The stage at 2039 Airport Boulevard went dark for about six months after the Skylark Lounge shut its doors, but it is filled with music again under a new name: Half Full. Billy and Katherine Marsden have reopened the East Austin space with a mix of live music, affordable drinks, bar food and glassblowing, betting that the neighborhood's musical soul can survive a change in ownership.
Billy Marsden and his team negotiated and leased the former Skylark space after it sat vacant for roughly six months, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Marsden said his overall vision is a drinking establishment with quality, mostly local live music, great food and affordable beverages, the paper reported. The Skylark closed after 12 years, a run that included a weekly residency from blues and jazz pianist Miss Margaret Wright starting when the venue opened in June 2013, according to The Daily Texan; Wright held that residency until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and passed away later that year after six decades performing in Austin.
Why Skylark Lounge Went Quiet
Former Skylark owner Johnny LaTouf announced the closure in April 2025 and hosted final shows the following month, explaining that exhaustion following his brother and business partner Terry's 2024 death drove the decision — not rising rent, according to the Austin Chronicle. LaTouf noted his landlord was unusually supportive and had only raised rent once in 13 years, the Chronicle reported. The building's history stretches back much further than Skylark: 2039 Airport Boulevard spent 32 years as Airport Bar & Grill, a venue serving a predominantly Black clientele, and briefly operated as Bernadette's, a progressive lesbian bar, according to the Austinot. LaTouf had preserved original 30-year-old furniture from that era when he opened Skylark.
Skylark hosted artists including Soul Man Sam, Gene “Birdlegg” Pittman, Miss Lavelle White and Margaret Wright over its 12 years, per the seed reporting. When the venue closed, it marked a significant loss for East Austin's historically Black musical community, prompting the East Austin Creative Coalition to launch “Keeping It Live on the East Side” in June 2025 — a campaign that raised funds and provided performance stipends for Black blues, jazz and soul artists who lost their primary venue, according to CultureMap Austin. The program hosted displaced musicians at Kenny Dorham's Backyard while Skylark's stage sat empty.
Soul Man Sam Returns For Soul Sundays
Half Full's booking calendar suggests some continuity with that legacy: Soul Man Sam now performs at the bar's Soul Sundays, and the venue hosts blues, country, and other live acts throughout the week, along with a Monday open jam, per the Statesman's reporting. The bar is booked through the end of September. During one jam session described in the seed reporting, a bassist named Jesus sat in with the house band, and a group called the Smokes has also played at Half Full.
Marsden said Half Full aims to preserve the vibe and feel of the Skylark while adding the couple's artisan glassblowing style, according to the Statesman. The menu leans casual, with homemade chili, hand-breaded chicken tenders, hand-smashed burgers and fried pickles, and the bar offers drinks, games, outdoor seating and live music.
Glassblowing Meets the Bar
The glass angle is not incidental. Marsden owns The Glassmith, which he expanded from a fleet of mobile trailers into a 24/7 brick-and-mortar smoke shop and studio at 2039 Airport Boulevard in June 2024, according to the Austin Chronicle; the shop includes a live glassblowing booth and a THCA bar. Half Full now occupies the same property as The Glassmith, and Marsden and his team make every piece of glassware currently used at the bar themselves, per the seed reporting. He hopes to eventually bring in pieces from other local glass artists, and one necklace's glass pieces reportedly came from the Czech Republic.
The Glassmith already runs a weekly 20-minute live glassblowing competition called “Glass Man Standing,” broadcast on YouTube and Twitch from its studio, with artists competing in themed categories like sea creatures or technology, according to a post from The Glassmith. The shop is also set to host “The Texas Oil Rush” in October, billed as the state's first dedicated hemp rosin competition featuring livestreamed double-blind judging, per Fat Nugs Magazine. Marsden plans to connect Half Full's music program with the glassblowing studio next door, according to the Statesman.
Reopening Amid a Rough Stretch for Austin Venues
Half Full's debut lands amid a broader wave of local venue and hospitality closures across Austin during 2025 and 2026, including long-running businesses like Marlow Cocktail Bar, Jim-Jim's Water-Ice and Cielo, as Hoodline previously reported. Commercial redevelopment has reshaped traditional nightlife corridors across the city over that stretch. In July 2026, the city's Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment department launched a $23 million creative grant package, allocating $6 million to the Austin Live Music Fund to support local venues and performers, according to the city's ACME department; venue applicants are evaluated on community benefit and local hiring.
State business records show Half Full registered under 2037 Airport Centre LLC and received a TABC mixed beverage permit in February 2026, reporting its first $1,600 in gross mixed beverage sales in July 2026, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. That permit operates under unit C at 2039 Airport Boulevard, the same address where Skylark once anchored a corner of East Austin's Black music scene — and where Half Full is now betting that live music, cheap drinks, and hand-blown glass can keep the block's stage lit.
