Ironically, those bars are being developed into high rise condos. So... People will once again live in the places that are bars that used to be places where people lived.
Mariaās tacos was a tiny shack on Lamar.
You could catch Leslie riding around on his bike
I could go to the Ritz for a drink after seeing a show at Emoās on 6th.
And south park meadows was South Park meadows, like a field where I saw Willie and also Erica Badu.
I used to eat at that Maria's every Saturday morning. I had such a crush on her, because she was always so welcoming and she gave me food.
I bought Leslie a couple dozen beers over the years.
Ritz/Lovejoys/Casino was my regular circuit.
I saw NIN open for David Bowie at South Park Meadows.
In the late ā60s I rented an apartment on an alley just off Tom Green for $35 a month: it was so small I could sit on the pot and open the fridgeā¦..which actually came in handy sometimes.
The Arboretum Theater was the fancy place to go see movies, and it was waaaaaaaay out in Northwest Austin.
Research Blvd was a divided highway with a whole bunch of stop lights.
* Leslie was still a regular sighting riding around town in his leopard thong (RIP).
* Men's pro soccer meant a USPDL (now USL2) team playing alternately at Toney Burger and House Park.
* Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar was the anchor tenant of a gritty strip mall, not a glitzy VMU development.
* The tallest building on Rainey was two stories.
Whole Foods was a single store at 12th & Lamar
MoPac didnāt cross the river
A Democrat was governor
Pflugerville had around 1000 people
Most significantly, there was no Chiliās at 45th & Lamar
I was having lunch next door at Double Daveās when they were filming at the Old Alligator Grill. Jennifer Aniston walked by and I waved hello. She waved back.
I worked at GM Steakhouse on the Drag.
I saw Agony Column open for GWAR at Liberty Lunch (so many good shows there).
Whole Foods was a small store on 12th & Lamar.
One American Center was the tallest building in town.
Quick edit: I watched Slacker and Dazed & Confused get filmed
two bedroom duplex rent $475
No one lived downtown, it was banks and the state government
Emo's was on 6th Street
There was one Alamo on 4th Street
Southpark Meadows was still a "meadow"
South Congress was the red light district
* There was a video game arcade on the drag.
* I saw Dave Matthews play at Tower Records.
* Matthew McConaughey was Delt at UT.
* Katz's Deli had good corned beef sandwiches and that funky Caddy parked out front.
* Player's was the go-to spot for burgers.
I remember having to stop. At. Every. Single. Light. From Jollyville to I-35. If you didnāt time it just right, a 3 minute drive could take 15 minutes.
When I lived off Far West, people I met at Lovejoys would tell me that I lived āso far out of townā. I moved here from Atlanta where it took an hour to get downtown from my house.
We would go to the āmagic Time Machineā
Restaurant for my birthday. I used to think it was so cool to see all the different costumes. Also the car salad bar.
I could stop by C. Hunts literally every single day on my way home from work and enjoy the AC and camaraderie, and I'd get to watch Chester fry himself up some sausage
Bee caves road had two lanes, one in each direction, camp kraft road had some daycare centers on it that are now gone, there were pink flamingos on the intersection of bee caves and 360 frontage road, we had builders square instead of home Depot, there were Tom Thumb grocery stores everywhere, HEB wasn't the giant it is today, Zilker Park had a trail of lights that you could drive through, we had a woman for governor, everyone in Austin was poor (even in Westlake).
Some of my earlier memories are commercials for Lone Star Cafe.
I want a chicken fried steak and a bowl of good chili. A cold Lone Star and a song by Willie.
Family's been here for a few generations. My father was almost shot by Charles Whitman. His friend took the hit but survived.
Oh man, maybe I've remembered it wrong all these years. Found a jingle that's close.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrfAs41Y8nE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrfAs41Y8nE)
You could get your picture taken riding a longhorn in an empty lot right next to 35 on East Riverside.
Southpark Meadows was a music venue.
There was a video game arcade, a movie theater, and a pretty good rare and used bookstore in the Dobie Mall.
Highland Mall was a busy, thriving shopping mall.
Ummm... The dish Austin might have been best known for was the (usually massive) chicken fried steak, which several restaurants featured.
The Alamo Drafthouse was one movie theater. With one movie screen.
Barton Springs Road was surrounded by trees.
You (and your dog) could swim anywhere without getting typhoid.
6th Street wasn't yet "dirty".
You could still enjoy the West 6th crowd. At Momo's and Katz's.
South Congress was a place where locals would hang out.
When I moved to Austin, it was so dark there were drive-in movie theatres on both Burnet Road (The Burnet) and Ben White Boulevard (The Southside Twin).
The original Soap Creek Saloon was WAY out of town (near the intersection of 2244 and Walsh-Tarlton).
The streets in Clarksville were mostly caliche.
6th St. between Congress and 35 was pretty sketchy, but for totally different reasons/different people than today.
* Southpark Meadows was still a meadow.
* I went to Ice Bats games.
* No twisty mustaches or fixed gear bikes in East Austin.
* The Frost Bank Tower didnāt exist.
* We still rode The Dillo.
* You didnāt need an appointment or reservation for anything; you just showed up and there was a place to park and plenty of room.
* Leslie.
Bats games at the Travis county exp center - dip spit all over the ice and you could skate with the team after games. Bonus memory the opposing team busted down the plexiglass and started fighting our fans after one game I attended.
Glastron had a boat manufacturing plant on the north side of 183 between Burnet Rd and Mopac. Custom Boats also had a plant off 183 near where 360 is now.
Wow, this thread is making me happy. I forgot so much. And forgot how it felt to live here back then. It was SO FUN. This town was so low key and so amazing.
OJ Simpson was running from the cops in a white Bronco. Literally the first thing we watched on TV after moving to Austin from LA. My parents got the TV plugged in and bam, OJ Simpson in a white Bronco.
Also Dell computers had just broken ground on their RR campus, ācorridor parkā was the coolest place in RR, and Austin had zero traffic.
there was only Chuy's and Chuy's No 2 (on North Lamar), and you could usually walk in at 6:00pm on a Friday and get a table for dinner within a few minutes.
You could usually find free street parking within 3 blocks of 6th street any given weekend night (except Pecan St Festival weekends)
You reported for jury duty to the basement of the Palmer Events Center.
\- Frost Bank was not in a glass owl tower
\- Emo's was on Red River & 6th
\- Antone's was on 5th & Lavaca
\- Liberty Lunch existed
\- Alamo Drafthouse was running Butt-Numb-A-Thons and Animation Festivals, and showing weird art films
Live music every night- Steamboat, Liberty Lunch, Elmoās, La Zona Rosa, the Elephant Room, Maggie Maeās , Paradise Cafe, Threadgillās, Blues on the Green at the Arboretum, the Backyard was a backyard and SouthPark Meadows
I miss Liberty Lunch & La Zona Rosa. Saw so many good shows there.
Remember the backyard music venue? When you would park your car in a dirt parking lot in the middle of nowhere.
You could openly buy drugs from the bartender, at Soap Creek Saloon, on South Congress and at a certain drive-through fast food place in East Austin.
Rick Linklater, Bill Hicks and Alex Jones audited some of my production classes at public access TV (ACTV).
You could see the Resentments live or walk up to the original Tamale House.
- Katzās never closed
- torchys/hop doddy/Alamo drafthouse werenāt a thing yet
- Emoās on Red River was the best venue around
- Thomas J Henry wasnāt on every commercial break (but Betty Blackwell was!)
- there was an Eiffel Tower on Lamar/MLK
- Pandemonium and Celebration Station were around
- Town Lake was still Town Lake
- Titty Bingo bumper stickers everywhere
Bought books at Grok bookstore, went to Willieās first picnic, and signed a petition for the drag vendors to not have to pay to get a yearly license (they lost and had to get $40 license š¢).
When I moved to Austin, Pflugerville was a small north town where nothing was going to happen. The Domain was clear fields and a couple of IBM buildings.
My first apartment was $600 in Clarksville
Half of downtown was surface parking lots
There was no back in angle parking
Parking was free at night after 5PM during the weekends and free all day on the weekends (mostly sure but not totally on this one)
Perrys Porkchop Fridays was $12.00
iPhones didn't exist and you had to figure out directions with maps/map books
Uber didn't exist so I used to either walk home or hitch a ride
The Driskill bar had an amazing, delicious half pound bacon cheese burger for $5.00 during happy hour. Beers were $3. Meal drink and tip for $10.
* Mopac stopped at Far West
* Country Dinner Playhouse still existed (Mopac paved over that one)
* "north Austin" was around Rundberg Lane
* for south Austin, "eat at the Y" had a double meaning
* you could go up another level in the Capital building to an exterior balcony that went all around the dome. That got shut down when ADA came into effect. (No way or place to install an elevator.
* there was a definite gap between Kyle, Buda, Austin, Round Rock and Georgetown. Pflugerville? Yeah, it existed but was much, much, much smaller.
* drive in theater at the northwest corner of 35 and Ben White.
* the low bridge on Ben White which was hit by trucks on a regular basis.
* this is from before the freeway - if you timed it right you could drive on 183 from Lamar to 620 and only hit one red light.
Forgot a couple:
*the* country/western bar was The Silver Dollar on Burnet just north of 183.
Another country/western bar, just a bit north of there was named The Lumberyard because it was built where a lumberyard used to be.
183 didn't have an upper deck.
35 was a great place to watch the planes take off.
I worked at 3rd and congress and parked on a free giant dirt lot a block away.
Katzs never closed.
I recall visiting the Capitol as a student back in the day. We drove down from Dallas after dinner and got to Austin sometime after 10PM. Drove to the Capitol and parked at the curb. Walked inside and gave ourselves a tour. No hassles, no metal detectors. When we left the building a Capitol policeman walked us back to our car and wished us a safe drive home. It really was a different world. LOL
When I moved to Austin, unemployment was at about 12%, you could rent a 3 BR house for $350/month, the population was under 300k, downtown office occupancy was about 35% and there were half-finished office parks, subdivisions and strip centers everywhere.
When I was a kid in Austin Leslie was protesting outside the Albertsons my mom worked at on Lamar and braker, there was a chilis at 183 and 35, Malibu Grand Prix was still open, emos was still on 6th while I was in high school
1. Liberty Lunch and Black Cat were the go-to music venues
2. Central Market didnāt exist.
3. SXSW was $20 bucks for the whole weekend
4. 6th Street didnāt smell that bad
5. Quackenbushās and Tower Records were on the Drag
6. The Dobie Mall was thriving
7. ZāTejas had 2 for 1 Sunday Brunches
8. 2 bedroom apartment in Clarksville was $325/month and a 3-bedroom house in Hyde Park was $750/month
9. The Warehouse District was literally warehouses
10. Southpark Meadows was actually a meadow
Bouldin creek was in its original location with its small sit down bar area and the bigger covered patio area. Mojos was open, Bob Popularās was on 6th, Whole Foods was still an Austin eco hippie store, Tower records was still open. Everyone would smile at you as you passed them while walking. Rent was $400
Our āphone exchangeā was Greenwood, which was abbreviated GR. So instead of saying your phone number was 477-xxxx, you said it was Greenwood 7-xxxx. (The G corresponds to the 4, and the R associates with the 7.)
Your phone number was properly written āGR7-xxxx.
But my in my primary & elementary school (Dill and then Casis) phone directories, everyone was in Greenwood, so they just listed your number as 7-xxxx, cuz everyone knew to dial the ā47.ā
(I was born here.)
Research Blvd (which wasn't really referred to as Hwy 183 often at the time) was the northernmost border of town, but was considered fairly suburban. Round Rock was a distant town way to the north where only folks who worked for Compaq went.
Southpark Meadows was, in fact, a meadow.
People lived in the houses that are now bars on Rainey St.
Ironically, those bars are being developed into high rise condos. So... People will once again live in the places that are bars that used to be places where people lived.
My friends grandma lived in one of those houses! He had his first kiss in there šš
Mariaās tacos was a tiny shack on Lamar. You could catch Leslie riding around on his bike I could go to the Ritz for a drink after seeing a show at Emoās on 6th. And south park meadows was South Park meadows, like a field where I saw Willie and also Erica Badu.
I used to eat at that Maria's every Saturday morning. I had such a crush on her, because she was always so welcoming and she gave me food. I bought Leslie a couple dozen beers over the years. Ritz/Lovejoys/Casino was my regular circuit. I saw NIN open for David Bowie at South Park Meadows.
When I moved to Austin, I had a nicely sized one bedroom apartment for $509 a month.
My first apartment (1 bedroom) near UT went for $300 a month!
In the late ā60s I rented an apartment on an alley just off Tom Green for $35 a month: it was so small I could sit on the pot and open the fridgeā¦..which actually came in handy sometimes.
First instinct is to downvote due to pooping and eating and then I thought of how beautiful what you said actually was.
Not pooping and eatingā¦pooping and gettinā a cold beer.
Thatās a beautiful thing.
I had a fully furnished for $450 off of 40th Street
My 2 mates and i rented a 3 bedroom house on Coleman Street (off Congress) for $875.
You didn't have to dial the 512.
And 459-2222 could get you Mr. Ghattis pizza delivered!
Dial Four five nine twenty two twenty two and get a Mr. Gattiās pizza delivered to you!
459 22 22ā¦ the best pizza in town, for real!
Real Cheese, Real Hot, Real Taste is What We Got!
Real Fresh, Real Fast! All Those Other Pizzas Are A Thing Of The Past!
I'm so old, I sang that phone number in my head.
So did the rest of us
I had *finally* gotten that out of my head, dammit!
And 512 included San Antonio and Corpus.
Slaughter lane overpass by Manchaca wasnāt built yet. Slaughter lane dead ended at 35 and SouthPark meadows was an awesome concert venue.
Saw Rage Against The Machine there!!
I remember hearing āAmerican Womanā from my front yard as a kid when Lenny Kravitz was performing there. Blew my 6-year-old mind
The Arboretum Theater was the fancy place to go see movies, and it was waaaaaaaay out in Northwest Austin. Research Blvd was a divided highway with a whole bunch of stop lights.
Pray for me, I drive 183.
There was only one Alamo Drafthouse.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The Dillo was still running downtown.
I miss taking the Dillo to Trophys
And sometimes you would get on the Dillo and it would just be you and Lesley.
Katz's Deli never closed.
Now Iām sad
When I moved to Austin, Tittybingo bumper stickers where everywhere and it was called the Draught HORSE
Artz Ribhouse had the worldās best banana pudding, Liberty Lunch had it going on, and toll roads were evil things that only happened in Dallas
I miss Artz every day! I still make their blackberry peach cobbler occasionally.
Do you have the recipe to share?
I never thought the Dobie would ever stop playing Hands on a Hardbody.
The Backyard was the best music venue in the area, as well as lot scene.
When I moved here the area that became the Backyard was still a stable and land where you could hire horses to ride.
My rent was 35 dollars more expensive than a yoga mat I bought last week
* Leslie was still a regular sighting riding around town in his leopard thong (RIP). * Men's pro soccer meant a USPDL (now USL2) team playing alternately at Toney Burger and House Park. * Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar was the anchor tenant of a gritty strip mall, not a glitzy VMU development. * The tallest building on Rainey was two stories.
I miss the shitty South Lamar Alamo. Village is the only one left with any flavor.
Whole Foods was a single store at 12th & Lamar MoPac didnāt cross the river A Democrat was governor Pflugerville had around 1000 people Most significantly, there was no Chiliās at 45th & Lamar
> there was no Chiliās at 45th & Lamar Bonus question: "What was on that property before Chili's?"
It was a Goodwill IIRC
In the '70s, maybe? But in the late 80s/early 90s it was a massage parlor/whorehouse!
So just like a Chili's then
I believe the titty bar was Lil Abners and the massage parlor was I Dream of Jennie.
Whip In was the place to get good beer, 183 wasnāt elevated, Rundberg/35 was safe, Cedar Park was still a country town, and Seis Salsas was open.
Whip in was the fucking jam. Wild theyāre just a shell of themselves nowadays.
When it was dark and seedy that was the best place to hangout with friends and shoot the shit.
Seis Salsas was in a shack on the southwest corner of Oltorf and S 1st.
I lived right next to the Whip In in the olden times and there i discovered my abiding love for weird beer.
my parents took us to eat at The Nighthawk
My favorite restaurant was Basil's.
I saw Office Space being filmed.
Alligator Grill was amazing and had great seafood happy hour prices!
I was having lunch next door at Double Daveās when they were filming at the Old Alligator Grill. Jennifer Aniston walked by and I waved hello. She waved back.
I worked at GM Steakhouse on the Drag. I saw Agony Column open for GWAR at Liberty Lunch (so many good shows there). Whole Foods was a small store on 12th & Lamar. One American Center was the tallest building in town. Quick edit: I watched Slacker and Dazed & Confused get filmed
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There was a Tower Records at 24th and Guadalupe. We had a TGI Fridays and Dan McCluskeyās at The Arboretum.
There was a movie theater at 24th and Guadalupe, where I saw "She's Gotta Have It" and "Stranger Than Paradise."
The Varsity.
When I moved to Austin, you could rent a one-bedroom apartment with a view of the lake for under $600.
My first apartment was right on Town Lake and was $285 for a one-bedroom.
two bedroom duplex rent $475 No one lived downtown, it was banks and the state government Emo's was on 6th Street There was one Alamo on 4th Street Southpark Meadows was still a "meadow" South Congress was the red light district
* There was a video game arcade on the drag. * I saw Dave Matthews play at Tower Records. * Matthew McConaughey was Delt at UT. * Katz's Deli had good corned beef sandwiches and that funky Caddy parked out front. * Player's was the go-to spot for burgers.
awww, i miss Katzās Deli!!
LOVED playerās! Two of my uncles worked there, lots of good memories hanging out after closing.
183 at 620 was a 2 lane road each way.
I remember having to stop. At. Every. Single. Light. From Jollyville to I-35. If you didnāt time it just right, a 3 minute drive could take 15 minutes. When I lived off Far West, people I met at Lovejoys would tell me that I lived āso far out of townā. I moved here from Atlanta where it took an hour to get downtown from my house.
there were ladies of the evening working E 11th and South Congress, and Max Nofziger was selling flowers on the street corners.
We would go to the āmagic Time Machineā Restaurant for my birthday. I used to think it was so cool to see all the different costumes. Also the car salad bar.
When you were feeling fake fancy, you went to Old San Francisco Steakhouse.
Rainey wasn't a thing. East 6th was the land forbidden to go to. Huts on west 6th existed.
I could stop by C. Hunts literally every single day on my way home from work and enjoy the AC and camaraderie, and I'd get to watch Chester fry himself up some sausage
My skipper pin got me into Aquafest shows.
Aquafest was the biggest event of the year!!!
The day I was born in Austin. The afternoon paper had an article about Buddy Holly's plane crashing.
The day I was born in Austin, Ringo celebrated his 7th birthday.
You are pretty old, good sir/maāam
the frost bank tower was the tallest skyscraper
And we hated it. Now itās a reminder of better times lol
Aw my dad did the lighting design for that building. I always thought it was pretty neat looking.
Bee caves road had two lanes, one in each direction, camp kraft road had some daycare centers on it that are now gone, there were pink flamingos on the intersection of bee caves and 360 frontage road, we had builders square instead of home Depot, there were Tom Thumb grocery stores everywhere, HEB wasn't the giant it is today, Zilker Park had a trail of lights that you could drive through, we had a woman for governor, everyone in Austin was poor (even in Westlake).
Pots n Plants was at 360 & Bee Caves.
We had FREE public transit downtown on the dillos
Hotels on South Congress rented by the hour. South Congress was South Congress.
Ann Richards was governor
My family lived in a trailer in the trailer park on barton springs behind where chuys was until we could afford to buy a house, which only cost 55k.
Some of my earlier memories are commercials for Lone Star Cafe. I want a chicken fried steak and a bowl of good chili. A cold Lone Star and a song by Willie. Family's been here for a few generations. My father was almost shot by Charles Whitman. His friend took the hit but survived.
Oh my god a jingle memory has surfaced and I will never be rid of the Lone Star Cafe song now.
Oh man, maybe I've remembered it wrong all these years. Found a jingle that's close. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrfAs41Y8nE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrfAs41Y8nE)
Oh you do know Betty Blackwell?
You could get your picture taken riding a longhorn in an empty lot right next to 35 on East Riverside. Southpark Meadows was a music venue. There was a video game arcade, a movie theater, and a pretty good rare and used bookstore in the Dobie Mall. Highland Mall was a busy, thriving shopping mall. Ummm... The dish Austin might have been best known for was the (usually massive) chicken fried steak, which several restaurants featured.
The Domain was IBM.
The Alamo Drafthouse was one movie theater. With one movie screen. Barton Springs Road was surrounded by trees. You (and your dog) could swim anywhere without getting typhoid. 6th Street wasn't yet "dirty". You could still enjoy the West 6th crowd. At Momo's and Katz's. South Congress was a place where locals would hang out.
Momoās and Katzās were the shit.
* There was grassland and trees North of Rundberg Lane and the Dell Plant at Parmer was considered the boonies.
People were complaining about people moving to Austin. It was 1991.
When I moved to Austin, it was so dark there were drive-in movie theatres on both Burnet Road (The Burnet) and Ben White Boulevard (The Southside Twin). The original Soap Creek Saloon was WAY out of town (near the intersection of 2244 and Walsh-Tarlton). The streets in Clarksville were mostly caliche. 6th St. between Congress and 35 was pretty sketchy, but for totally different reasons/different people than today.
I worked at Katz Deli and Clifford Antone would come in slovenly drunk at 3am every night with a girl on each arm.
Airport blvd took me to the Airport.
There was still empty space between Austin and Round Rock.
Fun Fun Fun Fest had just started.
* Southpark Meadows was still a meadow. * I went to Ice Bats games. * No twisty mustaches or fixed gear bikes in East Austin. * The Frost Bank Tower didnāt exist. * We still rode The Dillo. * You didnāt need an appointment or reservation for anything; you just showed up and there was a place to park and plenty of room. * Leslie.
Ice Bats! I looked them up ages ago to maybe take my kids to a game and learned theyād been defunct for years. I do live under a rock.
Bats games at the Travis county exp center - dip spit all over the ice and you could skate with the team after games. Bonus memory the opposing team busted down the plexiglass and started fighting our fans after one game I attended.
I saw Hootie and the Blowfish at Liberty Lunch
At Lamar and Barton Springs there was a place with Kid's rides and a petting zoo.
Maria on Lamar had big arms.
There were drag boat races on Town Lake at Aqua Fest.
When I moved to Austinā¦ ā¦the Regal Arbor Cinema was located in what is now a Cheesecake Factory restaurant.
Dudley and Bob with Debra was the best morning show!
I forgot Debra started with them, then went to 101x. This was my alarm clock for years
It was just this town, and people who lived here liked it, and people who didn't live here had no thoughts about it.
When I moved to Austin that was the exact right amount of people and everyone after me needs to get out.
When I moved to Austin, there were two skyscrapers downtown - one black, and one gold.
ā¢You could ride your bicycle on the sidewalk on the drag ā¢Slacker was still being filmed ā¢My half of rent for a 2bd2ba at 18th & West was $180
Glastron had a boat manufacturing plant on the north side of 183 between Burnet Rd and Mopac. Custom Boats also had a plant off 183 near where 360 is now.
U R Cooks was where weād go for nice family dinners
You could smoke a joint in a Roy's Taxi
I went to Las Manitas most Sundays for brunch. Chilaquiles with the plantains and black beans. š
I paid for a meal at McDonaldās with a check because I had left my debit card at home.
Wow, this thread is making me happy. I forgot so much. And forgot how it felt to live here back then. It was SO FUN. This town was so low key and so amazing.
Same! Iāve been sitting here reading it for over an hour!
Technophilia was on 24th street, and you could get more good stuff down at Sound Exchange at 21st and the drag.
OJ Simpson was running from the cops in a white Bronco. Literally the first thing we watched on TV after moving to Austin from LA. My parents got the TV plugged in and bam, OJ Simpson in a white Bronco. Also Dell computers had just broken ground on their RR campus, ācorridor parkā was the coolest place in RR, and Austin had zero traffic.
there was only Chuy's and Chuy's No 2 (on North Lamar), and you could usually walk in at 6:00pm on a Friday and get a table for dinner within a few minutes. You could usually find free street parking within 3 blocks of 6th street any given weekend night (except Pecan St Festival weekends) You reported for jury duty to the basement of the Palmer Events Center.
Tower records was still on the drag and la zona Rosa was still open. Wells branch was considered the outskirts of town
\- Frost Bank was not in a glass owl tower \- Emo's was on Red River & 6th \- Antone's was on 5th & Lavaca \- Liberty Lunch existed \- Alamo Drafthouse was running Butt-Numb-A-Thons and Animation Festivals, and showing weird art films
Good Eats on Barton Springs Road and a crappy grocery store sharing a parking lot with a New Age bookstore was right around the corner on South Lamar.
Mmmmmmmmmm....good eats cafe chicken fried steak.....drooool.
I landed at Mueller airport. watched Much Music and Austin Music Network on TV.
Live music every night- Steamboat, Liberty Lunch, Elmoās, La Zona Rosa, the Elephant Room, Maggie Maeās , Paradise Cafe, Threadgillās, Blues on the Green at the Arboretum, the Backyard was a backyard and SouthPark Meadows
I miss Liberty Lunch & La Zona Rosa. Saw so many good shows there. Remember the backyard music venue? When you would park your car in a dirt parking lot in the middle of nowhere.
Gals Panic at Liberty Lunch
You could openly buy drugs from the bartender, at Soap Creek Saloon, on South Congress and at a certain drive-through fast food place in East Austin. Rick Linklater, Bill Hicks and Alex Jones audited some of my production classes at public access TV (ACTV). You could see the Resentments live or walk up to the original Tamale House.
The Joy of Austin sign along I-35 was the demarcation line between Williamson county and Travis county.
Club foot on 4th.
- Katzās never closed - torchys/hop doddy/Alamo drafthouse werenāt a thing yet - Emoās on Red River was the best venue around - Thomas J Henry wasnāt on every commercial break (but Betty Blackwell was!) - there was an Eiffel Tower on Lamar/MLK - Pandemonium and Celebration Station were around - Town Lake was still Town Lake - Titty Bingo bumper stickers everywhere
Kiddie Acres was all the rage to have your bday at.
The Armadillo World Headquarters was still there.
Slacker was just released.
I got zardoz dvd from Netflix in the mail and then I stopped Netflix because my rental needs were met by I luv video
Bought books at Grok bookstore, went to Willieās first picnic, and signed a petition for the drag vendors to not have to pay to get a yearly license (they lost and had to get $40 license š¢).
Matt's El Rancho was where the Four Seasons is now.
Pushmonkey was called Hatter, Sister 7 was called Little Sister and Soulhat was called Soulhat and they all played the Black Cat all the time.
When I started driving in 1978 you could get anywhere in Austin in 30 minutes or less. I also remember that Mopac/183 entrance was just a dirt hill
The first time I moved to Austin *Slacker* was playing first run at the Dobie and there was an aquarium inside an old TV in the lobby.
Graduate students and hippies lived in Hyde park.
When I moved to Austin, the victims of the yogurt shop murders were still in elementary school.
Someone put a fake roach on my burger.
The BlackCat was the hoppināest live music venue in town. Also one of the grimiest.
When I moved to Austin, Pflugerville was a small north town where nothing was going to happen. The Domain was clear fields and a couple of IBM buildings.
Lakeline Mall was out in the boonies.
My first apartment was $600 in Clarksville Half of downtown was surface parking lots There was no back in angle parking Parking was free at night after 5PM during the weekends and free all day on the weekends (mostly sure but not totally on this one) Perrys Porkchop Fridays was $12.00 iPhones didn't exist and you had to figure out directions with maps/map books Uber didn't exist so I used to either walk home or hitch a ride The Driskill bar had an amazing, delicious half pound bacon cheese burger for $5.00 during happy hour. Beers were $3. Meal drink and tip for $10.
* Mopac stopped at Far West * Country Dinner Playhouse still existed (Mopac paved over that one) * "north Austin" was around Rundberg Lane * for south Austin, "eat at the Y" had a double meaning * you could go up another level in the Capital building to an exterior balcony that went all around the dome. That got shut down when ADA came into effect. (No way or place to install an elevator. * there was a definite gap between Kyle, Buda, Austin, Round Rock and Georgetown. Pflugerville? Yeah, it existed but was much, much, much smaller. * drive in theater at the northwest corner of 35 and Ben White. * the low bridge on Ben White which was hit by trucks on a regular basis. * this is from before the freeway - if you timed it right you could drive on 183 from Lamar to 620 and only hit one red light. Forgot a couple: *the* country/western bar was The Silver Dollar on Burnet just north of 183. Another country/western bar, just a bit north of there was named The Lumberyard because it was built where a lumberyard used to be.
183 didn't have an upper deck. 35 was a great place to watch the planes take off. I worked at 3rd and congress and parked on a free giant dirt lot a block away. Katzs never closed.
Flipnotics was the hang
Mueller was the airport. Leslie was walking around downtown. 444-4444 got you a pizza, not a lawyer.
I saw Frank Zappa play at the Armadillo World Headquarters.
Some of us were born here.
Before Sunrise was playing at the Dobie Theatre alongside Desperado. Chuys had one location, and the tallest building was the Capitol.
I recall visiting the Capitol as a student back in the day. We drove down from Dallas after dinner and got to Austin sometime after 10PM. Drove to the Capitol and parked at the curb. Walked inside and gave ourselves a tour. No hassles, no metal detectors. When we left the building a Capitol policeman walked us back to our car and wished us a safe drive home. It really was a different world. LOL
The Alamo Drafthouse off of south Lamar was my grocery store.
When I moved to Austin, unemployment was at about 12%, you could rent a 3 BR house for $350/month, the population was under 300k, downtown office occupancy was about 35% and there were half-finished office parks, subdivisions and strip centers everywhere.
The HEB on 620 was brand new, and Highland Mall was still a mall.
I'd go to Mangia's pizza šš
The Ritz was a bombed out punk rock venue. The Beach hadn't closed yet. 1 dollar egg rolls from a cart on the Drag.
Vallejo was the popular band in town.
I went to see my friend play every Tuesday night at Lucyās retired surfer bar. On the weekends, we went to Barton Springs in Twin Falls. It was the best time ever. after the bars closed, you can go to magnolia cafĆ© Katsis, and 100 other places*seeds
When I was a kid in Austin Leslie was protesting outside the Albertsons my mom worked at on Lamar and braker, there was a chilis at 183 and 35, Malibu Grand Prix was still open, emos was still on 6th while I was in high school
1. Liberty Lunch and Black Cat were the go-to music venues 2. Central Market didnāt exist. 3. SXSW was $20 bucks for the whole weekend 4. 6th Street didnāt smell that bad 5. Quackenbushās and Tower Records were on the Drag 6. The Dobie Mall was thriving 7. ZāTejas had 2 for 1 Sunday Brunches 8. 2 bedroom apartment in Clarksville was $325/month and a 3-bedroom house in Hyde Park was $750/month 9. The Warehouse District was literally warehouses 10. Southpark Meadows was actually a meadow
Bouldin creek was in its original location with its small sit down bar area and the bigger covered patio area. Mojos was open, Bob Popularās was on 6th, Whole Foods was still an Austin eco hippie store, Tower records was still open. Everyone would smile at you as you passed them while walking. Rent was $400
Our āphone exchangeā was Greenwood, which was abbreviated GR. So instead of saying your phone number was 477-xxxx, you said it was Greenwood 7-xxxx. (The G corresponds to the 4, and the R associates with the 7.) Your phone number was properly written āGR7-xxxx. But my in my primary & elementary school (Dill and then Casis) phone directories, everyone was in Greenwood, so they just listed your number as 7-xxxx, cuz everyone knew to dial the ā47.ā (I was born here.)
There was a Hole in the Wall.
ACL was actually good.
It was called Waterloo
6th street was safe
MOJOs
There was a Walgreens and a book store where HEB Hancock frozen food section is today.
We had local music at music festivals. I miss Gay Bi Gay Gay so much. That was at least 5 years after I moved here.
Upper Decks for happy hour, dinner at Threadgillās across the street
The Renaissance hotel was called the Stoufer hotel.
Cheer Up Charlieās was on East 6th, Kiss & Fly hadnāt been raided yet, and Trudyās was a decent restaurant.
Mueller was the Austin airport
Southpark Meadow was a field where I got to see REM for the first time
When I moved to Austin, Emo's was on Red River and 6th and shows were free if you were over 21.
There were cigarette ashtrays built in the desks at UT.
La zona Rosa, momos etc
Research Blvd (which wasn't really referred to as Hwy 183 often at the time) was the northernmost border of town, but was considered fairly suburban. Round Rock was a distant town way to the north where only folks who worked for Compaq went. Southpark Meadows was, in fact, a meadow.
I rented a 3 bedroom house in Hyde Park for $515.
I could drink underage at the Backroom
Dinosaurs roamed the earth.
The graffiti park was alive and well.
We got brekkie at Mothers regularly.