Cheer Up Charlies

Cheer Up Charlies is a small, single-story building with a simple gable roof. The north and south facades are bookended with outdoor bars and seating. Most of the parking lot (notice how large it is—the building was originally a used car lot!) has been converted into picnic seating for a local food truck, but the main stage anchors the whole venue into the site.

Cheer Up Charlies is one of the few LGBTQ+ safe spaces in Austin. This site has anchored the community in a similar capacity since playing host to Chances (1982-1994), a lesbian bar run by Sandra Dee Martinez, followed by the queer-friendly Club DeVille (1997-2013). Today, Cheer Ups (for short) is a bar owned and operated by Maggie Lea and Tamara Hoover, who pride themselves on creating an establishment that de-centers cisgender gay men and serves as a home for queer folks of all stripes—including trans, bisexuals, and lesbians. “One of our goals is actually to empower queer individuals in the community, queer artists and entertainers, and also our patrons, to take ownership of their queerness, their expressions and their freedom to do so,” Lea said in an interview with local news outlet KXAN. “So much of being in the queer community is learning how to sustain ourselves.”

Cheer Ups hosts events all year long, from bringing in bands and singers for large events such as SXSW and ACL, to drag and benefit shows that include alumni from RuPaul’s Drag Race. The bar’s mainstage is a simple wood-framed structure with large theatrical trusses that frame a proscenium flanked with lights and speakers. The stage sits in the northwest corner of the site at the bottom of a limestone cliff, which is reinforced with tiebacks and steel mesh to catch any falling rocks. The large stage lights and neon sign mounted on the cliff illuminate the stage and the audience for spectacular shows ranging from rock concerts to drag shows.

In recent years, Cheer Ups has been a primary platform for Briggitte Bandit, an Austin-based drag performer who has made it onto everyone’s gaydar! Because of this queen, Cheer Ups has become a rallying center for LGBTQ+ activism since the Texas Legislature passed SB1, a ban on drag performances in public spaces, and SB17, a ban on DEI and queer-centric literature in schools and universities. In 2021, AIA Austin’s LGBTQIA+ Alliance joined forces with Drag Queen Story Hour to rally Austin’s queer community to fight back against these and many other anti-LGBTQ+ bills. – Joe D’Elia, AIA