Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Austin: drive-ins, studios)

[blizzrd]

Originally Posted by Willsatx

Was it in the early 80's? 39 cent hotdogs? i did have an arcade.

That's what I remember. It had tables on the outside and games in the middle of the place. The hot dogs were super cheap.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by curiousinsa

Could anyone tell me any information that you have on the Crystal Pistol or the building 3309 San Pedro that it was located in? I have heard many stories and would like more information.

Thanks!

The only thing I know about it was the same brothers who owned it, Mike and Felix Stehling, also started Taco Cabana. They bought the empty lot across the street from the Crystal Pistol for parking, and wanted to remove the structure that sat on it. After purchasing it, they found out city codes made it very expensive to demolish the structure, so they decided to sell tacos out of the place. Interesting fact, the reason all Taco Cabana's are open 24 hours now is that the first night the Stehling's opened their taco stand, they put a bunch of patio furniture around for people to sit. When they closed up for the night and came back in the morning, all the furniture was stolen. So they decided to keep the place open 24 hours a day to avoid theft.

[Merovee]

^ great story lol

Was that Taco Cabana, which used to be Sombrero Rosa, on Blanco near West Ave, ever a Crystal Pistol?

[GWhopper]

No, I think there was only the one Crystal Pistol on San Pedro. That building, like the one on Wurzbach and I-10 was opened, as you said, as a Sombrero Rosa. I know the two brothers who owned Taco Cabana had a difference of opinion. One wanted to go national, and the other wanted to stay small. I heard that Sombrero Rosa was owned by the one who wanted to stay small and local, but found out later that wasn't the case. That brother founded Tacasita. Both chains were later bought and converted by Taco Cabana.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

And now all the old Fajita Junctions are tiny dry cleaners. Anyone remember Fajita Junction?

[spaceage007]

And now all the old Fajita Junctions are tiny dry cleaners. Anyone remember Fajita Junction?

I use to love Fajita Junction, the only one I knew of was the one on Marbach. I also remember it being a BBQ stand and Mexican food restaurant. Last time I checked they sell hambergers there now.

[spaceage007]

I do know of several other well know passages under streets...ie...the basement level walkway from the Court House to the Federal Building under S Main. The basement level access from the Majestic/Nix parking under Houston Street to the building North of Houston (used to be a bank) and a basement passage between the Travis Street Parking to the adjacent office building on Navarro at Travis Park.

Also, St Mark's Episcopal Church purchased the old bank building adjacent and to the West. They have a basement passage that connects the two buildings that leads to the original bank vault where they store fragile documents.

So...there is a starter list of passages and tunnels/caves/caverns. Anyone KNOW of others for a fact that exist around town. Some may be nothing more than an extended basement.

A good friend of mine owns a restaurant in the Market Square. He told me that there is a tunnel that runs from Mi Tierra to Pico De Gallo and the two places mainly use it during fiesta to transport money and beer.

[GWhopper]

Here's a question for those posters who were familiar with the Wurzbach/ I-10 area circa late seventies early eighties: I had lunch today at Zito's Sandwich Shop on Broadway. When I was a kid growing up in Colonies North, I remember there used to be a sandwich shop on Wurzbach between I-10 and Fredricksburg. It was a smaller, fast food-type of place located either where the Taco Bell is now, or the Bill Miller's. I am pretty sure this place was called Zito's as well and may have been another location of their's that didn't last. We are talking around 1979 or 1980. It was a dark brown building with a burnt orange interior (so 70s!) Does anybody else remember this and can confirm it or tell me if it had another name?

I know Zito's attempted to expand in the early to mid 2000's, with franchise locations on Blanco near 1604 and West Avenue where Taco Rey is now, but those locations didn't make it. Might the Wurzbach location been a previous failed attempt at a new location, or could it possibly have been the first location (I'd heard the Callaghan location was first)?

Just curious as I love their Serious Sandwich.

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Here's a question for those posters who were familiar with the Wurzbach/ I-10 area circa late seventies early eighties: I had lunch today at Zito's Sandwich Shop on Broadway. When I was a kid growing up in Colonies North, I remember there used to be a sandwich shop on Wurzbach between I-10 and Fredricksburg. It was a smaller, fast food-type of place located either where the Taco Bell is now, or the Bill Miller's. I am pretty sure this place was called Zito's as well and may have been another location of their's that didn't last. We are talking around 1979 or 1980. It was a dark brown building with a burnt orange interior (so 70s!) Does anybody else remember this and can confirm it or tell me if it had another name?

I know Zito's attempted to expand in the early to mid 2000's, with franchise locations on Blanco near 1604 and West Avenue where Taco Rey is now, but those locations didn't make it. Might the Wurzbach location been a previous failed attempt at a new location, or could it possibly have been the first location (I'd heard the Callaghan location was first)?

Just curious as I love their Serious Sandwich.

It wouldn't have been where Taco Bell is now; that location was a Datapoint Corporation office building until the late 1980s, when it was razed to build Taco Palenque, which later burned down.

The Bill Miller location was a place called Zantigo's, but I thought it was a mexican restaurant. After Zantigo's there was a Fatso's location there briefly until the building was razed in the early 1980s to build that Bill Miller's that is still there now.

The only Zito's Deli I am aware of existing at that time was on Wagonwheel, off Nacogdoches.

[hatchena]

I remember fondly:
MacArthur Park
Playland Park
North Star Mall
Central Park Mall
Joskes
Sunken Gardens
KTSA radio bonfires!
KEXL radio armadillo races and the sad closing of KEXL
Earl Abels after prom
watching the Sound of Music at the Majestic Theater
Shakeys Pizza
Alamo Drive-In - Austin Hwy
Gunther Hotel
1968 Hemisfair (did I get the year right?)
and wasn't there some scary story about a ghost lady out on Green Mountain Road? What was that?
I moved to SA in 1960, and I remember President Kennedy s Assasination on TV in my fourth grade Mrs Mendoza's class at East Terrell Hills Elementary, in junior high at Krueger watching classmates be pulled out of class due to family members that were killed in VietNam while my dad was still there serving his duty, and the principal making us go to home-ec class to have the teacher rip the hem out of our "mini" skirts at school if they were above the knee, and feeling left out not being allowed to go to Woodstock when a bunch of my friends were going.