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and Bill
Livinggood renovated the theater and opened the doors as a music venue, offering an eclectic mix of programming from classical to rock and including live theater and movies. This was also short-lived, and the club closed in 1975. Several other groups moved in over the years. The Center Stage
311:. The violence inherent to punk rock shows eventually cost the operators their liquor license, forcing another closure in late 1982. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Play March 18 & 19, 1983. In fall 1983, Sedwick and Shelton relocated their successful
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On March 20, 2007, the Alamo
Drafthouse Cinema announced that they would be relocating their downtown cinema, which was the original theater opened in 1997, to the Ritz. They began construction on April 1, 2007 to revive the Ritz as a movie theater.
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theater group took it over in 1977, closing off the balcony to make a second, separate theater. Again, the venue didn't last long and the late 1970s saw a serious decline in the theater's fortunes, including another stint into porn exhibition.
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Shortly after, Comedian Joe Rogan, bought and remodeled The RITZ and in March 2023 he opened The Comedy
Mothership and serves as his comedy club. The Original and Historic RITZ sign can still be seen out front of the new comedy club.
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In 1937, Hegman's son Elmo took over management and expanded the theater to 800 seats by widening the theater by 25 feet. He continued showing
Westerns until television siphoned off the audience; Elmo closed the theater in 1964.
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The Ritz was built in 1929 by J.J. Hegman, who owned several movie theaters in Austin, Texas. It was the first theater in Austin to be built specifically for the talkies. The architect was
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on
October 13, 1929. It showed primarily first-run westerns with a lower ticket price than any other theater in town and frequently brought in stars like Wild Bill Elliott and
202:. The building's history includes use as a movie theater, music hall, club, and comedy house. It reopened after renovations in fall 2007 as the new downtown location for the
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In 1981, Shannon
Sedwick and Michael Shelton took out a lease and turned management over to Craig Underwood, who began running the venue as a punk rock club. Shows such as
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like most movie theaters in Texas and other southern states at that time; there was a separate entrance leading to a balcony reserved for people of color.
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were given a tour of the construction site, and inaugurated the theater with the first film to play there — Maurice
Devereaux's
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November 23 show there in 1986. The building has consistently been a music venue, bar, and pool hall since that time.
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In 2021, Alamo
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471:"Iconic Downtown Austin Alamo Drafthouse Ritz to Close as Chain Files for Bankruptcy"
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Underwood, Craig "Punk Rock
Folklore, Part One: Austin, Black Flag and the Big Boys"
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The theater remained shuttered until 1970, when it re-opened for three years as an
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and opened the doors for an influx of punk rock into the
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Advertisement "Elliott finds heart of Texas mighty big"
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386:Pearson, Jon "The Ritz: 50-year survivor"
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498:Photos of Jim Franklin at the Ritz, 1975
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528:Cinemas and movie theaters in Texas
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271:. In October 1974, entrepreneurs
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518:Culture of Austin, Texas
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176:www.originalalamo.com
88:30.26731°N 97.73961°W
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44:320 E 6th St
285:The Misfits
255:The Faculty
224:Hugo Kuehne
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66:Coordinates
507:Categories
480:2021-06-27
369:References
281:Black Flag
243:Dub Taylor
239:6th Street
232:segregated
196:6th Street
79:97°44′23″W
76:30°16′02″N
289:Hüsker Dü
212:Joe Rogan
163:Architect
305:hardcore
261:Spy Kids
186:The Ritz
123:Capacity
339:Matango
218:History
171:Website
145:Rebuilt
41:Address
348:, and
137:Opened
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104:Owner
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192:Ritz
190:The
148:2007
112:Type
20:Ritz
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