Old Austin photo from 1959..

Discussion in 'Around Austin' started by dallas_the_tiger, Aug 19, 2008.

  1. airportlobby

    airportlobby 100+ Posts

    Any photos or stories about the street that was where I-35 is now? I've been curious for a while....
     
  2. ScoPro

    ScoPro 1,000+ Posts

    I-35 from 1st to 19th Street was called East Avenue (before 35 was completed thruogh there in about 1961}.

    In this photo looking south, you can see old Brackenridge Hospital with the old Bickler School building (site of the Capitol Marriott Hotel) behind it:

    [​IMG]
     
  3. airportlobby

    airportlobby 100+ Posts

    Cool, thanks, Sco Pro. That looks like it could have been a beautiful street. How about the predecessor to Mopac?
     
  4. ScoPro

    ScoPro 1,000+ Posts

    MOPAC at 35th St. about 1915:

    [​IMG]
     
  5. TomTerrific

    TomTerrific 500+ Posts

    I love this kind of ****.

    Thanks for posting! [​IMG]
     
  6. fluff

    fluff 25+ Posts

    Wow, the pitch and putt golf course has been there forever....
     
  7. TheFied

    TheFied 2,500+ Posts


     
  8. ScoPro

    ScoPro 1,000+ Posts

    Actually the ball park where the Austin Senators played (next to the old City Auditorium) was called Disch Field. It pre-dated UT's Disch-Falk Field. There is a reference to it in this article about a 1958 game:


    The Link
     
  9. NCAAFBALLROX

    NCAAFBALLROX 1,000+ Posts

    It's sorta sad to look @ "East Avenue" & see what they could have done with the interstate with just a bit more foresight... But, it's all about the expense of a "now vs. later".

    [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
     
  10. TornJock

    TornJock 100+ Posts

    In reply to:


     
  11. TXSNOS

    TXSNOS 1,000+ Posts

    ^^ What they said.


     
  12. TomTerrific

    TomTerrific 500+ Posts

    these are absolutely my favorite kind of threads

    I could read this kind of thing all day.

    Thank you for y'alls imput.

    I got here 25 years later for school and had forgotten about many of the things that are there in those pictures.

    City Collusieum being first among them.

    I forgot entirely about that place
     
  13. J.R.69

    J.R.69 250+ Posts

    Anyone remember the Gondolier Hotel?
     
  14. Texoz

    Texoz 1,000+ Posts

    Great stuff. Any old pics from the area bordered by Bull Creek Blvd/Shoal Creek Blvd and 45th St and 38th? Currently, TXDot is using some old buildings that used to be a school. Also on the grounds are the remnants of an old horse racing track. At least that is what I've been told by peolpe who I've met hiking around there.
     
  15. ScoPro

    ScoPro 1,000+ Posts


     
  16. Not that Bob

    Not that Bob 500+ Posts

    The Gondolier was indeed greeted with much fanfare. Austin had now gone "High Tone." There was a party room, or ball room on the ground floor with big sliding glass doors that opened onto the grounds, leading to the lake. My band was playing a high school prom there, and on a break Skeeter Davis and her band came in and played a set. They had played at Municipal Auditorium, I think, and were staying there. I remember thinking she was pretty, but sort of "worn out." 'Course I was a kid, and she was probably 35.

    Edit to add link. [​IMG]The Link
     
  17. Alpine

    Alpine 100+ Posts


     
  18. Not that Bob

    Not that Bob 500+ Posts

    The Link

    Hope this link works for you J.R.69
     
  19. ScoPro

    ScoPro 1,000+ Posts

    Sounds like a bunch of us have different recollections, but it looks like Pam and Les are closest to the actual opening event.

    After all, it's been 45+ years.
     
  20. SubliminalHorn

    SubliminalHorn 500+ Posts

    Amazing stuff. Thanks for posting.
     
  21. TheFied

    TheFied 2,500+ Posts


     
  22. dallas_the_tiger

    dallas_the_tiger 100+ Posts

    Again, sorry the pics are so big, but here's another view of south Austin looking west towards Zilker. In the photo, the baseball field is listed as Disch Field. Photo taken in '54
    [​IMG]
     
  23. dallas_the_tiger

    dallas_the_tiger 100+ Posts

    disch field 1959...
    [​IMG]
     
  24. ScoPro

    ScoPro 1,000+ Posts

    Yep, that's exactly the way it looked when I first saw it in '59.
     
  25. Mesohorny

    Mesohorny 1,000+ Posts

  26. kmac30

    kmac30 500+ Posts

    this thread is awesome. i've never seen these pics before.

    my neighbor built his house in 1950 at the corner of windsor and pecos (he's 96). he tells me stories all the time about how windsor was a dirt road and pecos ended at the windsor intersection. talks about a huge oak tree that was down the hill where pecos currently runs north and said he used to take his pistol out for target practice. wish i could have been around to experience some of this.

    town lake looks crazy!
     
  27. dallas_the_tiger

    dallas_the_tiger 100+ Posts

    Mesohorny,
    Are any of those places still around today? I can't place any of them.. Maybe the bowling alley is that one off Koenig near McCallum HS?
     
  28. TXSNOS

    TXSNOS 1,000+ Posts

    I believe that bowling alley was on S. Lamar just South of Barton Springs Road but hard to be sure. If so, the building is still there. If it's the place I'm thinking about, I bowled at that Bowl-O-Rama in the late 1970's.
     
  29. ScoPro

    ScoPro 1,000+ Posts

    The last time I was in the New Orleans Club (1966) it was a bad expenience (puked under the table). Blind George used to play the piano there, as did that cool black woman who was a great Blues/jazz talent - her name escapes me now.
    The old stone building is a part of the Symphony Square "complex" on Red River now.

    The old Stallion....ate many chicken frieds w/yaller gravy in that old dump.
     
  30. dallas_the_tiger

    dallas_the_tiger 100+ Posts

    The bowl-o-rama must be the Bicycle Sports shop now.
     

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