When did old Austin die?

[NorthLoop 14,195]

17 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

aug - oct 2007 in the greenbelt was the absolute best it's ever been.  the july rains made for some incredible tubing and stupid decisions.  

You can say Jun-Oct really. That was the summer that it rained almost every other day starting in June. I was still in school and didn't have a job that summer so I spent most of my days out there or in New Braunfels on the rivers. 

[Lat22 4,014]

They renamed 24th street?

[52-80 19,151]

27 minutes ago, Lat22 said:

They renamed 24th street?

It's called Michael Keaton now

[Native Horn 3,501]

11 hours ago, Al Czervik said:

Maybe that Burger King.  

Younger Al made Whoppers to die for at the Ben White location back before and while old Austin was dying.  

Old Austin died when they renamed 24th street.  I’m sure the ex-mayor with the changing last names had something to do with it.  

26th Street you mo-ron.  

[Jerry Callo 8,700]

20 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

It's called Michael Keaton now

That's 26th Street.  And I think it was named after Diane Keaton.

[texasdago 7,573]

Dean Cain Street... it happened during the height of the Marvel/DC Comics movies.

[Guest Lobo]

22 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

That's 26th Street.  And I think it was named after Diane Keaton.

No, it was named after the Gabriel Byrne character in “The Usual Suspects.”  

[Armybrat 40,839]

Buster Keaton would be just as apropos.

[DaysOff 7,947]

1 hour ago, Lat22 said:

They renamed 24th street?

19th

[BradInATX 9,208]

1 hour ago, NorthLoop said:

You can say Jun-Oct really. That was the summer that it rained almost every other day starting in June. I was still in school and didn't have a job that summer so I spent most of my days out there or in New Braunfels on the rivers. 

I remember that summer as well. That was one of the two or three summers I remember where we had hard enough rain for people to tube down the stretch that goes through Campbell's hole. That was awesome. Me and my group were out there almost every weekend. 

[MAUFRAIS 6,624]

19th

The ultimate racist Austin shibboleth.

[Michael Knight 12,977]

When they built the moon towers 

[BurdineBandit 815]

22 hours ago, alincoln said:

Shit, I rarely have those "damn this makes me feel old moments", but this one just hit me. When I watched this I thought these kids were in their late 20s, grown (I guess I was a young teenager). Now they all look like college students basically. Also, how did that dork wind up with the blonde? And yellow shirt is a lot hotter than I remember. And shit they picked the most east texas looking redhead they could find. F-150 and dip looking mfer.

 

When Matt McC gave his little speech about Austin being the place where hippies, cowboys, hipsters, etc. could all share a bar, I agreed about that being my ideal Austin too. But that place is going, going.... I get the points that are being made about cities all growing and adapting or whatever. But that's not the same conversation as a city losing its soul. What makes it laid-back is the values and attitudes. When the developers brought money into the equation, the attitudes and values shifted towards just that. Thus we get the Domain. And the Domain 2.0 on Riverside. And the inclusion and laissez-faire attitudes about sharing a bar with everyone goes out the window. Y'alls SXSW examples seem like a good example of the beginning to me. The social media generations will speed it up. Laid-back and welcoming and laissez-faire doesn't look good on an IG post, a cute manufactured quote on a dirty wall with a $12 cocktail in hand does.

[Bateshorn 9,927]

On 2/10/2020 at 3:27 PM, Jiggy-Z said:

Victor's Italian Village would like a word with you.

 

Speaking of Scholz's, back in the mid 80's and probably long before,  there used to be an informal polka band night(Thursday in the summertime).  A bunch of us from Longhorn Band would go and play.  Sometimes we would buy some beer, but we got a lot a pitchers paid for by the locals.  Whenever we got thirsty we would ditch the polka stuff and do some LHB stuff that was always good for some generous orange blood to open their wallet.  I remember the pitchers being about $5 bucks by then but I am not sure since I was usually pretty drunk. I do remember that whatever they charged was at least $1 more then the Posse East.

My grandfather was President of the bowling league at the Saengerrunde.  My grandmother would bring me out from the alley on league nights to sit in the back of the beer garden and dance with her while the Polka band played. It's a hell of a great memory for me. I can still remember some of the league guys were Germans from the hill country and would switch back and forth between languages more or less seemlessly, dropping a little Tejano in here and there as well.  My grand father could never speak it, but he would translate their stories for me.

And yes, each generation thinks Austin was ruined by the next. Both my grandparents would complain about how much better old Austin was.  Some how even when Comanches were still a threat to snatch folks west of town in the late 1870s (which my great-great grandmother wrote down stories about).

Edited February 12, 2020 by Bateshorn

[Guest Lobo]

^

that's awesome.  That German Heritage group is fun as hell to hang out with.  I keep meaning to formally join but we keep having little kids.  They like my overly-German name, but are sorely disappointed when I can't speak a word of Deutsch, but can speak fluent spanish.  And I can't play any polka instruments and can't bowl for shit.  But my beer drinking prowess keeps me on their recruiting radar.  It's a great bunch of folks, I hope to take my daughters there more when they get bigger (maybe not keep 'em in the alley like you    ) 

But yeah, of all the places dad lived between Chicago, the East Coast, Northern California, he settles in the one part of the country where Mexican-Germans are actually the founding fathers...Central Texas.  I gotta shave my legs for dance season...

 

 

[Deej 76,766]

9 hours ago, BurdineBandit said:

Shit, I rarely have those "damn this makes me feel old moments", but this one just hit me. When I watched this I thought these kids were in their late 20s, grown (I guess I was a young teenager). Now they all look like college students basically. Also, how did that dork wind up with the blonde? And yellow shirt is a lot hotter than I remember. And shit they picked the most east texas looking redhead they could find. F-150 and dip looking mfer.

 

When Matt McC gave his little speech about Austin being the place where hippies, cowboys, hipsters, etc. could all share a bar, I agreed about that being my ideal Austin too. But that place is going, going.... I get the points that are being made about cities all growing and adapting or whatever. But that's not the same conversation as a city losing its soul. What makes it laid-back is the values and attitudes. When the developers brought money into the equation, the attitudes and values shifted towards just that. Thus we get the Domain. And the Domain 2.0 on Riverside. And the inclusion and laissez-faire attitudes about sharing a bar with everyone goes out the window. Y'alls SXSW examples seem like a good example of the beginning to me. The social media generations will speed it up. Laid-back and welcoming and laissez-faire doesn't look good on an IG post, a cute manufactured quote on a dirty wall with a $12 cocktail in hand does.

I give it shit, but living off Rundberg and Lamar still has a bit of the old Austin vibe. The crime rate sucks, but the area is a melting pot. The feel welcomed and respected in every business I walk into, even though I'm sometimes the only gringo who frequents those places. Austin used to be a place with little judgement. The most raggedy looking person might be pretty wealthy. Born and raised here, and my parents always taught me that the people you expect the least from might just offer the most. I find that to be true in this neighborhood. Money and social status ain't everything. Actually, when it comes to people, it usually isn't much.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

9 hours ago, BurdineBandit said:

Shit, I rarely have those "damn this makes me feel old moments", but this one just hit me. When I watched this I thought these kids were in their late 20s, grown (I guess I was a young teenager). Now they all look like college students basically. Also, how did that dork wind up with the blonde? And yellow shirt is a lot hotter than I remember. And shit they picked the most east texas looking redhead they could find. F-150 and dip looking mfer.

 

When Matt McC gave his little speech about Austin being the place where hippies, cowboys, hipsters, etc. could all share a bar, I agreed about that being my ideal Austin too. But that place is going, going.... I get the points that are being made about cities all growing and adapting or whatever. But that's not the same conversation as a city losing its soul. What makes it laid-back is the values and attitudes. When the developers brought money into the equation, the attitudes and values shifted towards just that. Thus we get the Domain. And the Domain 2.0 on Riverside. And the inclusion and laissez-faire attitudes about sharing a bar with everyone goes out the window. Y'alls SXSW examples seem like a good example of the beginning to me. The social media generations will speed it up. Laid-back and welcoming and laissez-faire doesn't look good on an IG post, a cute manufactured quote on a dirty wall with a $12 cocktail in hand does.

Our old high school guidance counselor referred to the Austin melting pot as “hippies, kickers and nerds.” That’s what Austin was, maybe still is in some sense. She was a very wise woman. 

Sure a city can lose its soul. I think old LA eventually did. Its up to the old school to remember what it was and pass it on to the newcomers as much as can be possible. Nobody said that would be easy. 

[Seger78 258]

This video has been posted before, but it's pretty much a tour of Austin's heyday for me.

Amazing how few cars were on the road too.

[Biff Tannen 45,678]

11 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

That's 26th Street.  And I think it was named after Diane Keaton.

[Deej 76,766]

Dean Carole Keaton Strayhorn Rylander Tom Thumb Randalls AppleTree Safeway is the prefered nomenclature for 26th Street.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Deej

[Larry T. Spider 1,746]

I’ve read through the thread and thought about it. I moved here as an 8 year old in 1991 so I have seen most of the changes and I have two answers.

1. The late 90s tech boom because it populated the suburbs. Austin wasn’t really a city where many people lived in the burbs until around that time. At the beginning of that decade, in 1990, around 5,000 people lived in cedar park. Now there are 80,000 there with an additional 130,000 in round rock. It was the first time where the greater Austin area began to stretch across large swaths of land.

2. 2009 The freak out over the 2008 collapse was in the beginning stages of recovery and people started moving to Austin from all over with good paying jobs. They growth was always there but this time it was different. Many were coming from outside of Texas and with a big budget. They wanted to live in the city and didn’t mind paying a ton or living in a high rise condo.This is when the culture of the city changed as much as the skyline.

I never cared much about money growing up because I could do everything that I wanted to with my middle class parents footing the modest bill. Rich or middle class didn’t matter too much because we all hung out at the same places. Hell, half of what I did was completely free. You never knew if the guy next to you wearing jorts and an obscure band shirt was homeless or a millionaire.

Money matters a lot in Austin now. It’s expensive to live in the parts of the city that make Austin cool. Most events and the better restaurants are expensive as well. I still hang out at places like workhorse and draughthouse that have a local vibe and won’t break the bank, but that’s not most people’s version of Austin anymore.

Im not too bitter about the changes because it’s been a constant since I’ve moved here. There was never a time that Austin wasn’t growing. I think the poster that said Austin is in it’s weird pre-teen awkward phase is pretty correct. There is a lot of almost anxiety about what Austin is and what it will become. 

[bolverk 29,671]

One firm demarcation for me was when the stick figure committing suicide from the parking garage between 8th & 9th off Guadalupe across from the old central library disappeared. I don't exactly know when that happened, but I missed him when he was suddenly gone.

Edited February 13, 2020 by bolverk

[HornsOverIthaca 2,333]

16 hours ago, JimmyJames said:

Our old high school guidance counselor referred to the Austin melting pot as “hippies, kickers and nerds.” That’s what Austin was, maybe still is in some sense. She was a very wise woman. 

She was a really good example too.  Some of those stories were hilarious.

[D_Goose 489]

 

[lonestar3 274]

9 minutes ago, D_Goose said:

 

Fucking internet.

[MAUFRAIS 6,624]

So now that weird goth store can take over the whole building.

I luv video has won me over with their playboys.

[MAUFRAIS 6,624]

Dp

[Guest Lobo]

DP Playboys?  Do share, do share...

[jdhorn92 1,547]

I've been away from Austin for many years now; do they still celebrate Eeyore's b-day in Pease Park?

I remember being an undergrad and stumbling upon that event.   A buddy had bought a used Jeep from some chick near Onion Creek Golf Course (he was a bar tender there), but the thing was, it had bright Pink sideview mirrors, front/back bumpers and Pink accents here and there. 

There was no way he was coming back to West Campus with it "Pinked out".  So we bought some black spray paint ,  a 12'er of Lone Star from Prontos and a dime bag .  We pulled into the park and started to reclaim the Jeep's manhood. 

3-4 beers later and after getting into the dugout more than a few times, imagine our surprise when we realized the craziness of what was going on around us.  He and I still laugh about that day.  That day to me embodied Austin.  More than a city, it was a feeling.  I don't know if it still has the vibe or not.

Edited April 7, 2020 by jdhorn92

[Ignatius 4,017]

On 2/9/2020 at 12:14 PM, justhookit said:

When Cedar Door moved from the Lamar/1st location. 

Lulz, in my mind it died about the time CD moved to that location...

[CHIEF 5,081]

It died for me when Pearl's Oyster Bar burned at Burnet/183 in about '96. $1 beer, 10 cent shrimp, and 25 cent oysters, plus all the government cheese you could eat. As a poor bastard, I could still afford to eat there 3-4 days a week. Also, when we no longer drove across the top of Mansfield Dam on 620 going to Mrs. CHIEF's grandparents in Johnson City.

CHIEF

[wd40 1,976]

Pearl's.  I miss that place.  mostly because it was one of the few live music joints at that end of town (that I remember).

video's from a Steamboat show, but the I think he last time I went to Pearl's was to see this guy.  or Lou Ann.

 

[CHIEF 5,081]

Just now, wd40 said:

Pearl's.  I miss that place.  mostly because it was one of the few live music joints at that end of town (that I remember).

video's from a Steamboat show, but the I think he last time I went to Pearl's was to see this guy.  or Lou Ann.

 

Yep, saw Atlanta Rhythm Section play there on a hungover Saturday afternoon. Even got to tell them I had one of their 8-Tracks.

CHIEF

[Blotto 23,498]

I dug Austin a lot in the early-mid 90's when I was at UT. Moved back about 10 years ago after bouncing around the country and ending up in the Bay Area, and was surprised how completely different it felt. And it is different, but I think a lot of it  also has to do with the way you look at life when you are 18 (with zero fucks to give) vs being in your 40's.  I suspect that for a  18-22 year old, Austin feels a lot more like the Austin that we remember than it does to us today. And like all of us, they will be bitching in 25 years about exactly the same thing. 

[Neonmoon 38,129]

On 2/12/2020 at 7:41 PM, Seger78 said:

This video has been posted before, but it's pretty much a tour of Austin's heyday for me.

Amazing how few cars were on the road too.

Same for me too. Damn that Austin was fun. 

[gmr548 16,576]

51 minutes ago, Blotto said:

I dug Austin a lot in the early-mid 90's when I was at UT. Moved back about 10 years ago after bouncing around the country and ending up in the Bay Area, and was surprised how completely different it felt. And it is different, but I think a lot of it  also has to do with the way you look at life when you are 18 (with zero fucks to give) vs being in your 40's.  I suspect that for a  18-22 year old, Austin feels a lot more like the Austin that we remember than it does to us today. And like all of us, they will be bitching in 25 years about exactly the same thing. 

Well said. It's still a hell of a place to go to school, can get into all kinds of shit. I graduated 2014 and ave just as many fond memories as someone who graduated before Dell.

It just caters a lot more to the educated professional over the past 20-30 years. I say that with no value judgement. It is what it is.

[KaiserSoze 998]

6 hours ago, jdhorn92 said:

I've been away from Austin for many years now; do they still celebrate Eeyore's b-day in Pease Park?

 

Yep, it was scheduled for April 25th this year. It has gotten much bigger (not surprisingly) but plenty of the old fun is still there.

[justhookit 4,191]

7 hours ago, Ignatius said:

Lulz, in my mind it died about the time CD moved to that location...

Where was it before that? By the time I was legal drinking age it was there. I remember pretty well late 70’s to mid 80’s as a kid but other than Veranda, Cloak Room and maybe Caucus Club I wasn’t real aware of the bar scene in Austin. I turned 21 in 1991. I do remember Matt’s when it was on 1st, and the Raw Deal.

edit- I may or may not have had a drink in 1989-90 at chicks o chicks, paradise, jaime’s, and Abel’s. And the place across from 606 what the heck was that called?

Edited April 8, 2020 by justhookit
606

[Not a cat 5,655]

19 minutes ago, justhookit said:

Where was it before that? By the time I was legal drinking age it was there. I remember pretty well late 70’s to mid 80’s as a kid but other than Veranda, Cloak Room and maybe Caucus Club I wasn’t real aware of the bar scene in Austin. I turned 21 in 1991. I do remember Matt’s when it was on 1st, and the Raw Deal.

edit- I may or may not have had a drink in 1989-90 at chicks o chicks, paradise, jaime’s, and Abel’s. And the place across from 606 what the heck was that called?

If that was your bar rotation from 89-91, I'm quite confident I have annoyed you with my drunken antics multiple times.  I'm racking my brain trying to remember that place across the street from 606 and I can't come up with it.     

[tbone_ 14,118]

Wylie’s

[Not a cat 5,655]

2 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Wylie’s

There you go. Thanks.

You can probably carbon date posters' ages by seeing which 6th Street bars they remember. Wylies= 48-52.  

[justhookit 4,191]

Yes, that’s it. Sort of the spillover place from 606 but if I remember right it either wasn’t open, or didn’t let us underage idiots in until a year or two later? I started UT fall of 89. Toulouse or whatever was always an easy place to drink but I’m quite sure 606 accounted for 90% of my alcohol purchases from a bar.

[LTtxfan 49,184]

11 hours ago, D_Goose said:

 

 

 

[tantric superman 4,667]

Remember that hand that was pointing -- it was on the wall of some apartment right around the corner of Mad Dogs and Beans I think.  It was in Slackers.

Anyway, if that isn't there anymore?  When that went away.

Here it is!  6:53

 

 

[High Plains Drifter 11,046]

On 2/9/2020 at 9:55 AM, BurntEyes said:

The day Mad Dog and Beans closed.

When Eddie sold the Showdown.

When Jack sold Caine and Ables.

When Liberty Lunch closed.

When Black Cat closed.

When Antone's moved from the drag.

Charlie Strong

2006, after we won an MNC and I moved to Chicago.

1996 which was 5 years after I moved there.

 

This one hurt.

[utee94 15,820]

You know though, over the decades and through all the changes, one thing in Austin has remained constant--

 

ou still sucks

[CooterBrown 18,007]

There you go. Thanks.
You can probably carbon date posters' ages by seeing which 6th Street bars they remember. Wylies= 48-52.  

Wylie’s was the first real bar that served me a beer as a minor. I think I was 19. I’m 47 now. FWIW, Double Dave’s was the first.

[Steamboat1874 4,058]

13 hours ago, wd40 said:

Pearl's.  I miss that place.  mostly because it was one of the few live music joints at that end of town (that I remember).

video's from a Steamboat show, but the I think he last time I went to Pearl's was to see this guy.  or Lou Ann.

 

This really hits close to home for me.

[tbone_ 14,118]

There you go. Thanks.
You can probably carbon date posters' ages by seeing which 6th Street bars they remember. Wylies= 48-52.  

51. Fall 86 - Spring 90.

[utee94 15,820]

13 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

51. Fall 86 - Spring 90.

Those are some dark football years indeed.  You didn't even get the Fall of 90 which was brilliant (January 1, 1991, was significantly less so).