Lamar Blvd.
Rob posted the other day about the destruction, er construction, taking place on Lamar Blvd. here in Austin. If I had to pick any one street in this town to represent my lifetime here, it would be Lamar. I grew up on a street that runs off Lamar. My house wasn't even in the city limits when I was born and Lamar was a "highway", a road that took you out of town to places like Fredericksburg (where my family is from.) On our evening walks, my family would wander down Lamar and check out the offerings at the mobile home sales lots and the gas wars between the four gas stations at the corner of Lamar and Barton Skyway, the last place to get gas for miles. Look, they've dropped gas down to 18 cents a gallon! Yeah, it was a LONG time ago.

Lamar was the road we took to get everywhere in this town, if not by bus, then by car. IH-35 was something you took if you were going to Waco or San Antonio. If we just wanted to go to "North Austin", then Lamar was our route. I have so many memories of what the buildings used to be on this road. The vet clinic will always be the Radio Shack to me. The antique shop was the Minimax grocery store. The now currently vacant building was the U-Tote-Um. Schlotzky's was the Kash and Carry grocery store. And to this day, Lamar is still my primary route north. Sure, I could take IH-35 or Mopac, but I always end up putting down Lamar instead. It's like a favorite pair of jeans to me, comfortable and familiar. I might get stuck in traffic, but at least I can watch the disc golf players at Pease Park while I wait. The bumper to bumper view on IH-35 or Mopac is not nearly as interesting.

Even so, the construction is going to be a nightmare and I really ought to rethink my route to work in the mornings over the next six months or so. Then again, maybe I will just sit in traffic and catch a little bit more of NPR on the radio because for me Lamar has a "good vibe" and that's a nice thing to have on the way to and from work each day.