Allens Boots is a place I steer all of my Austin visitors to, direct from the airport, so they can stride confidently around town in some real boots. Then they can learn to walk with a swagger, just like a real Texan. Since 1977, Allens has remained a true South Congress landmark, where musicians, celebrities, movie stars […]
An Austin ghost sign that has long served as an iconic landmark, and dates from the time a pack of Wrigley’s gum cost you a nickel, is now forever hidden from view by a new Marriott.
Sandy’s Frozen Custard may very well be the best frozen custard in Texas. And Sandy’s still serves its frozen treats the old-fashioned way—from its walkup window, just the way they did in 1947—and you can still slip back in time at Sandy’s, if you can ignore the tall condo and crane overtowering its vintage neon sign. […]
It takes a whole lotta cranes to hoist up a new Marriott in downtown Austin, where change is changing faster than you can say change. Above, the upcoming architecture at 2nd Street and Congress Avenue demonstrates the pattern of change in a city where urban = growth. UPDATE: Today’s Austin American-Statesman reports Austin city staff have […]
Austin Speed Shop is bidding farewell to South Lamar, to make way for, yes, another luxury apartment development. Its new location near by is still under wraps, but it’s not likely to have the Keep Austin Weird charm of, say, the floor—where original owner Francis Reissig inscribed “1959” with his initials into the building’s wet concrete after it […]
The freight lines brought the low-brick industrial warehouses that once dominated Austin from I-35 to MoPac, and in the early 20th century, the building known locally as the Spaghetti Warehouse was part of a busy commercial district, warehousing groceries. Reincarnated as a brothel during Prohibition, and serving up spaghetti with mystery dinner theatre since 1975, the 1902 […]