Screen Door Film Presents: Last Days of the San Jose

Finding hot button issues in Austin is not unlike finding a needle in a needlestack and no issue is as passionately debated as real estate. When Liz Lambert left her law practice with the Attorney General’s office and purchased the run down San Jose Motel, she had designs to create an oasis of hip on South Congress Avenue before the condo-boom had even begun, and little did she know that what she was building would change not only the face, but the character of the beloved 78704. Tomorrow night, Screen Door Film brings us a true Austin epoch: the transition from crack pipes to polished concrete in Lambert’s documentary Last Days of the San Jose.

After Lambert bought the seedy motorcourt at 1316 South Congress Avenue for a mere $500,000, she found herself with no financial backing to begin the massive remodel that would be necessary to make the San Jose a viable hotel. While waiting for the financing to come through, which ended up taking three years, Lambert sat behind the office window of the motel and saw to its day to day operations, renting the rooms for $25 a night or $225 a week for those who stayed longer. Amongst the drugs and the prostitution, she found a community of people who were down, but not out, people who had stories to tell and dreams to realize, a community so fascinating that her friends urged her to document her experiences. She bought a digital video camera and began taping her hours at the motel, including the residents who were the glue that held the decrepit building together, and who would eventually have to pack up their meager belongings and say goodbye to their home.

Lambert will be in attendance at the screening and will host a Q&A as well as a post-screening cocktail mingle for patrons of Screen Door Film at, where else, the Hotel San Jose’s luscious bar. For those who don’t know, Screen Door is our city’s own micro-cinema and is committed to bringing you unique, only-in-Austin events, as well as presenting award-winning indie features and shorts that do not receive nation-wide release. Can’t make it to Sundance? Missed a film that you meant to see at the Austin Film Festival/SXSW? Check out SDF screenings!

Screen Door Film presents Last Days of the San Jose
Wednesday, July 25th
Salvage Vanguard Theater
7:30pm, $6
[Tickets]

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By oh, steph in Arts & Entertainment on July 24, 2007 12:40 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

truecraig

Sorry there [2]guest. Didn't mean to imply that you were Ol' Pappy.

guest

Sorry, it's not ol' pappy. But specifically against Liz? Mostly the fact that, just when it was getting so ridiculously far past Christmas that her plastic Santa was cool, she took it down.

truecraig

What is it you have, specifically, against Liz Lambert? Eh Ol' Pappy?

guest

Yes, because Lord knows if that heartless, evil rich person hadn't kicked these people out of their home, nobody else would have redeveloped that highly desirable peace of land. No sir. Things would have stayed exactly, wonderfully the same if not for that single person.

guest

"... including the residents who were the glue that held the decrepit building together, and who would eventually have to pack up their meager belongings and say goodbye to their home."

Because that heartless ol' biddy got some dollar signs in her eyes. That's the cruelest part. She made a movie starring the people that she kicked out of their homes. What a cow.

guest

Jesus Christ. Say it with me boys and girls,

SELF

PRO

MO

SHUN.

What a big headed bitch.

oh steph

All great points guest #2. I think that I unintentionally suggested that the transformation of the San Jose was the catalyst for the south congress "face lift" if you will, but what I meant to say was that the period of time in which the footage was captured is important and noteworthy in Austin's past.

Certainly any long term Austin resident acknowledges the effect that the Lippincott's little taco bar has had on the neighborhoods of Bouldin Creek and Travis Heights as well as the avenue itself (be they pro or anti those changes.)

I would encourage anyone to go to the screening and ask the tough questions. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Liz Lambert had to answer such a question in the past.

guest

While I often hear Ms. Lambert given the credit for Congress Avenue's transformation, she actually had very little to do with it.

I lived on Congress Ave. during its big change, and I knew many of the people who lived at there. While the movie doesn't bring it up, the eventual funding for the San Jose came through because 78704 was already booming. $300,000 houses were on the market blocks away (I know, but that price tag was unheard of at the time). Willie Nelson had already sold his beloved Opera House to developers and Trammel Crow Co had gotten the legislature to approve their plans to bulldoze a large affordable housing complex to build those fancy apartments next to Doc's Motor Works. Heck, even the Austin Motel was renovating rooms before the San Jose, just not as extensively, opting for more basic roof repairs and new carpet.

The real turning point for business on Congress Ave was Guerro's, which took over a run down feed store that served as a flop house for local homeless and street walkers, invested over $1 million when there was no guarantee it would pay off, and opened - well, you know what they opened.

Guerro's success, combined with the closure of the Cinema West Adult theater, made the Ave safe for the Cali hipster that were moving into town with lots 'o equity built up in their Silicon Valley homes. The rather sad scenes at the end of the movie with long time residents forced out were repeated hundreds and hundreds of times all over 78704 - I was one of them!

I just hope that during the Q and A afterwards, someone asks Ms. Lambert why, when a certain character is severely injured, her instict is to run the opposite direction and grab her camera to start filming.

Personally, I would have tried to help.