ENTERTAINMENT

'More than four walls.' Demolition moves ahead for Austin LGBTQ bar the Iron Bear

It's still uncertain whether three LGBTQ-friendly nightclubs at West Fourth and Colorado streets will be demolished to make way for a high-rise, after Austin's Historic Landmark Commission on Wednesday pushed back a key decision after more than an hour of pleas from the queer community to save the buildings.

But later at the same meeting, a proposal to tear down the Iron Bear, another gay bar in the Warehouse District, moved forward. 

"If Austin is to be a safe haven, it cannot demolish our queer spaces," said Oliver Hoffman, an 18-year-old a native Austinite.

The Austin Historic Landmark Commission heard public testimony Wednesday about development plans for the city's LGBTQ nightlife district on West Fourth Street.

Both development projects involve decades-old structures. None of the businesses own the buildings they occupy. The commission can determine whether structures themselves, not tenants, are historically significant. 

Historical significance is based on the criteria of architecture, historical association, archaeology, community value and relationship to landscape features.

The commission voted unanimously — and to applause in the chamber — to initiate historic zoning for 201-213 W. Fourth St., which is not a final recommendation to designate the sites as historic. Instead, commissioners directed staffers to do further research before the group's next meeting on June 1.

The stretch of buildings is home to Coconut Club, Neon Grotto and Oilcan Harry’s, which is the oldest operating LGBTQ bar in town.

A rainbow flag flies outside of a nightclub on West Fourth Street. A development plan in the Warehouse District threatens to demolish a group of LGBTQ-friendly bars at 201-213 W. Fourth St., which includes Coconut Club, Neon Grotto and Oilcan Harry's.

The proposed demolition would make room for an approximately 40-story, mixed-use tower developed by Houston-based Hanover Co. The city's staff had recommended releasing the permit, citing the “applicant’s commitment to reconstruct the building facade.” 

Continuing coverage:Demolition plans could displace about half of Austin's LGBTQ bars. Here's what to know.

A woman rides a scooter past Coconut Club. "The really unique, important space that Coconut Club occupies brings in community value that is not going to be defined by law," one Austin resident, Alissa Rhe, told Austin's Historic Landmark Commission on Wednesday.

Only Oilcan Harry’s would move back into the ground floor of the tower, with subsidized rent and a 25-year lease, according to the bar and the developer. Owners of all three bars told the American-Statesman last month that they are not fighting the demolition. 

"Oilcan Harry's will not be able to stay on Fourth if the building is deemed historic," Scott Neal, managing member for the bar, said at Wednesday's meeting. He urged the commission not to let good intentions lead to the bar closing its doors, citing ongoing affordability concerns.

Eighteen people spoke in opposition to West Fourth Street demolition. Many decried the continued displacement of local businesses to high-dollar redevelopment, while most cited the neighborhood as a lifeline for the LGBTQ community with decades of history.

Ezra Jacobs, a 20-year-old University of Texas student wearing a rainbow-colored headband, called West Fourth Street a church for the gay community, crediting RuPaul for the concept. 

As person after person spoke in opposition, some via phone, the crowd snapped and clapped. 

"Facades are not buildings," Titus Parkes told the Historic Landmark Commission's meeting Wednesday, criticizing developers' assertion that the West Fourth Street project would maintain the district's existing character. "These buildings are about the insides, as well."

"Facades are not buildings," said Titus Parkes, criticizing developers' assertion that the project would maintain the district's existing character. "These buildings are about the insides, as well."

Parkes, a 52-year-old design director at Deloitte, was teary after he spoke. 

"If you tear down these buildings, the income to Austin will be severely diminished in the future," he said. "Once everything is a big super-building, no building is super. ... You know in your hearts this is cynical, and this is not preservation."

"We have the opportunity to make development and history work together," said Michelle Rogerson Lynch, speaking on behalf of the demolition applicants. She cautioned that historic preservation actions would not guarantee that LGBTQ businesses would remain in those spaces in the long term.

Some opponents also voiced concern about luxury high-rises pushing out the people and places that make Austin weird. Commission Chair Terri L. Myers referenced reports about how many musicians can't afford to live in the Live Music Capital of the World anymore and confessed that she has felt the sting of property appraisals.

"I may not be able to live here anymore," Myers said.

Alissa Rhe, a 28-year-old who has lived in Austin for three years, told the commission how much the West Fourth Street bars mean to queer people of color. 

"The really unique, important space that Coconut Club occupies brings in community value that is not going to be defined by law. ... I think Austin has the opportunity here to set the precedent," Rhe said.  

Oilcan Harry's is the city's oldest operating LGBTQ bar. Under a plan by the Hanover Co., it would move into the ground floor of a mixed-use tower after a period of displacement from its current home.

The property now occupied by the three bars dates back almost a century. The Oilcan Harry’s location at 211 W. Fourth St. housed a beer distributor, a Lower Colorado River Authority office and a tire shop before the LGBTQ bar opened in 1990. Several businesses have operated across 201-209 W. Fourth St., including Jim’s Café in the 1930 and ´40s and the Rainbo Baking Company Warehouse.

The space at 213 W. Fourth St., most recently occupied by the shuttered bar Seller’s, lived past lives as a bus garage, a Venetian blinds manufacturer and a decorations manufacturing firm known for its flocked Christmas trees. Previous bars in the space included Kansas, Boyz Cellar and Qua.  

"There are some very special places that make Austin what it is," said Commissioner Kevin Koch, who motioned to initiate historic zoning on the basis of architecture and community value. "This is one."

Pedestrians cross the rainbow crosswalk in the West Fourth Street bar district.

More Austin LGBTQ news:What it was like when masked cowboy Orville Peck rode into a sold-out Stubb's in Austin

The scene was reminiscent of the commission's March meeting, when historic zoning was initiated for 301 W. Sixth St., currently home to the Iron Bear. Opponents of that demolition proposal also had given stirring testimony about its importance to the LGBTQ community. The building dates to 1919 and had once been home to an ice cream factory. 

But on Wednesday evening, that momentum appeared to evaporate. A supermajority of nine commissioners was needed to recommend historic zoning for the property, and only eight were present. No one spoke in opposition to the demolition. The commission voted to release the permit.

Benny Beshear, owner of the Iron Bear, sent a letter to the commission before the meeting, saying that he opposed historic zoning and supported the owner’s permit for demolition. 

“Unfortunately, this individual demolition permit has been caught up in a larger discussion of Austin and where and how the city can maintain its growth without destroying current gay safe spaces and what the city’s plans are when it comes to providing an area for those safe spaces,” Beshear wrote. 

A pedestrian walks past the Iron Bear. At a meeting Wednesday, the Historic Landmark Commission voted to release a demolition permit for the site.

Beshear said the bar’s landlords have been transparent throughout their tenancy. The building owners have offered to help in the search for a new location, he said.

“The Iron Bear is more than four walls,” Beshear wrote. 

After commissioners voted to release the demolition permit, Koch painted a grim picture for Austin's Warehouse District. He said that nine of the remaining 14 warehouses in the district were on Wednesday night's agenda, and "all could be lost."

For some members of the LGBTQ community gathered in opposition, the scenario felt familiar.

"My ancestors fought at Stonewall, they lived in Greenwich Village," Jacobs said, "and they had to fight for the right to exist."