We first knew of it as the Boyz Cellar and it was our favorite joint in Austin. It would host the wild college strip offs and some of the hottest boys in the city. Hence the name Boyz Cellar. It then went on to a vacant spot for awhile and sat there empty during a Labor Day weekend leaving everyone disappointed. Now it has re-opened after another change of owners this time it looks like it may stay for some time to come. The new danceclub is called Castro’s Warehouse and is located between Rain on 4th and Oil Can Harry’s.
Castro’s is open Wednesday thru Sundays with Friday and Saturday afterhours until 4am! Austin needed this badly as the town was getting a bit boring the last few times we have been there with no Kiss and Fly and no real gay afterhours. The dancefloor lights up similar to the Rain on 4th dancefloor.. we are not sure why they love that theme so much but it is what it is… I prefer the dancefloor at Castro’s much more than Rain though (same owners). It has more room.
DJ Filthy Rich takes over with House music and we LOVE house especially gay house. He plays the afterhours Friday then DJ Havoc the regular DJ from Kiss & Fly takes over Saturdays. Sunday nights look exciting once again for Austin which is normally a ghost town on the end of the weekend. Poo Poo Platter the drag show that tops them all in the weirdest way possible performs at Castro. This is not to be missed.
We are surprised they did not renovate it more and turn the upstairs office into a larger overall club. Maybe knock down the wall at Rain and make it even larger. It still serves its purpose as a niche club/bar… and is still hella fun.
Rain is 18 and up on Fridays but Castro is everynight after 2am on the weekends. We always wondered why OCH does not go the 18 and up route? They will most likely have to evolve. It was pretty dead inside there with a very closed minded DJ (at least that was the case a few months previous).
The history of Castro’s warehouse is where it went from Boyz Cellar to Qua which was a super bitchy straight/mixed crowd lounge to another bitchy lounge called Hyde owned by the Yassine brothers who were raided along with Kiss and Fly nightclub. Several of the downtown Austin bars seized from the Yassine brothers have repoened under new owners.
– Bourbon Girl at 212 E. 6th Street, the former site of Spill
– 413 Bar at 413 E. 6th Street, the former site of Treasure Island
– Chicago House at 607 Trinity, the former site of Fuel
– Castro’s Warehouse at 213 W. 4th Street, the former site of Hyde
The TABC cancelled permits for five additional businesses owned by the Yassines: Malaia, Kiss & Fly, Roial, Pure and Stack Burger. Kiss and Fly which was a gay club and was the only gay afterhours for awhile was closed down in the raid and tried to re-open as 404 but is now sitting there with no liquor license.
Brothers Mike, Steve, and Hadi Yassine were accused of using their nine downtown nightclubs as a front. This past October, Mike and Hadi were found guilty on all counts of money laundering. Mike had been charged with four counts; Hadi was charged with three.
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