I moved back this year after leaving in 1979. Lived in the East
Stassney area when it was a cheap white-bread neighborhood.
My friends and I used to go adventuring into deep forests
nearby where we could hear the dull roar of the Interstate
in the distance... now it's occupied by apartments at I-35
at Stassney. I remember Ben White when it was just a four-lane
boulevard with lots of traffic lights. The drive-in theater
near Ben White & I-35 where we saw Smokey and the Bandit,
with restaurants Bonanza and Monterey House just next door.
The strip mall somewhere near Congress & Ben White with movie
theater (saw the Goodbye Girl there) and library annex (can't
even find it nowadays, must've torn it down). The K-mart at
Ben White & 290 where I bought Bob Seger 45's. Used to
listen to KNOW on the AM dial after all the FM stations
went lockstep into disco format.
I also remember a class field trip to meet the city mayor at
her office. Can't remember her name.
Seems the city had kind of a sleepy character back in the
late 1970s, kind of spread out and not much going for it.
Man, what changes silicon & investment hath wrought.
What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
MJ
By the late 70's it was all over.
SCUBA in lake Travis in '64. The water was blue.
Bought my air from Don Brod and didn't need no stinkin' certification.
Rent a Cessna 150 for $7/hour at the Longhorn Flying club.
Velvet Underground at the Vulcan: Fall of '69.
2222 was two lane blacktop.
My new Corvette was $6K; It was the worst car I have ever owned.
Built and signrd on KVUE in '71.
My new BMW 2002tii was $4.2K; It was the beast car I ever owned.
Drove it for 30 years.
Chief engineer of KOKE in '74; Drunk Willie live on the radio.
I bought waterfront on Lake Travis (house and dock) for $15K in '77.
Now I try to avoid Travis County.
H.
"Mark Smigel" <mjsmigel@no-spam> wrote in message
news:59b1f153.0306250052.67b7a713@no-spam
> I moved back this year after leaving in 1979. Lived in the East
> Stassney area when it was a cheap white-bread neighborhood.
> My friends and I used to go adventuring into deep forests
> nearby where we could hear the dull roar of the Interstate
> in the distance... now it's occupied by apartments at I-35
> at Stassney. I remember Ben White when it was just a four-lane
> boulevard with lots of traffic lights. The drive-in theater
> near Ben White & I-35 where we saw Smokey and the Bandit,
> with restaurants Bonanza and Monterey House just next door.
> The strip mall somewhere near Congress & Ben White with movie
> theater (saw the Goodbye Girl there) and library annex (can't
> even find it nowadays, must've torn it down). The K-mart at
> Ben White & 290 where I bought Bob Seger 45's. Used to
> listen to KNOW on the AM dial after all the FM stations
> went lockstep into disco format.
>
> I also remember a class field trip to meet the city mayor at
> her office. Can't remember her name.
>
> Seems the city had kind of a sleepy character back in the
> late 1970s, kind of spread out and not much going for it.
> Man, what changes silicon & investment hath wrought.
>
> What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
>
> MJ
She was the comptroller before she married her current husband. Your
phrasing almost makes it look as if the marriage was responsible for the
office, which it wa'ant. :)
"Snidely" <nospam@no-spam> wrote in message
news:Xns93A552B01BDE3pkaboo@no-spam
> Carole Keeton Rylander, the first woman mayor of Austin, ran for office
> in 1977 against nine male candidates. Besides that first, she was the
> first woman to be President of the Austin School Board, the first Austin
> mayor elected to three terms, and the first Austin mayor to be the
> President of the Texas Municipal League. Rylander's interest in public
> office may have begun when whe was young and her father, Dean of the
> University of Texas Law School for twenty-five years, would give her
> "bedtime cases" instead of bedtime stories.
>
> And now remarried, she is the Texas state comptroller.
In article <Xns93A552B01BDE3pkaboo@no-spam>,
Snidely <nospam@no-spam> wrote:
>Carole Keeton Rylander, the first woman mayor of Austin, ran for office
>in 1977 against nine male candidates. Besides that first, she was the
Carole McClellan while mayor. Rylander later.
S. S.
I moved to Austin in 1980. I was a great place back then.
The parking lot at Hippy Hollow was still a rocky place where you had to
drive carefully to not scrape the bottom of your car. You had to hike
through the woods to get the choice spots on the water. Now it's a paved
county park with stinking bathrooms and cops.
The gay bars were numerous and everybody went out and had fun. Now all the
good bars are gone and the dregs that hang out in what's left should just
stay at home.
You used to be able to find a decent job at the drop of a hat. Now that I'm
all educated and in hi tech, I can't get work for shit. All the companies
don't give a shit about their people. Just use 'em up, throw 'em out.
Austin.general has turned to shit with mucho political rambling but no
substance or action on the part of the bitchers.
I'd move in a heartbeat if my significant other weren't so close to retiring
with full benefits from U.T.
It ain't what it used to be. So much for "progress".
"Mark Smigel" <mjsmigel@no-spam> wrote in message
news:59b1f153.0306250052.67b7a713@no-spam
> I moved back this year after leaving in 1979. Lived in the East
> Stassney area when it was a cheap white-bread neighborhood.
> My friends and I used to go adventuring into deep forests
> nearby where we could hear the dull roar of the Interstate
> in the distance... now it's occupied by apartments at I-35
> at Stassney. I remember Ben White when it was just a four-lane
> boulevard with lots of traffic lights. The drive-in theater
> near Ben White & I-35 where we saw Smokey and the Bandit,
> with restaurants Bonanza and Monterey House just next door.
> The strip mall somewhere near Congress & Ben White with movie
> theater (saw the Goodbye Girl there) and library annex (can't
> even find it nowadays, must've torn it down). The K-mart at
> Ben White & 290 where I bought Bob Seger 45's. Used to
> listen to KNOW on the AM dial after all the FM stations
> went lockstep into disco format.
>
> I also remember a class field trip to meet the city mayor at
> her office. Can't remember her name.
>
> Seems the city had kind of a sleepy character back in the
> late 1970s, kind of spread out and not much going for it.
> Man, what changes silicon & investment hath wrought.
>
> What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
>
> MJ
The Armadillo World Headquarters did not exist in '69.
It's predecessor was the Vulcan Gas Company; Downtown where Manuel's is
today..
"Shiva's at the Vulcan!" - "Rag for sale!" - "Vote Oat!"
Then Eddie and Mike and the gang rented the old National Guard armory from
M. K. Haige.
Then IBM moved to town.
H.
"Werner J. Severin" <wseverin@no-spam> wrote in message
news:wseverin-2506031209570001@no-spam
> In article <59b1f153.0306250052.67b7a713@no-spam>,
> mjsmigel@no-spam (Mark Smigel) wrote:
>
> (much of message deleted)
>
> > What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
> >
> > MJ
>
> In 1969 Anderson Lane was the northern city limit and there were
> springtime fields of bluebonnets in places along Anderson Lane between
> what is now MoPac and Burnet Road. MoPac was yet to be built.
>
> Barton Pool was unpolluted and relatively uncrowded.
>
> There was the Armadillo and many other small music venues.
>
> You could drive from nearly anywhere in Austin to anywhere else in 20
> minutes, and there was no ³rush hour.²
>
> There were no ³smog days² or watering restrictions.
>
> There were many small family-owned restaurants, including in downtown,
> which have long since been torn down to make way for corporate-owned
> high-rise concrete and glass monsters.
>
> A little family-owned Italian restaurant in Clarksville would provide
> dinner for two, salad, entree, glass of wine, coffee, tax and tip for $10
> to $12. They were put out of business when MoPac was built.
>
> The University of Texas had 35,000 students and academics were complaining
> that the enrollment was beyond capacity, and vowed to limit it.
>
> A seven-year-old, five-bedroom house in Allendale sold for $28,000. And
> the taxes were commensurate, about $400 a year .
>
> The alleged ³experts² say that that house is worth far more today, but to
> buy the same accommodations in a similar location one will pay even
> more. They argue that taxes have increased everywhere, but as a
> proportion of annual income they are, in most cases, far more today than
> 30 years ago.
>
> Ah, growth, development, progress.
>
> It¹s nice to reminisce, but few ask how Austin got to be what it is today.
>
> For the most part it was changed by the people who profited from the
> change. The developers and builders, the chamber of commerce, the media
> and many others have actively promoted the growth of Austin.
>
> In the 1970s the city and the chamber were running ads in national
> newspapers to get industry to locate in Austin. Bring in new industry,
> grow the university, etc.
>
> Austin voters turned down several successive bond issues for expanded
> water treatment facilities, hoping to slow down growth. The city
> continued to issue building permits. The builders complained bitterly
> that they couldn¹t get utility hookups for existing new buildings. The
> city caved in. Water restrictions came into being and the electorate was
> faced with having to approve bond issues for utility facilities.
> .
> Now we have traffic jams, smog days, watering restrictions, high taxes,
> and unaffordable housing driving many to outlying suburbs, causing more
> traffic and smog problems.
>
> The people who made Austin what it is today are the people who profited
> from its development. Many have long since left. Others remain to hustle
> their bucks before they too probably will leave.
>
> The pimps, hustlers and whores won.
>
> Apologies to all.
Howdy folks,
Can't resist: Austin 25 years ago:
A three bedroom house with a yard in Clarkesville rented for $150 a
month,
Austin, listed in a national magazine as one of the most affordable
places to live in the US,
Thursday nights with Beto at Liberty Lunch when it didn't have a roof
on it. so you could see the stars.
Being able to see the stars in town.
Class differences were distinquished by what you had in your rack on
your pickup, a gun, a four foot level or a pool cue.
Only drug dealers owned BMWs
Raul's
A concert venue like the Armadillo where you could let the kids run
around.
Hitchhiking to work, and getting there on time every day.
Hi Tech was a new speaker for your stereo.
Students lived in co-ops and not condos.
Instead of MTV you left your TV on with the sound off and played
'records'
Cactus Pryor was this really old guy on the radio who complained that
Austin was ruined when the second clothing store opened to compete
with Scarbouroghs.
Local radio played local music.
Having had fun with this, I'm not one to complain. Things change,
and if you haven't figured that one out you haven't figured out the
nature of reality.
If I didn't still love Austin, I wouldn't be here.
In addition I think a certain portion of nostalgia is driven by
folks not wanting to admit they were having more fun when they were
young, and don't like getting old.
In a couple of years EMO's will close down and in twenty years
you'll hear the aging youngsters saying things like: "Austin just
wasn't the same after they closed EMO's"
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com
"> Only drug dealers owned BMWs"
I wasn't a dope dealer when I bought my first BMW 2002. But that was in '69,
so it doesn't count anyway.
I do recall one buyer when I was a mechanic at DeGress motors (3 BMW's a
month we got to sell) who paid for his new Bavaria with twenty-dollar bills.
H.
"Steve Coyle" <mrsteveherbs@no-spam> wrote in message
news:1d98316f.0306251610.3d656437@no-spam
> Howdy folks,
> Can't resist: Austin 25 years ago:
> A three bedroom house with a yard in Clarkesville rented for $150 a
> month,
> Austin, listed in a national magazine as one of the most affordable
> places to live in the US,
> Thursday nights with Beto at Liberty Lunch when it didn't have a roof
> on it. so you could see the stars.
> Being able to see the stars in town.
> Class differences were distinquished by what you had in your rack on
> your pickup, a gun, a four foot level or a pool cue.
> Only drug dealers owned BMWs
> Raul's
> A concert venue like the Armadillo where you could let the kids run
> around.
> Hitchhiking to work, and getting there on time every day.
> Hi Tech was a new speaker for your stereo.
> Students lived in co-ops and not condos.
> Instead of MTV you left your TV on with the sound off and played
> 'records'
> Cactus Pryor was this really old guy on the radio who complained that
> Austin was ruined when the second clothing store opened to compete
> with Scarbouroghs.
> Local radio played local music.
>
> Having had fun with this, I'm not one to complain. Things change,
> and if you haven't figured that one out you haven't figured out the
> nature of reality.
> If I didn't still love Austin, I wouldn't be here.
> In addition I think a certain portion of nostalgia is driven by
> folks not wanting to admit they were having more fun when they were
> young, and don't like getting old.
> In a couple of years EMO's will close down and in twenty years
> you'll hear the aging youngsters saying things like: "Austin just
> wasn't the same after they closed EMO's"
>
> Steve Coyle
> www.austingardencenter.com
mjsmigel@no-spam (Mark Smigel) babbled and bored us in
news:59b1f153.0306250052.67b7a713@no-spam
> I moved back this year after leaving in 1979. Lived in the East
> Stassney area when it was a cheap white-bread neighborhood.
> My friends and I used to go adventuring into deep forests
> nearby where we could hear the dull roar of the Interstate
> in the distance... now it's occupied by apartments at I-35
> at Stassney. I remember Ben White when it was just a four-lane
> boulevard with lots of traffic lights. The drive-in theater
> near Ben White & I-35 where we saw Smokey and the Bandit,
> with restaurants Bonanza and Monterey House just next door.
> The strip mall somewhere near Congress & Ben White with movie
> theater (saw the Goodbye Girl there) and library annex (can't
> even find it nowadays, must've torn it down). The K-mart at
> Ben White & 290 where I bought Bob Seger 45's. Used to
> listen to KNOW on the AM dial after all the FM stations
> went lockstep into disco format.
>
> I also remember a class field trip to meet the city mayor at
> her office. Can't remember her name.
>
> Seems the city had kind of a sleepy character back in the
> late 1970s, kind of spread out and not much going for it.
> Man, what changes silicon & investment hath wrought.
>
> What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
>
> MJ
>
Celebrating the fact that you moved away in '79, bemoaning the fact that you
just had to move back.
--
-Mapi
The Mapanari of Usenet.
No, I didn't get that meaning ... thinking the marriage got her the job.
Just two facts that happened to be strung together in the same sentence.
"SlinkyToy" <slinky@no-spam> wrote in message
news:8DhKa.25020$hV.1162805@no-spam
> She was the comptroller before she married her current husband. Your
> phrasing almost makes it look as if the marriage was responsible for the
> office, which it wa'ant. :)
>
> "Snidely" <nospam@no-spam> wrote in message
> news:Xns93A552B01BDE3pkaboo@no-spam
>
> > Carole Keeton Rylander, the first woman mayor of Austin, ran for office
> > in 1977 against nine male candidates. Besides that first, she was the
> > first woman to be President of the Austin School Board, the first Austin
> > mayor elected to three terms, and the first Austin mayor to be the
> > President of the Texas Municipal League. Rylander's interest in public
> > office may have begun when whe was young and her father, Dean of the
> > University of Texas Law School for twenty-five years, would give her
> > "bedtime cases" instead of bedtime stories.
> >
> > And now remarried, she is the Texas state comptroller.
>
>
"Ron M." <rmorgan7@no-spam> wrote in message
news:d7fc3008.0306250722.5f762410@no-spam
| > Seems the city had kind of a sleepy character back in the
| > late 1970s, kind of spread out and not much going for it.
| > Man, what changes silicon & investment hath wrought.
| >
| > What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
|
|<snip>|
| Working at the State Hospital, 3-11 shift, for $387 a month, having
a
| nice apartment and a motorcycle, and enjoying life tremendously.
|
<snip>|
| Ron M.
It used to seem as though everybody's day job was
either at there or at the "Deaf School." Even a part-time
gig at one of the equivalents was enough to get buy on
very nicely.
"Mark Smigel" <mjsmigel@no-spam> wrote in message
news:59b1f153.0306250052.67b7a713@no-spam
| I moved back this year after leaving in 1979. Lived in the East
| Stassney area when it was a cheap white-bread neighborhood.
| My friends and I used to go adventuring into deep forests
| nearby where we could hear the dull roar of the Interstate
| in the distance... now it's occupied by apartments at I-35
| at Stassney. I remember Ben White when it was just a four-lane
| boulevard with lots of traffic lights. The drive-in theater
| near Ben White & I-35 where we saw Smokey and the Bandit,
| with restaurants Bonanza and Monterey House just next door.
| The strip mall somewhere near Congress & Ben White with movie
| theater (saw the Goodbye Girl there) and library annex (can't
| even find it nowadays, must've torn it down). The K-mart at
| Ben White & 290 where I bought Bob Seger 45's. Used to
| listen to KNOW on the AM dial after all the FM stations
| went lockstep into disco format.
|
| I also remember a class field trip to meet the city mayor at
| her office. Can't remember her name.
|
| Seems the city had kind of a sleepy character back in the
| late 1970s, kind of spread out and not much going for it.
| Man, what changes silicon & investment hath wrought.
|
| What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
|
| MJ
A few things I miss:
the Davis Hardware giant clawhammer sign (and Davis)
the El Mat snapping Aztec deity sign (and El Mat)
Night Hawk
the raised-up sidewalks downtown (you went downstairs to get to the
street)
Grove Drug (patent medicines that had no doubt long since expired, for
man and beast)
the little conjunto bars on Sixth Street (the J's, etc.)
Freddy's on Sixth, for a peaceful before-noon beer (was Jabour's
liquor next door?)
Spellman's
drain-and-fill at Stacy Pool (no chlorine & you could get back in the
water before
the little kids did their usual)
The taco stand at Congress & First (was it Cesar Chavez then? was it
Moses Vasquez who really cleaned up from selling it?)
Being able to see the Capitol from your own front porch
Being able to see from your own front porch whether the Tower was lit
up
The original Sweetish Hill, on Swede/Swedish Hill
Aquafest
Seeing the Aquafest land parade back when it started a good ways south
of the river
Armadillo
wrestling at the Colisseum
Texas Hatters
Charlie Dunn
Trash collection twice a week (no pay as you stink)
Utility bills that charged you only for what you used (in contrast to
these days, when before the meter's read you've already run up about
five times the amount charged for the electricity and water actually
used)
The old main library, beautiful and always buying new books (it's
still beautiful)
Being able to take visitors to the Capitol 24 hours a day and with no
fuss
the pre-Chron alternatives
the afternoon edition of the Statesman
polka and gospel on umpteen local ration stations on Sundays
various farmers' markets that don't exist these days
it would be easy to go on and on and one and one; but one thing that
has certainly improved is variety in food--
there's much more to choose from when it comes to dining out and we've
come a long way
from nothing much but Mrs. Baird's and thin-sliced mystery beef of
indeterminate age in the smallish, dimly lit H-E-B stores way back
then
"Werner J. Severin" <wseverin@no-spam> wrote in message
news:wseverin-2606031116490001@no-spam
> In article <1d98316f.0306251610.3d656437@no-spam>,
> mrsteveherbs@no-spam (Steve Coyle) wrote:
>
> >Austin, listed in a national magazine as one of the most affordable
> >places to live in the US,
>
> Yep, you're right.
>
> Bureau of Labor Statistics, for a family of four in Austin, Texas,
>
> Standard of living: Low Moderate
Good
>
> Newsweek, March 31, 1969, p. 58 $5,237 7,952
11,299
> Readers Digest, Aug. 1970, p. 46 5,812 8,832
12,618
> US News &WR, May 8, 1972, p. 57 6,362 9,408
13,600
> American Statesman, Apr. 11, 1976, p.1 8,694 13,591
19,583
>
>
> >Things change,and if you haven't figured that one out you haven't figured
> out >the nature of reality.
>
> >In addition I think a certain portion of nostalgia is driven by
> >folks not wanting to admit they were having more fun when they were
> >young, and don't like getting old.
>
> Yep, right again. But, still having all the fun I can handle. However:
>
> I have lived and worked in Europe and Asia. (As well as traveled in
> Africa and the Middle East.) Have seen the crowding and pollution in
> China (worked there) and in India as well as in many other countries.
> Admittedly, China and India are extreme examples, but we seem to be doing
> our best to catch up.
The U.S. is getting cleaner. Air is cleaner than ever (since the beginning
of industrial rvolution). Water is cleaner. Heck, I witnessed a river burn
for God's sake when I lived in Cleveland. Lake Erie was essentially dead, as
were hundreds of waterways, lakes, streams and ponds. Now very, very few are
and Lake Erie teams with marine life.
> The population of the U.S. more than double since I was born, and our
> population growth is accelerating. And our pollution of air, water and
> land is even greater.
The population is growing due to immigration. The birth rate of native
citizens is below the replacement rate (there's a word for that but I can't
think of it right now). See above for the air, water & land
pollution...you're just plain wrong in that assertation. Just go to L.A.
today and compare with pictures of the city during the 60's & 70s....it's
much cleaner (just one example of many).
> I wonder about the city, state and country we are leaving to our children
> and grandchildren and what the city of Austin, the state of Texas, and the
> U.S. will be like in 100 years.
Technological advances will likely continue to improve our quality of life.
> I still believe we have some responsibility for what we leave future
> generations.
In article <npFKa.2811$BM.1733982@no-spam>,
"charliekilo" <miles_kramer@no-spam> wrote:
> The U.S. is getting cleaner. Air is cleaner than ever (since the beginning
> of industrial rvolution). Water is cleaner. Heck, I witnessed a river burn
> for God's sake when I lived in Cleveland. Lake Erie was essentially dead, as
> were hundreds of waterways, lakes, streams and ponds. Now very, very few are
> and Lake Erie teams with marine life.
You are probably right compared to the past 50 years, but certainly not by
comparison to a century or two ago in the US. The long-term trend for the
environment is certainly down and that trend will probably continue.
> Technological advances will likely continue to improve our quality of life.
Medicine has certainly improved our quality of life.
Certainly we can travel farther, faster and more often than in the past,
but that, too, has it's downsides - the spread of SARS and other
sicknesses, terrorism, etc.
We have automobiles, washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, TVs, ACs,
computers, etc. But, quality of family life (often both parents working to
support a family today), time available to individuals to enjoy life,
etc.?
The bottom line is how one defines "quality of life", and that debate will
never end because most individuals define it based on their own
circumstances.
In article <zkFKa.22896$3o3.1746279@no-spam>,
Texensis <misterearl@no-spam> wrote:
>Being able to take visitors to the Capitol 24 hours a day and with no
>fuss
Thought about this this morning... Being able to use the Capitol
drives to get from Congress to UT and back again without a detour.
S. S.
Frank Erwin, the downfall of UT.....What an arrogant, corrupt asshole.
One of the high points of my life was when he shot me the finger at The
Battle of Waller Creek in '69.
I was there for Janis at Gregory Gym and I actually enrolled in Krupa's
class;
"Twentieth Century Media and Electronic Literature".
Playing frisbee before the anal disc golf idiots "organized" it
Hippie beads on George Washington's statue on the South Mall
Roky and the Spades
Saint Stephens School Road
the hippie goddess who sat next to me in Dr Kramer's class
what fun it was
;^)
H.
"Bubbadude" <bubbananda@no-spam> wrote in message
news:1q3ofv8kso3fcephh1h6tavhe1r1kmmrc5@no-spam
> mjsmigel@no-spam (Mark Smigel) wrote:
> >
> >What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
> >
> >MJ
>
> In 1968, there was the Vulcan Gas Company downtown with light shows by
> Belmer Wright and performances by folks like Johnny Winter and the
> 13th Fl. Elevators, before Roky Erickson drilled a hole in his
> forehead to open his third eye and ended up shooting smack in it.
> There were Love-Ins in the park between the library and the jail,
> whatever it was called. Larry Caroline got denied tenure for being a
> hippie communist and lots of folks protested, and there were pro-Ho
> Chi Minh marches all the time which were great for picking up horny
> hipp1e chicks. "Grass" was $10/lid, but it took a reefer the size of a
> cigar to give you a buzz, unless you had some orange sunshine.
>
> In the Woodstock summer of '69, there was a paraquat-induced marijuana
> famine in Austin, and hippies stumbled door-to-door begging for weed,
> then there was the SDS National Council Meeting at the Catholic
> Student Center were Bernadine Dohrn and the Weathermen split off and
> went underground. Janis Joplin performed at Gregory Gym that fall and
> all the guys were standing on their chairs saying "I love you Janis"
> which was funny because about four years before that she used to
> cruise the Chuckwagon on Friday nights asking guys if they wanted to
> "ball" and most of them said "no thanks, skank."
>
> You could stay at San Jac dorm, next to the art museum, for
> $55/semester and an old black man changed your sheets twice a week and
> the RA wanted to go to 'Nam and kill some commies for Christ, tuition
> was $75/semester, and you could rent a room for $40/mo. Chicks had a
> curfew at the dorms, but they could sign out to go stay with a
> "relative" but the cards went back to momma, eventually.
>
> G&M Steakhouse on the Drag had a cook who could keep track of 40
> orders and get them all right, Hank's Grill had the mother of all
> chicken-fried steaks, El Mat invented Mexican food, and there were no
> vegetarians. Later on, everybody went to Joe Kruppa's multimedia class
> but nobody was actually enrolled, and Frank Erwin was always fighting
> with Long John Silber who always made him look a twit, not too hard
> actually.
>
> The anti-racism rallies with fliers saying "Stop Rascism & Fascism"
> printed at the offices of The Rag, picketing Don Weedon's Texaco, and
> the earnest little commies of the PLP like Dick Reavis before he went
> semi-mainstream, Mickey Leland with his white brothers from The
> Rainbow Coalition before he turned pro, Free Lee Otis rallies to try
> and free a dude who got a life sentence for one little stick of pot,
> and a state legislator telling another one that marijuana should be
> legalized because the biggest health problem in the USA was obesity
> and the other guy weighed 400 lbs.
>
> Universal hitch-hiking before there was a shuttle bus system,
> moonlight towers, several dozen stoned hippies watching "Fantasia" and
> "Yellow Submarine", and freshman chicks sleeping around to make
> statement, and peyote runs to South Texas.
>
> It was all down hill by 1970, or five years before you got there,
> whichever comes first.
>
> Heh.
>
> Bubba
>
mjsmigel@no-spam (Mark Smigel) wrote in message news:<59b1f153.0306250052.67b7a713@no-spam>...
> What do you remember about Austin back in the days of yore?
Heh. 1978, huh?
I'd just moved to Austin, knowing nothing about Texas except
that it was lots of dry empty spaces and chock full of
country radio stations. It was my introduction to cable TV.
My introduction to addressing any female teacher as "Miss",
regardless of her marital status. My introduction to adult-
oriented businesses, so to speak; we had to stay for a week
at the Rodeway Hotel around IH-35 and 30th before we could
move into our new house, and my first ramblings took me by
the Crazy Lady, with its unusual sign that looked like some
grinning Gypsy woman. I was way too young to go in, of
course, but I did ask my mother about it. (Wish I could
remember what she told me.)
I remember bus rides costing $0.15. *Ice* in the center
of Northcross Mall (a *skating* rink? In *Texas*?!).
Handy Dans, before Home Depots. Tom Thumb stores, before
they became Rylander's', before they became Randall's'.
No significant development south of William Cannon.
Safeways. Playing Battlezone at the Dairy Queen catty-corner
from Crockett High School during lunchtimes. A much-larger
number of video-game arcades. Westgate Mall being a lot
busier. The water-slide park on Ben White between South
1st and Manchaca. The Oak Hill Y before development.
Yeesh. This makes me want to see _Slackers_, so I can
try to overlap memories some more.
In article <vc3ofvgsbi6pnimlpd75dhvl5rtkhi9bl2@no-spam>, Bubbadude
<bubbananda@no-spam> wrote:
> Most individuals are morons who romanticize the past. If it was so
> god-awful fabulous in the dark ages, why change it?
>
> Bubba
For the same reason Austin has changed so much in the past 30 years -- for
some to make money, and the hell with the rest.
Anyone else remember Doug Kenney's lecture on TACOS at (I think) Walker Hall
on the UT campus?
"Bubbadude" <bubbananda@no-spam> wrote in message
news:o8upfv49ndntfbfjqd4l24u869dkgham63@no-spam
> "H. Adam Stevens" <solo@no-spam> wrote:
>
snip
> >the hippie goddess who sat next to me in Dr Kramer's class
>
> There was a few thousand of them,
There was just one; I loved the jealous looks walking out of Kramer's class
together.
I gave her the first motorcycle ride on my BSA Victor.
She gave me books by Casteneda and Heinlein.
Three years ago I returned them.
Stevie Nicks can continue to wait in line.
I bought her a hat with GODDESS on the front for her birthday.
She'll be rowing with her quad on Town Lake in the morning.
Earth is a nice place to be.
H.
By the way........
Dr Kramer on Viet Nam:
"It's the WRONG WAR
For the WRONG REASONS
At the WRONG TIME"
????????