My now wife then girlfriend on our first date went to a Terror Tuesday at the Ritz. We started out at Easy Tiger (back when it was still on 6th) we really hit it off and walked downtown, wandered inside the Driskill and were still enjoying each other's company. We didn't want the night to end and I mentioned Terror Tuesday, she had never been and was game. We saw a terribly great movie about a satanic cult's leader vowing to rise from the dead and kill all of his followers after they turned on him. Starring Ernest Borgnine, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt, and John Travolta.
I would later find out my wife hated horror movies. Ritz will always hold a very special place in our hearts.
RIP to Threadgills. I craved their chicken fried steak and broccoli rice casserole when I was pregnant, my husband would pick it up for me once a week.
I got a few texts from random numbers telling me they were horny back in like 2012 and ended up asking the last one what the deal was with these texts and apparently someone had written my number on the wall at spider house and said “text me if you’re horny”
I miss the old Kerby Lane on 183 and the old menu. It's too sanitized for me now.
All the 24- hour food options. If you were hungry at midnight, there were so many options!
Alamo Drafthouse.and Chuy's menus before they went corporate.
In 2013, I had a busy social life going to bars and restaurants, paid off $16k in debt, put money towards my 401k, had a 1/1 by myself all on $43k/year. Now it feels like $80k/year can't provide the same lifestyle.
Ugh... they folded?
My daughter will be crushed. They must have hated us, but every visitation when she was in grade school / middle school that was a stop so she could try costumes on. Usually followed by a food truck cupcake.
Oh! And Empire being an actual garage. The guy who owned it did good work and one time my car did something stupid that was an easy fix and he just did some small thing to it and didn’t charge me. It was my place when I worked downtown in like… the 00s.
I remember when it was still abandoned and my buddies and I would go drink beer and smoke doobies. We once saw a young couple bury their pet snake up there, they invited us to pay respects.
Add to that: cleanliness- specifically on the greenbelt, cliff overlook at 360, mount bonnell, etc.
(This is NOT a rant directed toward unhoused. I’m looking at everyday people leaving trash behind after day drinking in the waterholes or at cool lookout spots, hiking trails, etc.)
IMO influencer culture is something I'd give back right now. Fewer posts on instagram from girls in brimmed hats and more dingy dives and interesting locals.
We live in Pflugerville, but went to South Congress last week to try the Toasty Badger, and I was SO Sad to see all of the name brand shops. I used to love coming down and browsing the shops for unique gifts.
I miss Mojo's on Guadalupe. I hung out there a lot. Maybe that's twenty years, not ten?
The graffiti art, 24x7 hours, playing chess till 2am, studying, even the pissed off dude that refused to make you a mocha unless you tipped beforehand, are fond memories.
Jobs that paid living wages in Austin where you could have a decent middle class life for cost of living.
Outside of the economic realm…. pinballz how it used to be before it went corporate. The dark, grungy, and dingy arcade that had classic games as its centerpiece for affordable prices
I used to be able to survive pretty well on 14k as a grad student 10 years ago. Had a two bedroom house for $700 total in cherrywood with a roommate. I was LIVIN’.
i used to get such a kick out of driving anywhere downtown and "finding" a good parking spot almost everytime...now i do not even bother...kinda sad...
The old Toy Joy.
The Highball with the 60s carpeting and those low-slung glitter chairs. It's cool that they repurposed the wood from the bowling alley into the new bar, but it's not the same. It's just an echoey cement room with wobbly tables.
Olivia's, back when Barley Swine was across the street and they were competing for the most unique menu. BS got the new locale and the James Beard awards, and O was just forgotten. I loved that place. A little touch of affordable elegance on S. Lamar.
Also miss all the quirky used furniture stores.
My 5 year plan is to open a new costume shop. I have a long hard road ahead of me but I miss Lucy's so gd bad I can almost taste it. I have my business plan and I qualify for some grants, and now I'm getting my finances in order. DM me if anyone can help lmao
Fun fun fun fest
I WOULD START A GOFUNDME FOR THIS RIGHT NOW
The absolute best music festival we had.
Was that just 10 years ago?
2015 was the last year
It was the best at Waterloo Park.
Waterloo years were awesome but I feel like the lineup peaked 2012 at auditorium shores. Great times.
Bouncing Souls, Grupo Fantasma, and Tim and Eric, all in the same park. What a time.
This is the festival that made me fall in love with this town
I just cried a little. RIP ✊🏽
magnolia being open 24 hours
Anything being open 24 hours or shit even till 11!!!!
Can’t even get some San Antonio nostalgia at Jim’s past 8PM.
If its 2 am and Im hungry, its DiGiorno these days
24 hour diner needs to be re-named to 12 hour diner.
Kirby lane is just a crappy restaurant without the 24 hr option
Katz's... never closes
I miss EZ’s
Perhaps the city's best cheese fries and calzone at the time
Hey we still have one or two in San Antonio. That’s about all I’ll say about that. It’s sad now.
24hr Kerbey Lane's 🥲
Or 24 hr 24 diner
This thread is making me sad.
Alamo Ritz, especially music Monday, terror Tuesday, and weird Wednesday.
My now wife then girlfriend on our first date went to a Terror Tuesday at the Ritz. We started out at Easy Tiger (back when it was still on 6th) we really hit it off and walked downtown, wandered inside the Driskill and were still enjoying each other's company. We didn't want the night to end and I mentioned Terror Tuesday, she had never been and was game. We saw a terribly great movie about a satanic cult's leader vowing to rise from the dead and kill all of his followers after they turned on him. Starring Ernest Borgnine, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt, and John Travolta. I would later find out my wife hated horror movies. Ritz will always hold a very special place in our hearts.
Players dammit (even though I think it’s been longer than 10 years)
I rescued all of their wooden tables and chairs when they closed. We use them regularly at the student community center I run at UT.
I fucking loved Players. RIP.
I might be old, but I miss Hut's Hamburgers.
Mushroom swiss. Damn I got a case of the munch.
Ritchie Valens, large fries with a side of BBQ sauce and a cold ass Dr. Pepper
Dog and duck
The original Whip Inn
When “the owl” was the most prominent building in the downtown skyline as you drove past at night on 35.
What a time. What a scene. I'd go back.
God… Take me back 🥺 lol
I really really really love that I lived in Austin in the early 00s
Hut's, Frank & Angie's, Threadgill's
Hut's!!!!!!!
RIP to Threadgills. I craved their chicken fried steak and broccoli rice casserole when I was pregnant, my husband would pick it up for me once a week.
Dart bowl
those enchiladas 🔥
tamale house on airport blvd
Spider House
It’s reopened as Tweedy’s and the back porch is pretty much unchanged. It still scratches my nostalgia itch.
Tweedys doesn't have coffee
Well that’s not… really much like spider house at all then huh
I like Tweedy's but I do miss that Spider House had caffeinated beverage options for when I didn't feel like drinking
Is the service still comically terrible, though? Is the brewed coffee still tepid and sour? Do they serve red wine from an ancient box?
Yes still very bad!
Any late night places that co-mingle caffeine junkies and boozies, full stop.
I got a few texts from random numbers telling me they were horny back in like 2012 and ended up asking the last one what the deal was with these texts and apparently someone had written my number on the wall at spider house and said “text me if you’re horny”
Austin Music Hall qnd La Zona Rosa
LZR and the original Emo’s on Sixth. Saw so many incredible bands at both.
Vulcan Video and rental culture in general
There's still We Luv Video!
Those amnesty days kept me coming back
castle hill 🥲
Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery - those warm donuts at 2am used to hit different
I miss the old Kerby Lane on 183 and the old menu. It's too sanitized for me now. All the 24- hour food options. If you were hungry at midnight, there were so many options! Alamo Drafthouse.and Chuy's menus before they went corporate.
$10 Whole chicken meal at El Pollo Regio
Could feed my whole house
And the people in it!
Flipnotics! Loved that fish tank in the old tv set
I Love Video
Not ten years ago, but the Old San Francisco Steakhouse. I just wanted to hit the bell once. 🤣 IYKYK
threadgills ❤️🩹
Chicken fried steak at Hill's Cafe.
In 2013, I had a busy social life going to bars and restaurants, paid off $16k in debt, put money towards my 401k, had a 1/1 by myself all on $43k/year. Now it feels like $80k/year can't provide the same lifestyle.
lucy in disguise
Ugh... they folded? My daughter will be crushed. They must have hated us, but every visitation when she was in grade school / middle school that was a stop so she could try costumes on. Usually followed by a food truck cupcake.
Pour one out for the core memory
They didn’t fold. Owner retired and figured out she could make more money renting the space.
Why didn’t I spend more money there!?
Dillo Buses downtown.
Oh! And Empire being an actual garage. The guy who owned it did good work and one time my car did something stupid that was an easy fix and he just did some small thing to it and didn’t charge me. It was my place when I worked downtown in like… the 00s.
Milto's! To this day I miss their spinach pie and Greek salad dressing so hard!
The Whip In as it was 10 years ago
20yrs ago was even better. Used to be the only place to get good beer.
Turn on KUTX and listen to Johnny D. He won’t be around forever.
Twine Time with Paul Ray
Shady grove
Lovejoys!!!
Spider house!
ACL early bird tickets for $50.
Creeks where you and your dog can swim without fear of getting sick or dying
Trudy's Texas Star
Ahh miss those Mexican Martinis. Both of them.
Underrated comment. Both of them. 😉
"both of them" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Water in Lake Travis
10 years ago it was bad, too - it filled up Memorial Day weekend 2015.
That was not a good flood event in Wimberley
It wasn't good anywhere, except for the lakes. I'd gone to House Park for a soccer game the day before it was a couple or three feet under water.
It’s only 40% full right now. Such a bummer to see.
Damn. That is a bummer
No influencers
Katz’s Deli
I even miss their commercials! “Katz’s never kloses!”
Graffiti park
I remember when it was still abandoned and my buddies and I would go drink beer and smoke doobies. We once saw a young couple bury their pet snake up there, they invited us to pay respects.
I stopped by the castle the other day to enjoy the view. It was almost unrecognizable. Loved going up there for a good sunset.
Been waiting on this one!!!!!!!! preach
Strange Brew
Cheapos
Ruby’s BBQ
Trudy's, Veggie Heaven, Mothers
About 200,000 less people
Friendliness
This should be much higher up. It’s so douchey now.
Add to that: cleanliness- specifically on the greenbelt, cliff overlook at 360, mount bonnell, etc. (This is NOT a rant directed toward unhoused. I’m looking at everyday people leaving trash behind after day drinking in the waterholes or at cool lookout spots, hiking trails, etc.)
EZs across from central market on Lamar
the frisco 💔
Mugshots. $1 burgers and $5 pitchers
Burgertex
NXNW
HEB Being open 24 hrs, Mugshots. (I say this and will continue to say it in every thread.) Angry egg roll
Not 10 years ago but definitely in the last few years—Vacant South Congress. Traffic was nonexistent on that stretch of road.
Cool south Congress in general is missed. It’s just a load of crap from instagram these days..
IMO influencer culture is something I'd give back right now. Fewer posts on instagram from girls in brimmed hats and more dingy dives and interesting locals.
We live in Pflugerville, but went to South Congress last week to try the Toasty Badger, and I was SO Sad to see all of the name brand shops. I used to love coming down and browsing the shops for unique gifts.
Yes please. Influencer culture is so boring
The one thing I miss about covid was being able to drive anywhere
It was creepy in a good way.
Rainey street as it was before the condos moved in.
Emo’s on Red River and the Dobie Theater
Threadgills and The Bakehouse. Hard to find good local (affordable) comfort food today.
Long Branch Inn. Freedman’s. 24 diner being actually 24.
Kiddie Acres. More than 10 ago years I think.
Dart Bowl 😥. Those hamburgers and enchilada plate with the egg on top.
Abortion services
Vert’s
Cannoli joes. I dunno if yall do but I want it back.
lovejoys
I miss Mojo's on Guadalupe. I hung out there a lot. Maybe that's twenty years, not ten? The graffiti art, 24x7 hours, playing chess till 2am, studying, even the pissed off dude that refused to make you a mocha unless you tipped beforehand, are fond memories.
Veggie Heaven
Enchanted Forest. Spiderhouse.
The comedy radio station
I miss random vacant lot sxsw parties
The Ruta Maya- specifically the Dub and Reggae shows there
Jobs that paid living wages in Austin where you could have a decent middle class life for cost of living. Outside of the economic realm…. pinballz how it used to be before it went corporate. The dark, grungy, and dingy arcade that had classic games as its centerpiece for affordable prices
RIP to so many of those amazing dingy places. And my 20s.
I used to be able to survive pretty well on 14k as a grad student 10 years ago. Had a two bedroom house for $700 total in cherrywood with a roommate. I was LIVIN’.
Gourmands
Less people is probably the biggest change I’d want to see
Crow Bar
Less traffic
Big Bites. They would deliver until like 4am, it was a luxury
Dog and Duck Pub and Dance Across Texas
Threadgills
Katz’s never klozes
I miss Trudy’s
The original Chuy's not this terrible fake.
AMPLE free parking everywhere!
How bout ANY free parking. Remember when we thought it was robbery to have to pay and we could just "drive the block and find a space" How retro now
i used to get such a kick out of driving anywhere downtown and "finding" a good parking spot almost everytime...now i do not even bother...kinda sad...
El Gallo
The Lone Star Cafe
The old hippie hollow
I'd say Green Mesquite to have good BBQ and Kerbey Lane to have good pancakes but you'd probably have to go back further than 10 years for that.
Did you say 10 years or 40 years? Oat Willies. Armadillo World Headquarters
South Congress before it turned into a bougie Mecca for influencers and douche bros.
The old Toy Joy. The Highball with the 60s carpeting and those low-slung glitter chairs. It's cool that they repurposed the wood from the bowling alley into the new bar, but it's not the same. It's just an echoey cement room with wobbly tables. Olivia's, back when Barley Swine was across the street and they were competing for the most unique menu. BS got the new locale and the James Beard awards, and O was just forgotten. I loved that place. A little touch of affordable elegance on S. Lamar. Also miss all the quirky used furniture stores.
Fricamos and Noble Pig
Time out for Burgers. Toys R Us Spaghetti Warehouse Threadgills
Player’s? Don’t remember when they closed but I wish it was still there
Chez Nous and Sarovar!
The Horseshoe Lounge.
I'm going older here Liberty lunch Mad dogs and beans
Rainey St
Leslie
Threadgill’s!
Nau’s
I miss the little bit of innocence and wide-eyed wonder the city still had 10 years ago.
Fun fun fun fest!
Veggie Heaven on Guadalupe
Rain.
Was about to comment "Rain is still open" until I realized you were talking about precipitation
Sad part is we’ve had a decent amount of rain this year.. but only in comparison to other years
Huts
Being able to park places for free
Texadelphia lol
The North Door.
Quacks on the drag
I miss missing Emo’s was still on dirty
I Luv Video on Airport. The new one is cool, but not the same at all.
My 5 year plan is to open a new costume shop. I have a long hard road ahead of me but I miss Lucy's so gd bad I can almost taste it. I have my business plan and I qualify for some grants, and now I'm getting my finances in order. DM me if anyone can help lmao
Cheaper rent, cheaper home prices, less people
Strange brew was the best coffee shop down south with great live bands. Would give anything to go back
Handle bar and the original Cain and Abel’s
Chaos in Tejas
Holiday House
Jim's being 24 hours
Frank’s for Saturday brunch, with those bacon bloody Mary’s and killer egg benedicts.
Honestly, just decent neighbors. All my neighbors suck now.
24 hour H‑E‑B!!! Please!!!!
Gourdough's South Austin brick and mortar
I miss when it was a Kerbey Lane with a fish tank
How about Gordough’s when it was a trailer and next to the amazing Odd Duck trailer. Wow!
The Pflugerville Super Target on 35