Victory Grill

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Victory Grill
(U.S. National Register of Historic Places)
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Coordinates: 30°16′09″N, 97°43′43″W
Added to NRHP: October 16, 1998

Victory Grill is a historic music venue located at 1104 E. 11th St, Austin, Texas. The nightclub was on the Chitlin' Circuit and hosted famous African-American acts such as Bobby Bland, Gatemouth Brown, W. C. Handy and B. B. King during the age of racial segregation in the United States. Victory Grill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 16, 1998.

[edit] History

Johnny Holmes, a booking agent and band manager, opened the Victory Grill on Victory over Japan Day, 1945 as a restaurant and bar for black soldiers returning from the war. In the segregated south of the 1940's, these servicemen could not walk into just any place to have a beer. The first incarnation of the Victory was a small "lean-to" building, but Holmes soon moved to a larger building next door.

Holmes was also familiar with both the burgeoning Texas blues and jazz scenes, and soon, the club became known for its music as well as its food and drink. The club began attracting music lovers, no matter what their race. During its heyday in the 1950s, most of the popular national blues, rhythm and blues, and jazz acts that played Austin performed at the Victory Grill. Ike & Tina Turner, James Brown, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Chuck Berry and Janice Joplin were some of the artists who graced the stage. A resident of the area later quoted, "The street was so crowded you could barely walk. It was like New Orleans."

Holmes leased the Victory Grill out in 1952, while he traveled to West Texas and then Alaska. When he returned in 1965, he was shocked at how much the area had declined. Integration had allowed affulent blacks to move to the suburbs. Also with desegregation, the Chitlin' Circuit ceased to exist, as acts that were once confined to the Victory could now play many other venues. These two factors led to declining attendance and forced Holmes to close the nightclub portion of the Victory in the mid-1970s. Holmes kept the restaurant portion open as the Victory's food was still special enough to be a big draw.

On Juneteenth weekend of 1987, East 11th came alive with music again at a large reunion bash which brought many of the Victory's former musicians and fans together again. The Victory Grill finally closed for good on October 10, 1988, when it suffered major damage from a fire that spread from an adjoining vacant building.

Many movements and fundraisers were held in the following years to get the Victory Grill back open but most met with tepid response at best. Finally, in 1995, R.V. Adams, a friend of Holmes began restoration efforts and the club re-opened in 1996. This initiated a cultural rebirth of the area, which had become a casualty of urban blight.

[edit] References

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