Why Austin Texas Can’t Afford To Lose Its Gay District To Its Future
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Austin, Texas has boomed in the last three decades on multiple fronts thanks to its reputation as the “live music capital of the world”’ its unique mix of cowboys and hipster, innovative food scene, and abundance of outdoor leisure activities.
Massive events such as the Austin City Limits Festival and South by Southwest (SXSW) have helped put Austin on the map. East Austin, also know as the warehouse district emerged as the #1 gayborhood and close it is to the downtown.
Now it may be on the verge of fading away.
Above: A new high rise on Fourth and Colorado would be set back five feet from reconstructed facades of the original warehouse buildings (Provided by The City of Austin)
Before Oilcan Harry’s opened in 1990, the blocks near Fourth and Colorado were home to Kansas, the Boathouse, and other long-gone gay bars at the edge of the then-emerging Warehouse District. That’s not a long enough history for Austin’s city code to spare the block that houses Oilcan’s from demolition by designating it as a historic district. The buildings, which date to the 1920s and 1930s, likewise don’t qualify as landmarks on their own, per a city planning report presented to the city’s Historic Landmark Commission.
A proposed high-rise, one of many that have completely changed the neighborhood since 1990, would leave new (pre-pandemic) LGBTQ-friendly clubs Coconut Club and Neon Grotto looking for new homes, with Oilcan Harry’s being offered a 25-year lease in a rebuilt space. While an architectural compromise is promising (and could set a precedent for future developments in older buildings that don’t quite make the “historic” cut), dozens of members of Austin’s queer community have reached out to Council Member Kathie Tovo, whose District 9 includes the area, to say the city can’t afford to lose its unofficial gay district. “I hope that Austin continues to be the place where queer Texans move to, remembering their early 20s, when they could escape their close-minded town or family, and celebrate life and peace by coming here,” Austinite Daniela Silva said at the May 4 HLC meeting.
The commission voted to recommend the Council proceed with historic designation despite staff’s reservations, but Oilcan’s owner Scott Neal says the new development might actually be the best way to save the block. Neal’s landlord, Michael Girard, explained that property taxes on the block have more than tripled in the last decade. When the eight years left on Oilcan’s lease are up, the cost will be too.
“The fact is, due to multiple forces outside of our control, Oilcan Harry’s will not be able to stay on Fourth if the building is deemed historic,” Neal told the commission. “We need the leverage of allowing density on our site to guarantee that Oilcan’s can stay and keep Fourth Street alive.”
The Houston-based Hanover Company presented a development plan that would involve preserving all of the original bricks in the facades of 211 and 213 W. Fourth – Oilcan Harry’s and the former Sellers Underground (once Kansas). Those bricks will be cleaned and then reassembled in their original formations. Oilcan’s would move into the new space behind the larger Sellers facade, where it could operate for 25 years. Two levels of parking above the street-level facades would be set back about 5 feet and masked with a bronze screen. Above that would be floors of living units. Where Neon Grotto sits now would be a large open-air plaza.
When preservation is not possible, “restoring the structures and then adding onto them, that’s always my ideal,” CM Tovo told the Chronicle. But on whether or not maintaining Oilcan’s would be enough to maintain the district, Tovo said, “It’s a really valid concern. When we see businesses leaving that area, they may not be able to afford some of the new rents in that area.”
Tovo continued, “I know from the dozens and dozens and dozens of emails I’ve received, there is a really strong community sentiment that we need to maintain safe and inclusive spaces like the Fourth Street district.” If Fourth Street is no longer home to the city’s gay district, though, where a new district forms should emerge (as Fourth Street did) from grassroots organization and organic development, rather than a city decision, Tovo said.
Starting afresh would come with its own set of challenges. “I would submit to you that this area is historical,” longtime Austinite Garry Brown told the commission. “By allowing this [new] building to take up so much of the gayness of Fourth and Colorado, you’re removing roughly 40 years of history in one fell swoop.”
