Memories of Our Austin - Places

Green Pastures

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:54:35 -0700

I recently had the occasion to have dinner at Green Pastures with a fairly large group. It really brought back memories of this Grande Dame of Austin dining. The house and grounds were excellently maintained, the food was outstanding. It was a bit jarring to have a reflection of our modern times juxtaposed with the older standards: our waiter's tatoos clashed with the floral wallpaper.

However, I'm always happy to see a non-changing constant in our little town of rapid change. Green Pastures with its peacocks, its dark oak antique furniture, its grounds now in the epicenter of So. Austin gentrification does remain steady and as elegant as always.

Catfish Parlor & Coors beer

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:23:40 -0700

Trying to remember where the Catfish Parlor was heading out by Lake Travis. Remember heading out there back in 1976/7 and thinking it took hours to get there. Also - trying to recall the name of the little store (again somewhere out by Lake Travis) that was the first in the area to sell Coors beer. Hey, when you're 21 ya did stupid things like drive 45 minutes for a 6-pak!

All the old ones I was drug around to

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:34:04 -0700

When I was a kid growing up in West Austin, my parents seemed to want to take me places I didnt care about darkening the door of, especially at the tender age of 7 years old or so. When my Mom met her future husband of 30 plus years we moved here from Ft. Worth with her to start a new life in 1966. We first met him, (my future step dad) at "The Tavern" at 12th and Lamar. It was still a beer joint then and owned by some of my step dads good friends Ticky and Lee Sulivan. My older brother and I waited in the car on this cool December night, but all the while we were mezmerized by the "Terminix" bug that sat atop of the rotating sign just across the street . We never thought our first visit would end up watching some larger than life sized cock roach spin round and round. We were finally asked to come inside and join the grown ups and this was the first of my many visits to the old swiss chalet looking building. This is where I literally cut not only my eye teeth but my initals were carved into one of the old oak wood tabels. My brother and I got bored rather quickly and one of the owners asked if we wanted to earn some extra money. We jumped at the chance to wash beer mugs in the kitchen. Just behind the kitchen was a quaint little spot that served as a pizza kitchen. That kitchen was a one man shop owned and run by the owner Buzzy Buck. Buzzy Buck's Pizza Kitchen must have been the first pizza delivery shop in Austin. Buzzy would take a phone in order, hand toss the made from scratch dough and pop a large pie in the oven and when it came out he locked the door of his tin shed behind the Tavern, jumped in his little orange Karmenghia VW, and off he went with a great piping hot delivery towards the campus area somewhere. This among other spots is just the tip of the old Austin iceberg that I will continue to share in later visits. Sorry gotta run...let me know if you want more and I will post as time permits....there are some great memories stored in my ol

High Karma Spots

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:37:44 -0700

There are many places of high-karma in Austin. These are those spots in town that are always in the center of culture and happenings. Over the years, these places consistently stay cool and must have good karma. Places like:

5th and Baylor
This spot has survived as the gateway to Austin's hippie house culture. This Hippie houses are now law offices and galleries... but still look like Hippie houses. This area also survived a serious attempt at bad karma when the Treaty Oak killing was attempted. Lot's of folks remember a cozy beer joint that was nearby

The Bremond Block
Elegance and family pride the Austin way. The B-Block is the place I have used over and over to show folks that Austin has always had style. This entire block is listed in the national register of historic places, the only listing like that. A 100% class act.

5th x 6th x Guadalupe x West Ave.
These few blocks have always been a happening area. In the really old days, Austin settlers gathered here to buy land. Later, this area was on the outskirts of downtown and the location of many a haunt and beer joint. As Austin grew, it was the site of both major debacles and timeless Austin.

2222
The whole windy road. This was the way to get to Travis for generations. Along the way, you could look down onto Lake Austin and undisturbed vistas for miles. Even in it's developed state, it's still cool.

Bee Caves Rd.
Remember when a trip to Soap Creek felt like a long drive in the country? Did y'all ever keep going all the way to Hwy 71 and Bee Caves Rd.? If you ever took your blender to Rosie's Tamale House, you probably did.

Virginia's Cafe

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:05:12 -0700

I used to love to go to Virginia's Cafe down on S. 1st about half way btwn Barton Springs and Ben White. Around about 74-75 used to eat some of the best chicken fried steak, pork chops etc. with the usual vegetables; Virginia, whom was very old, would cook it, serve it and run the cash register. You could get along just fine as long as you didn't try to strike up a conversation with her. She was damned busy and did not mind telling you so. So just eat your damned food or talk to someone else.

The Pleasure Of One Year and Several 'Visits' Afterwards

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:48:20 -0800

I happened upon Austin at the invite of my best friend in high school(Upstate NY early'70's)in Nov.1974. I was in college in Okla. and he at UT. Sooo I went and experienced Austin on substances no longer the quailtiy they were back then. Imagine walking into the 'Dillo 3 days before Thanksgiving seeing that mural of Freddy 'Strait From Heart' King & drinking my first Lonestar and ordering up a chalupa and a Chocalate chip cookie. On that one visit I knew I had to live here. I quit college moved to Austin became a partime Rest. Mgr and full time part-taker of everthing musically-epicurian-artisan Tejas Hill country had to offer.
So my question is, other than the places, people, and things mentioned here does anybody remember:
1.The original 'Hole-In-Wall' off 'The Drag'
2.Mother Earth (I saw Tommy Shannon play there I think with the 'Fools').
3.Mad-dog and Beans (right anround the corner from Inner-Sactum.)
4.Ice Scream You Scream or even 'Nothing Strikes Back' ice cream parlour (if you had a serious case of the munchies, nothing like black-lights/deadheads and a chocolate-banana malt with whipcream and a nilla wafer).
5.BalconesFault (if you remember the 'Savages' you can't forget the 'Fault')
6.Too Smooth, The Electromagnets, 40times it's Own Weight.
7.Antones, Soap Creek, Blue Parrot, The Filling Station, Bee Caves, Mt.Bonnell......'Hippie Hollow'.
8.W.N.'s annual 4th picnic.
10.Middle Earth
11.I'll need to be refreshed here, out by Lake Travis there used to be a co-op run eatery that served family style dinners great viddles!!!!
12.Shivas Headband (I heat they'll still going strong)Commander cody,Asleep at the Wheel.

Beer Joints

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:43:21 -0800

I had the need to drive up Burnet Rd. the other day and I was brought back in time to a place that was but is no longer: the Char-Ex Drive Inn. You know the place, it was on the corner of Old Keonig and Burnet (that's "ole KAYnig and BURnet" to you newbies... get it right) Their chili was outstanding, their beer was cold, the people there were old school Austin. Today, the building is still there but it has the look of a flea market instead of a respectable beer joint.

What happened to the beer joint? These days, there are notable hangers-on such as Deep Eddy and Ginny's Little Longhorn but the vast majority of the neighborhood taverns have vanished. Austin's reputation for live music has always depended upon the beer joint venues (you don't hear Austin music here)

The people and places that have always been there to define the true Austin culture are starting to get very rare.

Salvation Sandwiches

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 07:57:19 -0800

When I first moved to Austin, one of my best friends was a vegetarian. Since I was new in town, I followed him around for awhile. That meant eating vegetarian meals, something very new to the Texas carnivore. There were a couple of places that I recall but mostly it was the "avocado and sprouts on whole wheat" that we would get at Salvation Sandwiches. That was the complete experience: the hippie food, the hippie food vendors, the hippie mentality. All in all, a very proper lesson in the culture of my new home.

Uncle Nick's Pizza

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:28:32 -0800

One of the best pizzas (and environments) that I’ve ever had. We had moved out to Fritz Hughes Park (below the low water crossing at the dam) for a little over a year and a half. Nick’s was on 2222 shortly before you got to 4 points on the right. Small, non-descript location. He was from somewhere up north and made the best thin crust pizza that I’ve ever had to this day. It was like going in to see a friend at that place. He greeted everyone like an old friend and really wanted to know how you were doing.
Being around 14 years old at the time, these are some of the memories that shaped my individuality. This was around 1979.

33rd street

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:38:37 -0700

when i first came to austin, i stayed for a bit on the infamous 33rd street. i am still friends with some of those folks and we have a sort of reunion every xmas.

this semi reunion has been taking place since 1990. it grows a bit smaller every year due to the passing of some.

i miss old austin. i do not like what has happened with this new austin. i do not mind growth and change but today's Austin does not work for me.

i am glad that someone is doing this website.

the split rail

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:17:45 -0700

How about the split rail on wednesday nights when butch hancock played. this was the mid to late 1970s. bobbie and martin ran the place. there was a lot of diversity among the audience: hippies, conservatives, bikers, radicals, we all danced together and sat together and had a great time

Mike's Pub

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:14:31 -0700

Some things, thankfully, never change. Mike's Pub has resisted change for about 40 years. Way back when downtown was strictly for day-time inhabitants (well before 6th Street as we know it), Mike's was in that building that looks like a parking garage, up those stairs that seem to lead to nowhere good and serving up cold beer and burgers. None of that has changed. In fact, Mike's still seems like it's known to a small group of Austin cognoscenti... just like in the old days.

You can go in for a beer that's served in the same fishbowl glass as Jake's. You can review the strata of calendars, funny beer company swag, the old-school bar equipment, etc., that only come with years of accumulation in an Austin bar.

Most importantly, you can squint your eyes and see the way things used to be.

Ray Henning's Heart of Texas Music Store

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:15:37 -0700

Ray Henning's HoT Music... a more mystical place may not exist for the Austin music lover. Consider this. Ray has been central to the Austin music scene since well before anyone knew there was one. I know a member of an Austin 50's doo-wop group (The Slades, compadres of Ray Campi) that remembers Ray running HoT music even back then. Ray gave the starving, strugging, Stevie Vaughn a guitar from the "used" bin that SRV went on to make his career upon. HoT music directly supports road shows and all Austin music festivals with equipment rentals, loaners, whatever. Ray help define Austin as a Guitar Town well before the the marketing guys woke up to it.

Musicians have come and gone in this town but one of the men behind the scenes, who made the music possible more than most, was always Ray Henning.

(thanks Rusty!)

River Raft Race

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:57:57 -0700

Note really an old Austin thing but surely a Weird Austin Thing - The Lake Austin River Raft Race. This event was actually quite the center of attention in its day and had everyone thinking about how to enter. Quite a bit of beer was consumed during the

Conception
Planning
Construction
Floating

of each of these creations. Some photo evidence remains...

Last Bash on the Hill

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 21:40:51 -0800

Probably the last time I got to see Willie Nelson live would have been at an event held somewhere out near Lake Travis (at least I think it was - time erodes memories...)

It was an all afternoon and evening event called "The Last Bash on the Hill", and featured all sorts of bands in an outdoor setting. it was an ampitheatre sort of hill, with the stage at the bottom so just about everyone (and their dog - there were lots of those, too) could see and hear easily.

Willie came on just about sunset, doing his ever polished set. And about that time, the full moon rose from behind him! It was fantastic.

I missed one chance to hear Willie here in New Zealand back in the 70s, but nothing since. I can't help but think I got one of the best performances ever that night back outside of Austin.

And then walked back afterward to find that my truck, like the vehicles of many, many other people - had been *towed* for parking something like 3" onto the pavement of the road. Bugger...