21st Street Co-op
The 21st St. Co-op is a clothing optional student owned and operated housing co-operative located at 707 W. 21st St. Austin, Texas, 78705, just a few blocks west of the University of Texas at Austin and the Drag. They are a part of the College Houses Student Cooperatives and a member of NASCO.
The 21st Street Co-op offers a unique combination of suites, walkways, balconies and landscapes. This co-op is the first building in Texas designed from the ground up to be a co-op.
Its 100 members share furnished private and double rooms joined into small suites, contributing to a close-knit community. Each suite includes a common living room, kitchenette, semi-private baths with large windows opening out onto the front or back yards. The large common dining room serves 17 meals per week to students and vegetarian options are available.
History
The 21st St. Co-op had a difficult birth. The 21st St. coop was under construction in August, 1974. Because the country was in the middle of a recession, many of the construction workers did not have definite jobs after 21st, so they took their time finishing the structure, not to mention the foreman ran off to Ohio with the payroll. The weather was also unusual, making construction particularly difficult.
100 contracts for new members had been signed and during the summer the members had numerous meetings down the street at the Ark (now Pearl Street Co-op) to discuss co-op philosophy, governance, operating systems, and other ideas for making the co-op function. The most innovative idea that came out of these meetings was the committee system.
Unfortunately, when the semester came, 21st St was nowhere near completion. Because contracts had been signed, College Houses rented a hotel for the 21st St. members live in. There, the co-ops committees began to meet.
Things went smoothly for co-opers at the hotel, until the Democratic state convention came to Austin. They took up all of the hotel rooms, including the ones that 21st Streeters were living in. 21st St. was still not completed, so members moved in with friends and family. Some even moved into the unfinished building, which had no water or electricity.
Finally, in early November the building was officially open. People moved into the new co-op, and amazingly almost no one with an original contract had left to find alternative housing. It is widely considered that 21st St.’s difficult beginning brought its members even closer together as a community.
Community Structure
21st St. consists of 100 student members living in the co-op, and a handful of associate members. Associate members do some labor and pay a small fee to eat and have all of the rights of a full member. Most members attend the University of Texas at Austin, while others are enrolled at other local colleges and universities.
A general membership meeting and kitchen & labour meeting is held every week for house members to vote on new plans and actions concerning the house, as well as to review labor and interview new members.
The co-op runs on a labor system. Each resident of the co-op does four hours of labor per week. Some examples are cooking, cleaning, and maintenance. There are also officer positions for those who have a desire to invest themselves more into the co-op like education representative, labour czar, and grounds hog, which are voted on by the house. Labor keeps the cost of living down because members fix and maintain most things themselves.
House Structure
There are twelve different suites at 21st Street Co-op. Eight of the twelve suites are two stories, with ten people in eight rooms sharing a living room and kitchenette. Four of the twelve suites are single story suites that are on top of the two story suites with five people in four rooms sharing a living room and kitchenette. Each floor has four bedrooms (three private rooms, and one shared), and two restrooms, one with a bathtub, the other with a shower. Some suites allow cats and many rooms have lofted beds.
Each suite has a kitchenette that can be used to store personal food items or to cook small meals. The kitchenettes are not used often for cooking since there is a large restaurant sized kitchen that serves three meals a day for the whole house. However, the kitchenettes do come in handy in between semesters when meals are not served and the main kitchen is often closed.
There is a computer room, a TV room (known as the TV Temple,) a dining room, a laundry room, a maintenance shed, a bicycle repair shed, and an area known as “the commons” where many gatherings and concerts take place. There are a number of murals at the 21st St. Co-op, many of which are in the commons, others can be found in suites and bathrooms. 
There are also several gardens around the house, and a huge back porch where most meetings take place.
Major Events
Birthday Party
Birthday Party occurs every fall semester and is the largest party put on by the 21st St. Coop, and one of the largest parties in the West Campus district, generally attracting thousands of guests. The party is to celebrate the birth of the co-op. Often considered wild, these parties usually even have a drum circle and fire show. The fire show involves fire spitting, fire poi, and fire staff, which are skills learned and taught by members during the semester. A band usually plays later on in the evening.
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo is a party put on by the 21st St. Co-op during the spring semester. It is very similar to Birthday Party, but generally a bit smaller. A fire show usually occurs, and a mariachi band is often present. Another band usually plays later on in the evening.
Links
- College Houses http://www.collegehouses.org/
- NASCO http://www.nasco.coop/