Shove your upscale up your ass

Well, now that Las Manitas is the latest old Austin institution feeling the pinch of the Austin building boom, the Austin Chronicle starts covering it, terming "the threat to Las Manitas...the three-alarm enchilada." After 12 years, it's official--I'm the crochety old Austin type, junior rank. Sue me. I especially love this cartoon by 10-year-old Paige Robbins. In Comic Sans, she types, "I know the condo in the store's place will let the business put one in the downstairs of the lot, but it always ends up being plasticy and not the same." Exactly. Though it's not a condo, it's a hotel.

"We believe that adding 1,000 upscale hotel rooms to the downtown market will help attract additional convention business to Austin, enabling the city to compete more effectively with other convention destinations," Deno Yiankes (of Indiana-based White Lodging Services) said.

Other culture casualties could include the Frisco (though I never really ate there, I loved the 50s quality of the sign). What might we get to look at in its place? Another Walgreen's.

"Walgreens has had their eye on this property for years, but it wasn't available for sale until this spring. This tract of land is the original homestead of two sisters who now live in Seguin. They've finally decided to sell, but the owner of the property on the corner just north of us has not." This means Walgreens currently has one portion of the tract under contract and is negotiating with multiple property owners and business tenants with existing leases. The sale of the property is by no means complete. At the moment, all Baker and the Akins can do is wait to see what happens, but for the time being, the Frisco Shop lives!

Fuck it. I'm moving to anywhere downscale, scummy, scuzzy, etc. I want my grime back, dammit. I did not  move to Dallas-lite. I signed on to funkytown, not chi-chi stick-up-your-ass town. Where's my fucking time machine?