12 Comments

Fine article Michael. My parents moved us to Austin in 1964 and our first small rental house was on W. 9th Street in Clarksville. My dad was a poor college student with two younglings. Around age three my first human memories are of the green, tree filled neighborhood of Clarksville hunting Easter Eggs in the little park by our house. Fascinating to know the original history of the neighborhood, I had no idea. By the time the 80s came I couldn't afford to rent a cottage there and it's filled with million dollar houses now- weird. To go back in time...

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Fine info I lived on 9 1/2 st off of West Lynn from 1975-1987 and remember the times mentioned in the fine article-technically I am not even sure if my house at the end of 9 1/2 St I was in Clarksville I was always told that was always considered West Austin at the end of the street where Mathews Community School is still today

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A lot of plain old hippies lived there too. I once climbed a telephone pole to hook up cable for those houses...

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I was a frequent visitor at Unk's and friends from about 1970-to his death. I lived on Patterson street about a 10 minute walk. Not everyone who was part of the crowd shot up heroin. We did smoke pot, drink a lot of beer and whiskey. There were a good many homes in the neighborhood at that time owned by the Blacks who were direct descendants of the original owners. Real gentrification didn't start until after 1976 or later.

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Michael, I was talking with my brother Jack Kinslow about your blog. I have a wonderful picture of Unk and a few of Townes if you're interested. I could send them to you if you let me know how. I have a lot of good memories beginning in 1963 - 1980 of Austin and the music scene if you ever want to visit.

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Sounds great! My email is yikescrawford@gmail.com.

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Thanks. Those were magical, special times to be in Austin. Hard to capture even if one was there.

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Great article...I learned a lot about Clarksville and it's partial demise...

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Brings back memories. I lived on Lorrain Street off Enfield Road in 1975. My friend Darryl Harris lived in Clarksville and introduced me to Uncle Seymore that Winter. I remember he had a tiny little dog that he adored. I moved to Dallas for a year in 1976 and when I returned learned Unk had gone on up ahead. RIP.

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Thank you for this nice writeup. Umm, the MoPac might not have run through Clarksville until 1971 but construction started earlier as I remember it at Christmas 1970 in Tarrytown, a time when I visited Clarksville. Thanks again.

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