History of Hancock Creek/Arroyo Seco, Part 4

Posted on October 3, 2011 by

Copyright 2011-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any content you find on the website. In recent years, people in Brentwood and Crestview have become more involved in preserving, enhancing, and maintaining their local green spaces, including Hancock Creek. And, city, state, and federal projects are helping manage erosion, flooding, and drainage there. TREES In late 1992, Brentwood and Crestview neighbors, through a project coordinated by the Brentwood Neighborhood Association … Read more

Posted in Places

History of Hancock Creek/Arroyo Seco, Part 3

Posted on September 26, 2011 by

Copyright 2011-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any content you find on the website. IS IT ARROYO SECO OR ARROYA SECA OR ARROYO SECA? When it was first named, the street Arroyo Seco, which runs along either side of Hancock Creek in much of Brentwood and Crestview, somehow was incorrectly spelled “Arroyo Seca” on street signs and in official documents. In the early 1950s, Brentwood Elementary School students taking … Read more

Posted in Schools, Streets

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

History of Hancock Creek/Arroyo Seco, Part 1

Posted on September 11, 2011 by

Copyright 2011-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any content you find on the website. Updated in 2016 For the next five weeks, the blog focuses on the often-dry creek east of Brentwood Elementary and Brentwood Park. Some call the creek Arroyo Seco or Arroyo Seca. I discovered it also has other names. In 2003, I began researching neighborhood history. I was surprised to discover maps, including a recent one … Read more

Posted in People, Places

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

Neb and Helen—and Ernest Tubb

Posted on August 25, 2011 by

A few years ago, I met a young mother in our neighborhood. After growing up in an Austin suburb, she said she was happy to move to our neighborhood and to have better neighbors. She just wasn’t sure how to be one herself. I couldn’t help but remember Neb and Helen Parson, who lived behind us for 10 years. Neb always had an abundance of tools and farm implements, and he planted a good-sized garden … Read more

Posted in Community, People

Taking the Bitter “Mit” the Sweet

Posted on August 8, 2011 by

For many people, August means getting ready to go back to school. For Austinites this year, it also means coping with the ongoing drought and more triple-digit heat. John and Judy Carlson, Wanda and Emory Muehlbrad, and Louise Cooke all moved to Crestview around 1950, during a years-long drought that, at least for now, still eclipses our current exceptional one. They share a few of their stories in the video clips below. John Carlson grew … Read more

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Uncle Jay, KTBC, and the Tower

Posted on August 1, 2011 by

Copyright 2011-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Jan Root and Richard Chaffee grew up in the Brentwood neighborhood of Austin. They were kids on August 1, 1966, and remember well when a man went up into the University of Texas Tower and began shooting shortly before noon that day. Jan and Richard share a few of their memories in the video clip, below. They mention several … Read more

Posted in Events, People

Mae and Other Friends of Brentwood Park

Posted on July 25, 2011 by

If you haven’t yet seen it, we invite you to take a look at a film we made, We Planted 115 Trees, which documents the inspiring Friends of Brentwood Park project in November 2010. There’s a separate clip about the donors and honorees of 15 trees dedicated in the park. FOBP is the latest in a long line of individuals and groups who have helped maintain our park over the past 60 years. Long before … Read more

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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
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