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  #81  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2009, 4:50 PM
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The Robertson Hill mall project (which I think that is referring to) is well known.
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  #82  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2009, 7:17 PM
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I guess it wasn't well known to me since I wasn't really into skyscrapers back then. (I know, I know. I must have been crazy. )

Were the hotel and/or office components of this project supposed to be highrises and if so, does anyone remember approximately the number of stories for each?

Back to old photos, here's a few photos from my pre-digital camera days.


Dogpark views from around 2001/2002 (?)




Skyline from late 80's/early 90's



Arboretum from about 1986/1987



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  #83  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2009, 9:11 PM
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I remember the Robertson Hill project. We posted about it on the forum when it was proposed. The development would have included a 200 foot building.
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  #84  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2009, 11:46 PM
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Wait a minute. That article in the Austin Chronicle said the Capitol Town Center project was presented to the City Council in June, 1991 and the developer had until July 1993 to start construction.

There was no internet back then.
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  #85  
Old Posted Oct 19, 2009, 2:27 AM
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Love the images of the Arboretum Lonestar. I've never seen pics of the office structures under construction.
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  #86  
Old Posted Oct 19, 2009, 3:06 AM
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Thanks. I first moved to Austin in 1982 and until September 1987, I lived in what were then known as Highwood Apartments at 9417 Great Hills Trail. There was another complex called Hamilton's Mark at 9617 Great Hills Trail and two other complexes between mine and Great Hills Trail & Loop 360. Back then, about the only other buildings on that stretch of Great Hills Trail between Loop 360 & 183 was Triumphant Love Lutheran Church and a small Jack Brown Cleaners.

The nearest grocery store/shopping center was the Balcones Woods Shopping Center. I used to shop at the Safeway there and I seem to remember there was also a McDonald's. I can't remember any of the other stores, though.

I remember once they started developing the Arboretum, they first carved out where the roads and drives would be but the area was still heavily wooded. I used to walk my dog there.

I moved from that neighborhood about the time they were getting ready to open the Simon David's.
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  #87  
Old Posted Oct 19, 2009, 4:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LoneStarMike View Post
Wait a minute. That article in the Austin Chronicle said the Capitol Town Center project was presented to the City Council in June, 1991 and the developer had until July 1993 to start construction.

There was no internet back then.
There was a later project for Robertson Hill about 10 years ago or so that would have included similar uses. One of the buildings was supposed to be 200 feet tall. I can't remember if it was supposed to be a hotel or office. I want to say a hotel.
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  #88  
Old Posted Oct 19, 2009, 4:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LoneStarMike View Post
Thanks. I first moved to Austin in 1982 and until September 1987, I lived in what were then known as Highwood Apartments at 9417 Great Hills Trail. There was another complex called Hamilton's Mark at 9617 Great Hills Trail and two other complexes between mine and Great Hills Trail & Loop 360. Back then, about the only other buildings on that stretch of Great Hills Trail between Loop 360 & 183 was Triumphant Love Lutheran Church and a small Jack Brown Cleaners.

The nearest grocery store/shopping center was the Balcones Woods Shopping Center. I used to shop at the Safeway there and I seem to remember there was also a McDonald's. I can't remember any of the other stores, though.

I remember once they started developing the Arboretum, they first carved out where the roads and drives would be but the area was still heavily wooded. I used to walk my dog there.

I moved from that neighborhood about the time they were getting ready to open the Simon David's.
I remember that Safeway too. It's now a Party City, and was an Academy for a few years. The McDonald's is now a Schlotzsky's, it moved up to Braker when the North Hills shopping center was built (late 1980's).
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  #89  
Old Posted Dec 1, 2010, 1:35 PM
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A cool little thing I put together from some stuff I found...

Austin

1869 - Our First Bridge near Brazos St. (It washed away a year later )

http://malford.ci.austin.tx.us/libra...egin/trans.htm

1876 - Congress Ave, and old State Capitol Building

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...n%22%20Capitol

1930's

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675.../m1/1/med_res/


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...0-%20Austin%22


http://hydrology.rice.edu/sspeed/ima...tin_1936_2.jpg


http://www.texassailor.com/flood_3.jpg

1940's
Snow storm

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...0-%20Austin%22

Christmas on Congress 1940's


http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...0-%20Austin%22

1949

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...20%22Austin%22

1968


1970's

http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2...-vs-ucla-1970/

1980's

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...yline1980s.jpg

1991 - They just bought Bob Dylan Tickets. =)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/...64ff5bb80e.jpg

2000 - It was in 2002 that we got our first big building when the Frost Tower was built.


Current

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brain/5...n/photostream/

I have a feeling if I did London it would be MUCH different than Austin! =)
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  #90  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2010, 3:03 AM
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The Christmas on Congress 1940's is my favorite. Good work.
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  #91  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2010, 7:39 AM
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The Christmas on Congress 1940's is my favorite. Good work.
I wish they'd put up some lights like that. The LED lights they did were ok, but I thought they didn't look Christmasy and were kind of lame really.
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  #92  
Old Posted May 19, 2011, 8:41 PM
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I have been doing some work for a retired Austin cop. He shared a photo album with me of accident scene photos taken by the APD as evidence. They date back from the 30's to the 50's most focus on the cars but here are a few with intersections I could recognize.

First is 7th street looking East towards Red River. The body shop in the foreground is now a Twin Liquors and the Gage Brother's building in the background is now Plush night club.


These next three are 5th and Lamar taken in the 50's.




This next one is looking South on Burnet at Koenig 1953 you can see the sign for the Frisco in the background.
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  #93  
Old Posted May 20, 2011, 1:18 AM
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Thanks for sharing these. This last photo made me laugh because there doesn't seem to be a logical reason for that situation.

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  #94  
Old Posted May 20, 2011, 10:54 AM
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Yes, thank you for uploading those! Good stuff.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
Thanks for sharing these. This last photo made me laugh because there doesn't seem to be a logical reason for that situation.
Hah, ya I laughed at that one too. I had to sit here for a good 5 mins and try to think up reasons for those cars to be where they are and how they bumped one another. I finally decided that the CIA were chasing a KGB super spy agent who was sending his Soviet comrades top secret information on why Austin is so cool.
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  #95  
Old Posted May 20, 2011, 2:59 PM
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Originally Posted by BevoLJ View Post
Hah, ya I laughed at that one too. I had to sit here for a good 5 mins and try to think up reasons for those cars to be where they are and how they bumped one another. I finally decided that the CIA were chasing a KGB super spy agent who was sending his Soviet comrades top secret information on why Austin is so cool.
Great pics! Those old cars were much more primitive, so I could imagine them getting in that situation. The weight distributions weren't always so good so they'd be prone to spinning 180 or 360 or more if you lost control. Plus those old brakes... had 2 modes: slow you down slightly or lock up and you'd slide uncontrollably. They were quite durable vehicles, though.

I do like the CIA explanation better. Cold war and all that.
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  #96  
Old Posted May 20, 2011, 3:27 PM
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Cool to see the old US 290 signs confirming the WWII era routing of that highway too.
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  #97  
Old Posted May 20, 2011, 4:20 PM
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Looking at the Burnet Rd. at Koenig fender bender one is reminded that this major intersection is still the same....Fifty plus years later and we still don't have a major traffic artery crossing the center of the city...Amazing, sad, but amazing...There is no city in America like Austin...The business and real estate movers and shakers are impotent against the neighborhood activists...
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  #98  
Old Posted May 20, 2011, 9:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Spaceman View Post
Looking at the Burnet Rd. at Koenig fender bender one is reminded that this major intersection is still the same....Fifty plus years later and we still don't have a major traffic artery crossing the center of the city...Amazing, sad, but amazing...There is no city in America like Austin...The business and real estate movers and shakers are impotent against the neighborhood activists...
And yet with all that, Austin has been one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, with one of the best job markets, and is consistently rated as one of the best in a dizzying amount of lists.

WE'RE DOOMED!!!1!!!!!
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  #99  
Old Posted May 20, 2011, 11:12 PM
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Don't worry, we are not doomed. We do continue to be hobbled by people who consistantly object to needed improvements such as east-west freeways..The traffic situation should not be as bad as presently is ...Austin's core is more long than wide. The distance from Loop 360 to I 35 is not that great, until one has to drive it at rush hour.
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  #100  
Old Posted May 24, 2011, 6:44 PM
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I found some new Austin postcards a few days ago showing some new buildings. You'll have to go to Walmart to find these, but they're the first postcards I've seen that included The Austonian, 360, Ashton and the Four Seasons Residences. They also show the Frost Bank Tower.

I collect postcards, and for the longest time I couldn't find any postcards of Austin that showed the Frost Bank Tower. I found one last year that showed Frost from the west. But before that, I hadn't found a postcard of the city that showed it. Most of my postcards are from the 90s, some from the 80s, 70s, and 60s. I found one from around 2001 that showed the tower cranes for Frost. But up until last year I hadn't seen any that actually showed the completed building. And then just last week I found 6 new postcards at Walmart that showed a bunch of new buildings. So anyway, if any of you collect postcards, too, check out Walmart. HEB has them, too, but I don't know that they have the new ones yet. And Target doesn't even have postcards. Walgreens used to have them, and used to have some really cool ones from the 70s and some neat ones of the UT Campus.
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