South Lamar Boulevard
South Lamar’s distinct character helps to define the vibrancy of South Austin and serves as a gateway into downtown. With a number of historic and iconic businesses, South Lamar has a thriving food and entertainment scene, and it serves as a connector to many of Austin’s most frequented greenspaces and waterways.
El carácter distintivo de South Lamar ayuda a definir la vitalidad del sur de Austin y sirve como puerta de entrada al centro de la ciudad. Con una serie de negocios históricos e icónicos, South Lamar tiene una próspera escena gastronómica y de entretenimiento, y sirve como conector para muchos de los espacios verdes y vías fluviales más frecuentados de Austin.
Lamar Union was formerly called Lamar Plaza, and was one of the biggest shopping centers in town in the 1950s. Source: BOKA Powell
History
The corridor along South Lamar Boulevard is on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Tonkawa, the Apache, the Ysleta del sur Pueblo, the Lipan Apache Tribe, the Texas Band of Yaqui Indians, the Coahuitlecan and all other tribes not explicitly stated. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge and pay respects to the many other tribes, Indigenous Peoples, and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories now known as Texas.
“What I've been told is that what is now South Lamar used to be a road where cattle was driven down.”
Cathy Kreitz
The Pony Express Banner, 1926. Source: Winkelmann's Studio. The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
Formerly called Oak Hill Road, Evergreen Road, Butler Road and State Highway 343, and Old Fredericksburg Highway, South Lamar Boulevard was eventually named after Republic of Texas President Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar in 1942 with the completion of the South Lamar Boulevard Bridge across the Colorado River.
View of Lamar Boulevard in 1954, looking west. Lamar Boulevard is the western-most bridge. Source: 54-A-167-01, Neal Douglass Collection, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
One of Austin’s oldest neighborhoods, Bouldin Creek was carved out of a parcel deeded to Isaac Decker in 1735 and dates to the turn of the century, with several historic homes dating to that era still standing. Most of the neighborhood’s growth occurred in the 1920s and 1930s. Today, there are over 2,700 households and over 5,600 residents in the area.
The Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association includes the neighborhood between South Congress and the Union Pacific RR tracks, between Oltorf and Barton Springs Road. Source: Austin Monthly Neighborhood Profile
In 1826, Benjamin Rush Milam obtained an empresario contract to settle 300 families between the Guadalupe and Colorado Rivers north of San Antonio Road. The area of Zilker Neighborhood is part of two of these original land grants obtained from Mexico just before the Texas Revolution, belonging to Issac Decker and Henry P. Hill.
In the early 1980s, The Zilker Neighborhood Association was established with the mission of protecting the character of the neighborhood and enhancing the quality of life for all of the residents.
Source: Zilker Neighborhood Association
“The banks of the Colorado River have long been a lively place. Dinosaur footprints 99 million years old can be found in Zilker Park, and artifacts indicate the presence of Native American camps near Barton Springs some 11,000 years ago. In 1860s, land was granted to Empresario Benjamin “Old Ben” Milam and known as Milam’s Colony. The year after the 1836 Texas Revolution, William “Uncle Billy” Barton patented the land near the springs. A colorful character, he named the main springs after his daughters, Parthenia, Eliza, and Zenobia. He ran a gristmill and kept two baby bison to amuse visitors. What was once a developer’s dream on the outskirts of Austin in the 1950s, is now a centrally located, mature, and cohesive neighborhood–a good place to live and raise a family.”
Dick Kallerman
A real estate ad for Barton Hills from 1956. Source: Barton Hills Neighborhood Association
Life on the Corridor
“South Lamar, it's just a busy street. There's 30,000 or so vehicles a day that go up and down that thing.”
David Piper
Photo of Lamar over Ladybird Lake from the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge which is part of the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail. Source: The Daily Texan/Linda Ball
“Let the world know that South Austin was and is a renowned melting pot of funky iconoclastic visionaries. Or, in other words, you can just call us ‘weird.’“
James Retherford
Peter Pan Mini Golf. Source: Peter Pan Mini Golf
Listen to Cathy Kreitz share the origin story of her parents the Martinez’s famous Tex Mex restaurant Matt’s El Rancho.
Matt’s El Rancho today. Source: Trip Advisor
“
There used to be a gas station at the corner where the Schlotzsky’s used to be that had an old iron bench that I heard from the owner was used on occasion by Lyndon Johnson when he went for walks while in town. I am guessing there also was a pub nearby to wet his whistle along that way. I had the privilege of sitting on that bench and I could feel the energy of that connection between that bench and folks like Johnson that used it. It was a good feeling.”
Steve Barnick
Listen to James White talk about the iconic
honky-tonk, the
Broken Spoke he and his wife, Annetta, opened in 1961.
James White leaning on his 1954 Cadillac Coupe deVille in front of the Broken Spoke. Source: BrokenSpokeATX.net
In 1990, Joe Ables opened the Saxon Pub. Known as one of the “last of the real Austin places” the music venues is an important landmark along the corridor. Watch the documentary “Nothing Stays the Same” for the story of the Saxon Pub and the struggle for local music venues in Austin.
Saxon Pub’s sign looking north on South Lamar. Source: Still from the film, “Nothing Stays the Same “
Listen to Bill Welker, owner of
reflect on the music culture along South Lamar, since he opened 34-years ago.
Aaron Sacco created this mural on a wall of the South Austin Music building to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the store in Austin, Texas. The mural, which spans 40 feet, features more than 30 local Austin musicians. Source: Library of Congress, photograph by Carol M. Highsmith
“When we moved here in '76, in the late seventies, early eighties, there was a rebirth of the neighborhood association and everybody undertook, the association undertook to clean the area up and they got the city involved to some.”
Jack Moore
Jack Otis Moore performing the jug with the Austin Jug Band at the Pecan Festival. Source: Austin Jug Band
“When I first came up to go to the university, one of our friend’s grandparents were often natives and they would have us over for Sunday night dinner once a month. Every single time his grandfather would say, “Austin is ruined. You should have been here in the twenties and thirties when people really knew how to have a good time.” What I’ve learned is that every generation likes the Austin of their youth.”
Leea Mechling
South Austin Museum of Popular Culture now incorporated into the Austin Museum of Popular Culture on North Lamar , sign by artist James Everton. Source: Anna Gonzalez/Flickr