Austin-- Gone But Not Forgotten... (Dallas, San Antonio: apartment complex, rent, crime)

[Cha Ching]

Hi All--

I saw a thread like this in the San Antonio forum, and thought it was neat! I grew up in Austin from 1971 to 1982, when we moved to SA for 3 years. Then we moved back. I was back in Austin from 85 to 93, and then I left for metroplex digs.

What are some great things about Austin that we all remember? I'll start (it's a long one!)--

* Our favorite restaurant for a long time was the Lock, Stock, and Barrel that was in the Village on Anderson Lane a bit west and across the street from Northcross Mall. About 77 or so, I guess?

* I can remember just starting high school, and my brother let me practice my driving up Burnet all the way to the outlet mall. There was NOTHING on that road...kind of scary because it was so dark. About 1980, I guess.

* I used to go to St. Louis Catholic School, and the boy I had a crush on, Joe Stanish's family used to own the Top Notch (which made a cameo in "Dazed and Confused"). Anybody know if they still own it?

There was a Winn's and a Public library right around the corner from the school where I could go after school if I wanted sweets and a book.

* There used to be a big Handy Dan hardware store at Research and Peyton Gin. Before Home Depot existed, that was the place to go for all our home repair needs!

* The big Sound Warehouse store at 49th and Burnet across from the Omelettry was one of my first real jobs in college. Then I left that one and helped open the one that eventually opened at Lamar and Rundberg. I can still remember going into the 49th Street store with my mom when I was little. It used to be Davis Hardware. Did anybody else know that Whitman bought his ammunition for his shooting spree there? Gives me chills now when I think of it.

* Does anyone else remember Los Tres Bobos in 26 Doors across from Seton? We adored that place. My dad was in Seton before he died (1980), and we ended up there quite a bit.

* Mike and Charlie's behind Seton. What a neat little place (bar/restaurant). My mom and I used to meet there after work and plan for the trip to Italy we took in 1991. It was there for quite awhile, then the hotel expanded their parking or something and it went byebye.

* Remember Yaring's? I used to be able to find most of what I needed there. I remember they had a location in Highland Mall AND one on Burnet just south of Peyton Gin. Was there one in Southpark Mall too?

* Toy Box in Highland Mall! I used to go up to JCPenney's with my mom Friday night when she got her hair done. I'd go to Toy Box and get a Nancy Drew book, or go to the Walden's downstairs and get a paperback, then go to the record store and get an album, then to Hickory Farms for some grape licorice whips, and that was my $10 allowance.

* Does anyone else remember the burger place on the bottom floor of Highland Mall near Penney's in the mid 70s? It had little dark red phones at the tables and you called your order up to the desk and they brought it to your table. The original name had something with "King" in it, I think? Then it became "The Lion's Share."

* Cruising Northcross! About 1981, that was what all the teens did. Go inside, maybe catch a flick, hang at the arcade for awhile, then cruise around and around the building, finding someone you thought was cute, then pulling off into one of the surrounding lots. Until the night that someone was murdered behind the Krispy Kreme up near Burnet (which later became a car dealer, I believe...the place with the funky angled roof piece). It just so happened that my friend and I were driving a car much like the one that had been seen driving away from the crime scene, so we were hassled a lot by the cops that night. After that night, the cops would chase you away if you tried cruising. That was it for the cruising.

* The Back Room-- Caught so many shows there! One night ended up playing pool with the Norwegian band The Stage Dolls, and they taught me useful Norwegian phrases for picking up Scandinavian cuties.

Now you! I'll think of more later!

[NC_newcomer]

From about a decade earlier (1967-1977): How about living in the almost-new North West Hills subdivision (the only roads up to Mesa were Mountain Climb and North Hills), and walking down the gravel road called "Far West" to get to the new Murchison Jr. High, built down in an old quarry...

There was a Yaring's in the shopping center at North Loop and Burnet Road, where Sue Patrick's is now. The ZiderZee restaurant, complete with fake Dutch Windmill, was nearby on Burnet. Craig's was the women's clothing store in Casis; I remember seeing LadyBird and one of the Johnson daughters shopping there when I was there with my mom.

The "real" Austin High at 12th and Rio Grande was close enough to the state capital that you could cut classes and go down to watch the fist-fights on the floor of the legislature.

Scarboroughs was the big department store at 6th and Congress, and an anchor store at Highland Mall (great excitement when Austin's first indoor mall opened. Hancock Center, anchored by Sears and Dillards, suffered as people flocked to the Air Conditioning.)

Oh, and I saw "2001: A Space Oddysey" in the movie theater on Hancock near Burnet.

"El Rancho" was the long-standing Mexican restaurant downtown, and Mr. Martinez sat on a stool by the front door/cashier, greeting guests.

You could rent canoes on Bull Creek, and the Boy Scouts' Camp Tom Wooten was just outside town.

[Cha Ching]

Wow. I'd forgotten about the theater on Hancock. I want to say I saw "Cat People" there as late as 1982. But I may be misremembering.

You're right. I'd forgotten there was a Yaring's further south on Burnet!

Remember the big FOX theater on Airport? I think there is still a Mercedes dealership there now. I remember seeing Fantasia there when I was about 7 or something...circa 1973.

I worked at the Pier One on Airport for awhile and it was so nice when folks came in the front door and you got a whiff of bread from the Butter Krust bakery from across the street.

[TexasHorseLady]

I remember all of those! I remember when 2222 and Mopac (which was a railroad, not a road) were out in the boonies, halfway to the lake!

I remember when there were no houses around Mount Bonnell.

[love roses]

I remember when there were no houses out by Pace Bend Park and my husband remembers when there was absolutely nothing out by Hamilton Pool and I think before it became a protected park.

[Cha Ching]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I remember all of those! I remember when 2222 and Mopac (which was a railroad, not a road) were out in the boonies, halfway to the lake!

I remember when there were no houses around Mount Bonnell.

Love your posts, THL. Was checking a couple of the other threads. Really admire your viewpoint about trying to keep Austin wierd. I had to leave in Jan 94 because I couldn't afford to keep renting my apartment.

I went back up to Denton to finish my degree, and the first place that called me after those 4 years were up happened to be in Dallas, although I'd intended on coming back to Austin. Just didn't happen.

But every time I went back, I just got more and more depressed. More stores. More miles and miles of housing. And right about then it surpassed Seattle as the "next cool place to live."

I have MS now, so pretty much had to leave Texas because I couldn't handle the heat anymore. I love Wisconsin, but I do miss my Tex-Mex!

CC

[TexasHorseLady]

Cha Ching, if it helps, back when we came back to Texas after a brief sojourn in Seattle and Dallas, we thought Austin was gone. Then we found it again.

Then, years later, we thought Austin was gone. Then, we discovered it had simply moved south of the river.

I've learned, over the decades, that every time you think Austin is gone, it's simply moved a bit and those that truly deserve to, find it eventually.

It's the way it survives, it seems. Always there, just not always obvious to the heathen (or, wait, maybe it's the other way around?).

[Cha Ching]

Good point!

I was horrified several visits ago, when I was showing my husband the old neighborhood (I grew up in Quail Creek...went to Wooldridge Elementary and Lanier for 2 years before finishing HS in SA).

I knew it had gotten bad...it was edging that way when my mom sold our house on Parkfield in 1993. But when I saw a hooker on the bottom deck of 183, I thought I was going to throw up. If she wasn't a hooker, she was a pretty good facsimile.

However, the weird economic turns caused a nice little gentrification just east of I-35, which was refreshing, in an area that had always been questionable. Even in 1972, when my parents bought in our area, my dad was getting advice telling him not to buy anywhere east of 35. We lived in an apartment complex called Fawnridge over near Reagan High when we first got to town in 71, and my brother got jumped on the way to school one day for a radio he was carrying. I rented at the Villas of La Costa in 92, and it was starting to improve around 93.

I know that 78704 is the new hip and happenin area (it's not a zip, it's an attitude, right?). I probably won't be back for quite awhile with the economy in the shambles it's in. I'm depending on you independent cusses to keep the weirdness happening.

[TexasHorseLady]

Shhhhhh. It's already moving, but I'm not telling anyone where!

Do you remember Grok Books? In the old house on 17th Street, before it moved to Brodie Oaks and eventually turned into BookPeople?

[centralaustinite]

That theater on Hancock is now a library!

I've only been here 18 years but I have seen lots of things change. My most painful loss was when Les Amis coffee shop and restaurant right by UT campus closed.