{"id":405588,"date":"2026-08-13T16:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405588\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T16:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:04:10","slug":"strangeways-dallas-turns-15-with-classical-hair-metal-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405588\/","title":{"rendered":"Strangeways Dallas turns 15 with classical hair metal concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beloved East Dallas bar Strangeways \u2014 and one of our 50 Best Bars in Dallas<\/a> \u2014 is celebrating its 15th anniversary this August. The bar first opened its doors on August 3, 2011, and later this month it will transform its interior to celebrate its crystal anniversary with two unique musical performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Friday, Aug. 21, and Saturday, Aug. 22, a live string quartet will perform hair metal hits from the 1980s in the round. This is the latest installment of the Concert in Candlelight series at the bar presented by Open Classical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A musician approached Strangeways co-owner Rosie Ildermaro with the concept: an \u201980s hair-metal concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018I want some Twisted Sister, please\u2019,\u201d Ildermaro recalls. \u201cAnd he starts like naming off some Twisted Sister songs. I\u2019m like, \u2018Yeah, yeah, yeah!\u2019 I think that it\u2019s fun, nostalgic, happy, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

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THANK YOU!<\/p>\n

You’re all set.<\/p>\n

CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Everything the bar represents<\/p>\n

Ildemaro says that the musical pairing is a perfect combination of everything the bar represents. Last year, at its inaugural performance, the quartet played post-punk and new wave favorites that are staples of the bar\u2019s playlist, including songs by The Smiths, Joy Division, The Cure, and others. Ildemaro says that the Concert in Candlelight series is one of her favorite events they host, the other being weddings.<\/p>\n

\"theStrangeways is celebrating 15 years. <\/p>\n

\u201c[It feels] damn good,\u201d Ildemaro says about the bar\u2019s anniversary, adding that it\u2019s surreal.<\/p>\n

Ildemaro co-owns Strangeways with her brother, Eric Sanchez. The two work behind the bar most days, chatting with regulars, pouring drinks from a highly curated beer and spirits selection, and serving scratch-made food. Although it\u2019s been 15 years, Sanchez still remembers what the bar\u2019s first two customers ordered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t worked beyond the bar. We had just done this construction shit for a year,\u201d Sanchez recalled as The Smiths\u2019 \u201cHeaven Knows I\u2019m Miserable Now\u201d played overhead. \u201cAnd I do this fucking corny\u2013like I forgot how to take care of people\u2013And I go, \u2018Hello, welcome to Strangeways.\u2019 Like, so fucking cornball, you know?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vodka soda people too<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, I\u2019m all proud. I\u2019m, like, cool, we\u2019re going to walk these guys through the beers\u2013like my first beer I pour or whatever. And I\u2019ll never forget that. I\u2019m so stoked, like, \u2018All right, what\u2019s it going to be?\u2019 He goes, \u2018Oh a vodka soda,\u2019 and the buddy goes, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019ll have one, too.\u2019 Like Goddamn it. I so wanted to pour one of those Goddamn beers over there and talk about it. Now, full circle, we love our vodka soda people.\u201d<\/p>\n

A costly, but worth it, legal fight<\/p>\n

Sticking around for 15 years is a milestone achievement for any business, especially in Dallas. Just a few years ago, it looked like Strangeways\u2019 days were numbered, as a dispute over ownership<\/a> of the building the bar occupies had the Sanchez and Ildemaro considering calling it quits. <\/p>\n

The owners had to fight for their first right of refusal, as stipulated in their lease agreement, when the building hit the market. Would-be owners Pasha and Sina Heidari, who operate Bowen House, St. Martin\u2019s Wine Bistro, and other Dallas dining destinations, took legal action against then-building owner Anna Martinez and the Strangeways siblings in their bid to acquire the property. After a prolonged and costly legal battle<\/a> that included the Heidaris\u2019 lawyer, Jonathan Hernon of Holmes Firm PC, even subpoenaing this author, the parties settled out of court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI always use the comparison of imagine going 12 rounds being a boxer,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cBoth just beat the living shit out of each other. Your ears are ringing. Your eyes are just completely closed shut. You can barely breathe, and you\u2019re both still standing, you know? But the ref is holding up your arm. You can\u2019t hear the cheers. \u2026 I don\u2019t feel like we won. We did. We definitely did. The place is ours. So, that\u2019s amazing, but it was just such a freaking beating.\u201d<\/p>\n

They closed on the property on Oct. 1, 2025. Although it\u2019s been nearly a year since they became the sole owners of the property, Sanchez and Ildemaro say that things are finally starting to return to a sense of normalcy as attitudes shift away from farewells to a sense of gratitude that Strangeways remains part of the city\u2019s cultural landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re happy to still be here. We\u2019re very incredibly honored with everybody who stuck it out with us,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cThree years later, up to our eyeballs in debt, but the title is ours. Thank you, everybody. Thank you to the attorneys. Thank you for all the free advice we got. And thank you to everybody that stuck it out and supported us and all the new people that keep coming in. We\u2019re here for you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets for the Concert in Candlelight performances<\/a> at Strangeways are on sale now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beloved East Dallas bar Strangeways \u2014 and one of our 50 Best Bars in Dallas \u2014 is celebrating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[16425,102,104,103],"class_list":["post-405588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-beer-wine","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}