Recently, Mariana Lemesoff, the longtime owner of the AvantGarden in Montrose, shared a photo of what the bar and performing-arts venue looked like before she took over the property in the '90s. In the photo, the dilapidated mansion looks like a bombed-out, dingy mess. She soon converted its two stories and attic into the venue people know these days and AvantGarden, 411 Westheimer, began its club life in 1996 as The Mausoleum. "It was dark, yet beautiful.