Austin Nostalgia Picture Thread

[Deej 76587]

This thread really makes me miss what a great fucking town this was to grow up in during the 70's and 80's. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11810]

Just now, Deej said:

What? People on here joke? 

That pic of you on his shoulder has to be around the 360 bridge or in that area. 

[Deej 76587]

2 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

That pic of you on his shoulder has to be around the 360 bridge or in that area. 

Likely. 

They always put the boat in at Bull Creek where The County Line is now and headed up the lake. 

Edited April 16, 2021 by Deej

[Deej 76587]

Anyone remember Lake Travis Lodges? We spent a lot of time there. Remember playing pinball at the bar on the docks. Watched the last moon landing as a wee one on a black and white TV in one of the cabins. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11810]

3 minutes ago, Deej said:

This thread really makes me miss what a great fucking town this was to grow up in during the 70's and 80's. 

It was a different place then.  I remember going in the storm sewer tunnels over off enfield and ending up under downtown somewhere.  Raft races, bras across town lake, etc.

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

3 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

It was a different place then.  I remember going in the storm sewer tunnels over off enfield and ending up under downtown somewhere.  Raft races, bras across town lake, etc.

We went into the storm tunnels at Shoal Creek and ended up at Gullett elementary on our everyday walk to/from school.  Good times.

[Biff Tannen 45511]

1 hour ago, DalTxHornFan said:

We went into the storm tunnels at Shoal Creek and ended up at Gullett elementary on our everyday walk to/from school.  Good times.

We went into the storm tunnels and ended up...

[Judge Roybeanbag 11810]

Just now, DalTxHornFan said:

We went into the storm tunnels at Shoal Creek and ended up at Gullett elementary on our everyday walk to/from school.  Good times.

That was some freaky stuff.  I remember scaring a dragworm so bad one time I thought I killed him.   He dropped a cig or something  down a grate and I bellowed at him when he bent down to look.  I was an asshole I guess.  

[Armybrat 40752]

June 3rd, 1967 - four friends & I celebrated my all nighter bachelor’s party out at Windy Point. We took three cases of beer in coolers, one pack of cards, and a can of beans.

We played cards, drank most of the beer, and shared the cold beans. Being the prospective nuptials victim, I got the only blanket to sleep on. Sometime in the wee hours I somehow rolled down an incline into a cactus patch. Luckily there was enough fuel left in the Coleman lantern so they could pick the needles out of my back & shoulder.

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

22 hours ago, texasdago said:

I think 1960s Bevo spent too much time there...

[Steamboat1874 4032]

20 hours ago, Deej said:

When I was about 4 or 5 we lived on Ramsey which is very close to that. The railroad trackes down the middle of Mopac were right behind our house.

[blacklab 11852]

Great stories J-Z. 
my parents were the same. If the limb was still attached it could wait

[Deej 76587]

[Armybrat 40752]

^^^
Yellow gravy for the wonderfully greasy cfs. Eaten while sitting on a booth bench propped up on a cinder block.

[Armybrat 40752]

Old Mueller Airport:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ_GYFi41DU

This was the old terminal building when we first landed at Mueller in 1959:

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Armybrat

[Armybrat 40752]

That old building was replaced by the award-winning new terminal in 1961:

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Armybrat

[0xdeadbeef 1627]

How time flies when you're having fun.

 

[JimmyJames 12271]

On 4/15/2021 at 3:19 PM, dcbc said:

Cool!  Soul Hat at the Black Cat!

Loved those shows at the black cat. Dollar lone stars and free hot dogs. 

[Guest Lobo]

31 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

How time flies when you're having fun.

 

Do you know what year that pic was taken?  Looks like ~2010 or so.  

[Wally Pryor 5245]

17 hours ago, Deej said:

 

Ah, the yellow gravy. 

[dcbc 14434]

1 hour ago, JimmyJames said:

Loved those shows at the black cat. Dollar lone stars and free hot dogs. 

By the time I got there in 92, they'd moved on to Liberty Lunch and Steamboat.  But I caught a lot of shows from Banana Blender Surprise and Earthpig and Fire at the Black Cat.  The cheap refreshments were nice.

[DalTxHornFan 3085]

3 hours ago, Armybrat said:

That old building was replaced by the award-winning new terminal in 1961:

 

It's a shame that they demolished all of that.  The terminal tower along with some of that initial terminal building would have been prime for re-use as a cool food/beverage/entertainment venue.  RIP.

[stupidgringo 66]

1 hour ago, JimmyJames said:

Loved those shows at the black cat. Dollar lone stars and free hot dogs. 

PBR. Not Lone Star. Shows were awesome. RIP Paul Sessums.

[JimmyJames 12271]

4 minutes ago, stupidgringo said:

PBR. Not Lone Star. Shows were awesome. RIP Paul Sessums.

Yeah I debated which beer it was. Couldn’t quite remember. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11810]

42 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

Yeah I debated which beer it was. Couldn’t quite remember. 

Not sure why but this post made me remember Club Foot.  Holy crap that was a place.  Water The Dog and Soul Hat.  

Edited April 17, 2021 by Judge Roybeanbag

[Deej 76587]

The end of Liberty Lunch.

 

[dcar00 14036]

6 hours ago, stupidgringo said:

PBR. Not Lone Star. Shows were awesome. RIP Paul Sessums.

agreed.  Sessums and the Black Cat was exactly what Austin live music was about.  many a good time at Black Cat with 2 hoots and a holler, Soul Hat, and Banana Blender.   listening to some of those old CD's definitely takes me back.

[JimmyJames 12271]

1 hour ago, dcar00 said:

agreed.  Sessums and the Black Cat was exactly what Austin live music was about.  many a good time at Black Cat with 2 hoots and a holler, Soul Hat, and Banana Blender.   listening to some of those old CD's definitely takes me back.

Yep. Was somewhat of an anomaly on 6th street since they actually charged cover to get in. A whole three bucks if I recall the amount correctly. Just meant it was to pay the bar and the band and wasn’t just a money laundering operation like some other joints.

[1978horn 889]

It is amazing that nobody from the late, great Clark Thomas, et al. law firm ever went to jail.  They were (personal opinion -- no libel) LBJ's bagmen from the git go.  Mayor McClellan's ex-husband fingered them for the JFK assassination, they had a strong association with Brown & Root getting every project they wanted, and, I've been told, represented all sorts of straw buyers on behalf of the LBJ real estate interests.  It was sweet justice that their long-term association with LBJ's baby, the Pedernales Electrical Co-Op, ended up leading to the demise of the firm. 

Yeah, I worked at Clark Thomas and left about 2 years before the shit hit the fan. I hired a guy away from there about a month before it all broke...great timing on his part.

[1978horn 889]

We went into the storm tunnels at Shoal Creek and ended up at Gullett elementary on our everyday walk to/from school.  Good times.

I grew up over there and went to Gullett. I used to go in the storm tunnels all the time. Played little league at those fields too. We used to jump on the trains and ride them from Anderson lane to 2222. Drove by there yesterday and was telling my 15 yr old about all that. He couldn’t believe I jumped on the trains cause I would kick his ass if I found out he was doing that.

[Blotto 23434]

2 hours ago, dcar00 said:

agreed.  Sessums and the Black Cat was exactly what Austin live music was about.  many a good time at Black Cat with 2 hoots and a holler, Soul Hat, and Banana Blender.   listening to some of those old CD's definitely takes me back.

Little Sister put on some good shows. I dug me some Patrice Pike  at the time.

[Paco 1932]

The end of Liberty Lunch.
 

To be fair, it didn't look much different than that when it was open

[phdhorn 6224]

21 hours ago, Armybrat said:

That old building was replaced by the award-winning new terminal in 1961:

 

I remember the GOOD (and I mean GOOD) old days when I would leave school for holidays and summer and stuff... I'd drive the car, pull up in the lot to a parking space 40 feet from the front doors, grab my suitcase, walk in, go get my paper ticket, then walk 2 mins. up through nobody and no security and plop down at the gate, then hand the crew person my ticket, and get on.

Anyone under 45 has no idea how much fun flying used to be.

[Axle Hongsnort 208]

Loved those shows at the black cat. Dollar lone stars and free hot dogs. 

Soul Hat was EVERY Thursday IIRC across the Fall of 91. Sounds like several of us crossed paths back in the day.

[Biff Tannen 45511]

1 hour ago, phdhorn said:

I remember the GOOD (and I mean GOOD) old days when I would leave school for holidays and summer and stuff... I'd drive the car, pull up in the lot to a parking space 40 feet from the front doors, grab my suitcase, walk in, go get my paper ticket, then walk 2 mins. up through nobody and no security and plop down at the gate, then hand the crew person my ticket, and get on.

Anyone under 45 has no idea how much fun flying used to be.

This is how the airport in Montrose, Colorado is today.  Parking lot is like 8 rows deep.  20 feet from the front doors.

[tigol 2383]

Anyone stayed here since they refurbished it?

 

https://aubergeresorts.com/commodoreperry/stories/the-legend-of-edgar-commodore-perry/

 

[Guest Lobo]

Haven't stayed there (wife thinks its weird when I charge hotel rooms to places I live just a few miles from).  But toured it, and went to the bar.  It's fucking gorgeous.  Took them forever and a day to finish that place but it's really one of those rare feats where they pay honorable homage to the original character/foundation of the building.  And just add a few modern amenities that blend in discretely.  The new portion obviously looks new.  It's kind of the in the spirit of Mansion at Judge's Hill or Hotel Saint Cecilia for an Austin comparison (original "homestead" with add-on wings), but the Commodore came out much, much better.  Granted, it was a much larger origination project, but they really did a brilliant job with it.  The grounds themselves are still kinda goofy, not sure if that's still a work in progress this Spring & Autumn. 

If you have the chance to at least go walk the property and have drinks/dinner...I highly recommend it.  If it weren't across the street from a homeless cohort, it would be getting Architectural Digest level accolades right now.  

[Biff Tannen 45511]

8 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Haven't stayed there (wife thinks its weird when I charge hotel rooms to places I live just a few miles from).  But toured it, and went to the bar.  It's fucking gorgeous.  Took them forever and a day to finish that place but it's really one of those rare feats where they pay honorable homage to the original character/foundation of the building.  And just add a few modern amenities that blend in discretely.  The new portion obviously looks new.  It's kind of the in the spirit of Mansion at Judge's Hill or Hotel Saint Cecilia for an Austin comparison (original "homestead" with add-on wings), but the Commodore came out much, much better.  Granted, it was a much larger origination project, but they really did a brilliant job with it.  The grounds themselves are still kinda goofy, not sure if that's still a work in progress this Spring & Autumn. 

If you have the chance to at least go walk the property and have drinks/dinner...I highly recommend it.  If it weren't across the street from a homeless cohort, it would be getting Architectural Digest level accolades right now.  

We are making dinner reservations there this week.  It's walking distance from my house, so that's nice.

[Armybrat 40752]

35 minutes ago, tigol said:

Anyone stayed here since they refurbished it?

 

https://aubergeresorts.com/commodoreperry/stories/the-legend-of-edgar-commodore-perry/

 

That estate was St. Mary’s Academy for Catholic girls 60 years ago. Some were boarding students, some day students.
They paired up with the all boys St. Edward’s High School (my high school) in South Austin for a lot of social & extracurricular activity functions (school dances, cheerleaders, school plays, etc.).

I dated several girls from there in the early 1960s, including a boarding student or two. When calling to pick up our dates, us guys were ushered into Commodore Perry’s beautiful oval library with its dark wood bookshelves that wrapped most of the modest sized room. Didn’t get to see much of the rest of the grounds though.
 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Armybrat

[Guest Lobo]

12 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

That estate was St. Mary’s Academy for Catholic girls 60 years ago. Some were boarding students, some day students.
They paired up with the all boys St. Edward’s High School (my high school) in South Austin for a lot of social & extracurricular activity functions (school dances, cheerleaders, school plays, etc.).

I dated several girls from there in the early 1960s, including a boarding student or two. When calling to pick up our dates, us guys were ushered into Commodore Perry’s beautiful oval library with its dark wood bookshelves that wrapped most of the modest sized room. Didn’t get to see much of the rest of the grounds though.
 

Anybody else noticing Armybrat laying on the sexual innuendo a little thick for a Sunday morning?  

Tell me more about this "oval library" of your date, in which you learned such a great deal about life and love?  What section of the ovular library did you find yourself enjoying the most?  And this wood bookshelf of yours, did your date find a nice perch on which to place herself?  I'm sure it was of a modest-size, but I bet you both enjoyed it.  I'm sure you ended up seeing the rest of the grounds at some point afterwards.  Maybe even whatever surprises lay behind the bush, beyond the narrow pathway?  

Sinner.  

Edited April 18, 2021 by Lobo

[Armybrat 40752]

No comment on the female students, as most were “well-behaved” DorisDay types. The public schools were where most of the sloots were.

This was the room I was referring to, except it was very sparsely furnished when the place was a school.
 

 

[phdhorn 6224]

4 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

This is how the airport in Montrose, Colorado is today.  Parking lot is like 8 rows deep.  20 feet from the front doors.

Yeah there are a lot of places like that but they're all very small town.

Still I guess Austin was only about 130,000 when I used to fly out of Mueller. I mean you drove up to it and parked like you were going to Target or something. In the later years, sometimes I couldn't find a space right away, but I'll never forget the feeling of pulling up and walking 45 seconds into the ticket counters.

CSB: near the end of my grad student days I had a beat-up Volare (including no reverse) that I was trying to figure out what to do with. I was leaving at Mueller and couldn't find a space, so I actually parked out on Manor or wherever it was on the street parallel parking. I left the windows half down and all the locks up hoping somebody would just steal it and I can claim insurance.

Got back 7 days later it was still there. Guess even the Hood had its standards.

Edited April 18, 2021 by phdhorn

[Deej 76587]

The hood never fully appreciated Dean. 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Deej

[Guest Lobo]

Beautiful song, shitty car.  

First time I ever flew out of Mueller was early 90's.  I wasn't exactly George Clooney in "Up in the Air" but I had been through my hometown O'Hare a couple hundred times by then.  And I couldn't believe how "quaint" and easy Mueller was.  My last flight out of there was just a few months before it ceased operations and it was a complete clusterfuck.  It was just 20 pounds of lavatory-treated shit in a 10 pound bag of airline peanuts.  Or something like that. 

But I've always enjoyed hearing the stories about it.  Air travel and airports have always intrigued me despite my disgust with flying for the most part.  Austin was already a massively booming city when Bergstrom came online in Spring of 1999.  Just the difference I noticed in less than a decade was incredible.  I'm already nostalgic for Bergstrom.  I used the hell outta it right after it opened being the "road guy" for my company.  And it was still easy.  Could park for $5/day in long-term, but be close enough in you could just hoof it without the shuttle.  Everything inside was easy, short lines, clean-ish, etc.  Now I gotta get a notarized copy of my flight records to prove I ordered an Uber in the pre-approved pickup section over in Del Valle.  And holy shit, my bar tabs at Bergstrom are as much as I paid to park for a month at Mueller.  

[Biff Tannen 45511]

13 minutes ago, Lobo said:

And holy shit, my bar tabs at Bergstrom are as much as I paid to park for a month at Mueller.  

Ain't this the fucking truth.

[Al Czervik 1229]

On 4/15/2021 at 9:10 AM, Armybrat said:

Was the Green Acres miniature golf course & driving range still out on Burnet Road in the the ‘70s? We used to take our dates out there in the early 1960s.

The Anderson lane area between Burnet & the railroad back then was a ranch as I recall. Just north of the Pickle campus on the west side of Burnet in what is now the Domain area was an old abandoned farm where a despondent high school kid hung himself in the early 1970s.

The Gulf Mart discount store is what opened that area on the north side of Anderson... or was it over on Airport where Highland Mall was built?

My two younger sons went to St. Louis Parochial in the late 1970s.

St. Ignatius Martyr School checking in from Oltorf and College Street.  St. Louis was part of our sports league back in those days, you guys were green/white and we were green/gold.  Never liked playing you guys, to this day when I drive by St. Louis on Burnet Road I still look over and think....'jerks'.

Bet your kids and I played against each other, I feel like some 'The Best of Times' rematches are in order.

 

[Armybrat 40752]

Greatest event that ever took place at old Mueller was the welcome home party for the victorious Longhorn football team after the 1969 15-14 Game of the Century with Arkansas. We and about 10,000 drunken Horn fans rocked that place inside & out when the plane touched down.

Thousands of drunks swarming the terminal scaring waiting passengers, thousands of drunks swarming the covered (but open) outdoor concourse, thousands of drunks swarming around the parking apron spot for the team charter plane,  scores of drunks swarming on top of the concourse roof,  unknown number of drunks running out on the runway causing general mayhem..... it was quite epic.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Armybrat

[Armybrat 40752]

6 minutes ago, Al Czervik said:

St. Ignatius Martyr School checking in from Oltorf and College Street.  St. Louis was part of our sports league back in those days, you guys were green/white and we were green/gold.  Never liked playing you guys, to this day when I drive by St. Louis on Burnet Road I still look over and think....'jerks'.

Bet your kids and I played against each other, I feel like some 'The Best of Times' rematches are in order.

 

Yeah, it was a PITA to find those green jeans for our two boys. They were in the lower grades at St. Louis and didn’t play any sports there and wound up in public schools after the 4th or 5th grade. 

[Deej 76587]

40 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Yeah, it was a PITA to find those green jeans for our two boys. They were in the lower grades at St. Louis and didn’t play any sports there and wound up in public schools after the 4th or 5th grade. 

Sears Toughskins. Wore them my entire time at St. Louis.

[Deej 76587]

My, how Whole Foods has changed.