Remember These?

Austin Landmarks from the 60’s and 70’s that Are Mostly Gone Now

 

·          Events:

o        Austin Aqua Fest

o        Austin Aqua Fest boat races on Town Lake

o        Battle of the Bands

o        Concerts at Hill on the Moon

o        Concerts in the old Austin Auditorium

o        Dances at Hancock Recreation Center

o        Eeyore's Birthday Party

o        Texas Relays

o        YMCA Dances

 

·          Hotels/Motels:

o        Bull Creek Lodges

o        Crest Hotel

o        Gondolier on Town Lake

o        Petrified Forest Motel (was that the name of it, on Guadalupe)

o        Terrace (became the Austin Opry House)

o        Villa Capri

 

·          Local Favorite Musicians and Bands

o        Dan and Dave

o        Denim/Traveler

o        Freda and the Firedogs (aka Marcia Ball)

o        Gary P. Nunn

o        Jerry Jeff Walker

o        Michael Murphy

o        Mother of Pearl

o        Reunion (our boys used to be Bittersweet)

o        Rusty Weir

o        Stevie Ray Vaughn

 

·          Miscellaneous:

o        Bicycle Annie – 80-plus year old woman who pushed her bicycle all over town.  She used to sell subscriptions to magazines or newspapers that didn’t actually exist and people bought them anyway to lend her a hand.

o        Chapel Hill...St. Matthews Church

o        Commodore Perry Boat

o        Crenshaw's Athletic Club (original location)

o        Giant Terminix bug

o        Glastron Boats

o        KNOW AM radio station

o        Professor Moon’s house at the base of  Mt. Bonnell

o        Seahorse Car Wash

o        Sheppard's Bush

o        Uncle Jay Show (Wesley Hodgson’s dad) and Packer Jack

o        White Jeep Ice Cream trucks that all the Hippies drove

o        W. O. Harper (old plumbing trucks you would see all over town)

 

·          Movie Theaters:

o        Americana

o        Burnet Drive-in

o        Capital Plaza Cinema

o        Chief Drive-in

o        Dobie

o        Fox

o        Longhorn Drive-in

o        Paramount

o        State

o        Texas

o        Varsity

 

·          Night Clubs/Bars: (not that we ever went in the 60’s or 70’s)

o        Alexander's Way (Brodie Lane)

o        Armadillo World Headquarters

o        Austin Outhouse

o        Big Gil's (South Congress)

o        Blue Parrot

o        Brass Key

o        Broken Spoke - South Austin club

o        Bucket

o        Cameron Inn (Cameron Road)

o        Canary Hut (on I-35)

o        Castle Creek

o        Chelsea Street Pub

o        Country Dinner Playhouse (Burnet Road)

o        Dessau Hall

o        Donna's Lounge

o        Double Eagle

o        Draught House

o        Eli’s

o        El Paso Cattle Company (that dance hall by McCallum?)

o        Hansel and Gretel's

o        Jade Room

o        Jake's

o        Keg

o        Little Wheel (Hwy 290)

o        Nero's Nook (Ben White )

o        Mother Earth (several locations)

o        New Orleans Club

o        Poodle Dog Lounge (Burnet Road)

o        Rome Inn

o        Shorthorn (North Lamar)

o        Silver Dollar

o        Sitting Bull (Guadalupe)

o        Skyline Club

o        Soap Creek Saloon

o        South Door

o        Steamboat Springs

o        Tap

o        Three Points Tavern

o        Top Hat (South Congress)

o        White Rabbit (near McCallum)

 

·          Physical Sites:

o        Big iron door in the quarry wall on Far West (source for many ghost stories)

o        Camp Tom Wooten (boy scout camp where 360 hits Lake Austin)

o        Cave at the bottom of the quarry at Highland Park Elementary

o        Fields, woods and railroad track north of 183 and west of Balcones Research Center (where we hunted dove and beers)

o        Mrs. Baird’s Bakery (field trips, little loaves of bread and that wonderful smell for miles)

o        Robert Mueller Airport (where we used to walk out and look at the planes from the balcony)

o        Stone quarry (Braker and 183 for swimming)

 

·          Recreation:

o        Austin Parks and Recreation (PARD) Summer Programs at the elementary school playgrounds (remember, four-square, box-hockey and softball?)

o        Balcones Bait and Tackle

o        Bob Wilson Dance Studio

o        Bowl O Rama 24 hour bowling

o        Brunswick Bowling Center

o        Butler Gold Course (pitch & putt down by Town Lake)

o        Far West (before there were any businesses and we raced cars there)

o        Fox Boat Dock (down from Bull creek)

o        Green Acres (miniature golf course on Burnet Rd.)

o        Grover Avenue (raced cars there too)

o        Hobby Horse Stables

o        Lakewood Park

o        Northwest Park

o        Northwest Park baseball field

o        Putt-Putt Golf (Burnet Road)

o        Playland (by the Split Rail, had ponies, rides, etc)

o        Running Rope Ranch (where the street Running Rope in NW Hills got it's name from)

o        Super Slide (on Twin Oaks)

o        Windy Point (on Lake Travis)

 

·          Restaurants:

o        Airport Haven

o        Barn

o        Burnet Road (a category in itself)

§         Bix Tex Sirloin House

§         Burger Chef

§         Dunkin Donuts

§         El Chico

§         Frisco

§         Frost-top

§         Holiday House

§         Jack in the Box

§         Kershner's Fried Chicken

§         Top Notch

§         What-a-Burger (the original)

o        Catfish Parlour

o        Chicken Shack

o        Christie’s

o        Chuck Wagon

o        El Matamoros

o        Gondola House

o        Holiday House (on Airport with fish)

o        Holiday House (on Barton Springs with alligators)

o        Kissing Cousins

o        La Hacienda (Lake Travis)

o        Lake Austin Inn

o        Lamar Blvd (another category in itself)

§         Ferrari's Italian

§         Lenzo's Italian (also Lil Abner's)

§         Stallion

§         Sid’s

o        Mad Dogs & Beans

o        Milto’s Pizza (183)

o        Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery

o        Oasis

o        Old Hickory Bar-B-Que (Koenig Lane)

o        Party Barn (off of City Park Road)

o        Rebel Drive-in

o        Shakey's Pizza Parlour (Guadalupe)

o        Smitty's Fine Foods (across the street from McCallum; became Knight-A-Burger)

o        Taco Flats

o        Tumbleweed Restaurant (2222)

o        2J’s

o        Victor’s Italian Village (Guadalupe)

o        Whopper Burger

 

·          Shops/Shopping Centers:

o        Allandale Shopping Center

§         Western Auto (where HEB is now)

§         Jack Morton's Mens Wear

§         Allandale Cafeteria (later Poncho’s)

§         HEB

o        Allandale Village

§         White Stores

§         Minimax

o        Austin Army Navy (and that huge pair of levis hanging on the wall)

o        Beall’s Department Store

o        Cadeau (on the Drag)

o        Circle Stereo

o        Gibson’s Discount Center

o        Hand Andy Grocery

o        Highland  Park Shopping Center

§         Kelly's Cleaners and the Laundromat out back

§         Bishop's Barber Shop

§         Checker Front Grocery Store (later Minimax)

§         Sansing's Highland Park Pharmacy

§         The beauty shop

§         Dr. Watkins office

§         Winn's dime store

§         Kikos (Danny Runberg's stepfather's diner)

o        House of Jeans

o        Hyde Park Pharmacy

o        JR Reed's on Congress (test-driving all the 45s and buying one)

o        Kash-Karry Grocery

o        Lariat Ranch Wear (South Congress)

o        Maya (one of the first upscale hippie ready to wear)

o        Magic Mushroom (in Dobie Mal)

o        Oat Willies (Onward Through The Fog!)

o        Original Rooster Andrews (Guadalupe)

o        Rylander’s Grocery

o        Sage

o        Scarborough’s (downtown)

o        Shopper's World

o        Snyder Chenard’s

o        Strait Music (still around)

o        Stripling Blake Lumber

o        Summer's Rexall

o        Utotem(s)