What 1940s Austin nightclub was on the "Chitlin Circuit"?
The Historic Victory Grill.is Austin, Texas
oldest, standing blues club.
Established in 1945 by Johnny Holmes, the Victory Cafe was originally an icehouse that hosted local blues musicians out on the porch while selling beer to local patrons in the hot Austin summer. Later, in 1949, Johnny Holmes decided to expand the icehouse and build a bar & grill that provided a space for African American soldiers returning from the war to enjoy good food and good entertainment (segregation prohibited these soldiers from doing so in most parts of town), appropriately calling it the Victory Grill. Eventually, Johnny Holmes, an astute music promoter and businessman, extended the cafĂŠ, adding the Kovac Room. It was fabulous! said Johnny Holmes, and one of the most sought after music venues for local and touring blues and R&B artists. It was time to bring B.B. King out of Memphis.
Jim Crow was an era in American history when Colored People or Negroes (as then designated), were segregated (by law) into designated communities. It was the practice of Negroes to colonize in areas that were safe and selfcontained, building their own churches, schools, eating places and of course Juke Joints . Historians have documented 1925-1974 as an era reveling the height of African American Music in the United States. Spirituals, gospel, blues, R&B (especially the Motown sound) and jazz have been duly noted as American music forms emanating from the souls of black folk . The large number of juke joints and particular routes traveled from juke joint to juke joint became the renowned Chitlin Circuit . Many great musicians careers depended and evolved on the circuit and the music in these joints. The Chitlin Circuit remains an extremely influential and important piece of American music. However, it is highly undocumented, since after desegregation, many of these juke joints and particular routes traveled from juke joint to juke joint became the renowned Chitlin Circuit . Many great musicians careers depended and evolved on the circuit and the music in these joints. The Chitlin Circuit remains an extremely influential and important piece of American music. However, it is highly undocumented, since after desegregation, many of these juke joints
disappeared, leaving few paper trails. For such reasons, the Chitlin Circuit is often seen as something mythical. The Historic Victory Grill dispels that myth. From the late 1920s to the late 1960s, Austin s East 11th and 12th Streets boasted a Chitlin Circuit scene showcasing local blues and jazz talent as well as touring acts like in the 1920s the Satchmo great Louis Armstrong to R&B artists in the 1950s like Ike & Tina Turner and the 60s the greatest of B.B. King and Bobby Blue Bland. The streets were lined with juke joints that attracted neighborhood patrons as well as university students from neighboring Houston Tillotson College and the University of Texas at Austin. During this time, the Victory Grill hosted such renown, musicians like B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Big Joe Williams, and a host of local greats such as Blues Boy Hubbard, T. D. Bell and Erbie Bowser. Artists like Billie Holiday and later Janis Joplin also made the grill a regular stop when in the city, as it was a gathering place for musicians from all walks of life.
Today, the Historic Victory Grill is one of the last remaining, original Chitlin Circuit juke joints. It is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, archived by the Texas Historic Commission, and donned as a Texas Treasure by the statewide organization Preservation Texas. It represents all of the juke joints that once lined Austin s east side that have come and gone. It also represents an important piece of Austin s African American cultural roots in a neighborhood that is undergoing change. The Historic Victory Grill is currently experiencing an
exciting restoration process that plans to bridge Chitlin Circuit preservation and restoration under the umbrella of a working juke joint and cafĂŠ, serving good food, providing good entertainment and educational opportunities that link past African American musical forms and culture with the present.