The club operated out of a small backroom of the Manhattan Restaurant and fit approximately eighteen people, according to a patron. Although no official sources document the advertisement of the space for this purpose, several witnesses have verified the Manhattan Club as a gay-friendly establishment in Austin throughout these years.
Operated by Jewish couple David and Florence “Flo” Robbins, the Manhattan Restaurant at 911 Congress Avenue opened in 1957 and closed in 1969. The Manhattan Club was Austin, Texas’s, earliest documented gay bar.
