Meet Johnny Schaefer | Part Owner of House of J

We had the good fortune of connecting with Johnny Schaefer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Johnny, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We consider it more of a community than a business. We started House of J with the intent to provide a space for locals in Houston to express themselves. The musicians, artists, and performers have a place to preform their art without many barriers to entry. The people who come to the house are able to dress the way they feel and make new friends without fear of judgement. Houston has a lot to express right now and we want to be a part of sharing and growing that.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
House of J is all about art and personal expression. We have created a small market of sorts where no creative endeavor is turned away.

Our main focus has always been music. Everyone in the house plays music and we are in love with putting on live events. Building this community was by no means easy. We started off with no following and only a simple living room stage. We had 10-50 people shows for years and years before picking up momentum. We always had to grow with the community and ask ourselves how we can give the most value to everyone who comes to an event. We’ve literally put blood sweat and tears into creating an environment that suits a wide variety of vendors, dancers/fire preformers, poets, artists, and too many musicians to count. After working with as many genres of art as possible, it eventually became a sort of feed back loop. The younger kids coming out would be inspired to start painting or playing bass. Before we knew it, there was a huge explosion of new artists and people coming to see them. That’s where we are now, we’ve been here just long enough to see the growth and merging of some big art communities. We can kind of sit back and see all this creation going on of its own accord.

We never set out to make money or gain clout. We really just wanted a place to play. I would love for us to make House of J a livable salary one day. But for now it remains without profit for the sake investing into our future. I hope more house venues can learn from what we’ve done, because the community is its own reward.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Nice, I really want to do this for someone lol. My out of town friends are sleeping on Houston…..

Breakfast tacos at Villa Arcos everyday, they just reopened and they make their own tortillas!

Bohemeo’s is a great lunch spot and support of the scene!

My favorite restaurant is Aladdin’s off of Montrose.

Free museums on a Thursday. And I would recommend lunch at the Japanese gardens.

Rent a bike on the Buffalo Bayou and ride that for a few hours.

As for nightlife, Avant Garden Lola’s depot on a Tuesday.

Then any other day, especially weekends, black magic social club, the kickback bar, the end, and Trip 6 are all awesome venues to hang at.

Numbers and Stereolive if ya feeling fancy.

Then of course come hang with us at House of J if there’s a show.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people who make House of J what it is. Firstly, my partners Alberta and Jeffer are equal in all of the behind the scenes operations.

I don’t think I can pick one.

As for people in the scene right now, I’d have to say Temporary Tatts Zine, Born to Hate Magazine, James (from the band Grifter), Muff Boys, and so many other vendors. Bands like Days N Daze have always been great to us. We are very inspired by their success, and take note that they are never too big to play our backyard.

Our friend Kyle McHenry is our trusted video jockey and provides amazing light shows for many of our events.

We haven’t had many mentors, there isn’t really anyone else to grandfather you into throwing shows at your house. So we have mainly had to learn as we go. But we have always attempted to listen and learn from the community as it grows.

So as a somewhat generic, but none the less sincere answer, we shoutout everyone who participates in this community.!

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