Quote:
Originally Posted by chinchaaa
It’s not historic. Sorry.
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It really isn't.
I loved Les Amis, best tuna fish sandwich I ever ate. Sitting by the real wood burning fireplace on a cold day, before class, I can smell it now. LA and Quacks were the only places you could get a proper latte in the early 90's. People forget the Starbucks coffee revolution didn't hit Austin till probably 98-99. Prior to that, people had no idea what the hell a cappuccino was.
I remember when they completely remodeled this building to turn it into a Starbucks, a burger joint, and a Jamba Juice. If there ever was a time to preserve this building/development, it was prior to the reno that became what it is now...which I would guess to be 2001 or so.
It is COMPLETELY different now than it was as LA and Inner Sanctum, I wouldn't be surprised if anything original from LA and IS remained.
While I too lament the passing of my favorite haunts:
Little Sister on a hot sweaty night at the Black Cat
Rubbing elbows with politicos waiting on Wednesdays "spaghetti casserole" special at Gene's
They Might be Giants or Steel Pulse at Liberty Lunch
Ugly Americans at Steamboat
Fresh real (boiled) bagel smell at Bagel Manufactory
Los Lobos at La Zona Rosa.......
Honestly, I could go on for an hour. Life changes for us all, luckily we live in a town that grows and morphs into new great venues.
I grew up in a small town in Mississippi, a town that hasn't changed ONE BIT since I moved to Austin in 1983. I'll take a growing/evolving town over a dead one, any day of the week.
Sure I miss Joel standing at the end of the bar at Texadelphia, or the way Dirty's had a GIANT pile of lard on their griddle to scrape a little bit off of when they cooked your greazy ass burger (since the county made them stop doing that, its never been the same), or Leo making you a crowbar at Quacks (the interesting way Quacks had of stacking straws, spoons, etc into the empty cup as a way to let Leo know what he was supposed to make) Never seen anything like it. Big Ray Lemay sitting at the end of his bar at Ray's Steak house greeting everyone who came in. Old man Milto used to sell me his salad dressing in a jar instead of just making me buy 10 little 2 oz cups. These are all the tiny important memories of people and places that made my 20's in Austin special.
But I've made new friends at all my favorite places....making my 50's in my favorite town just a cool, or dare I say, cooler?