“Intimate yet casual” are the intentional words at the heart of Monks Jazz Club, an accessible listening room that hosts local and traveling jazz musicians. After spending half a decade on the Eastside, first as a pop-up concept and then a brick-and-mortar BYOB venue, owner Collin Shook is relocating the peaceful, music-centered spot to the St. Elmo Arts District thanks to the provisions of the city of Austin’s newly enacted Performance Venue zoning designation.
“With the new ordinance, there’s a whole avenue for a venue like Monks, where everything is absolutely dedicated to the music,” says General Manager Leila Sunier. “Here’s a pathway forward for us to build out our first bar.”
When the lease expiration on their Pedernales space crept closer, Shook and Sunier started looking for a venue space where they could build a lasting legacy as part of a gently blossoming jazz boom in Austin. As many venue and bar owners know, securing such a spot is a challenge. Rising rents had pushed Shook to accept selling alcohol in-house as a financial necessity, but the more locations the pair considered and the more they looked into zoning laws, the less certain they were that they could find a reasonable investment for a foodless music venue.
“We’re not restaurateurs,” Shook explains. The duo had no interest in opening a restaurant, and were worried about how the clammer of dishes and silverware would impact the quiet, attentive environment of their jazz club.
That’s where the newly established Performance Venue designation came in, allowing the club’s team to rezone a location down south through a more generous process. Loyal patrons and community members wrote testimonial letters on Monks’ behalf which, alongside assistance from civil engineer and musician Max Martinez, helped Shook and Sunier secure a land use agreement that lets them pursue their dreams of a music-first, drinks-second jazz club.
“The barrier to entry is pretty much cut in half for us to be able to grow and expand and support more music and give the patrons what they want – which is a nice cocktail or a martini and enjoy some good cathartic jazz,” says Shook. He and Sunier joke about teaching their bar staff to shake cocktails on beat to avoid any potential distraction from the action onstage. They’re one of the first venue teams to pick up the designation, which was officially amended into the city’s Land Development Code in July 2023. According to the initial resolution, the amendment is intended to reflect that “creativity is a cornerstone of Austin’s identity and economic prosperity, and arts, culture, and creativity are essential keys to the City’s unique and distinctive identity.”
Monks Jazz Club hosted its final show on Pedernales on Dec. 27. They’re continuing BYOB shows in 310 E. St. Elmo Rd. Unit B, adjacent to their new home at Unit A, until the bar officially opens in early March.
“We’re really proud of how devoted our scene is to making sure that we get through to the next steps,” says Sunier. “We’re really proud of all of our musicians and the work that they do and putting on shows every night. We’re really excited for this next chapter.”
This article appears in January 2 • 2026.