Search Results for: Al Kirby

More Than Sunday-Go-To-Meeting, Part 2

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Churches in Brentwood and Crestview continue to be a vital part of our neighborhood’s history and sense of community. I first gathered information about the churches for exhibits when I coordinated the Community Tent early on at the Violet Crown Festival here in Austin. More recently, Rob and I discovered that many of the people we interviewed for our oral history project have longtime connections with churches here. They have been among the people most … Read more

Posted in Community, People, Places, Wall of Welcome Stories

History of Hancock Creek/Arroyo Seco, Part 2

Posted on September 19, 2011 by

Copyright 2011-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any content you find on the website. Arroyo Seco means “dry creek” in Spanish. The term also refers to an intermittently dry creek — a good description of the waterway through our area today. Many neighbors still call this waterway Arroyo Seco (or Seca). On the United States Geological Survey Austin East map, it’s Hancock Creek. On City of Austin and Federal … Read more

Posted in Streets

Esperanza—An Early “Neighborhood” School

Posted on September 2, 2011 by

Copyright 2011-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Before Brentwood Elementary, Lamar Middle, and McCallum High, even before Allandale, Brentwood, and Crestview neighborhoods, there was Esperanza School. We first learned about Esperanza in 2009 from two former Brentwood neighbors, Mickey Pease Bauer, who started school there, and Al Kirby. In 1936, Mickey’s family moved to a 14-acre farm which stretched from 6503 Burnet Lane east to Arroyo … Read more

Posted in People, Schools

Drive-ins, Ducks, and Doc Haile

Posted on July 18, 2011 by

In 1940, Al Kirby moved with his parents and brother to a farm on North Street, between West 49th and North Loop. Back then, North Street was outside the Austin city limits. Now it’s part of the Brentwood neighborhood. That same year, Eddie Joseph opened the North Austin Drive-in on the southwest corner of Lamar and Justin, where Walgreen’s is today. Al talks about going there in the video clip below. (More about the neighborhood’s … Read more

Posted in People, Places

Some Good Neighbors Remembered

Posted on August 9, 2012 by

Updated January 30, 2024 Copyright 2011-2024 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. We dedicated the blog post “A Voice of the Violet Crown” in memory of some of the good neighbors we have known. Here’s more about each of them. Photo of the gate image, below left, from the “Local” series by Brentwood neighbor Al Evans, 1946-2022, and reprinted with his permission. More about Al below, in … Read more

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