Austin-- Gone But Not Forgotten... (Houston, Spring: transfer, cinema, live in)

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by Lady Jaye

Wow this is a cool thread!! I grew up in Austin, I think at the perfect time, the 80's!! So many things I remember as a we child!!

I grew up in the Hyde Park area, so I remember Hancock and Highland Mall vividly!!! I went to Robert E Lee elementary, and miss the grand ole stairs that used to comprise the original front!! I understand wheelchair accessible, but the school looks hideous now, ugh what did they do to my alma mater!!

Let's see, as far as eats go, I remember the Burger Chef that used to be across from Hancock!! That place was awesome!!! I remember the Mr Gatti's in Highland Mall, have loved that pizza since I was a wee one!! I remember the counter at the old Woolworth's store in downtown Austin. Also remember Picadilly's in downtown, that had that cool spiral staircase to the area upstairs!! Of course who could forget Wyatt's Cafeteria, while it may not have been real chicken fried steak, it was the best I ever ate!!! I miss it so!! Oh yeah, what was the name of the store that was next to HEB in Hancock, the one with the lunch counter and toy section downstairs, the one that became Bealls!

Speaking of Toy Stores, I remember all the glorious toy depts in every dept store my mom shopped at!!! Ahh the glory days for action figures, yes I was a tom boy!!! Still am I guess!! Ha ha ha. Woolworths, Joskes, Sears, Montgomery Wards, Dillards, when it was still in Hancock and of course before KB, there was the Toy Box!!

For entertainment I remember the Fox Theater on Airport where I saw Ghostbusters, the theater behind Capital Plaza where I saw Popeye, the theater at Highland Mall where I saw Return of the Jedi (opening day I might ad), the theater on Burnet Road, (where I saw a re-release of ROJ ha ha)!

Most important of all, I remember the good ole days, the days where Austin was truly unique and had a cool vibe to it!! Now, it's just full of yuppy scum and if I may take a page from Ghostbusters 2, their yuppy larva! Seeing all the development all around Austin makes me sick!! I remember taking day trips to all the little towns around Austin, such as Lampassas and Lockhart, and seeing so much green, now it's nothing but ugly strip malls!! It's hideous, concrete jungle at its worst! And don't get me started on the housing, just on the street I grew up on, 46th, there are several McMansions, monstrosities I call em!! Long gone is the beautiful and green Austin!!

Don't worry about keepin Austin Weird, it's long gone!!



Oh and yes, before I left Hyde Park because of the skyrocketting taxes, I too missed the airplanes going over. They used to welcome me in the morning as I woke up. We were right under the flight path!!

Thank you, Lady, for confirming my worst suspicions about Austin...I moved here three years ago, and I'm the one person out of a thousand that perceives how things "were" in a place just walking around....I recall walking down Riverside drive past the eateries, and getting a mental glimpse, looking down Lamar and such, at how slower and sweet things were way back before the entire metro was paved and concreted over with malls, Mcmansions, Superhighways and Big Box stores.......and became Dallas....

Believe me, it looks very hideous to me, and I wasn't even around to see how ambient and livable the Austin metro once was, even as recently as the 80's......if you read my posts, you prob have seen how much I yearn to just experience three days way back when in Older Austin.....If I could choose, it would be one day in the early 80's, one in the early 70's, and one in the late 60's....how wonderful it must have been......

[capcat]

I can understand pining for the Austin of the 60s and 70s, but not the 80s. Nothing special about the 80s, imo, except that everyone wanted to have an MBA, and we went boom and then bust. IIRC. The store in Hancock was called G.C. Murphy's, btw. But, the Austin of old still exists, if you know where to go and if you actually knew the Austin of old.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by capcat

I can understand pining for the Austin of the 60s and 70s, but not the 80s. Nothing special about the 80s, imo, except that everyone wanted to have an MBA, and we went boom and then bust. IIRC. The store in Hancock was called G.C. Murphy's, btw. But, the Austin of old still exists, if you know where to go and if you actually knew the Austin of old.

The cool thing about the late 80s here was that it was just so dead, because of the depressed economy. Traffic was nonexistent, going completely across town from the farthest NE point to the farthest SW was a 15 minute affair, max. It was incredibly cheap to live here ($150 rents near campus, $30K condos in NW Hills, $50K houses in Allandale), and UT was a breeze to get in to (if you could sign your name, you could become a longhorn!). Slacker culture was thriving.

However, outside of slacker-types and government jobs, there wasn't any opportunity for a career. As much as I enjoyed it back then, it wouldn't be possible for me to live here now without the growth.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by atxcio

The cool thing about the late 80s here was that it was just so dead, because of the depressed economy. Traffic was nonexistent, going completely across town from the farthest NE point to the farthest SW was a 15 minute affair, max. It was incredibly cheap to live here ($150 rents near campus, $30K condos in NW Hills, $50K houses in Allandale), and UT was a breeze to get in to (if you could sign your name, you could become a longhorn!). Slacker culture was thriving.

However, outside of slacker-types and government jobs, there wasn't any opportunity for a career. As much as I enjoyed it back then, it wouldn't be possible for me to live here now without the growth.

It was maybe $50,000 to live in the suburbs, but Allandale was in the 75,000 and up range back then (all the way up to maybe 115,000 or more). We bought our home in Allandale in 1983, and paid 76,000 for it. Believe me, I had looked and looked at the time, comparing it to Rosedale. We had just sold a house off of 1325 past IBM for $52,000. I do remember when MoPac was a breeze to get downtown, but Lamar has always been a mess during rush hour traffic. Driving south into town before we moved, from 1979-1981 I had to get up and out of the house pretty early to avoid the backup on FM 1325. I remember people waiting to leave work until around 6 pm in the afternoon to avoid traffic headed back north. Admittedly, these days I only wish rush hour ended by then.

[Cha Ching]

Originally Posted by capcat

I can understand pining for the Austin of the 60s and 70s, but not the 80s. Nothing special about the 80s, imo, except that everyone wanted to have an MBA, and we went boom and then bust. IIRC. The store in Hancock was called G.C. Murphy's, btw. But, the Austin of old still exists, if you know where to go and if you actually knew the Austin of old.

Yes, but the music scene was AMAZING. I wouldn't have traded my days in Austin then for anything in the world. But at the time I didn't truly appreciate them.

I tell people I grew up in Austin and they look at me so strangely. "you grew up there? Seriously? I thought everybody just MOVED there."

[LongTimeAustinite]

When I was a kid Villa Capri had a weekly coloring contest and the prize was a bike. The winner went on the Uncle Jay show to get their prize. I won a purple spider bike with a big bannana seat.

Anyone remember Aqua Fest when it was a Festival Beach? Rackley's Hardware on Congress, Oscar Snowdens, the lunch counter downstairs at Woolworth's on 6th and Congress? What about going to the Flat's out at Paleface?

[capcat]

I remember Aqua Festival as it was originally, Villa Capri, Uncle Jay and Packer Jack, Oscar Snowden's. I vaguely remember Rackley's, etc. but I didn't get downtown much so I can't say for sure.

I remember Scarbrough's downtown and their lunch counter/restaurant downstairs, though. Also Yaring's. They had a location downtown, but the one on Burnet Road at North Loop where Sue Patrick is now was a delight to the senses, walking in those glass-handled doors, greeted by the fragrances of the cosmetic counter.

[Wandering Reindeer]

Originally Posted by Cha Ching

There used to be a bar/cantina at Anderson and Burnet called Fandango's. My mom worked for a plumber in town at the time, and the plumbers came back and told us horror stories of how filthy the place was in the back, and i think they got health code violations up the kazoo. Ergo, we NEVER ate there.

Oh gosh, I ate there all the time. They had the first flautas I ever tried, and they were the size of my forearm and the tortilla was always just the right amount of crispiness. Oh well...as a friend says, "What do you have an immune system for?"

Originally Posted by capcat

I wish Sid's restaurant was still around. Wedge of iceberg lettuce with Thousand Island dressing and some fried shrimp...

I don't remember the lettuce being a wedge, but I do remember the loaves of bread they would bring. The first would be on a little board (I think wood), and they'd carry subsequent ones to you on the end of a knife.

Originally Posted by Cha Ching

In 1981, it started raining at the end of May, and rained pretty much every day for over a month. It was really awful.

Ah, the Memorial Day flood. We had been at County Line on 2222 and were caught between there and the first low water crossing. Watched a guy walk into it to and it was waist deep and we decided to wait it out. There were a ton of people there, coming in from Lake Travis. Now that I think about it, they had boats!

The next day, a co-worker and I went around downtown to survey the damage and were couldn't believe all the cars that were tossed around in the creek like toys. The flood ran through some dealers' lots near 5th and Lamar or thereabouts.

And in around 1979, I rented a color TV from Oscar Snowden's downtown to watch Gone With the Wind when it was being broadcast on TV.

[meredithT]

I was there from 80 to 84 going to UT and here's some of what I remember.
Seeing bands at Club Foot downtown.
Going to Scholtz's after class.
Udder Delight for ice cream (this was before Amy's existed).
Water skiing with my friends (I think on Lake Travis). Eating at County Line afterwards.
Foreign films at Dobie Mall's theater.
My parents bought me a car at one of those downtown dealers, and I took it out for a spin on 2222 to see how fast it'd go. That was when there was nothing there.
My senior year, I lived in a condo off Far West & took Mopac back & forth. I can't remember a single time being stuck in traffic.

I was foolish enough to leave Austin when I graduated in 84. I have finally convinced my husband that it's time to go back. He's being transferred to Houston but we will live in Austin. He'll be able to work from home at least 2 days a week & he gets 7 weeks of vacation a year, so hey - it won't be that bad.
I know it's not the same place - my brothers & sister still live there (they were smart enough to stay after UT) so I am there regularly. Seems like the changes really accelerated in the last 10 years. I think a tipping point was reached in terms of city size. Sigh.

[capcat]

My kids and I loved going to Udder Delight for ice cream. It was on Burnet Road, on the opposite end of the same center as Say Hi grocery store. I've read that they closed because they failed to charge enough for their product. I remember it as being a lot of ice cream for the money.

I'm not sure it was entirely before Amy's...maybe so. I thought it was close to the same time.