Saving the Austin Opry should be biggest story in town tied to preserving Austin's "Live Music Capital of the World" spot & "Keeping Austin Weird" but instead has been turned into NIMBY fight, hopefully 9 of 11 Council members will approve the rezoning & preserve one of the last pieces of Austin's musical legacy.
See below for new development proposed to save this historic venue and add 175+ housing units to a ginormous parking lot.
To quote Austin musician Bruce Robison, "What would Willie do?" Well Willie Nelson has spoken so let's save the Austin Opry, formerly owned by Austin's red header stranger himself! We already lost the Armadillo World Headquarters (now city's One Texas Center), Liberty Lunch (demolished by city to make room for 2nd street retail & is now Toy Joy) and more recently the original Threadgill's, Austin's first alcohol license after prohibition and where Janice Joplin got her start singing (about to be tore down for apartments). There is not much left from the days of Willie and Waylon and the Boys..... Huge shout out to owners Richard Weiss and Chris Wallin for fighting to preserve Austin's history, taking the hard route, doing what's right cause they know what Willie would do! #austin #livemusic #culture #history #austinopry