Page 5 - Bunkhouse 2017 Employee Handbook

BUNKHOUSE HISTORY

Liz Lambert left her job as a prosecutor in the Manhattan Along the way, Liz’s love for music gave birth to the
District Attorney’s office in 1994 and returned to her South By San José music festival, which grew from
native Texas to work in the Attorney General’s office in three bands on the asphalt of the old motel in 1998 to
Austin. She used to hang out at the Continental Club on a five-day festival in the parking lot with attendance in
South Congress Avenue with her friend (club owner) Steve the thousands and headliners like Built To Spill, Billy
Wertheimer and fantasize about the rundown old 1930’s Joe Shaver, Alejandro Escovedo, The Black Angels and
hotel across the street. In those days, South Congress countless other local and touring bands concurrent with
was a bad part of town and the hotel was a haven for the SXSW festival in Austin. The Hotel San José and Jo’s
drugs, crime and cyclical poverty. In a stroke of luck or Coffee are host to a variety of regular and special events
destiny, Liz approached the owners on a whim to find out throughout the year.
they had just put the property up for sale. She bought the
hotel thinking she’d renovate it one room at a time, but In 2006 Liz created Bunkhouse, a company to oversee
reality set in, and she ended up running the hotel in its her growing portfolio of hotels and Jo’s Coffee locations.
existing state as a low rent residential hotel for several In 2008 she opened Hotel Saint Cecilia around the
years while she worked on funding to renovate it. In the corner from the San José and in 2009 she opened El
course of chronicling her experiences with the residents Cosmico - an 18-acre vintage trailer, tepee and tent
of the hotel on video camera, she ended up making a hotel and event space in far West Texas in Marfa, Texas.
documentary called ‘Last Days of the San José” that 2009 also marked the opening of Hotel Havana, a 27-
casts an interesting light on human relationships in room historic property on the north end of the River
gentrification and urban renewal. Walk in San Antonio, as a Bunkhouse hotel. Jo’s Coffee
expanded from its original location in the parking lot of
Once funding came through, Liz worked with the the San José to open a second location- a full restaurant
celebrated San Antonio architecture firm, Lake/Flato, in the Second Street district in downtown Austin - in
to transform the motor court property into its current 2006, and later expanded to open two Jo’s locations
incarnation as a great example of Texas minimalist style at St. Edward’s University in 2011 and into the Austin
and Liz’s unique design voice. From bed platforms made Convention Center in 2012. Bunkhouse continues to
of reclaimed native hardwood to custom saddle leather explore new opportunities to create hotels and coffee
chairs by artist Jamey Garza, from granite pathways to shops that offer community and a genuine sense of
the impeccably curated landscape designed by artist place.
Mark Word - the San José’s design reflects a voice that is
proudly local and uniquely Texan.

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