by
R. Malcolm Brown, Jr.
All photos are copyrighted. Contact me at rmbrown@mail.utexas.edu for permissions.
The Story
The Story
Ann and I have been going to this restaurant on Burnet Road in Austin, Texas for a long, long time! In fact, you are looking above at the Frisco Shop with cars on Burnet Road to the left. Across the street is an HEB grocery. Now go just one block west of the HEB onto WYNONA street, and at 5806 Wyonona, you will find where Ann grew up in Austin! OK, long before I knew Ann she and her family went to the Frisco Shop. When I first dated Ann, I would take her to the Frisco Shop before depositing here on her doorstep at Wynnona. Do you want to see what we looked like when I first dated Ann? Here is a small shot below!
Well, from the above photo you can see that we really were in love! Now Malcolm was in a UT fraternity and one of his frat brothers was Harry Akin who would become the future co-owner of the Frisco Shop! (small world, yes).
Here we are in November, 1998 on top of the picnic
table at Mt. Bonell, the EXACT place where I proposed to
Ann in 1960! (thanks to Dwight Romanovicz for
taking this photo of us....my first "exposure" to digital images!)
Over the years, Ann and Malcolm spent many hours at the Frisco Shop. We always enjoyed the waitresses who were so kind and interesting! Perhaps we made the best friends with one of the most interesting waitreses there, Mary Ruth Birkelbach. Mary Ruth lived outside of Austin and had dozens if not hundreds of animal pets at her place. You would never know it but Mary Ruth was an accomplished POET. The title of her book is "On the Bright Winter Hills" Published by Bun Publications. The ISBN number is 0-9628619-0-1.
Ok, we are getting
a little off track here, but you can see that the Night Hawk personnel
really come from diversified backgrounds. Now below, you will see some
photos taken in March, 2000 when we took Ann's aunt, Maxine Steele to the
Frisco shop. Maxine always enjoyed the coffee there and the deserts. She
and her sister, Dorothy were in a nursing home and it was always a big
thing to get them to the Frisco in their wheelchairs. Once there, it was
a delight! Then, just this year, I learned that the 50th anniversery of
the Frisco Shop is upon us. I wanted to do something to let people know
what a cool place this really is. Those of you from Austin and those of
you who lived here will certainly remember the Night Hawk restaurants and
now, the Frisco Shop is the last of any of them.
Let me say one thing. The Frisco hamburgers have not changed and
they are excellent. The french fried onion rings still have exactly the
same taste they had 50 years ago! Ok the prices are higher but look at
the economy! The PEOPLE are still as friendly as ever, from the waitpersons
to the bus people. It is obvious that the Frisco Shop has endured (thanks
to the promotion and tenacity of Harry and Julia Akins and Lawrence Baker.
Congratulations to you all and a Happy 50th!
Malcolm
Now click on the photo icons below for some more interesting aspects and images of the Frisco Shop that I have made. Your comments would be most welcome. Contact me at the following: rmbrown@mail.utexas.edu
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