Bastion

The two large brick buildings before you are known as Houston Station. The complex that once housed the May Hosiery Mill, our second tour stop, was built in 1885. The large brick building in front of you was built around 1900. This was the same year that Nashville’s famous Union Station was completed, and Houston Street connected to the railroad, which made this a prime location for production and shipping. The former tenant here at 434 Houston Street was the American Syrup & Preserve Company. The factory produced jellies, syrups, and jams. The second floor housed a “loose room” for chewing tobacco. Processed chewing tobacco was sweetened here with the company’s syrup and molasses. The company moved in the 1970s, and this building was vacant until the 1990s. 

Houston Station now offers event venues, office space, and several art and music related businesses. As a result, Houston Station has become an avant-garde hangout for patrons and those working in WeHo. Located within, Bastion is a cocktail lounge and restaurant that perfectly complements Houston Station’s revival. The name Bastion is derived from the lead character in the 1984 movie The Neverending Story—an epic journey for a young boy who becomes part of the plot of the book he is reading.

With two spaces and options for food and drink, Bastion makes fancy friendly. The Big Bar menu offers nachos and a variety of drinks from old-fashioneds to a punch-of-the-day. Bastion’s other half, the tasting restaurant and “Little Bar,” features more complex dishes that change regularly. With only twenty-four seats and a maximum party size of six, the restaurant’s entrance is hidden within the cocktail lounge. And, while reservations are recommended, they also offer first-come, first-serve counter seating. The kitchen is open so restaurant guests can see, hear, and smell the creations of the culinary staff at work. There are no servers, which means Bastion’s chefs, mixologists, and patrons interact directly as part of this unique dining experience.

Chef Josh Habiger opened Bastion along with Strategic Hospitality, a restaurant group who opened the industrial-chic Pinewood Social and the historic Merchants Restaurant in downtown Nashville. In midtown, Strategic Hospitality hired Josh Habiger to work on a two-restaurant project in an old home on Division Street in 2009. Featured on Habiger’s impressive curriculum vitae are the Catbird Seat, a high end restaurant on the second floor of the house, and the Patterson House, a speakeasy-style craft cocktail bar on the first floor. Both of these businesses inspired Habiger’s approach and concept for Bastion. 

Earnest, our next stop, is located at the other end of the same building. Continue walking down Houston Street, and it will be on your right.