LUCKENBACH TEXAS

On our way back to Austin from Fredericksburg, Texas, we stopped at Luckenbach.  This place consists of a general store, saloon, dance hall, and a few other outbuildings.  In some ways it is the real deal--a genuine Western location with a history.  But in others it is a little over the top and in yet others it is a bit of a ghost town.  It housed an actual post office until 1971, when the office was closed and the zip code retired by the USPS.

We were there for perhaps an hour, wandering the grounds and listening to a couple of amateur musicians whiling away the afternoon.  Here's one of them.  They weren't too good, to be honest.

His beard aged him, but he was almost undoubtedly younger than me.  Yikes.

And, yes, there were a number of signs proclaiming the population as 3.

But I think that's probably an exaggeration.  It might be as high as 20 or so.

The main restroom on the grounds was a double wooden shack covered with old license plates, as in this shot that included a wooden armadillo playing a guitar.

There were a couple of sculptures, one of Hondo, one of the individuals that put the place on the map,  as well as a stylized wooden carving that I could resist shooting.

And then there were the signs.

I couldn't tell whether the spelling was intentional or not.

Here is the sign above the counter where you could purchase beer and a pork sandwich.

The grounds also included a long horned steer available for rides.

I liked the guy that was handling the steer.  I felt he looked authentic at least.

As I mentioned, there was a general store that had plenty of Western paraphernalia for sale, including these hats.

The store included a saloon of sorts whose walls were covered with all sorts of historical junk.

I especially liked the Budweiser sign.  Here's another shot that I underexposed to emphasize the neon light.  (I also removed the lightbulb at the sign's top right corner.)

If you're in the area, I would highly recommend stopping in to absorb a bit of the culture.

John