This story was originally told live at Bass Concert Hall on Oct. 23, 2024. Our next ATXplained Live show is April 29. Get tickets here.
What comes to mind when you think of Sixth Street?
Maybe you think about that part of the street between Congress and I-35. Maybe you imagine lots and lots of bars. Maybe you remember that wild night you had there back in college — or last week?
What may not immediately come to mind is history. But it turns out, Sixth Street is one of the most historic streets in Austin.
Tatum Troutt knew this and wrote to our ATXplained project to ask this question: “What happened to make dirty sixth be filled with so many of the same type of bars when there is actually a lot of history there?”
To answer her question, you have to go back to the city’s founding, because, though it may not have always been a street filled with bars, Sixth Street has always been a part of Austin.
Street of Dreams
In 1839, Edwin Waller created the original city plan, which was laid out as a grid.
Congress Avenue ran north-south to the Capitol. The other north-south roads all had river names like Colorado, Brazos and Red River. The east-west roads were all named after trees. Back then, Sixth Street was called Pecan Street.
Pecan Street had a few things going for it. First, it was far enough from the Colorado River to be safe when it flooded. This was way back before the city dammed the river and turned it into what we now know as Lady Bird Lake.
The street was also mostly level, which made travel easy. Because of this, it became a major road in and out of Austin. Businesses and buildings started popping up to serve the needs of travelers and the growing city.
So, from Austin's beginning, Sixth Street was a center of community and commerce. In fact, in the late 1800s, Pecan Street was known as the “Street of Dreams.”
Black Fifth Avenue
Sixth Street was also historically diverse.
"In the late 19th century — the 1880s, 1890s, moving all the way up to the 20th century — there are a lot of African Americans who are opening their businesses in this spot," Javier Wallace, the owner of Black Austin Tours, said about the 400 block of Sixth Street.
“It was like our Fifth Avenue, if you will, because of the amount and the concentrated amount of businesses that were owned and operated by Black people in them congregating and shopping and being in those spaces,” he said, referring to Fifth Avenue in New York City, a high-end commercial district.
When Austin was founded, many Black and Mexican Austinites lived on Waller Creek, which runs through Sixth Street and was the far-east boundary of the city at the time. It makes sense then, that this is where they would found their businesses.
Signs, signs, everywhere the signs
In the late 1800s, as a result of the growth of the city, Austin changed the name of the east-west running streets from trees to numbers, and Pecan Street became Sixth Street.
Walking down Sixth Street today, you’ll find that many buildings have historical markers. Sixth Street became a historic district in the '70s, and many of these old buildings have been preserved.
In fact, Sixth Street between Brazos and Red River has the greatest concentration of limestone Victorian commercial buildings west of the Mississippi.
If you read these markers, you’ll find that Sixth Street wasn’t just a home to Black-owned businesses; in the early 1900s Chinese, Mexican, Jewish and Lebanese businesses lined the street, too.
Ch-ch-changes
After World War II, Sixth Street fell on hard times.
It started to get a seedy reputation as a place where you could get drugs, porn and “massages.” It got to the point where in 1980, the Old Pecan Street Association begged the City Council to stop allowing sex-related businesses there, lest it become a “sex ghetto.”
In the late '70s through the '90s, music venues started to take root there. The most famous of these might be Antone's, where a young Stevie Ray Vaughan got his start. But there was also Steamboat 1874, Black Cat, Babe's, The Cannibal Club and Flamingo Cantina.
It makes the world go round
So why is the Sixth Street that we know today filled with bars? Bob Woody has a theory.
Woody opened his first business on Sixth Street in 1983. He now owns or manages several establishments on the street, including the Blind Pig. He’s been called the "Mayor of Sixth Street."
When he moved in, there was a mix of businesses. He even owned a restaurant — Old Pecan Street Cafe. He says people always ask him why the cafe went away, but it was just too expensive as a restaurant.
Over the years, property values have skyrocketed. Woody said he was offered $3.2 million for a building he bought for $80,000 in 1983.
Higher property values mean higher taxes for building owners. That means higher rent for tenants.
And because this is a historic district, for years you couldn’t build over 45 feet high, so the buildings had to be one or two stories. Tenants and owners have to try to make as much money as possible to cover rent and taxes in relatively small buildings.
So they cater to the clientele of Sixth Street. And who is that clientele? Students and tourists — basically, people who want to party.
That means, at least from Bob Woody’s perspective, a bar will bring in the most money.
So why is Sixth Street mostly the same kind of bar when there’s so much history?
The answer is simple: money.
What lies ahead
But what about the future of Sixth Street? Turns out, a company is trying to change how Austinites view the street.
Stream Realty has bought 31 buildings on Sixth Street. It plans to renovate the buildings, but keep the historic vibes. And it wants to attract Austinites to the area not just at night, but also during the day.
“Downtown has over 15,000 residences and 10,000 apartment and condo units," Paul Bodenman, senior vice president at Stream, said. “It is truly a real urban downtown. … Our first priority is to create an environment where local downtown residents want to go to on a regular or daily basis.”
In fact, the entire branding around this development leans into the idea of Sixth Street of days' past. If you go there now, you’ll see a lot of signs that say, "The New Sixth Street is Old Sixth Street."
Will the name Old Sixth catch on? Who knows.
Stream has this kind of Field of Dreams — or rather, Street of Dreams — vision about how Sixth Street will change. If they build it, we will come.
But a corporation can’t change the character of Sixth Street by itself.
Like Austin, the street has changed and evolved. It’s changed because of us. In each of its eras, the street has given the city what it wanted. What it needed.
At first, it helped the city grow. Then it gave people of color a place to dream, build and thrive. In the '70s and '80s, Sixth Street gave us the smut we craved. In the '90s it gave us music. And in the last couple of decades, people have turned to Sixth Street for good stories and bad hangovers.
What will future us want? I don’t know. But I do know that Sixth Street, our Street of Dreams, will give it to us.
