A Hole in the Heart of Texas by Jann Alexander © 2012
Lamar Plaza is gone. It’s just a hole in the ground now. Since late 2012, dozens of local businesses vacated a shopping plaza that served as the heart of South Lamar, to make way for an upscale apartment complex and a revamped Alamo Drafthouse with new retailers and restaurants.
As recently as January 2011, the Austin American-Statesman called South Lamar a “once-gritty row of used-car lots and repair shops,” but noted that it had “evolved into a dense collection of locally owned businesses,” many opening in the last decade. Why all the local businesses on South Lamar? For the locals who live there, it’s their neighborhood. And because given a choice, most Austin locals choose to go local.
There’s just a bit less local for the locals now on South Lamar. ♣
Update: A timely Austin American-Statesman story by Gary Dinges appeared May 19 after this was posted, and could have just as easily been titled, “Another hole in the ground for progress.” Read the full story, “South Lamar area’s transformation continues,” here.
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Endangered Species of Austin poster
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Marvel at what’s lost and what’s survived in my Endangered Species of Austin poster, featuring 16 Austin icons, and sized at a handsomely large 24 x 36,” available for $25, HERE.
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