Chain Drive

This place announced it was closing in early April. Thanks for the memories, Chain Drive.

Not the same chain drive. Not a dive bar. It’s just a new gay bar. It’s no longer seedy, creepy, dark or je né sais qua. It’s well priced. The location isn’t the best but it’s the only legitimate location for the bar with the ever-​changing landscape that is Austin. The condos under construction, the i35 access, the miniscule 15 parking spaces, and the bland interior don’t help but hopefully it will evolve into something closely resembling the old, dive bar. The building proprietor recently opened a hookah bar on the upstairs patio, in mid winter. Someone’s thought process was misguided. On busy nights it’s severely difficult to get drinks at the bar. Like the old building, this one needs a second bar. Or at least a beer trough. I used to work for the bar and I’m fully aware the odds are stacked against the employees but when the only people making money are the bartenders, if that, it’s near impossible to keep a barback or other waitstaff.
For instance this past Friday I felt the bar tanking, saw customers leaving for lack of service. A patron was asked to help tend while I ran glasses to keep them afloat. I miss working there, but I didn’t make much money compared to the work I did.
I’ll be back but it’s the clientele more so than the bar itself.

Aw I love this place. It fixed a lot of the flaws that made it ‘charming’ at its old location and didn’t manage to create too many new ones at the new location. It really is a secret gem. It’s biggest flaw is that people don’t seem to know the bar moved and that the new location is pretty cool. The bar staff are all very friendly and the drink prices are a steal compared to the 4^th Street bars or nearby Rainey Street. Of course the Austin Gears are still holding their Gear Night at the bar every first Saturday of the month and that’s always a good night to go. But there are other things going on there all the time that can draw quite a crowd as well including some new Friday events and their surprisingly good karaōke on Thursdays. Worth checking out.

What a disaster. The frontage road of the new location has promise of a little trucker sleaze. Instead, being in the new Chain Drive is like being in the lobby of a Holiday Inn in mid renovation: charmless, sterile and BORING. The atmosphere has all the sex appeal of a limp piece of cabbage in the refrigerator of an old folks home. I am sad about it: the old Chain Drive had divey magic, and had all the right architectural features for sexy trouble: dark corners, hidden courtyards, a vibe. The new Chain Drive is bland, almost corporate looking, but super uncomfortable, nowhere to sit, the patio is brightly lit like a Denny’s parking lot.
There is no longer a good gay dive bar in Austin. If you want to go to a cheap ass sports bar by the side of the highway with television screens and granitesque counter tops, ‘Bout Time 11 is a whole lot better. Knock it down and build condos — no one will know the difference. Yawn.

OMG love the new location. The old one was kind of. Well. Creepy. You couldn’t see below your waist because it was so dark and people lurked in corners. The new location allows for a bit of a dirty time without being creepy. The new building is awesome, it is just difficult to get to initially. The street that leads to the bar is closed for construction. Tip: when trying to get there either go to 35 frontage road or if coming from the area where the other bars are (ie Pearl or Icenhauer) go through the alley and into the back doors. They say don’t enter but they will save you time. Anyway, overall, great experience. Would go there again.