When he first signed a lease for the property at 330 East Grayson Street in 1999, Sam Panchevre didn’t realize quite how sketchy the neighborhood was.
The two empty buildings he rented were a stone’s throw from the desolate underpass of Highway 281. On the other side of the freeway stretched 18 acres of contaminated soil and industrial debris. The Pearl was not yet even a twinkle in Kit Goldsbury’s eye.
“At nighttime, we had a bunch of unsavory types” hanging around what would become his eponymous burger joint, Panchevre recalled. “Sometimes people would walk in with their kids and then turn around and leave.”
A quarter of a century later, Sam’s Burger Joint and Music Hall is a San Antonio institution, its iconic neon record sign still glowing each night. Over the years it has fended off vagrants and petty crime, watched the Pearl grow into a national destination for food, drink and live music, tussled over parking, survived a global pandemic and is hanging on through seemingly endless road construction.
The restaurant, which offers a casual roadhouse vibe, still features branded burgers that have regularly landed on “best burger” lists over the years. “I noticed how quiet the the table became as soon as we started eating, which speaks to how good the food was,” wrote Eva Rogers last month on the Texas Tasty.
The music hall has hosted a range of musical genres and artists in that time, with Panchevre and his partners investing in the building and sound equipment to attract national acts like Gary Clark Jr., Sturgill Simpson and Leon Bridges. For many years, Sam’s was the most reliable local place to see blues and Texas roots legends.
Today, local bands remain in regular rotation, and in recent years, Sam’s has climbed on the “tribute” bandwagon, bringing music from the 1960s to the 2000s to diehard fans and new audiences alike.
Starting Oct. 9, Sam’s is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a concert series featuring several genres, from reggae to Americana to blues. “The idea was to party like its 1999 ticket prices,” said Keith Howerton, a co-owner who serves as Sam’s music promoter. “If you buy a ticket in advance, it’s ten bucks.”
Empty, available and ‘super cheap’
Panchevre was running Acapulco Sam’s on the River Walk when a group of Austin investors offered to rent out his space for a club. Tom Honigblum, a restaurant supplier Panchevre had been working with, first showed him the property that would eventually become Sam’s Burger Joint.
“It was empty, it was available and it was super cheap,” said Honigblum. The only other restaurants nearby were the venerable Liberty Bar and Josephine Street Cafe.
It took several months to make the restaurant move-in ready, but once it was, Panchevre and Honigblum simply transferred Acapulco Sam’s kitchen crew, management staff and menu over to the new location. “We didn’t really change anything,” Honigblum said.
What has changed, and dramatically so, is Sam’s music venue — and the entire way bands are scouted and booked. What was once an un-air-conditioned, metal shed has been largely rebuilt and equipped with lighting and a sound system that has turned it into what Howerton believes is one of the best small music rooms in the city.
A retired U.S. Army officer and music aficionado, Howerton began offering Panchevre and Honigblum occasional music promotion help before becoming Sam’s full time promoter and a partner around 2008.
Bands today don’t rely on record labels and albums to develop a fan base like they once did, he said. They develop their audiences independently, and largely online.
“When we’re looking at a new artist coming to South Texas for the first time, we look at their YouTube views. You might have never heard of them, but they’ll have a million or two million views,” he said.
These bands do their own promotions, bringing out niche audiences that can sell out an intimate venue like Sam’s, which can hold close to 350 people inside, and another 100 or so outside when the big windows are rolled up.
New genres, old favorites
Dub reggae draws reliable crowds for Sam’s, he said, as does “poly reggae,” short for Polynesia. “We’ll get a major artist from the Pacific Islands, and there will be 300 people from Hawaii in the place. They just get the word out there.”
Another newer niche for Sam’s is tribute bands — bands that play the music of a particular artist. Bloody Cape, a Deftones tribute band, is scheduled to play the first night of the anniversary concert series. Last month, Brass in Pocket, a Pretenders tribute band, played at Sam’s with At the Wrist, which plays Smashing Pumpkins’ music.
These bands don’t just draw old school fans, said Panchevre; young people who weren’t even born when the original music came out often find their way to these shows, he said.
“Our clientele kind of grew up with us,” he said, “so now we’re looking at bringing younger people in.”
One way Sam’s does that is by featuring local bands, which it does via its Live & Local series every other Tuesday night. General Manager Desiree Loftice runs that series, which she promotes via a dedicated Instagram account, livenlocal.sbj.
A long time crew
Loftice, who began at Sam’s as a cashier eight years ago, is one of many longtime employees. She had worked her way up to bar manager when she was named general manager after Kat Ferguson, a beloved longtime employee, passed away earlier this year.
Panchevre said Ferguson set a tone of love and unity among the staff that still prevails. “She’s really missed.”
The partners are understandably proud that employees stick around. Mo Canales, who served as Sam’s original general manager, “ran the place for 10 years,” said Honigblum, and eventually became a minority partner. Mike Garza, Sam’s current kitchen manager, and assistant manager Abel Valdez have both been with the restaurant for more than 20 years.
“If it wasn’t for that core group, I think we would have exited a long time ago,” said Honigblum.
Loftice credits the partners with not only giving her increasing responsibility, but of taking a chance on her — which in turn allows her to take a chance on local bands.
The first band she booked was Inoha, an indie rock outfit that recently released its first album, Aloha Inoha. “A lot of these bands have a very small fan base, but they’re so dedicated,” she said. “It’s cool to see the community come together to support them.”
Lofitce said that when she was first hired, “I was a very stubborn cashier. But they kept me around and kept giving me opportunities to show them I’m capable, and it’s awesome to be a part of that.”
Panchevre has been running local restaurants and bars for a long time. A managing member of Aztec Family Group, which owns the Aztec Theater, he’s still a partner in several River Walk establishments, including most recently Casa Catrina, a Day of the Dead-themed restaurant. He also owns the Powerplant Grill in Seguin.
It’s getting tougher to succeed, he said. Like a lot of fellow restaurateurs, his establishments struggled through the pandemic and since. It’s harder to find reliable employees, and keeping prices reasonable in the face of rising costs is difficult.
But the neighborhood that once attracted vagrancy, drug use and crime has been utterly transformed, as the Pearl has continued to expand, making way for additional investment along Broadway and in the adjoining neighborhoods.
Panchevre hopes Sam’s Burger Joint and Music Hall will thrive in this revitalized environment for another 25 years. He said he appreciates the increased competition for food and live music that has grown up around Sam’s, even if it does keep him on his toes.
“It brings energy and synergy to everyone,” he said.