“I make a good living,” Watson says. “But the city has really made it hard to make a living and live in the city limits.”
. . .
“I just really feel the city has sold itself. Just because you’re going to get $45 million for a company to come to town – if it’s not in the best interest of the town, I don’t think they should do it. This city was never about money. It was about quality of life.”
. . .
Watson says Memphis is a lot like Austin in the early 1980s. Of Austin then, he says, “There was something raw and real.”
Remember when El Paso was raw and real?
Yeah, I saw this article some time ago. Not really surprising. My main connection with Austin has been through, first, my oldest son, who went away to attend UT way back in 1989. He never looked back, but then we began visiting, and my visits were frequent during the 90’s, when I worked for a State Agency. It has changed a lot, but little of that has been good.
I seriously miss the raw and real El Paso as it was when I grew up there…and into my adult years. Depressing.
I also miss the “raw and real” part of Juarez—and I’m not talking about the Drug Years, nor the current state of affairs. Incredible memories of the bars on Juarez Ave. not to mention the pleasure palaces on Mariscal St. where you could to partake or just chat up the ladies.
Plus, the other places in J-Town…the Camino Real, Pronaf, the Disco Portofinos, going either to the dog track or horse races for a $2.00 Margarita….I know that bullfights are not currently P.C. but I had some wonderful times as well drinking $1.00 Superior Beer and just eyeballing everything. Back then, the ladies would really get dressed up to see and be seen.
Plus, speaking of Mariscal, who could forget Fred’s Rainbow Bar with its 2 entrances and their .25 cent Torta (.10 cents more for avocado)…..Marinos, LaFlorida, The Submarine, The Alcazar where the waiter would pour red wine out of a special carafe starting at your forehead and into your mouth (sounds weird but you had to be there to understand it). And, of course, the Kentucky which was “home base” before deciding where we would head to next…