5209 North Lamar

 Former Texas Battery Building

So, this week I went on a personal Austin adventure.

Back in the 70s and 80s my dad owned a successful Austin business called Texas Battery Associates.  He sold car batteries, mostly to organizations with fleets of cars.  Some of his customers were the City of Austin, Austin Police Department, and the local Air Force base (Bergstrom) which is now where the new Austin airport is located.  Batteries paid my college tuition, and I’m so thankful!

The Texas Battery building was located at 5209 North Lamar.
When I drove around that area of North Lamar this week, it seemed it was in the midst of a redevelopment.  There were new loft condominiums and new service based businesses like coffee shops and dry cleaning, but also still some empty building tagged with graffiti.
That’s how it appears today, but I was more on a walk down memory lane and couldn’t help think about how it was back in the 70s and 80s.

 I remember going to my dad’s “office”, which was really more of a warehouse with a couple of offices up front.  My dad had a great bunch of people who worked for him, and I can remember most of them.  There was Gladys (the secretary), Davis (the ex-con warehouse worker), and Jerry (Dad’s right hand man).  When my dad was sick, and in his last days, Jerry came to visit him.  He shared with me that my dad was the best boss he ever had, which was very nice to hear, but not a surprise.  My dad was a hardworking, smart and honorable man. 


Texas Battery Associates (Dad on left)

Not only were the people associated with Texas Battery memorable, so was the location.  At this time North Lamar had just changed from being the main North/South route through town, Hwy 81.  This is because I-35 was recently completed (yes, I'm old!).  At that time, there were a lot of motor coach type businesses up and down North Lamar.  There were two iconic restaurants within walking distance of "the office"  One was Leslie’s Chicken Shack. The Chicken Shack had a huge chicken on its neon sign that was dressed up in what appeared to be his Sunday best. What chicken is fully dressed without his walking stick?  I don’t remember eating there, maybe we did, but I don’t have a memory of it...like I said, I'm old!
 

The other “restaurant” was right next door, it was called Taco Flats.  It’s still a subject of Austin lore. Some say Willie lived in a shed at the back of the property.  Who knows, I guess it could be true, although I never spotted the red-headed stranger.  It was pretty much just a shack. They had a beer garden (mostly packed dirt, very little garden about it) behind the shack. They served beer, and a lot of it.  They also served tacos.  I can remember a lot of  weird stuff and funny signs on the walls.  Another thing I remember is the rat trap on the counter that said, “Fresh meat daily”.   Other Austin bloggers say additional signs read, "We reserve the right to serve refuse to anyone” and "Now over 2000 tacos returned".  Taco Flats wasn’t the best neighbor, especially when they started having their notorious jalapeño eating contests.  Let’s just say people who eat a lot of jalapeños tend to need relief from their upset stomachs, and the empty parking lot next door seemed like a good place.  Blech!


Hector, owner of Taco Flats (notice the "Eat at McDonald's" sign to his left)

 

The building on North Lamar now houses The Front Door Company and you can buy a loft for $200,000 next door.  Is Austin really as weird as it was back in the good ol’ days?