6 Best Social Club
Community in the Making
Words Deven Wilson
Making connections in the digital age requires more than good WiFi. Whether you’ve lived in Austin since birth or just moved here yesterday, meeting new people in this digital age can be difficult. Thankfully, in East Austin, plenty of groups organize clubs and get-togethers to foster a sense of community.
512 Coffee Club
Combining caffeine and adrenaline, 512 Coffee Club comes together at the Cabana Club for a morning (10am to 2pm) filled with sipping coffee and plunging into an ice bath to fully wake up. This social club offers a chance to gather with fellow Austinites for the ultimate means to energize while socializing before starting
the day. @512coffeeclub | 5012 E 7th St.
ATX Girl Hangouts
For women tired of trying to acquire meaningful connections online, ATX Girl Hangouts offers a chance to find a community offline. They host free public meetups and a paid $35 monthly membership that provides private members-only events for a more intimate means to make connections. Their events can range from chill hangs to active workouts, all intended to help local women connect.
@atxgirlhangouts | various locations
ABP Running Club
Every Sunday at Austin Bouldering Project at Springdale, join local running enthusiasts as they complete a 5K loop. Beyond running around town with some new friends, attendees are given discounted or free day passes to the bouldering gym to use after the run. Choose between climbing their walls for even more exercise, cooling down in their cold plunge, heating up in the sauna, or showering to wash off the hard work of a communal run. sweatpals.com/AustinBoulderingProject | 979 Springdale Rd.
The Little Gay Book Club
More of a social club that reads than strictly a book club, The Little Gay Shop hosts community-focused and free-to-attend meetups to discuss queer literature. With multiple meetups a month covering banned books, nonfiction queer literature, and a virtual book club, various interests and schedules are happily accommodated by the club. On top of discussions, the club also hosts multiple queer writers for author talks to further engage with the text. Anyone who hasn’t had a chance to crack open one of the covered books is still welcome to come to discussions. It’s a community, not a classroom. thelittlegayshop.com/pages/book-club | 1902 E 12th St.
ATX Supper Club
Get a taste of the town with like-minded foodies at ATX Supper Club. With tiers of memberships starting at $9 a month, you can mingle while sampling the best Austin’s culinary scene has to offer. While their dinners are open to the whole community even without a membership, becoming a member gets you discounts on tickets ranging from 10% to 20%, depending on the tier, and first access to all dinners.
atxsupperclub.com | various locations
Hyperreal Film Club
Now, with a physical location in Chicon, Hyperreal Film Club has space to gather local movie lovers and connect with them over their favorite flicks. Since 2016, they’ve grown from a pop-up to a full-scale institution celebrating the weird and wonderful world of cult, genre, arthouse, and indie movies. Screenings are open to the public, but with membership starting at a mere $2 a month, members can get invites to members-only screenings and parties to take their film fixation to another level. hyperrealfilm.club | 301 Chicon St.
