The Continental Club Austin

Austin Concerts and Live Music

Continental Club Austin
1315 S Congress Ave
Austin Texas 78704
512-441-2444

The Continental Club is a South Congress landmark and one of the best live music venues in Austin. Although small, the Continental has a long and rich history and features multiple live performances every night of the week.

The sheer amount of awesome music and great acts that have played the Continental Club make it one of Austin's most loved live music venues.

*Image courtesy of Courtney Martin*

Don't let the retro look or the birthday celebrations for Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Buck Owens fool you. The Continental hosts a wide variety of acts: alternative and progressive country, alternative rock, and, since it's Austin, a whole lot of blues, too.

The place is small and crowded but always friendly. It also boasts some of the smallest restrooms in the western hemisphere.

But the music and charm of the place more than makes up for any temporary bouts of restroom claustrophobia.

History of The Continental Club

The Continental Club has a rich and varied history. Morin Scott first opened it in 1957 as a private dinner club with touring orchestra type bands. This was a very different era of Austin (Harry Akin's Night Hawk restaurants and Matt's El Rancho are a couple of surviving contemporaries in the dining realm).

By the 1960s it had evolved into a burlesque club. In the late 1970s, Roger Collins and the late Roddy Howard, the former owners of a biker bar called the One Knite (now Stubb's BBQ), leased the Continental Club and began booking great local and regional talent.

Steve Wertheimer has owned the Continental since 1987 and has cemented the club's reputation as a top tier Austin live music venue.