Historically speaking, the most important cocktail ever poured in Austin isn’t the Mexican Martini, the Ranch Water, or even the Mad Dog Margarita. By some overly peevish definitions, it wasn’t even a cocktail at all. But when Woody Elder bellied up to the bar at Christie’s Seafood Restaurant on Barton Springs Road shortly after noon on Tuesday, June 1, 1971, 53 years ago this month,…
historic preservation
Austin’s Fannie Davis Town Lake Gazebo Could Seek Historic Landmark Zoning
Constructed on parkland along the south shoreline of downtown’s central waterfront in 1969, the Fannie Davis Town Lake Gazebo is one of Austin’s most important and recognizable works of small-scale architecture. As the first structure built to beautify the shores of the new lake crossing the heart of the city after the completion of the…
A Residential Project Dips a Toe Into Sixth Street’s Bar District at The Grant
The apartment project planned for the Grant Plaza offices at 611 East Sixth Street would be the first major residential development built inside downtown Austin’s infamous Sixth Street entertainment district in a generation — and even before a certain sense of uncertainty struck our local real estate market, the proposal first surfaced in 2022 by New York-based investment firm Empire Square Group and national developers Ryan…
Downtown Austin’s Mexic-Arte Museum Plans a Long-Awaited Renovation
Since 1984, the Mexic-Arte Museum has served Austin as the city’s official home for Mexican, Latino, and Latin American art — and it should be the most well-positioned museum in the city to showcase that art, having occupied an extremely visible location at the southeast corner of Congress Avenue and Fifth Street since 1988. But…
Here’s How Nau’s Enfield Drug Could Redevelop in Clarksville
The 2022 closure of Clarksville pharmacy Nau’s Enfield Drug was a dispiriting end for the long history of this iconic “Old Austin” staple, which first opened as a drugstore and small lunch counter serving burgers and milkshakes way back in 1951. But for many nearby residents, the shuttering of the business wasn’t a huge surprise, since it had publicly struggled…
Demolition Planned for East Austin’s Most Mysterious Abandoned Strip Mall
The history of the shopping center at the northeast corner of Ed Bluestein Boulevard and FM 969 — also known as 183 and East MLK Jr. Boulevard — ends before it begins. Known at various points of its non-development as East Pointe, Palm Square, and Journey Plaza, the effort to build a strip mall in…