Cheer Up Charlies

History

Tamara Hoover began Cheer Up Charlies in 2009 as a vegan food truck on East Sixth Street, and the late crowd led her and Maggie Lea into the former Ms. Bea's bar at 1104 East Sixth. Landlords ended that lease in 2014, and the club moved to 900 Red River Street, earlier the lesbian bar Chances, which Sandra Dee Martinez ran from 1982 to 1994, and later Club DeVille. On Red River it became a queer live-music and drag room in the cultural district. In August 2025 the owners were about $58,000 behind on rent and raised money to stay open, then announced a sale to Pride Holdings Group. On November 4, 2025, Hoover and Lea said both sides had walked away from that deal and that they still owned the bar.