Austin Nostalgia Picture Thread

[Armybrat 40751]

610 W. 17th Now:

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2805895,-97.7453839,3a,90y,38.4h,93.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV2R-fNbZYfVZhGOo6kBk0Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Edited April 21, 2021 by Armybrat

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

12 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

610 W. 17th Now:

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2805895,-97.7453839,3a,90y,38.4h,93.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV2R-fNbZYfVZhGOo6kBk0Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

The old St. David's hospital building.  There was an article about this a while back: https://austin.towers.net/on-17th-street-historic-austin-architecture-hides-in-plain-sight/?pro=caitlyn@towers.net

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

18 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

610 W. 17th Now:

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2805895,-97.7453839,3a,90y,38.4h,93.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV2R-fNbZYfVZhGOo6kBk0Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

wow, what progress!

[dcbc 14430]

 

Nice little nostalgia piece below.

https://www.michaelcorcoran.net/greatest-austin-clubs-of-all-time-8-black-cat-lounge/

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

On 4/15/2021 at 7:50 AM, Armybrat said:

I lived in the bottom floor of the old house just to the right of that frat shack in 1959.

Friday & Saturday nights got pretty noisy, especially when the drunks ran out onto the upstairs fire escape to puke down on the driveway.

Anne Richards. & husband were neighbors on the other side.

Rented the house directly behind Ann's, on Longview, in the 80s. Really weird when Barbara Jordan and Ann were in Ann's backyard and you could hear two of the most iconic voices in Texas until they turned on the fountain which was always within a few minutes.

[Armybrat 40751]

6 minutes ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Rented the house directly behind Ann's, on Longview, in the 80s. Really weird when Barbara Jordan and Ann were in Ann's backyard and you could hear two of the most iconic voices in Texas until they turned on the fountain which was always within a few minutes.

I’ll bet that was some conversation. Did they tell any Clayton Williams jokes? 

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

44 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

I’ll bet that was some conversation. Did they tell any Clayton Williams jokes? 

It was like a weekly thing and they always turned the fountain on once the greeting pleasantries were done so I never heard anything of note.

Edited April 27, 2021 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[Armybrat 40751]

Very prudent precaution, as your awareness indicated. 😄

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

This is a great UT history blog.  Not updated lately -- but why should it be, it's history!

https://jimnicar.com/

[Knoxtnhorn 5940]

On 4/23/2021 at 7:56 PM, dcbc said:

 

Nice little nostalgia piece below.

https://www.michaelcorcoran.net/greatest-austin-clubs-of-all-time-8-black-cat-lounge/

The mid-90's were a long time ago.  I'm trying to recall if this was one of the places I used to frequent.  I know it was on the left side of 6th Street (if approaching from 35).  I also recall it being pretty close to 6th and 35.  It had a rather small patio out back?

Same time frame.  Anyone remember a club that had a wall of stadium lights?  They'd play the following song.  The bonga notes would coincide with a few of the smaller lights flashing.  Then, when the deeper drums would kick in, the entire wall would flash.  It was pretty cool.

 

[Steamboat1874 4032]

Always found these fascinating....

 

[JimmyJames 12271]

On 4/19/2021 at 7:05 AM, Armybrat said:

I just stumbled across this weird 1952 Butler Pitch & Putt murder story (with LBJ connection). Never heard of it before:

https://www.statesman.com/NEWS/20171019/Murder-at-the-Butler-Pitch-and-Putt

It’s no stranger to this town which has an incredible ability to bury things.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-school-shooting-that-austin-forgot/amp/

[Seger78 258]

On 4/21/2021 at 11:28 AM, DalTxHornFan said:

The old St. David's hospital building.  There was an article about this a while back: https://austin.towers.net/on-17th-street-historic-austin-architecture-hides-in-plain-sight/?pro=caitlyn@towers.net

Rio House apartments. Best deal in all of Austin.

[Armybrat 40751]

9 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

It’s no stranger to this town which has an incredible ability to bury things.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-school-shooting-that-austin-forgot/amp/

My nephew was in the classroom next to that one when the teacher was killed. 
my own school went on lockdown as soon as the word spread.

[JimmyJames 12271]

2 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

My nephew was in the classroom next to that one when the teacher was killed. 
my own school went on lockdown as soon as the word spread.

And yet he never served any time at all. 

 

5 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

My nephew was in the classroom next to that one when the teacher was killed. 
my own school went on lockdown as soon as the word spread.

Then there was John’s pedigree. His father was George Christian, a legendary figure in Texas politics who had served as President Johnson’s press secretary and later became a top adviser to Governor Dolph Briscoe. John’s mom, Jo Anne, was an accomplished lawyer and patron of Austin’s arts scene. John was the third of their four sons (George had two adult daughters from a previous marriage). The family occupied a sprawling house on Rockledge Cove, a short walk from the Murchison campus, with an enormous magnolia tree in the front yard that had grown from a sapling given to them by Lady Bird Johnson. 

[Armybrat 40751]

Yep. John the shooter walked from their house to school carrying a .22 rifle sometime after classes had started that day.

The Christians supposedly paid the teacher’s widow (with a young child) a settlement of about $600,000.

Another poster on a thread at TOS several years ago said that John eventually went to law school and is practicing in Austin.

[TwiceHorn 31311]

30 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Yep. John the shooter walked from their house to school carrying a .22 rifle sometime after classes had started that day.

The Christians supposedly paid the teacher’s widow (with a young child) a settlement of about $600,000.

Another poster on a thread at TOS several years ago said that John eventually went to law school and is practicing in Austin.

It is true.  https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_A_Lawyer&template=/Customsource/MemberDirectory/MemberDirectoryDetail.cfm&ContactID=163257\

I just noticed he graduated law school in 88 and wasn't licensed until 90.  I guess the Board of Law Examiners gave him the business.

[Armybrat 40751]

Well, more power to him if he changed his life for the better.

[JimmyJames 12271]

28 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Well, more power to him if he changed his life for the better.

Now imagine he was black.

[JimmyJames 12271]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Brazill

[dcar00 14036]

5 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

The mid-90's were a long time ago.  I'm trying to recall if this was one of the places I used to frequent.  I know it was on the left side of 6th Street (if approaching from 35).  I also recall it being pretty close to 6th and 35.  It had a rather small patio out back?

Same time frame.  Anyone remember a club that had a wall of stadium lights?  They'd play the following song.  The bonga notes would coincide with a few of the smaller lights flashing.  Then, when the deeper drums would kick in, the entire wall would flash.  It was pretty cool.

 

Black Cat was next to 311 Club near 6th and Trinity.  across from Shakespeares.   that intersection was the hub late 80's to late 90's.   606, toulouse, maggie maes, 311, copper tank opened closer to 5th, steamboat.

steamboat, lunch, and black cat all gone between 99 and 02.

good fucking times.

[Biff Tannen 45506]

7 hours ago, dcar00 said:

Black Cat was next to 311 Club near 6th and Trinity.  across from Shakespeares.   that intersection was the hub late 80's to late 90's.   606, toulouse, maggie maes, 311, copper tank opened closer to 5th, steamboat.

steamboat, lunch, and black cat all gone between 99 and 02.

good fucking times.

Steamboat was where my first band had their first show. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11810]

12 hours ago, Steamboat1874 said:

Always found these fascinating....

 

(J. Frank) A permanent erection to an impotent administration (Dobie)

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

Steamboat was where my first band had their first show. 

What band? What year?  I used to see my co-workers band there all the time in '96 & '97.  

[Biff Tannen 45506]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

What band? What year?  I used to see my co-workers band there all the time in '96 & '97.  

It was a high school band.  1999.  It didn't last more than a few years.  I prefer to not recall it.

[Armybrat 40751]

A favorite weekend destination on Red River to take a date to hear Ernie Mae Miller or Blind George play in the mid 1960s.

 

 

[Guest Lobo]

You're the one bringing up old shit, not me.  

Was it called 'Coquettish Haberdasher' ? 

[Armybrat 40751]

The most popular club in East Austin, but the UT frats taking it over in the ‘60s ruined it for the eastside residents. 

 

 

[Biff Tannen 45506]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

You're the one bringing up old shit, not me.  

Was it called 'Coquettish Haberdasher' ? 

Prognosis Negative

[dcbc 14430]

16 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

The mid-90's were a long time ago.  I'm trying to recall if this was one of the places I used to frequent.  I know it was on the left side of 6th Street (if approaching from 35).  I also recall it being pretty close to 6th and 35.  It had a rather small patio out back?

You have the location pretty much nailed.  You walk in.  There's a hot dog station on the left and small bar with ice cold PBR in a deep freeze.  Wooden riser/stairstep type seating along the opposite wall until you get about halfway to the stage.  Pretty sure there was a very small area out back.  On your right (after you walk past the stage toward that "patio," were the bathrooms.  The somewhat unique feature about these bathrooms was the fact that there was no roof.

[dcbc 14430]

4 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Steamboat was where my first band had their first show. 

I got a UIPP while at a Soul Hat show at Steamboat.  Line for the restroom was stupid.  So I and about 10 other people walked out the back door and started pissing on the alley wall.  No sooner had I begun than CHIPS on a ten speed pulls up and asks to see my license.  Without stopping the stream, I reach in my pocket, pull out my driver's license, and hand it back over my shoulder.  He tells me I can finish.  So I put the license up on a ledge and proceed to piss out some well processed Shiner Bock.  $25 fine.  I then marched my ass back into that bar and ordered another drink. 

That brave bastard sure saved some lives that night.  Friggin' revenuers. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by dcbc

[Knoxtnhorn 5940]

48 minutes ago, dcbc said:

You have the location pretty much nailed.  You walk in.  There's a hot dog station on the left and small bar with ice cold PBR in a deep freeze.  Wooden riser/stairstep type seating along the opposite wall until you get about halfway to the stage.  Pretty sure there was a very small area out back.  On your right (after you walk past the stage toward that "patio," were the bathrooms.  The somewhat unique feature about these bathrooms was the fact that there was no roof.

Yep.  That was it.  I even recall the PBR.

[dcar00 14036]

55 minutes ago, dcbc said:

You have the location pretty much nailed.  You walk in.  There's a hot dog station on the left and small bar with ice cold PBR in a deep freeze.  Wooden riser/stairstep type seating along the opposite wall until you get about halfway to the stage.  Pretty sure there was a very small area out back.  On your right (after you walk past the stage toward that "patio," were the bathrooms.  The somewhat unique feature about these bathrooms was the fact that there was no roof.

forgot about the no roof on the bathrooms...classic.  

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

3 hours ago, Armybrat said:

A favorite weekend destination on Red River to take a date to hear Ernie Mae Miller or Blind George play in the mid 1960s.

 

 

Bob Ogden (RIP) used to run that place back then.  He was later the driving force (at least real estate-wise) behind El Arroyo and Donn's Depot.

[Steamboat1874 4032]

6 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Steamboat was where my first band had their first show. 

what ws the name of your band?

I worked there in the very early 80's.

[Biff Tannen 45506]

1 hour ago, Steamboat1874 said:

what ws the name of your band?

I worked there in the very early 80's.

It was 1999.  Guessing you weren't there then.  Downshift was the moniker.

[UTCzech III 2902]

21 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

This is a great UT history blog.  Not updated lately -- but why should it be, it's history!

https://jimnicar.com/

Check out his twitter page, he updates just about every day

 

 

[Guest Lobo]

FAC is a really great building.  They keep trying to reinvent different floors of it and I know it's gotta be a challenge.  

PCL is begging for an overhaul.  Students use the hell outta the first floor for meetings/group study.  But the upper levels are a complete waste of space.  Nobody checks out 99% of those books anymore.   

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

6 minutes ago, Lobo said:

But the upper levels are a complete waste of space.  Nobody checks out 99% of those books anymore.   

That was exactly why I always studied (or napped) up there. 

[Guest Lobo]

Well yeah, we all did.  Or worse.  But that's a great use of such vast and prime campus real estate anymore. Especially since so many more students live within just a few minutes of campus than we did in the olden times. 

[Armybrat 40751]

1 hour ago, UTCzech III said:

Check out his twitter page, he updates just about every day

 

 

In 1962 it was named the Ransom Center, after Harry. That was my freshman year.

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

Threadgill's before Eddie Wilson got hold of it:

Threadgill's after Eddie Wilson was done with it:

Piece about proposed redevelopment, including a statue of Janis Joplin -- I hope they pretty her up some.  Didn't she win the "Ugliest Woman" award or some such at UT?

https://austin.towers.net/preservation-work-planned-for-residential-project-at-threadgills-site/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=threadgills&utm_source=twitter&pro=caitlyn@towers.net

[MAUFRAIS 6585]

I’ve always heard it was ugliest guy. 

[83Horn 1638]

2 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Threadgill's before Eddie Wilson got hold of it:

Threadgill's after Eddie Wilson was done with it:

Piece about proposed redevelopment, including a statue of Janis Joplin -- I hope they pretty her up some.  Didn't she win the "Ugliest Woman" award or some such at UT?

https://austin.towers.net/preservation-work-planned-for-residential-project-at-threadgills-site/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=threadgills&utm_source=twitter&pro=caitlyn@towers.net

Yeah, I always heard it was "ugliest guy on campus".  Not one of UT's proudest moments, if true.

[Red Five 40690]

That was exactly why I always studied (or napped) up there. 

I had some amazing hungover naps up there.

[CTC2 2747]

On 4/23/2021 at 7:56 PM, dcbc said:

 

Nice little nostalgia piece below.

https://www.michaelcorcoran.net/greatest-austin-clubs-of-all-time-8-black-cat-lounge/

Spent a lot of time there and Joe's Generic Bar

[dcar00 14036]

This was something cool I stumbled on a while back.  Hank Williams last official paid concert was in Austin.  the Skyline club - Braker and N Lamar(the real boonies back then)

https://richardpennington.com/2012/10/hank-williams-final-show-austin-tx-december-19-1952/

https://destinationeatdrink.com/skyline-club-austin-texas/

 

[Guest Lobo]

I didn't snap a photo, but holy shit.  Was on the north end of campus today and decided to wander over to Posse East to get some lunch.  Hadn't been there probably since Covid started.  Holy shit, right behind it...and I mean you could snap a bottle cap at this thing from the outdoor pisser......is a giant fucking apartment complex.  5 stories high, has to be 75-100 doors.  Just right on top of Posse.  I don't even remember what was there before except an empty lot.  Posse has always looked frozen in time, but this really, really accents that effect.  /csb

The demo on Threadgill's is picking up steam, in other news.  

One by one, how old friends are gone.  

Still, would it kill somebody to do something with that old Bennigan's space across the street.  Fucking eyesore and it's decent real estate.  

[Gourmand 7774]

[Boys on Bikes at Town Lake], photograph, 1972; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth124689/m1/1/:

 University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.

[Armybrat 40751]

43 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

This was something cool I stumbled on a while back.  Hank Williams last official paid concert was in Austin.  the Skyline club - Braker and N Lamar(the real boonies back then)

https://richardpennington.com/2012/10/hank-williams-final-show-austin-tx-december-19-1952/

https://destinationeatdrink.com/skyline-club-austin-texas/

 

My kids played Little League at the Walnut Creek Optimists ballpark directly across the street from that Club. We lived East of I-35 in the Four Seasons neighborhood off Braker Lane.

Some more facts about the Skyline... Elvis Presley played there in 1955 or 56. My brother’s friend & his band opened for him.

Also, Willie filmed part of his movie there.