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 café, 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 self-contained,
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 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 great
Satchmo 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.
B.B. King
Ike and Tina
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 café, serving good food, providing good entertainment and educational opportunities that link past African American musical forms and culture with the present.
Although the Victory Grill is under restoration, this historic venue is
open for regular and private events, tours and educational
opportunities. The venue can accommodate up to 250 people,
making it
ideal for intimate performances, private parties, and event booking. In
addition, the café side is currently showing an exhibit from the Texas
Music Museum that highlights the careers of some of the major local
blues artists from Austin, as well as photos and information on the
Victory Grill’s rich history.