The members of Chulita Vinyl Club, or the “chulitas,” as they call themselves, take pride in spinning vinyl sets that blend genres and tell stories. At the Flower Shop, CVC has been a part of the action since the first chapter.
“It’s so fun to connect with people that love music, especially through the craft of vinyl, which is a really intimate, tactile way of connecting and communicating,” says chulita Shavone Otero, whose DJ name is Con Safos.
Their second-Saturday residency – usually spun by Otero, Raquel Peña, and Jessenia Giron – quickly became one of the collective’s favorites. Seventies-inspired, New-York-gone-Austin bar the Flower Shop opened last October on East Seventh, and as the three-story joint began to blossom, CVC’s genre-expansive, danceable mix built a loyal fan base.
“It’s super diverse when we spin there. Everyone is welcome. It’s been really exciting to see the space grow in diversity,” Peña, aka DJ Raquiqui, says. “The staff is super, super kind and they go out of their way for us. We feel like part of the family.”
The family-feel fits right in the collaborative, supportive energy of Austin’s CVC chapter. Currently composed of 11 members, CVC formed its first collective here in 2014. In the intervening decade, the group of vinyl DJs has expanded, sparking chapters across Texas and California. Each chulita brings their own distinct style and collection to their inclusive group.
“You build a connection,” Giron says, smiling at her fellow DJs. “Through DJing and sharing skills and being in community through music, Shavonne and Raquel have become some of my closest friends.” Giron, who spins as DJ Suspiros, came to DJ’ing through meeting another Austin chulita. She dove into learning beat matching and vinyl mixing from her fellow collective members, while building up her own vinyl collection. “Growing up, my mom’s music was salsa and merengue,” Giron says. In the early days of her collecting, she stumbled upon a Wilfrido Vargas merengue record complete with carefully clipped newspaper articles from Vargas’ early career, remnants of the previous owner that make it one of Giron’s most cherished.
Playing from prized physical albums onstage creates a special relationship between the DJ and the music for these vinyl spinners. “I can go really deep in vinyl records,” Peña says, “[with] the connection of the physical format and where it’s been and their story of who had that record before you.” Remixing Chicago’s “Street Player” in her recent CVC sets keeps the memory of her father and the music he loved a part of her everyday life.
Otero elaborates on vinyl’s connective and expressive properties, sharing a story of a darkwave cumbia night that animated her own genre-blending sets: “All these brown goth kids were dancing, and as soon as cumbia came on we were all dancing cumbia,” she says with a laugh. “It’s like storytelling. It can be how you feel music that day and how you’re sharing it with other people or connecting to the artist and learning more about them and how they produced this music. It’s just a really beautiful way to connect with people and yourself.”
At the Flower Shop residency, the tracks each CVC DJ spins tells her own story, and the story of the evening – sometimes incorporating disco, darkwave, cumbia, Tejano tracks, and more. This week’s Pride-themed set is no exception.
“I feel like my collection’s so gay,” Peña says with a laugh.

Chulita Vinyl Club August Pride de Noche Edition
Saturday 9, the Flower Shop
This article appears in August 8 • 2025.
