We just moved into our new home in Travis Heights, so AUSTINative has been busy. We’ve taken a few breaks from unpacking to go check out the ‘hood, including walking around Stacy Park. When I was in the 5th grade, my parents moved us back to Austin from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and we moved into the Terrace apartments, at Academy and South Congress, while they started to build a house in the country. This was 1979 or 1980. South Congress was a very different place.

My mom and step-dad chose the Terrace because my grandmother lived there. I would take taxis with her to the Nighthawk restaurant and to the H-E-B at Oltorf because she didn’t like to drive. Otherwise, she would walk to the few other establishments in the area, including the Saint Vincent de Paul thrift shop. The other people you would see walking were, um, ladies of the night. Except I think they were out at all hours. Sometimes we would take a taxi or the bus downtown to The Bank, which was always a treat – I loved the smell of it and the cold air conditioning and weighing myself on the big scale in the lobby.

The Terrace itself was built originally as a motor court, I think. In the late 70s to 80s, it was definitely on the decline. The swimming pool was empty and had begun filling with leaves. As kids, my stepbrother and I didn’t care all that much – it was kind of fun to play around that, although a nice cool pool would’ve made the summer a bit more pleasant. Instead, we stayed up late watching old Clark Gable movies, like Mutiny on the Bounty, on Channel 7, one of only 3 TV stations in Austin at that time.

When school started, I went to Travis Heights elementary school. I remember the school and my teacher, Mrs. Ruiz, but I don’t really remember Stacy Park (except the pool) or the neighborhood around it. Walking around the park and the ‘hood today, I’m amazed at it. I even lived less than a mile away, in Bouldin Creek, for several years beginning in 1999, but never ventured east of South Congress. Zilker, Barton Springs, downtown, and the UT area were my stomping grounds. Travis Heights definitely has its own character and it will be interesting to get to know the new – old – neighborhood.

After seeing the article about the Shady Grove RV park closing in yesterday’s Statesman, I desperately had to know if Pecan Grove RV Park was also slated for replacement by condos. Even though Barenakedfamily.com declared that this is “not your Grandma’s RV park,” my grandmother actually lived at Pecan Grove back in the ’90s. So I spent a fair amount of time getting to know her neighbors, who became some of her last true friends. Nana, as I call her, was definitely young at heart and didn’t like hanging out with most people her own age. And the RV park, right on Barton Springs Road, was perfect for her.

So today I went by to check and see if Pecan Grove was also in danger. According to the one resident I spoke with, the owners have no intention of selling anytime soon, but that is what then-Council Member Daryl Slusher told me about ten years ago about the owner of Shady Grove. So we’ll see.

Status Quo vs. Change
Having lived in and around Austin most of my life, I definitely have mixed feelings about the pace and face of change, like the conversion of a cool, beautiful RV park full of lovely pecan trees to very expensive condos. I’d rather people not buy into the new developments that have only increased the need for more and bigger highways. I know that real estate has gotten more and more expensive in the central city because more people want to live there. It’s unfortunate that people of limited means, including the artists and musicians that make Austin wonderful, have fewer and fewer places they can afford to live. What’s to be done? I don’t know.

In this blog, I’m going to explore Austin’s change, which doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Stay tuned.