The reminders are there, scattered up and down North Lamar, of how the city’s evolved, and our modest little exercise in mapping Austin provides the excuse to indulge long held curiosities.  When we leave Stiles Switch, for example, there’s an oddly- shaped building across the street that for years housed an auto body shop.  The style, the lines, hint of a more interesting past….so that’s where we’ll start this week’s journey, a block north of Threadgill’s around the Violet Crown Plaza. Courtesy Google, 2018 Capitol Roll Arena 821 Brentwood Tucked in behind the Yellow Rose parking lot, there’s little to indicate this now-empty building was once North Austin’s “only known roller skating rink.” Courtesy Forgotten Roller Rinks of the Past Capitol Roll ran from the mid-50’s through the mid-70s before closing. Then, in 1979, it briefly re-opened under a new name. “Most of the kids would rather skate to rock and roll than disco.” Maria Straughan, Austin American Statesman, Feb 7, 1980 According to the highly detailed “Forgotten Roller Rinks of the Past” , the 1980 piece in the Austin American-Statesman is the last newspaper article about the rink. It turned out to be a perfect location for one of the classic scenes in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, when a young Ben Affleck gets his comeuppance. Violet Crown Plaza, 6601 N. Lamar Across the street from the old Capitol Roll, Violet Crown Plaza is one of Austin’s earliest shopping centers, opening in 1951 and also forever memorialized in Dazed and Confused. The best part? Go by today and discover Stiles Switch , twice honored by Texas Monthly as one of the best bbq joints in the state. It opened in 2011, but feels like it’s been there forever. Stiles Swith, Violet Crown Plaza. The Long Play 704 W St John Ave Punk legend John Doe, who co-founded X, moved here from LA in 2017. A few years later he opened a little bar in his north Austin neighborhood. “No Spotify, no fuckin’ Pandora. No sports TV. It’s LP’s, straight up cocktails, nothing super fancy, but good liquor, good beer.  And that’s it.” John Doe The Long Play vibe is like a friend’s living room. It’s a small space. Drinks flow and records play. The selection is varied and can be eclectic. But it’s not overly fussed over. Customers make requests. Entire sides of albums blend into one another. And despite a first-rate sound system, the music doesn’t dominate. Conversation comes easy. A Night at the Long Play, Peter Babb, KUTX, Jan 21, 2020. Bamboo House 7010 Easy Wind Easy to miss, hidden in an forgettable boxy development across the street from the Long Play, this suburban Houston import quickly built a devoted following. A few things people in Austin will readily line up for: Barton Springs on a Saturday afternoon, barbecue at literally anywhere, and the peking duck at Bamboo House, a Sichuan Chinese restaurant near Airport and Lamar in Crestview. Nicolai McCrary, The Infatuation Austin's Chinese population was abuzz with excitement when Bamboo House decided to open here, because the original location in Houston received such high acclaim for its Peking duck, which is prepared using traditional methods and exacting standards difficult to find outside of China. When Bamboo House finally opened in October, the duck sold out for the first several weeks and lines were out the door. Clara Wang, The Austin Chronicle, 2023 Fiskville Founded in the early 1870s, this community of about 120 people had its own flour mill and cotton gin, and was the first railroad stop as you left Austin. It also provides a great starting point for a different type of exploration. Our civic association acknowledges that the land boundaries are original territory of a number of indigenous people—specifically the Numunuu, also known as the Comanche Nation, and the Tonkawa Tribe. We honor and thank the indigenous peoples connected to this territory where we live and gather. The North Austin Civic Association will work towards decolonizing our practices, and make our civic association an inclusive space for all.  Isa Boonto-Zarifis, NACA Newsletter, Art on the Corridor. By the time American colonists reached what is now present-day Travis County in the 1820's, the only inhabitants they encountered were wandering groups of hunter-gatherers usually referred to as Tonkawas. These loosely organized, numerically weak bands exploited the wild game and plant foods found along Central Texas rivers and streams. Walnut Creek District Park Archeological Abstract, Austin History Center. The first recorded instance of Indian conflict in Travis County was the attack upon a hunting party of settlers at Walnut Creek in August of 1833. In this well publicized affair, two white men were killed, while one, Josiah Wilbarger, was scalped and left for dead. He survived this traumatic experience to live an additional nine years, thereafter wearing an old sock over his exposed skull as a reminder of his narrow escape. Walnut Creek District Park Archeological Abstract, Austin History Center. WHAT’S IN A NAME? Mirabeau B. Lamar, the road’s namesake, arrived in Texas in 1835. He distinguished himself as a fighter in the Texas Revolution, and ran for president of the new republic in 1838. President Sam Houston by law could not succeed himself. The other candidates, Peter W. Grayson and James Collinsworth both committed suicide before election day, thus assuring Mirabeau Lamar's election by an almost unanimous vote. At his inauguration on December 10, 1838, Lamar declared the purposes of his administration to be promoting the wealth, talent, and enterprises of the country. Texas State Historical Association This is where history becomes more complicated. Lamar believed the "total extinction" of the Indian tribes was necessary to make the lands available to whites. Gary C. Anderson,The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land 1820–1875 , 2005, pg. 174. "His idea was to drive the Native Americans out, and if they had to kill them along the way, that fit Lamar’s way of thinking. Some historians accuse him of genocide.” Andrew Torget, University of North Texas, KVUE, July 2020 . The City of Austin named Lamar Boulevard in 1942 to honor the fact that he’s the reason Austin became the 8th and final capital of the Republic of Texas. He also strongly supported public education, believing a knowledgeable citizenry was critical to the new country’s success. Lamar provided land grants for public schools along with nearly 380,000 acres to support two universities that later became Texas A&M and The University of Texas. MARGARET LEA HOUSTON BLVD? “History comprises both facts and interpretations of those facts. To remove a monument, or to change the name of a school or street, is not to erase history, but rather to alter or call attention to a previous interpretation of history. A monument is not history itself; a monument commemorates an aspect of history, representing a moment in the past when a public or private decision defined who would be honored in a community’s public spaces.” American Historical Association, Austin Confederate Monuments Resolution Report, 2018. In 2018, the City of Austin released a 25-page memorandum listing 36 “city-owned confederate assets” which included Stephen F. Austin Blvd. because our city’s namesake “believed slave labor was indispensable” to the republic and fought to defend it. Barton Springs, Burnet Road, Duval Street, Hancock Drive….all on the list. The city decided the issue merited further study. After a flurry of news articles the issue faded, and the last bit of coverage dates to 2020 , early in the pandemic, resurrected occasionally for online discussion, most recently two months ago. Here’s the link to the entire thread It’s a nuanced issue. We’re curious for your thoughts. Next week, a look at the club where Hank Williams Jr. played his last show, the Skyline, whose owner was described thusly by Michael Corcoran: Warren was not a fan of the counterculture, displaying a bathtub on a pole outside the Skyline “for flower children.” On his boat at Lake Travis he’d don his white Coast Guard uniform and get on the bullhorn near Hippie Hollow to tell everyone to put their clothes back on. On we go. Alan Berg, Publisher *quotes edited for concision and clarity. How are we doing? We want to hear from you. 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