo Credit: Keenan Vaughan/Houston Public Media)
Pictured is a mural at By The Wayside, a cocktail bar in Houston’s Second Ward. (Photo Credit: Keenan Vaughan/Houston Public Media)
A mural at By The Wayside, a cocktail bar in Houston’s Second Ward, depicts the late DJ Screw in a Houston Texans jersey. (Photo Credit: Keenan Vaughan/Houston Public Media)
A new cocktail bar in the Second Ward is hosting its first event related to “713 Day,” an unofficial holiday named after Houston’s original area code.
A centerpiece of the gathering at By The Wayside – scheduled to start at precisely 7:13 p.m. on Monday, July, 13 – are four recently painted murals on the walls of the outdoor pavilion. Each one features DJ Screw, the well-known Houston hip-hop musician who died in 2000 at age 29.
Although the late producer is also celebrated on June 27, widely known as DJ Screw Day in Houston, he is also associated with 713 Day due to the holiday’s ties to the city’s hip-hop community and former collaborator Lil’ Keke.
“DJ Screw is a huge part of hip-hop culture in the early ‘90s to what it is now,” bar co-owner Braden Navarre said. “We are a music venue as well, so we really put music at the forefront of things. So to pay homage to Screw is really, really cool to have that here, and we just want to kind of showcase that and have others come in, stop in, take pictures of the mural and just kind of throw it back to DJ Screw days.”
Navarre and his wife, Samantha Navarre, own the bar, which opened its doors for the first time on April 8. The two Houston natives also plan to commemorate the 713 Day holiday with a special cocktail menu, a vinyl DJ and a showcase of customized slab cars.
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713 Day has become a cause for celebration across the city since being recognized through an official proclamation by former mayor Annise Parker in 2015.
“I think we have a super strong culture here in Houston,” Samantha Navarre said. “We’re all very tight and we love each other. We’re just getting together to celebrate the city that we love and that raised us. We’re going to give back and celebrate our roots, and what makes us unique.”
The DJ Screw murals were finished in late June as part of an event with the Houston Texans that included a popup shop where attendees could purchase exclusive DJ Screw-themed team merchandise.
Through a partnership with Houston local art collective Free Walls, local artists Donkeeboy, Gabriel Escobedo, SpaceCityArtKreations and w3r3on3 each contributed one mural to the bar.
Samantha Navarre said she hopes the murals serve as a strong statement on the hometown pride showcased by Houstonians during the holiday.
“They’re heavy hitters in the art world, and they just all wanted to pay their respects to Screw and on 713 Day and Houston in general,” she said.