We did some remodeling on it and over the years, it just grew and grew. Back then it was just a little bar that used to be called the Windmill Lounge or something like that. We got the original ’Bout Time in the Eighties. … We had the 505 Club and moved it over to Fourth Street and that was in 1990.
We shortened it to Charlie’s and then Charlie’s Austin. It used to be called Uncle Charlie’s back in the Eighties. We started in the gay bar business back in 1982 with the Private Cellar and in 1984 with Enzo’s, a straight bar, and the next step was Charlie’s. The business has been fun we’ve had a great time. We couldn’t have paid the bills anyway with that. Even if we had decided to keep it open longer, we would have had to do business. But then when this came along, because we were in bankruptcy, we did not get the payment plan with the government.
Since we had filed bankruptcy back in September, the bar had started doing pretty well. Right now I’m 81 years old and it’s just time to quit. … We’ve been doing this for about 35 years. We lost money operating the bar the last three or four years to try to keep it open. Austin Chronicle: Why is BT2 closing? Ray McDermett: Actually, the closure has been thought of for quite a long time now.
