Does retro-inspired appliances, painted rocking chairs, and a food truck that slings gourmet Texas grub out of a converted Airstream trailer – make you crave more of the vintage life? Well, hold onto your hoop skirts; what follows is a Vintage Vixens–approved 48-hour weekend itinerary that will give you the best look at Austin’s vintage side and have you two-stepping your way through Austin faster than a 1954 Buick Roadmaster (that you’ll also find at Lone Star Court).
Day One
S’MORES FOR TWO BY THE GLAMPFIRE - 4 PM
Lone Star Court
After checking in to Lone Star Court on a Friday as a part of the hotel’s Glamping Package, you discover old-fashioned s’mores upon arrival and no sweaty sleeping bags in sight. In their place, there are Egyptian cotton linens not far from full-size Smeg refrigerators that turn the mini-bar concept into a maximum pleasure. Retro-inspired “ranch-tech” luxury rooms, meanwhile, include metal headboards, knotted pine armoires, paintings of the Alamo, and deer horn lamps for a Lone Star state of mind.
The hotel’s Glamping Package blends hints of the past with modern luxuries. The Glamping package would include Retro-inspired room accommodations for two, S'mores amenity for two upon arrival, and a $20.00 credit toward the minibar food & beverage items per night, per room.
TRUE RETRO TEX-MEX - 6 PM
El Patio
Dinner tonight is at El Patio. This family-owned Tex-Mex hot spot opened in 1954 and serves heaping plates of homemade nachos, chalupas, and enchiladas (and margaritas), winning rave reviews from Meli Trumbo and other Vixens. Be sure to save room for the homemade coconut praline. Its menu price isn’t a misprint, either; a serving of praline has been just 40 cents since 1954.
SAY HI TO THE HIGHBALL - 8:30 PM
The Highball
The Highball claims to be Austin’s “karaoke mecca” with themed rooms that reference such pop-culture hits as classic
Nintendo games and Twin Peaks, and gold-leather seating and rich red décor in the bar. “The Highball is a newer venue, but it caters to the retro,” Vintage Vixen Maureen Mahoney says. “You can go to a concert, dance, or bowl.” If you’re in town at the right time, the Vixens highly recommend heading to The Highball for swing dancing with Dale Watson & His Lonestars, a one-of-a-kind performance by the man Austin Chronicle calls “the silver-pompadoured, baritone beltin’ Lone Star beer drinkin’ honky tonk hell-raiser.”
