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UnBARlievable on West 6th Street had a largely mask-less crowd surrounding it in September 2020. (Laura Figi/Austonia)
With Texas' mask mandate ending and Gov. Greg Abbott giving businesses the go-ahead to open at full capacity on Wednesday, some bars couldn't be happier about their newfound freedom to open like its 2019.
Bars, like many other businesses, took a huge hit as they were forced to close and then only opened as restaurants a few months ago. While many are opting for safety despite the lifting of the mask mandate, those that have been skirting pandemic rules since the beginning of the pandemic are proud to say they are opening in pre-covid style.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Icehouse, 701 W. 6th St., did not answer several calls from Austonia, but took to Facebook and Instagram to celebrate that "Texas is open" after Abbott announced that bars no longer had to follow restrictions.
Back in June, the bar was one of a few that had its alcohol permit suspended by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for violating social distancing rules.
Similarly, UnBARlievable on West 6th Street, the self-proclaimed "greatest drinkery on Earth," had its permit suspended at the same time as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Icehouse but is taking a unique route in regards to the new order.
Brandon Cash, owner of UnBARlievable, The Rooftop on 6th, The Aquarium on 6th and The Goodnight posted to his personal Instagram story that UnBARlievable would be "masks off" and "100% open" come March 10.
Cash has been making a splash in the Austin bar scene for a while, not just for his disdain for COVID-19 safety precautions but he has also been called out multiple times for racism and sexism over the years.
Anti-Brandon Cash blog, shutdownbrandoncash.com, said he posted on Facebook after Unbarlievable had its alcohol license suspended earlier this year. Cash has repeatedly refused to apologize for the comments he has made on social media.UnBARlievable did not answer multiple attempts to call the establishment during business hours.
Elgin bar Liberty Tree Tavern, 117 N. Main Street, also celebrated the news on Facebook, saying it was "bout damn time" that the state opened up. The bar garnered national attention back in May 2020 for not allowing masks to be worn inside the establishment.
The bar encouraged patrons not to come to the bar if they were concerned for their safety.
According to a poll done by KXAN, a fifth of Austinites said they will stop wearing masks altogether tomorrow, whereas a poll done by Eater Austin showed that 38% of Austinites said they would only dine at restaurants and bars that don't require masks.
While a huge majority of Austin bars are planning to keep safety precautions, some are taking a middle ground. Open-air music venue Cedar Street Courtyard, located at 208 W. 4th St., told Austonia they will still encourage wearing masks and social distancing but they will not require it. Additionally, they will allow people to roam the venue and hit the dance floor.
Of the 22 bars that answered calls from Austonia, 21 confirmed they would continue to enforce restrictions as normal. View some of them here.
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Popular
Miami and Austin are going head-to-head for tech transplants. (Pexels)
California expats and industry experts say Austin remains the bigger draw for Californians, especially those in the tech sector, but warn that this advantage could shift to Miami if the city doesn't address the policy challenges that prompted the migration in the first place: housing affordability.
"If Austin doesn't accommodate this influx, I think all the talent will come to Miami," said Peter Yared, a tech entrepreneur who moved to Miami from San Francisco in September. "I think Miami's going to be the one that sucks it all up."
Push factors
Both Texas and Florida promise business-friendly state tax policies, and their governors tout the relocations of companies such as Tesla and Oracle from California. But Darien Shanske, a law professor at the University of California Davis whose specialties include taxation, said this is a red herring because corporate taxes are based on where sales occur rather than headquarter locations.
This is not to say other state policies are irrelevant. "The area in which California regulatory policy has been, in my opinion, not a complete failure but problematic … is housing policy," Shanske said. Austin and Miami can offer "not cheap, just cheaper" housing than what is available in Silicon Valley. Plus, both cities are developing a critical mass of talent, which further draws Californians in. "If you're a software engineer, you want to live near other software engineers," he added.
But not every Californian is motivated to move. "San Francisco is a fantastic place to live if you can afford it," said Brandy Aven, a professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. As a result, it's more common for what she called the labor—engineers, programmers and even company founders—to relocate to cities such as Austin and Miami than the monied venture capitalists. Burgeoning tech cities may find that they need to develop homegrown investor networks to support local ventures in the absence of Californian transplants, but she believes this is doable.
Pull factors
Paul O'Brien, CEO of the Austin-based MediaTech Ventures and a startup veteran, moved to Austin from California in 2009, during the Great Recession. "I'm a firm believer that the world has been seeking an alternative to Silicon Valley for a long time," he said, pointing to Austin as the natural heir for myriad reasons.
Austin has regional appeal as the epicenter of three of the country's largest cities—Houston, Dallas and San Antonio—and their respective industry niches. Tech entrepreneurs could cater to the local consumer goods industry or Houston's oil and gas sector. Plus the city has cultural appeal, thanks to the Red River District and South by Southwest, which made it attractive to job seekers. "The whole reason everyone moved to Silicon Valley is opportunity," O'Brien said. "The whole reason people are now looking beyond Silicon Valley to somewhere else is opportunity."
It's less clear what Miami's key industries are, O'Brien said, but the city offers other selling points, including the mayor's buy-in and "a tremendous depth of wealth" to support a technology and startup ecosystem.
Although Yared didn't consider moving to Austin, he is aware of its appeal to engineers, especially now that their hero, Elon Musk, has moved there, shunning California. "Austin has a lock on tech," he said, but Miami draws a different crowd, including financiers from New York. This parallel migration, coupled with the city's more outwardly pro-growth building policies, gives him hope that Miami could supplant Austin in the coming years. "In the end, communities get to choose what they want," he said.
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