A historic Austin movie house that has also been a music club, a shoe-repair shop, a porn theater and an Alamo Drafthouse location is poised to become a comedy club with links to podcaster Joe Rogan.
A request before the Austin Historic Landmark Commission indicates the owners’ intention to open a business called Comedy Mothership in the building, reported local blog Towers. Asylum Real Estate Holdings, which bought the building last year, is managed by Rogan representative Matt Lichtenberg of L.A.’s Level Four Business Management.
Rogan, who moved to Austin two years ago, has been looking for a place to open a comedy club not far from the tony West Lake Hills enclave where he lives, but his plans to buy that property fell through, according to Towers. It was reported in September that he was looking for a location on the party-heavy portion of Austin’s East Sixth Street often called “Dirty Sixth.”
Proposed sign for the Ritz Theater (via The City of Austin)
The Ritz opened in 1937 in what is now the Sixth Street National Register District downtown. It had several incarnations through the years but stayed in the same family’s hands until last year’s sale. Most recently, it was a location for Austin-born movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse. The Drafthouse, which took over management and renovated it into a two-screen theater in 2007, gave up the lease and closed it permanently in 2021.
The Ritz Theater in Austin (WhisperToMe/via Wikimedia Commons)
Architect Chris Weiss, who is also involved in the team that wants to redevelop the Austin Opera House, is representing the applicant for the Comedy Mothership signage before the landmark commission.
[Towers] — Cindy Widner
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