Victory Grill
a.k.a. Kovac Lounge (Theater)
1104 E. 11th St., Austin, TXThe Victory Grill is a building on 11th Street in Austin that is the last extant building from the live-music era in that area.
The original Victory Grill opened on Victory Over Japan Day in 1945. In 1947, Johnny Holmes the owner opened the new Victory Grill at 1104 E. 11th Street to provide a place of entertainment for East Austinites and black soldiers from Forts Hood and Swift during World War II. Mr. Holmes is well known in Austin as a music promoter and restaurateur. During its heydays of the early 1940s through the late 60s, blues greats such as the Grey Ghost (Roosevelt T. Williams), Bobby "Blue" Bland, B.B. King, T. D. Bell and the Cadillacs, Erbie Bowser, Lavada Durst, Jean and the Rollettes, Hosea Hargrove, Ted Roddy, and Hook and the Hitchhikers and others were booked by Holmes to perform at the Grill. Moreover, the Victory Grill was part of what was termed the "Chitlin Circuit" which was the route that followed the major highways from the North to the South and encompassed the only venues blacks were allowed to play during the age of segregation. The Victory Grill fostered some of Austin's and the states' greatest blues and jazz talents of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. It is the last extant building from the live-music era in East Austin on 11th St. The Victory Grill meets National Register Criterion A in the areas of Music and Entertainment at a local level of significance.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.