HOTEL VEGAS

Hotel Vegas opened in 2011 inside the Salinas Building on East 6th Street, a structure that dates back to 1949 and originally operated as, yes, an actual hotel. Business partners Charles Ferraro and Christian Moses Wills got things started, and Jason McNeely and Brian Tweedy came on board a year later. Since then, Hotel Vegas has become one of the most important venues in Austin for the kind of music that sits just outside the mainstream. The booking favors garage rock, psych, punk, and indie, but the range is wider than that, covering everything from DJ nights to creative cover band events to full-on showcases during South by Southwest and Levitation. There are two stages, one inside the dark, compact club and one outside in the sprawling backyard patio that connects to sister bar The Volstead Lounge next door. The patio is honestly bigger than the indoor venue and has its own bar, food options, and enough room to wander. Drinks are cheap. Lone Star flows freely. The crowd tends to be East Austin regulars who actually care about discovering new music. The venue celebrated its 15th anniversary in early 2026, which in Austin venue years is practically ancient. Hotel Vegas has managed to grow without losing the scrappy, slightly weird energy that made people fall in love with it in the first place. It is one of those places that feels like it belongs to the neighborhood, not just to the industry.