Split Rail 16 refused to co-op-erate
Violence on the picket line
The Split Rail 16 make for one of the craziest Austin club stories of the Roaring ‘70s. Liberal lawyer Bobby Nelson and her boyfriend Martin Wiginton took over the Split Rail at 217 S. Lamar, which had been around since the '50s, from Jim Parish in May 1977, with designs to run it as a workers co-op. The plan was to keep it no cover, with conjunto music on Thursday and country music the rest of the time. But the young hippies wanted to change things, like cook healthier food and have male servers in addition to females. "That turned off some of the good ol' boys, who were interested in pinching the waitresses," Rick Piltz of the co-op told the Statesman. The kids also wanted to book more rock and blues bands and less country music, which they found sexist and racist.
“The rednecks didn’t like us and they let it be known,” said Gary Floyd, the future frontman of the Dicks, who got a job at the Rail soon after moving to Austin from Palestine, TX. “Everybody did everything, so I cooked, served beer, bused tables, whatever was needed.” He said the rift started when Martin started acting like the boss and not a member of the collective.
The last straw came just a month after reopening when the co-op voted to take fried food, including the prized chicken-fried steak and onion rings, off the menu, and ordered 50 pounds of brown rice. “No fucking way!” barked Wiginton, who started firing people. Thwarting this "capitalist takeover," the co-op voted to fire Wiginton, then barred Bobby Nelson (not Willie's sister) from entering the premises. She had the 16 arrested for criminal trespass and, even after Nelson dropped the charges, they picketed the club for about a month.
The picket line was a party, with protesters passing out longnecks to supporters, but it kept eating away at the Rail regulars until they attacked the sign-carrying pranksters on the night of July 9, 1977, sending a few to the hospital.
“I left early the night of the attack,” said Floyd, who was going through a breakup and didn’t have his heart in it. “We were putting on a play that night, spoofing Martin, and you could see him and Bobbie looking at us through the window.” The collective said Nelson, Wiginton and Rail bartender David Apke participated in the violence. Nelson admitted slapping Lori Hansel in the face after the workers’ rep called her a bitch.
Eventually the protest died down and Nelson and Wiginton ran it as they wanted. Were of the acts they booked regularly were Dixie Diesels with Shawn Colvin and Partners in Crime with Buddy and Julie Miller.
The club burned down in December 1978, with the fire intentionally set with balled up newspapers. The arsonist/s were never caught.
Nelson and Wiginton went on to run the influential folk clubs the Alamo Lounge and emmajoe’s.
