El Tigre Coffee Roasters left its trailer at 1614 E. 12th St. and opened on Sept. 25 in a bungalow about thirteen blocks east, at Camp East. The trailer site has closed. The move covers barely a mile, and it shows where East 12th Street now has its daily routine. A coffee shop, a wine shop, a pizza counter, a tattoo studio and a monthly market all sit within a few street numbers of each other, at 2905 to 2909 E. 12th. Closer to I-35, the blocks that once held some of the street's best-known addresses are mostly waiting on decisions that belong to property owners.
That split is what has changed. For anyone who lives off 12th, the best morning, Thursday evening or first Sunday on the street now happens at one compound in the Rosewood stretch.
One Compound, Most of the Week
Camp East is the compound at 2905 E. 12th St., built by El Tigre owner Tatanka Guerrero. It isn't new. When Eater Austin covered a bagel shop opening there in October 2023, it already placed Camp East in the Rosewood neighborhood and listed Sammataro as a tenant. What changed this fall is that the compound now covers mornings. With El Tigre inside, Camp East runs from 7 a.m. on weekdays into Sunday evening.
| Tenant | Address | What it is | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Tigre Coffee Roasters | 2909 E. 12th St. | Specialty coffee, house-made syrups, pastries | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends |
| Cork & Screw | 2907 E. 12th St. | Wine shop | Thu and Fri 4 to 10 p.m.; Sat 2 to 10 p.m.; Sun 2 to 8 p.m.; closed Mon to Wed |
| Sammataro | 2907 E. 12th St. | New York-style pizza | Check before going |
| Slowpoke Tattoo | Camp East | Machine and hand-poke tattooing | By studio schedule |
Read the hours together and the compound has a clear handoff. El Tigre closes at 3 p.m. every day. Cork & Screw opens at 2 p.m. on weekends and at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. That leaves a short weekday gap and a weekend overlap. From Monday through Wednesday, Camp East is mostly a coffee stop. From Thursday through Sunday, it stays busy into the evening.
El Tigre's new room
El Tigre ran from a trailer for years, and the bungalow gives it what a trailer couldn't. Community Impact reports indoor seating, Wi-Fi and more seating out back. Local artists' work hangs on the walls, including pieces by Guerrero. For a 12th Street coffee stop, the important change is the indoor seating. You can now stay for an hour in November weather, which you couldn't do at a trailer window.
The rest of the compound
Cork & Screw runs as a wine shop and lists 2907 E. 12th as its address. Sammataro calls itself a New York-style pizza joint. Its Camp East counter is one of two Austin locations and shares the 2907 address. Slowpoke Tattoo is a women-owned, LGBTQ-friendly studio offering machine and hand-poke work, and it calls its Camp East studio its flagship.
Each business could stand on its own. They become a destination because they share a yard, and once a month they also share an event.
The Market That Uses Every Tenant at Once
The Camp East Vintage Market, hosted by Vintage Vines, brings in about 15 local vendors and a DJ set. Sammataro sells pizza on site, Slowpoke does flash tattoos, and Cork & Screw pours free wine tastings. The listing sets it at 2907 E. 12th St., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The series page calls it a first-Sunday-of-the-month event, and its run extends into January 2027. On that schedule, the next one falls on Sunday, Dec. 6. Check the series page before planning around it.
Earlier this year, Slowpoke promoted a first-Sundays market at Camp East with wine tastings, tattoos, vintage vendors and live music. One listing was for March 1, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The monthly Sunday has been part of the compound's calendar for most of 2026.
This is also where the compound's hours line up best. A first-Sunday visit can start with an El Tigre coffee at 11, move through the vendors, and end at Cork & Screw, which keeps its Sunday hours until 8 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Western Blocks Are on Hold
Ten to fifteen blocks west, the street looks different. Three addresses between the 1500 and 1800 blocks tell most of the story.
- 1614 E. 12th St. El Tigre's former trailer site. It closed when the shop moved to Camp East.
- 1808 E. 12th St. For years, this was Outer Heaven Disco Club. The club closed in April 2025 after the landlord declined to renew the lease on a building slated for redevelopment, according to the Austin American-Statesman. In July 2026, KXAN reported that the landlord's stated plan for the building was demolition for luxury condos.
- 1500 E. 12th St. A vacant building with a long history as a German grocery, the East End Saloon and a series of Black-owned businesses. After a 2024 demolition permit request, City Council voted 9 to 2 to designate it historic, as KXAN reported in February 2025.
The same KXAN report said Eureka Holdings had bought at least 70 properties on East 12th between I-35 and Airport Boulevard. When that much of a corridor sits under a small number of owners, the timing of new storefronts depends on their decisions. A small operator signing a lease doesn't move it much. A compound in the 2900 block, built and run by an owner-operator, isn't waiting on anyone's timeline. That helps explain why the daily activity has collected there.
Outer Heaven is rebuilding elsewhere in East Austin. The Statesman reported in August that the club would return to a larger space on East Cesar Chavez Street near De Nada Cantina. Its night crowd, which 12th Street had for years, now goes south of the street.
Crossing the Street Got Sturdier Near Camp East
The street itself is also changing, and the changes started near Camp East. Under the 2020 Mobility Bond, the City of Austin is converting 23 paint-and-post crossing islands on East 12th Street to concrete and adding curb ramps where needed. The city's project page says six concrete islands were finished between Chestnut Avenue and Airport Boulevard, the segment that includes the 2900 block. It also set the next phases for early 2026: six islands between Airport Boulevard and Springdale Road starting in February, and 11 between I-35 and Chestnut Avenue starting in March.
For anyone walking to Camp East from the Rosewood side streets, the crossings around the compound now have concrete islands, which the paint-and-post versions didn't have. The city has said 12th stays open to traffic while the island work happens.
Planning a Week Around the 2900 Block
Put the hours, the market and the crossings together and East 12th now works on a simple routine:
- Weekday mornings: El Tigre opens at 7 a.m., with indoor seating, Wi-Fi and a back patio. It closes at 3 p.m.
- Thursday and Friday evenings: Cork & Screw opens at 4 p.m. and stays open until 10. Sammataro shares the address.
- Saturdays: Coffee from 8 a.m., then Cork & Screw opens at 2 p.m., with a short overlap before El Tigre closes.
- First Sundays: The Vintage Vines market runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with all the tenants taking part. Cork & Screw stays open until 8 p.m.
- Monday through Wednesday: Coffee only. Cork & Screw is closed.
Out-of-town guests usually want something that feels local and isn't on every list. A first-Sunday market at Camp East, with a coffee before and a tasting after, is an easy plan with almost no planning. Tattoos are optional.
Susan Barringer follows East Austin block by block, including the corridors where ownership and new businesses are shifting where daily life happens. If you own on or near East 12th Street and want to know how the street's next few years could shape your plans, Work With Susan for a quiet conversation about the corridor and your property's place on it.
