Victory Grill

During World War II, segregation barred African American servicemen from most civilian restaurants and recreational facilities in Austin, prompting civic leaders to seek recreation sites for men on leave. After a gymnasium-auditorium complex opened in Rosewood Park in April 1944 and was dedicated to Doris Miller, Johnny Holmes answered the continuing need by opening the original Victory Grill, also known as the Victory Café, on East 11th Street on VJ Day, August 15, 1945, in a converted icehouse. In East Austin, he created a place where returning African American servicemen could find both accessible dining and blues and jazz entertainment. In 1947, with support from his wife, Basyle Winifred Vanzandt, Holmes built a new structure at 1104 E. 11th Street for the Victory Grill. Its enclosed open-air rear patio, the Kovac Room, became a notable stop on the Chitlin’ Circuit, a network of African American music venues across the West and South. The Kovac Room’s small size and desegregation in the 1960s contributed to the Victory Grill’s decline, and it closed in 1973. After Holmes’ death in 2001, his children reopened the site. The Victory Grill stands as a home front cultural landmark of the World War II African American experience in Texas.

Austin, Texas · United States