Austin Nostalgia Picture Thread

[Brisketexan 104744]

My Dad worked at this old Austin bank in the late 1950s. It is now Perry’s restaurant.
 

And between being a bank and Perry’s….anyone else remember what it was 25 yrs ago? I do….

[Armybrat 40752]

Nope?

[JesusSweatDuck 17780]

5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

And between being a bank and Perry’s….anyone else remember what it was 25 yrs ago? I do….

Wasn't the iron bear or something like that locate there?

[Deej 76592]

There was a bar with the entrance on the Colorado side there for awhile.

 

[Brisketexan 104744]

Iron bear was around the corner (and much later. CSB time: on the day of the Obergefell decision (SCOTUS legalized same sex marriage), they were celebrating with 50 cent drinks. GOLL and I (and some of our other law partners) walked over, put a bunch of cash on the bar, and said “opens a tab for the house, and here’s to the Constitution.”)
What was in the Perry’s space: Jean Luc’s French bistro.

[YGIFS 19449]

I vaguely remember a bar there well before Perry's.  There was a bank who had a lobby next door to that, but who had the drive-thru in the garage behind Perry's.  It was a weird setup, like you had to drive up to the second floor and do a u-turn to come to the drive-thru teller lanes on the ground level without accidentally getting in the garage exit lane.  Choking on car exhaust in an unventilated parking garage was the height of private banking with that personal touch.  I can't believe that business model is going bye-bye.  

[Al Czervik 1229]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

And between being a bank and Perry’s….anyone else remember what it was 25 yrs ago? I do….

Club Foote? 

[Armybrat 40752]

Remember a few years ago a woman’s body was found in the A/C ducts somewhere in that building. Very bizarre case.

[YGIFS 19449]

20 minutes ago, Al Czervik said:

Club Foote? 

The Marjorie Taylor Greene tribute bar?  

Pos rep to Brisket, it was Jean-Luc's in there for much of the 2000's.  I swear there was a side attached bar there.  There was another joint up on 8th around the corner, and then Brown Bar across the street, every one of those three bars constantly packed with attorneys and cougars, and one Cougar of Counsel.  Aside from 4th street, I think it was trying to be a more adult enclave of folks looking to go drinking before/after shows at Paramount, non-rowdy happy hours, and what-not.  They're still trying that on the north end of Congress from Roaring Fork to the 10th street.  

Not as cool as the one above from '79, but found one from 2006 that is one of those hand-drawn comic looking maps of Austin.  We put them in our guest's welcome bags for our wedding.  That was just 17 years ago, and downtown is a completely different city.  Took me 3 minutes just to figure out what the fucking streets were because all the landmarks changed.  

I know we bitch about the traffic and congestion down there, and rightfully so.  But next time you're driving through the CBD, look left and right at each intersection you stop at.  And look at how many streets have one land blocked off for construction.  Perfectly reasonable for safety.  And then look at the same street, the city has either decided to also do 2016 an 2020 mobility bond enhancements to them and/or refused to take the bus lane away during construction.  When Jean-Luc's was around, most of the streets were 3-4 lanes with no restrictions.  Now, almost half our streets there are reduced to two lanes with 4x the traffic flow due to delivery of so much more office product.

[YGIFS 19449]

4 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Remember a few years ago a woman’s body was found in the A/C ducts somewhere in that building. Very bizarre case.

Couldn't merge quotes.  

Yes, that was between Perry's and the building behind it that both shared HVAC exhaust or something, right?  She had wandered in there late at night and got stuck and the kitchen reported a smell after weeks, not days.  Whatever happened with that?  It was just chalked up as an accident but there's not a lot of drugs that would still allow you to shimmy 100 linear feet through HVAC venting.  

[South Austin 52169]

43 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Yes, that was between Perry's and the building behind it that both shared HVAC exhaust or something, right?  She had wandered in there late at night and got stuck and the kitchen reported a smell after weeks, not days.  Whatever happened with that?  It was just chalked up as an accident but there's not a lot of drugs that would still allow you to shimmy 100 linear feet through HVAC venting.  

Yeah, that was pretty sad. She actually used to work at my law firm. She had worked at Perry’s after she left my firm, and I’m not sure if she still did at the time of the incident or if she had recently been fired. I don’t think anyone ever found out just what the hell she thought she was doing. 

[DixonHur 11236]

2 hours ago, Al Czervik said:

Club Foote? 

Club Foot was at 4th and Brazos iirc

[Biff Tannen 45512]

2 hours ago, South Austin said:

Yeah, that was pretty sad. She actually used to work at my law firm. She had worked at Perry’s after she left my firm, and I’m not sure if she still did at the time of the incident or if she had recently been fired. I don’t think anyone ever found out just what the hell she thought she was doing. 

I thought it was near or in the W and she had gotten fired and was trying to sneak back in for some revenge or something. I could be making that up. 

[YGIFS 19449]

I don't think so, South Austin sounds like he'd know way more.  But I also knew somebody that worked with her (not terribly well, but enough he pontificated on how she may have met her demise based on previous behavior around that time).  But you've got the Norwood Tower to the immediate East and then that shared garage behind to the North, and then that mixed-use low-rise building to the north.  So not sure where exactly in the HVAC it all began/ended.  It's been 4-5 years since I walked that whole property including all the infrastructure for an unrelated deal.  But she either enters in Perry's service/back-of-house area and ended up in one of those two other systems.  Or vice-versa.  But, and again I'll happily defer, but she had made it like 50-100 linear feet up there (probably with a few turns).  But it wasn't like "hide up here above this room for a prank", she made tracks.  Mental issues, drugs, etc.  I get it, but nobody gets so fucked up on just booze and recreational drugs and shimmies that far in that tight a space and then just quietly takes a nap.  At least I don't think so. 

It was a weird story then, and it apparently remains unsolved today.  Which sucks.  There's some weird little nooks and crannies of some downtown real estate that has shocked the shit outta me over the years doing deep dives with owners/developers/architects/city officials.  Like, weird shit you expect to see in old town Philly or Boston, not "We just got our first tall building the year you were born" Austin.  I mean, we know Driskill stories and all that, but there's some other goofy as shit.  There's a sub-surface utility area under the back of the Paramount/State (and now Austin Centric)...looks like a fucking Terry Gilliam set dropped acid and fucked a Steampunk Hooker.

[ftf82 485]

In the early 90s it was Colorado St Bar & Grill.  At least the entrance off Colorado was.  We offices at the Texas Commerce Bank building and would walk over there through the alley behind Gracy Title after work.  Watched Magic announce he was HIV positive there 

[YGIFS 19449]

You watched a large black man tell you he had HIV in an alley behind an Austin bank?  

[South Austin 52169]

16 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

I thought it was near or in the W and she had gotten fired and was trying to sneak back in for some revenge or something. I could be making that up. 

I dug up a story on this.  Toxicology report showed LSD in her liver tissue.  And the temperature in the air ducts got as high as 115 degrees.  What a horrible way to go.

KVUE link

[hornian 5205]

2 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I dug up a story on this.  Toxicology report showed LSD in her liver tissue.  And the temperature in the air ducts got as high as 115 degrees.  What a horrible way to go.

KVUE link

That story always sticks with me. That's why we don't mess around in AC ducts!

[Biff Tannen 45512]

3 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I dug up a story on this.  Toxicology report showed LSD in her liver tissue.  And the temperature in the air ducts got as high as 115 degrees.  What a horrible way to go.

KVUE link

There it is.  Man, fuck all that.

[MAUFRAIS 6586]

She probably thought she was in the intestines of a giant robot.

[South Austin 52169]

From a reddit thread, for whatever that's worth:

Quote

I was the sauté cook when this went down. Restaurant closed for two days. I remember the confusion as detectives came in looking at ceiling tiles. Several prep cooks ran out the back door at the sight of the detectives, odd… My chef told me about the incident. He said he was there when they pulled her buddy out of the vents (I was off work as the restaurant was closed). Apparently, she got caught in the exhaust vent and was pretty much “smoked to death” as the company smokes their pork chops with an inside smoker. It goes a set time of 12 hours per round shudder Gruesome to say the least. Work resumed a day after buddy removal, staff was not informed. Luckily the chef was a close friend and I was able to catch the story. Hopefully that helps answer any questions

Reddit

[YGIFS 19449]

Oh god, this is so much worse than I remember.  Levity, but also levity aside...this is why you do acid with a friend.  It's certainly possible one person would freak out on a bad trip and start "climbing to freedom, John McClane style", but  no way two people, even on multiple hits, would both agree this was a good idea.  somewhere in austin, there was a room full of people on acid and somebody proposed, "Hey, let's go play disc golf and then head over to Blues on the Green!" and then somebody else said, "Hey guys, maybe we should have read this article before we dosed."  And they spent 8 hours on a fucking cheese grater.  

Can we back to waxing historic on old bars or some shit?  

[Deej 76592]

21 hours ago, YGIFS said:

I swear there was a side attached bar there.

There was. 

12 hours ago, ftf82 said:

it was Colorado St Bar & Grill

This was it. 

[YGIFS 19449]

Then where was McGillicuddy's?  

[Brisketexan 104744]

Just now, YGIFS said:

Then where was McGillicuddy's?  

Yep.  On the east side of 7th and Congress.  Became Wendy's, now a coffee shop?

Used to drink there with my boss when I first started out.  Cute Irish waitress there named Grania -- she was kinda cute, but when she greeted you with the Irish accented "how ya doin today, lads?", you just kinda melted a little bit.  One afternoon, the weather got super shitty, and we ducked out of work early and darted across the street to drink beer and watch the coverage on TV.  It was the usual overly dramatic BS, and the first report came in that a tornado north of town had killed at least one person, so the newscaster kept calling it a "killer tornado!"  We had lots of laughs, and would drink every time he said "killer tornado!" as we mocked him being dramatic.

It, ummm, turned out to be the Jarrell tornado, perhaps the most powerful tornado in Texas history, killing 27 people.  Oops.

TLDR: one day, my boss and I went and had drinks at McGillicuddy's and we were giant assholes.

[chainsaw 9838]

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yep.  On the east side of 7th and Congress.  Became Wendy's, now a coffee shop?

Used to drink there with my boss when I first started out.  Cute Irish waitress there named Grania -- she was kinda cute, but when she greeted you with the Irish accented "how ya doin today, lads?", you just kinda melted a little bit.  One afternoon, the weather got super shitty, and we ducked out of work early and darted across the street to drink beer and watch the coverage on TV.  It was the usual overly dramatic BS, and the first report came in that a tornado north of town had killed at least one person, so the newscaster kept calling it a "killer tornado!"  We had lots of laughs, and would drink every time he said "killer tornado!" as we mocked him being dramatic.

It, ummm, turned out to be the Jarrell tornado, perhaps the most powerful tornado in Texas history, killing 27 people.  Oops.

TLDR: one day, my boss and I went and had drinks at McGillicuddy's and we were giant assholes.

Jarrell?

[Brisketexan 104744]

8 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

Jarrell?

Yeah.  You know, like "Darrell," but with a "J."

[Biff Tannen 45512]

5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah.  You know, like "Darrell," but with a "J."

Not to be confused with the Derel.  He's the worst.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Biff Tannen

[chainsaw 9838]

6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah.  You know, like "Darrell," but with a "J."

that was a pretty bad tornado then

[Brisketexan 104744]

2 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

that was a pretty bad tornado then

Yes.  Like, literally the strongest in Texas history and one of the deadliest in decades.

Like I said, we were TREMENDOUS assholes that day.

[Deej 76592]

22 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yep.  On the east side of 7th and Congress.  Became Wendy's, now a coffee shop?

Used to drink there with my boss when I first started out.  Cute Irish waitress there named Grania -- she was kinda cute, but when she greeted you with the Irish accented "how ya doin today, lads?", you just kinda melted a little bit. 

I went to Vegas for a weekend with Grania and the dark-haired waitress. 

[Brisketexan 104744]

1 minute ago, Deej said:

I went to Vegas for a weekend with Grania and the dark-haired waitress. 

If true, I hate you.

Also....spill it.....

[Deej 76592]

Hate away. 

I'm still in contact with the blonde girl from Chicago who worked there...Debbie. 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Deej

[texasdago 7553]

Last week at The Hole in the Wall...

 

 

[South Austin 52169]

10 hours ago, texasdago said:

Last week at The Hole in the Wall...

I was there just last week at a fundraiser for my daughter's high school guitar program.  I'm surprised it's managed to stay around with all of the other West Campus redevelopment around it.  I figure it's only a matter of time.

[texasdago 7553]

Need to go to the HITW more often... lots of interesting up and coming bands for sure.

[83Horn 1638]

13 hours ago, texasdago said:

Last week at The Hole in the Wall...

 

 

Who are we looking at here?  The law firm of Scheisster, Flywheel and Scheisster cut out early for Friday Happy Hour?  Looks like Mike Pence on bass, Rudy Giuliani on guitar and Larry Kudlow on drums...or maybe I need my glasses adjusted.

[JesusSweatDuck 17780]

17 hours ago, texasdago said:

Last week at The Hole in the Wall...

 

 

Isn't it slated to be torn down or did it actually get missed by the planned street redevelopment?

[YGIFS 19449]

23 hours ago, Deej said:

I went to Vegas for a weekend with Grania and the dark-haired waitress. 

 

23 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

If true, I hate you.

Also....spill it.....

 

23 hours ago, Deej said:

Hate away. 

I'm still in contact with the blonde girl from Chicago who worked there...Debbie. 

Shit, I can't remember his name.  But the owner/operator of that place in the late 90's (when I was hitting that place up anyway) was my roommate's childhood friend from San Antonio.  We'd close that place down every now and again (this woulda been 97 or so), and at like 4am he'd show up with said servers from above posts and they'd party at our house in Cherrywood until sunrise.  Holy shit, I hadn't thought about those nights/days until this thread.  The ladies had a penchant for buggery.  

[Brisketexan 104744]

10 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

 

 

Shit, I can't remember his name.  But the owner/operator of that place in the late 90's (when I was hitting that place up anyway) was my roommate's childhood friend from San Antonio.  We'd close that place down every now and again (this woulda been 97 or so), and at like 4am he'd show up with said servers from above posts and they'd party at our house in Cherrywood until sunrise.  Holy shit, I hadn't thought about those nights/days until this thread.  The ladies had a penchant for buggery.  

I sweatergawd, if one more of you bastards tells me how you had no trouble getting with Grania, I'm gonna start cutting people.

[South Austin 52169]

45 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I sweatergawd, if one more of you bastards tells me how you had no trouble getting with Grania, I'm gonna start cutting people.

 

[sidis 9771]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:14 AM, Deej said:

https://retroaustinapparel.com/collections/classic-collegiate

thank you.  ordered.

i was in undergrad from fall 98 to spring 02.  i had the pleasure of tex for every single semester and summer session for four years.  i worked m-f from 12-7 pretty much all of undergrad so as a freshman/sophomore, trying to get section times between 9 and 12 every day for virtually every class was an incredible lesson in rejection.  tex repeatedly telling me to fuck off with that perfect cadence was a three time a year tradition.  i broke a phone spring of my freshman year trying to register for the fall after taking like six sections of "was NOT added" in a row. 

online registration began in earnest the year after i graduated.

[sidis 9771]

On 2/26/2023 at 12:19 PM, Brisketexan said:

Iron bear was around the corner (and much later. CSB time: on the day of the Obergefell decision (SCOTUS legalized same sex marriage), they were celebrating with 50 cent drinks. GOLL and I (and some of our other law partners) walked over, put a bunch of cash on the bar, and said “opens a tab for the house, and here’s to the Constitution.”)
What was in the Perry’s space: Jean Luc’s French bistro.

i worked in norwood tower during undergrad from 98-02 so knew jean lucs on the colorado side well...and its end.  me and a bunch of my drunk dumbass friends climbed to the roof of norwood via the fire escape on new year's 2000 to take it all in. was pretty awesome but lucky no one died and that i didn't get fired.

[jimmyjazz 45599]

Brown Bar, lulz.  I got hired by them to help cut down the sound transmission to apartments etc. upstairs.  We had an agreement that I'd invoice every 20 hours of work or something like that.  First invoice never got paid, I got the picture real quick.  Typical Austin "business"men.

[Armybrat 40752]

On 2/27/2023 at 9:19 AM, YGIFS said:

Oh god, this is so much worse than I remember. 

Can we back to waxing historic on old bars or some shit?  

Ok, have another look at Cousin Joanne (1959)….

 

[YGIFS 19449]

Hey doll, you wanna make four lanes?  The hard way?  

[Armybrat 40752]

1 minute ago, YGIFS said:

Hey doll, you wanna make four lanes?  The hard way?  

She was there the day after The Music Died (Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, the Big Bopper killed in plane crash) outside Mason City, Iowa.

[YGIFS 19449]

Wow.  That's a crazy fucking coincidence.   

Here's a weirder one.  Earlier today, for no fucking reason at all.  I remembered visiting my mom's friends as a kid, Nancy and Bill in the Bay Area in 1987.  I have no idea why.  Mom's birthday is coming up, and her friends area dead---maybe that was it.  I ate dinner at Burger King near the hotel and we all went to see "La Bamba" at the theater near their place.  30 years later, I was sitting in The Broken Spoke while the house band covered Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk" and when they were done i drunkenly yelled out "RITCHIE!"  Nobody understood the reference, especially not the band.  My wife wondered what the hell was wrong with me, I explained the movie and the Day the music Died, and how his young wife heard the news and lost the baby and that was made into a new policy where news wouldn't release deaths until family had been informed.  We had in real life just miscarried.  Less than a year later, our daughter was born.  

This is the strangest of the worlds I have ever visited. 

[Brisketexan 104744]

18 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

This is the strangest of the worlds I have ever visited. 

All of these worlds are yours except Europa.  Attempt no landings there.

[YGIFS 19449]

Use them together.  Use them in peace.  

You're really not gonna fucking believe the only other film I ever watched at that same south bay theater.  Yep, another separate trip with Dad.  To see 2010.  We're in a simulation fuckers.  I'm not saying you're in my program, maybe I'm in yours.  But none of this is happening.  It can't be.  

A subject you seem reticent to discuss, Dr. Floyd...