Brackenridge Apts

[J.R.69]

Anyone here ever live in (or even remember) the Brackenridge Apts? They were apts for married students on Lake Austin Blvd close to Tom Miller Dam. They were, ahem, inexpensive (we paid $28.75/mo, bills paid) and very small. The one-story apt we had was approx 450 sq ft and had two bedrooms--one was about as big as a walk-in closet, but the other was a little-bitty thing.

I couldn't have made it otherwise as I was on the GI Bill, which paid me $155/mo. They were spartan accommodations, though. They were framed by plywood, including the floor, and had no insulation at all. Hitting those floors on a winter morning was like touching an ice tray, and 2 1/2 tons of A/C were just barely able to keep temperature bearable in the summer.

Ah, those were the days.

 

[DeadHeadHorn]

I used to play soccer on that field in front of the apt's. It was perfect, b/c it was like 2/3 the size of a normal field with small goals.

A lot of S. American PhD students lived there. Those were the days, indeed.

 

[YoLaDu]

i endured a summer in a mobile home in the trailer park that was located behind the apartments.

If i remember, i paid $60 a month in rent. (1989)

 

[Campus Loop(y)]

They are still there and still just as lousy but a great bargain for the grad students with a family. It is mostly Asian at this time but all ethnicities seem to be present. The soccer field is still there as are the goals.

I wonder how long it will be till the school sells that property for a buttload or rents it out for the same?

 

[hornian]

A friend of mine who was a single mother going through UT lived there, it was a good deal for her. Not too bad inside, but pretty dated.

 

[J.R.69]

Hornian: Re: "...not too bad inside..."

I don't think we're talking about the same place. The Brackenridge Apts I lived in were OLD Army barracks, and definitely "bad inside." I was there '66-'69, so I guess they
could have torn them down and replaced them with upgraded barracks.;-). I'm not complaining because I couldn't have made it otherwise at a higher-rent apt (I paid $28.75, bills paid).

To give you an idea, we had 2 1/2 tons of A/C in this 450 sq ft apt--enough to hang sides of beef, you'd think. But in the heat of summer, while the temperature inside was bearable while sitting down, when you stood up, the heat from the uninsulated ceiling would slap you in the face like a jilted prom queen. During the rainy season. mushrooms grew perpendicularly out from the walls inside the apt. In the summer, we cooked all our meals on a little grill outside.

Speaking of grills, I read with interest your recipe for smoked ribs....am going to try it out. Thanks!

 

[Punt on 1st Down]

Well, my memory might not be so great but the Brackenridge Apts. weren't the same as the married-student housing. The Brack Apts were on the north side of Lake Austin Blvd. (I had a friend who lived there) and the married student housing was on the south side of Lake Austin Blvd. and it wasn't really that close to Tom Miller Dam.

I think the area where you're thinking the Brack Apts were are where that fairly new condo/townhome village is now. The married student housing is still on the south side of Lake Austin Blvd., whether those buildings are still being used for that, I don't know. ... It's near where Maudie's and Randall's are, and a little bit to the east toward MoPac.

But yeah, visiting my friend in his apartment in those spartan accommodations was strange because my family was fairly well-off while I was growing up in Tarrytown. I have another story about visiting another friend in Clarksville, back when it was still a predominantly black neighborhood, and being offered a lard sandwich for dinner. I ate it ... but I think I must be getting off topic by now.

I also had a good friend who lived in Montopolis back when their streets still weren't paved. They had plywood and other construction materials in their house covering the ceiling and walls. It was a make-shift dwelling. I remember that one day it rained while I was visiting and we probably put out about 20 pots and pans to catch the water that was dripping through the roof.

I'll just say this to finish ... I don't think many suburban Americans really understand how so many people live their lives in poverty every day.

Yeah, I know, America is the greatest country in the world and everybody has the chance to make it, but frankly it doesn't always work out that way. And yes, these people I have known are extremely better off than millions or billions of people in the world.

My point is, this is America. Let's take care of our own. After that we can worry about people in Nigeria or Bangladesh or wherever.

 

[Campus Loop(y)]

Currently the Brackenridge student apartments are located on the south side of Lake Austin Blvd. with Redbud Lane as the West border. It is right across from the golf course. The Colorado Apartments are on Lake Austin Blvd., further east than Brack. They are across from the Gables and just east of the Randalls and Walgreens.

Up on Sixth, on the East side of MoPac is the Gateway Apartments. All student housing.

 

[Punt on 1st Down]

Hmm, I didn't know that there were apartments that far west along Lake Austin Blvd., especially that close to Redbud Trail. I'll have to take a drive down there tomorrow to look.

So, what were the apartments that were displaced by the condo/townhome development along the north side of Lake Austin Blvd. between Exposition and MoPac?

Apparently, you have a better memory than I do, so I'll defer.

 

[Campus Loop(y)]

They could have been called the Brackenridge at one time, perhaps. Your memory is not failing you, maybe.

I think the nicest looking of the 3 listed above are the Colorado. They are the most convenient to stores too but not by a great distance. The Gateway have some community gardens where a lot of veggies are grown. I am sure some pretty good food is cooked in all of these complexes.

The rattiest or saddest looking ones are the Brackenridge, down by Redbud. But the Gateway, from Sixth street looks more like a detention facility than apartments.

When you drive by the Brack's, if you do, give a report on the water at Redbud and if there are lots of doggies swimming so I can take my pup maybe tomorrow morning.

 

[Punt on 1st Down]

Well, I haven't driven down there yet today. But I think I remember the apartments you're talking about.

As a golf weirdo, as I've posted on other threads, I remember a lot of things in relation to golf. And I think there was a little basketball court over there that we used to play at.

I remember those apartments near Redbud Trail because they are the ones across from the 14th hole at Muni (the par 5 along the north side of Lake Austin Blvd.) that had the large fence to keep balls from going into the street.

Ok, cool, I just had to think about it a while.

I was thinking about the apts. that should have been condemned buildings that were where the fairly new condo/townhome development is between Randall's on the west and probably Hearn St. on the east along Lake Austin Blvd.

Besides, isn't that whole area on the south side of Lake Austin Blvd. called the "Brackenridge Tract?" Here's an article: The Link


And there's an interesting little map here:

The Link

 

[ScoPro]

The original Brack apartments were those old Army barracks. The permanent structures which replaced them were built in the early 70s, I do believe.There was a long waiting list to get into that "married student" housing, but one of my friends did move in. That tiny apartment was adequate for the times, but I doubt if many young'uns would find them acceptable today.

As a kid, I lived in several different crude Army barracks quarters when Dad was a career officer. The plywood description is accurate.

In reply to:

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[J.R.69]

The married student housing on the north side of Lake Austin Blvd were the Deep Eddy Apts, also old army barracks. The Colorado Apts, on the south side, were being built in '66-'67.

The Brackenridge Apts, where i lived, were down fairly close to Tom Miller Dam. My apt was close to a cliff leading down to the western part of Town Lake. There was a lot of junk down there in the undergrowth, where students threw their unwanted stuff after they graduated. Once, I scrambled down to the bottom and retrieved an old, beat-up kitchen table. I took the drop-leaf off, painted it, and mounted it on our bedroom wall with clamps to use as a bookshelf. It lasted about 3 days, as my wife hit her head on it every morning when she got up, and finally just ripped it out and made me throw it over the cliff again.

My next-door neighbor had a little better luck. He retrieved an old car hood from down the cliff and mounted it with two-by-fours over his front steps to make a "front porch." He tried to connect the headlights of the hood to make a porch light but they never worked.

As I said before, those were the days.

 

[TxStHorn]

I lived at Brackenridge as a child, while my Dad was working on his post-grad's degree. This would have been about 1969-'74 time period.

Lot's of kids around, so as a child it didn't seem that bad.

Cockroaches were the biggest I've ever seen in my life, to this day.

At about 4 years of age, I saw some guy peel out from the corner on a motorcycle in front of a speeding car and get killed. He looked like he flew about 20 feet up in the air. A friend of mine kept the motorcycle seat until his mom made him throw it away.

They were definitely old Army barracks. You could walk up the fire escape/stairs and just walk right along the back of all the upstairs apartments.

What's there now looks to be a lot nicer, and there aren't as many buildings.

 

[Tex Pete]

My parents lived there between '64 and '67 when Dad was in law school. They were definitely poor folks back then.