3805 Red River Street, Austin, Texas

An old friend just alerted me to the news that a permit for demolition of the distinctive "Streamline Moderne" style house at 3805 Red River Street in Austin had been filed in May of this year. (See article about it here.) I have a couple of memories about this place.

The first memory is of driving by the house with my grandfather, whom we called Boppo. For some reason Boppo abhorred the sight of the place. He once commented that you couldn't pay him enough to live there. Being a kid, I immediately asked if he'd live there for a million dollars. "Lord, no!" he replied. "Not for any amount." And no matter how much I upped the stakes on subsequent drive-bys, Boppo stuck with that principled declaration. "Two million?" "No way!" Three million?" "Well, I'd have to think about it for a while, but probably not."

Second memory: The only time I ever entered that house, was to attend one of Tom Pittman's fabled jam sessions (as noted in the article). It was 1988 or '89. I actually played bongo drums there with the famous Austin Lounge Lizard band member — him and a bunch of other partiers. I was never asked back, and I wouldn't have gone anyway — not for a million dollars.