Inside the Multi-Partner, “Second Chance” Takeover of 29th Street Ballroom

An Avengers-like team of Austin venue managers has taken over 2906 Fruth, formerly known as the Ballroom.

The leaders of Resound Presents, Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, Little Darlin’, and Yellow Jacket Social Club soft-launched 29th Street Ballroom before Christmas, with a wider grand opening slated for March.

“This is like our second chance,” says Brian Tweedy, who owns Hotel Vegas and Chess Club with Jason McNeely and worked at the venue when it was Spider House Ballroom. “Not only are we going back to the 29th Street Ballroom, but also we get a second shot at the mid-sized room, like Barracuda, which we lost because of COVID. I think that that left all of us with a bad taste in our mouth. So it’s exciting to be able to have that opportunity again.”

Whereas Hotel Vegas and Chess Club primarily host local music, the duo’s since-closed space at 611 E. Seventh – now home to comedy club The Creek and the Cave – booked mid-sized touring bands primarily scheduled by Margin Walker Presents, the former booking company of Graham Williams and Ian Orth. The partners join the 29th Street Ballroom management team under Resound Presents, which launched in 2021.

“[Barracuda] was kind of our main home for shows of that size,” Williams says, describing artists who have graduated beyond small rooms like Mohawk’s indoor stage but aren’t quite ready to play its outdoor stage, which fits around 1,000 people. “It was really sad when that closed over the pandemic shutdown, because there’s never been a proper venue to replace it, size-wise or vibe-wise.”

A 2018 Chronicle cover story detailed alleged sexual misconduct by former Spider House Ballroom co-owner John Dorgan. In 2021, the space reopened as the Ballroom under the management of Arlo’s proprietor Chris Baker.

The following year, Tweedy and McNeely opened the adjoining Spider House Cafe (located at 2908 Fruth) as Tweedy’s alongside Yellow Jacket Social Club‘s Amy Mullins and Shannon LeBoeuf and Kinda Tropical’s Johnny Yaklin. Tweedy and McNeely were approached about taking over the Ballroom’s lease over the summer and brought in Williams and Orth, Mullins, LeBoeuf, and Yaklin, and Little Darlin’s Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez.

“Four of the people in the partnership I’ve known since I was a teenager,” says native Austinite Tweedy, who recalls meeting Williams at a roller rink in middle school. “We knew at some point we would all be working together … It just made sense because we wanted it to be local.”

The North Campus dweller is also happy to run a venue away from the chaos of Downtown. “There’s just so much magic on that block,” Tweedy says of the area. “And unlike other areas of Austin that have really developed heavily, that area doesn’t feel that way. It almost feels protected.”

Light renovations – including new paint, lighting, sound systems, and a nicer green room, Williams shares – are underway at 29th Street Ballroom during the week, while the venue has concerts scheduled on weekends through the spring (including Free Week sets this weekend by Borzoi, Ritual., Gummy Fang, Tear Dungeon, Think No Think, and Fifi Knifefight).

The parking lot connecting the venue and Tweedy’s now has six food trucks – Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos – and additional picnic tables.

“The whole goal is for people to feel like they can come early or stay late if they’re going to a show,” says Mullins, who is primarily in charge of the bar. “Have dinner, stay and have some drinks. We want to have a good NA menu as well … We want to make it our own little compound over there – a fun block.”

Once renovations are completed, the owners plan to host events in theatre and comedy in addition to music. “By the time March rolls around and spring opens up and we’re allowed to be outside and do outside things, hopefully we’ll have way more offerings and it’ll be more of a community space and less of a music venue,” Tweedy says. He points to a freshly launched coffee program at his namesake bar as another source of daytime traffic at the compound.

Despite ongoing changes, Tweedy says maintaining an old-Austin feel at 29th Street Ballroom is the nine-person management team’s priority. “We are all people that came from this town,” he says. “It’s really important to us to keep some of these grounded businesses out there, when everything is so radical… We’re going to do everything in our power to keep this like Austin and what we’ve done for the last 15 years.”

This article appears in January 3 • 2025.