Author Archives: Susan

Welcome!

Since 2003, my husband Rob and I have gathered, shared, and preserved stories of neighbors creating community. For us, community is a continuum of past, present, and future. We believe that being a good neighbor is a creative process—one that matters. Our project, Voices of the Violet Crown, includes: Our blog. The website, regularly updated, also includes features, films, photos, and community resources (right) and more information about our project (top). Our community/history exhibits. Described … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People, Places, Streets

WABAC Machine, Part 12

Copyright 2024 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2023 • A FEW HIGHLIGHTS JANUARY 7 • Former Brentwood neighbor Kay Nell Swenson Ramsey, below, died. Kay’s parents, Gladstone and Erna Swenson, built one of the first houses on Ruth Avenue in the late 1940s. Sixty years later, Kay contributed family photos and stories to our neighborhood’s mosaic wall and oral history … Read more

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WABAC Machine, Part 11

Copyright 2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2022 • HISTORY OF BRENTWOOD, CRESTVIEW, AND MORE . . . JANUARY January 29 • A unique Brentwood/Crestview map (left) was given to a neighbor, its fourth owner, through Crestview’s Buy Nothing group. Ryan Eberly made the map and gave it to a neighbor. It’s been passed on twice through the group. MARCH … Read more

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WABAC Machine, Part 10

Copyright 2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2021 • COVID, URI . . . AND SO MUCH MORE, OCTOBER–DECEMBER OCTOBER October 2 • Neighbors in the Southern Oaks neighborhood of Austin celebrated the completion of a 140-foot mosaic mural—the latest in a long line of extraordinary community art projects in Austin, including our own mosaic Wall of Welcome (below), completed … Read more

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WABAC Machine, Part 9

Copyright 2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2021 • COVID, URI . . . AND SO MUCH MORE, JUNE–SEPTEMBER JUNE June 2 • The McCallum High School community honored its seniors at the March of the Knights Senior Parade and Celebration Party. Details were featured on the McCallum High School website at the time. JULY July 5 • Tenth … Read more

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WABAC Machine, Part 8

Copyright 2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2021 • COVID, URI . . . AND SO MUCH MORE, JANUARY–MAY The COVID-19 pandemic continued into its second year. As the year went on, vaccinations and boosters became available and the number of cases began dropping, and the world began to feel more open and hopeful. Then, around Thanksgiving, news of the … Read more

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WABAC Machine, Part 7

Copyright 2020 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2020 • A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER Below is a snapshot of 2020 in the Brentwood/Crestview area of Austin. Treasured neighbors passed away and are fondly remembered; a few of them are mentioned below. By March, everyone’s lives were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, with hope on the horizon by the end of … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, More

Threadgill & Beck: Friendship & Music

Copyright 2016-2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any content you find on the website. Austinites Kenneth Threadgill and Roger Beck shared a deep connection to our neighborhood, as well as a long friendship and dedication to Texas music. In 1933, Threadgill’s opened on the Dallas Highway north of the Austin city limits. Today, that address is 6416 North Lamar in the Brentwood neighborhood. Owner Kenneth Threadgill loved music. He … Read more

Posted in Events, People, Places, Wall of Welcome Stories

Crestview Minimax IGA—63 Years of Local Service

Copyright 2016 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. On February 29, 2016, a new grocery store, Arlan’s, opened in the space that was the longtime home of Crestview Minimax IGA. Minimax (and Crestview Food Mart before it) was owned by the Prellop family—beginning with Herb Prellop, right—and part of Crestview Shopping Center for 63 years. It was the last Minimax IGA store in Austin. In 2014, Minimax … Read more

Posted in Community, Events, People

Neighbors-in-History, Part 3

Updated September 25, 2023 Copyright 2012-2023 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. Final blog post in this series, in which we introduce a few special neighbors-in-history who have contributed to our sense of place here. (See links for more info.) KOENIG • McCULLOUGH By 1946, Dr. Joseph Samuel Koenig (1885-1951) and Clarence McCullough (1898-1992) developed Section 1 of Violet Crown Heights, between Payne and Ruth in the … Read more

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