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 building maintains a small foothold in today’s much smaller Warehouse District, now dominated by somewhat taller structures.

The historic building above, known locally as the Spaghetti Warehouse, was sold to new owners in June 2011.

But will the warehouse continue serving spaghetti under new ownership? That seems unlikely, according to the Austin Business Journal‘s July 29 story, calling the former Spaghetti Warehouse site “a hot potato.”

Fries, anyone? ♣

Can you imagine the Warehouse District’s glory days, when freight trains pulled in to unload?

BUY THIS PRINT: Choose from 99+ Vanishing Austin prints and a poster by Jann Alexander, starting at $25.

Shop my Vanishing Austin series: While many Austin landmarks are lost, many are survivors still. Admire them all in a slideshow, HERE. Prints start at $35.

Marvel at what’s lost and what’s survived in my Endangered Species of Austin poster, featuring 16 Austin icons, and sized at a handsomely large 24 x 36,” available for $25, HERE.

• How the Vanishing Austin project began
• The 99+ photographs in the Vanishing Austin series
• More articles in Vanishing Austin blog series
• The Endangered Species of Austin

Click Here to get your free monthly digest of Popular Pairings.