Austin Nostalgia Picture Thread

[wood 11186]

On 8/20/2021 at 4:41 PM, DaggerHorns said:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/austin-air-conditioned-village

Cool Shit

Allandale. Look how few trees there were. Place is covered with huge trees now.

[wood 11186]

On 8/22/2021 at 4:09 PM, yoladu said:

No A/C in Prather Dorm in 1986/87/88. I lived it.. barely.

Remember working out at old Gregory? Fuuuuck.

[Armybrat 40752]

Austin population was. about 180,000 when I moved here in 1959.

[Somnio 751]

On 9/7/2021 at 8:30 PM, Armybrat said:

Austin population was. about 180,000 when I moved here in 1959.

Not too much bigger than Round Rock today.

[Armybrat 40752]

On 9/2/2021 at 6:34 PM, wood said:

Remember working out at old Gregory? Fuuuuck.

Walking into the vast basement locker room of old Gregory with the fragrance of several thousand wire baskets full of unwashed gym gear hitting one’s olfactory senses was quite a numbing experience, to say the least.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Armybrat

[tbone_ 14027]

Walking into the vast basement locker room of old Gregory with the fragrance of several thousand wire baskets full of unwashed gym gear hitting one’s olfactory senses was quite a numbing experience, to say the least.

Did that many times. Knew where Tom Landry’s picture was from when he was an inter-murals champ at something. Boxing maybe?

[dcar00 14036]

9 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Did that many times. Knew where Tom Landry’s picture was from when he was an inter-murals champ at something. Boxing maybe?

[South Austin 52167]

On 9/2/2021 at 6:31 PM, wood said:

Allandale. Look how few trees there were. Place is covered with huge trees now.

I’ve seen a lot of pictures like that of what is now North Central Austin in the mid-20th Century. Did the original developers back then just plow through all the native vegetation? Or was is sparse to begin with and a lot of what we see now was planted in the last 50-60 years?

[Armybrat 40752]

North Central Austin 60+ years ago was primarily open farms & pastureland.

my brother’s house on Piedmont in Crestview backed up to a working farm, complete with cows, in 1959.

The Northcross area along Anderson Lane to I-35 was open pasture with a few scattered trees.

Capital Plaza on the east side of I-35 was being farmed with various crops, as was the open land north of 290.

There were few areas that were heavily 

wooded… mostly along Walnut Creek.

My kids played Little League baseball in the 1980s at the Northland LL fields south of Rundberg where Henna Chevy is now.

UT owned an airfield on North Lamar near the intersection with Airport Blvd - one hangar is still being used as a business -  and there was another airfield west of Airport on Koenig… both prior to WW2.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Armybrat

[utee94 15746]

Yup my folks' house near the SW corner of Burnet/183 was built in 1968.  They have pictures of the area before it was developed, not many trees, just open farmland.

 

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

2 hours ago, utee94 said:

Yup my folks' house near the SW corner of Burnet/183 was built in 1968.  They have pictures of the area before it was developed, not many trees, just open farmland.

 

Can confirm.  My folks built a new house in that same quadrant in 1972.  We were on a street whose back yards backed up to an open field with a dirt track around it.  Our street was a new add on to the existing subdivision and my dad built several houses on it in the early 70's.  I learned how to ride a bike on that track.  The field had hundreds of horned frogs living in it and we kids would go and catch them, but them in an open box and observe them for hours, then let them go at the end of the day.  I found many iron ore meteorite type of rocks in that field as well.  The bluebonnets were also pretty spectacular there.  We moved even farther north in 1975 out by what is Parmer/Burnet area.

 

There was also another open field field that fronted 183 in that quadrant.  Well it wasn't exactly open.  The dump truck drivers would sometimes illegally dump their job fill there.  Nothing hazardous, just a Hodgepodge of various road base, loam, scrappings, etc.  The kids in the hood would fashion these leavings into little hills for doing jumps on our bikes.  Then one day the dozers showed up and built Playland skating ring.   

The trees I do remember in all four quadrants of that intersection were Hackberries.  

[wood 11186]

4 hours ago, South Austin said:

I’ve seen a lot of pictures like that of what is now North Central Austin in the mid-20th Century. Did the original developers back then just plow through all the native vegetation? Or was is sparse to begin with and a lot of what we see now was planted in the last 50-60 years?

From everything I can tell, it was a lot sparser 50-100 years ago than it is now. Remarkably so.

[wood 11186]

33 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

Can confirm.  My folks built a new house in that same quadrant in 1972.  We were on a street whose back yards backed up to an open field with a dirt track around it.  Our street was a new add on to the existing subdivision and my dad built several houses on it in the early 70's.  I learned how to ride a bike on that track.  The field had hundreds of horned frogs living in it and we kids would go and catch them, but them in an open box and observe them for hours, then let them go at the end of the day.  I found many iron ore meteorite type of rocks in that field as well.  The bluebonnets were also pretty spectacular there.  We moved even farther north in 1975 out by what is Parmer/Burnet area.

 

There was also another open field field that fronted 183 in that quadrant.  Well it wasn't exactly open.  The dump truck drivers would sometimes illegally dump their job fill there.  Nothing hazardous, just a Hodgepodge of various road base, loam, scrappings, etc.  The kids in the hood would fashion these leavings into little hills for doing jumps on our bikes.  Then one day the dozers showed up and built Playland skating ring.   

The trees I do remember in all four quadrants of that intersection were Hackberries.  

Yeah back in middle school when we lived at Davis and MAnchaca, there were horny toads everywhere. Now they're exceedingly rare.

[RomaVicta 29809]

On 8/21/2021 at 12:29 PM, Armybrat said:

No a/c when we were stationed at Fort Sam & Camp Hood 1946-50. We had fans, so I don’t recall being bothered by the heat.

No AC in elementary school. It's just the way it was. We'd come in from recess and the teacher would turn off the lights, turn up the fans, and tell us to just rest and cool off for about five minutes. Big Chief tablet paper stuck to your forearms.

If you don't know any better, you don't worry about it.

[Armybrat 40752]

1 hour ago, RomaVicta said:

No AC in elementary school. It's just the way it was. We'd come in from recess and the teacher would turn off the lights, turn up the fans, and tell us to just rest and cool off for about five minutes. Big Chief tablet paper stuck to your forearms.

If you don't know any better, you don't worry about it.

Our next 4 years we were stationed in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
No fans necessary there.

[Underdog 28460]

20 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Walking into the vast basement locker room of old Gregory with the fragrance of several thousand wire baskets full of unwashed gym gear hitting one’s olfactory senses was quite a numbing experience, to say the least.

Was your nickname Lassie? 

[Underdog 28460]

Wish I could find some old pics from late 70s Austin when the folks were down there scouting houses for the move. 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13555]

Couldn't find the right thread to put this in, but caught the last standing remnant of that apartment complex just west of Abel's as it was getting destroyed.  

Fair Sailing, That Apartment Complex I Got Stoned At Sophomore Year I Think 

[CooterBrown 17942]

A friend showed me some pics of the Travis HS homecoming parade marching down South Congress. In 1992. Can’t imagine that happening today.

[yoladu 4071]

https://austin.towers.net/remember-when-austins-hike-and-bike-trail-didnt-have-enough-trees/

Remember When Austin’s Hike-and-Bike Trail Didn’t Have Enough Trees?

[yoladu 4071]

Austin - 1990.

some pretty good video of downtown taken from Auditorium shores.

 

[South Austin 52167]

38 minutes ago, yoladu said:

https://austin.towers.net/remember-when-austins-hike-and-bike-trail-didnt-have-enough-trees/

Remember When Austin’s Hike-and-Bike Trail Didn’t Have Enough Trees?

As someone who runs this stretch of the trail frequently, this is a holy shit picture. At first the 1970s doesn’t seem that long ago for such a drastic change in tree coverage, but then I remind myself that I’m turning 47 in December.

[Armybrat 40752]

7 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

A friend showed me some pics of the Travis HS homecoming parade marching down South Congress. In 1992. Can’t imagine that happening today.

Here is Mrs. Brat the drum major leading the Fightin’ Taylor Duck band up Congress Avenue in 1963. 
(Filmed by her mom using an 8mm home movie camera dating from 1946)

 

[South Austin 52167]

Back, and to the left.

[Deej 76586]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

Here is Mrs. Brat the drum major leading the Fightin’ Taylor Duck band up Congress Avenue in 1963. 
(Filmed by her mom using an 8mm home movie camera dating from 1946)

 

 

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

Here is Mrs. Brat the drum major leading the Fightin’ Taylor Duck band up Congress Avenue in 1963. 
(Filmed by her mom using an 8mm home movie camera dating from 1946)

 

Za Prude Her?  Hell, Brat hardly knew her! 

[Hornius Emeritus 12424]

2 hours ago, South Austin said:

As someone who runs this stretch of the trail frequently, this is a holy shit picture. At first the 1970s doesn’t seem that long ago for such a drastic change in tree coverage, but then I remind myself that I’m turning 47 in December.

The same spot today:

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2646035,-97.7513641,2a,75y,129.95h,93.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0zk7legIpXawsFV0GdmQgw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[tbone_ 14027]

So they planted some trees. Wtf?

[ftf82 485]

Wonder if it had to do with the fact that Longhorn Dam wasn't built until 1960.

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

That whole Town Lake area was an industrial zone when @Armybrat and I were kids.  Sand and gravel operations on land and barges in the water dredging up fill material.

Edited November 15, 2021 by DalTxHornFan

[Armybrat 40752]

I’ll bet most present-day Austinites never heard of the 1900 city dam failure that caused lots of deaths and left the city without power for months:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Dam_failure_(Texas)

when I moved hrre there were still a couple of big granite chunks of that dam near Red Bud Isle.

 

 

Edited November 16, 2021 by Armybrat

[Underdog 28460]

3 hours ago, Deej said:

 

Dare I say I spot a bit of a tit there.  

[DaggerHorns 3058]

I wonder if anyone has any pics back when Texas used to have a football team.

[Incredulity 11564]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

I’ll bet most present-day Austinites never heard of the 1900 city dam failure that caused lots of deaths and left the city without power for months:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Dam_failure_(Texas)

when I moved hrre there were still a couple of big granite chunks of that dam near Red Bud Isle.

 

 

nothing existed prior to 2000 according to most of them.

[blacklab 11852]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

I’ll bet most present-day Austinites never heard of the 1900 city dam failure that caused lots of deaths and left the city without power for months:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Dam_failure_(Texas)

when I moved hrre there were still a couple of big granite chunks of that dam near Red Bud Isle.

 

 

There are still big granite chunks all over that island.

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

22 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

nothing existed prior to 2000 according to most of them.

Makes sense, a million more people here since 2000:

 

2000	2010	2020	PERCENT CHANGE
			2000-10	2010-20
Austin MSA	1,249,763	1,716,289	2,295,303	37.3%	33.7%

https://www.austinchamber.com/economic-development/austin-profile/population/overview

[Incredulity 11564]

1 minute ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Makes sense, a million more people here since 2000:

 

2000	2010	2020	PERCENT CHANGE
			2000-10	2010-20
Austin MSA	1,249,763	1,716,289	2,295,303	37.3%	33.7%

https://www.austinchamber.com/economic-development/austin-profile/population/overview

[texasdago 7553]

Skip to about the 5:15 mark and this annoying lady spends 50 minutes driving and filming Austin in 1993.  Downtown, Mueller Airport, Motorola, Lake Austin, 6th Street... 

[Brisketexan 104733]

I wonder if anyone has any pics back when Texas used to have a football team.

All the way back then? Only pictographs.

[texasdago 7553]

Where's my sack of Austin products?

 

https://youtu.be/kIdgMvyRCzE

All kinds of interesting footage and commentary 

Edited November 17, 2021 by texasdago

[South Austin 52167]

It’s weird how this thread makes me nostalgic for something I shouldn’t have nostalgia about. I’ve only lived in Austin since 1994 (with a diversion to Dallas right out of law school from 1999-2003), which is nothing compared to a lot of old-timers.  But I look at some of these old pictures and videos, some of which predate my birth, and I have a felling of “that’s my town back in the day. I miss that.” 

There’s still is a lot to love about this city, and a lot to loathe. I guess a lot of folks in other growing metropolitan areas can say the same.

[texasdago 7553]

On 11/17/2021 at 6:47 AM, South Austin said:

It’s weird how this thread makes me nostalgic for something I shouldn’t have nostalgia about. I’ve only lived in Austin since 1994 (with a diversion to Dallas right out of law school from 1999-2003), which is nothing compared to a lot of old-timers.  But I look at some of these old pictures and videos, some of which predate my birth, and I have a felling of “that’s my town back in the day. I miss that.” 

There’s still is a lot to love about this city, and a lot to loathe. I guess a lot of folks in other growing metropolitan areas can say the same.

The last sentence nails it.  Each city goes through its stages... good and bad.  You have to look for the good things and try to fix the bad things.  I'll say it until I'm blue in the face but I wouldn't step foot in east Austin when I was in college.  Now I love it over there... great restaurants, cocktail bars, breweries, wine bars, etc.  What do I miss about old east Austin?  Now, at the same time, I hate seeing Dry Creek disappear.  But places like Dry Creek disappear all over the country.  Anyone remember the (real) Aquarium in Houston?  Dive bar on West Dallas.  It was Houston's version of Dry Creek with a great juke box, crooked floor and crotchety old lady.  But places like that inevitably close.  And then places like Saint Arnold's eventually open (no, not in the same spot).  So... its the lifecycle of a city.  At least we're not in Cleveland or Detroit.

Edited November 18, 2021 by texasdago

[Bevo 13529]

Anybody have any nostalgia pics of Anderson Lane?

[texasdago 7553]

4 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Anybody have any nostalgia pics of Anderson Lane?

Nope but check this out... holy crap:

 

https://geemail.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/its-pics-from-the-past-of-hometown-austin-texas/ 

[Deej 76586]

3 hours ago, texasdago said:

I'll say it until I'm blue in the face but I wouldn't step foot in east Austin when I was in college.  Now I love it over there

I feel the opposite. I loved old east Austin. I usually stayed away after dark, but the culture was authentic. Sucks the city wouldn't do shit for the east side of 35 until it started to gentrify. Read an article last week discussing removing the barrier that is I-35 from between east and west. Of course, now that it's white folks on both sides. 

[utee94 15746]

13 minutes ago, Deej said:

I feel the opposite. I loved old east Austin. I usually stayed away after dark, but the culture was authentic. Sucks the city wouldn't do shit for the east side of 35 until it started to gentrify. Read an article last week discussing removing the barrier that is I-35 from between east and west. Of course, now that it's white folks on both sides. 

Nah that ain't it.  They've been talking about burying I35 and connecting the two sides for decades.  Nobody wanted to pay for it then, and nobody wants to pay for it now, so it'll never happen.

[texasdago 7553]

8 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Nah that ain't it.  They've been talking about burying I35 and connecting the two sides for decades.  Nobody wanted to pay for it then, and nobody wants to pay for it now, so it'll never happen.

I love the idea of removing the barrier but, yeah, I don't know that it will happen.  

Honestly, at UT, I just kept away from that area... it was #badideajeans but I probably missed out on some good food.

 

[utee94 15746]

11 minutes ago, texasdago said:

I love the idea of removing the barrier but, yeah, I don't know that it will happen.  

Honestly, at UT, I just kept away from that area... it was #badideajeans but I probably missed out on some good food.

 

You definitely missed out.  Carmen's La Tapatia was the best Tex-Mex place Austin ever had.  I was bussed over to Martin Junior High, plus my parents had been in Austin since the late 50s, so they were pretty fearless about the area.  We were frequent visitors.

The only real problem I ever encountered was the big gang fight/turf war on the junior high campus, on the last day of my 8th grade, between the Junior Latin Kings and the Bishops.  They were squaring off with knives and chains and stuff just as we were pulling away.  I'm glad I didn't have to stick around for that.

[Anastasis 23402]

RIP cabrito at El Azteca. 

[texasdago 7553]

6 minutes ago, utee94 said:

You definitely missed out.  Carmen's La Tapatia was the best Tex-Mex place Austin ever had.  I was bussed over to Martin Junior High, plus my parents had been in Austin since the late 50s, so they were pretty fearless about the area.  We were frequent visitors.

The only real problem I ever encountered was the big gang fight/turf war on the junior high campus, on the last day of my 8th grade, between the Junior Latin Kings and the Bishops.  They were squaring off with knives and chains and stuff just as we were pulling away.  I'm glad I didn't have to stick around for that.

It was probably dumb of me not to guy but I didn't know any better... when were still in Houston, I spent plenty of time in Spring Branch trolling holes in the wall and taco trucks and my Spanish is actually better today than it was in college so I probably missed out.