Avenue B Grocery

In 1906, four years before my father was born, the Avenue B Grocery opened. Located in Hyde Park, about a five minute drive from our house, it's a testimony to a bygone day. Ross Mason owns it now-- and lives in an attached apartment out back. He is the fifth person to run it in its history.

You walk through the swinging screen door and it's like a Faulkner novel that’s come to life. Well, maybe that's too strong, but you do feel like you've landed in a part of the old Austin. It's a memory trip that spans back to those summer days when getting a cream soda and thinking about which library book you were going to read next were the only things on your mind. You can come in here and Ross and a helper will be putting sandwiches together from scratch, right in front of your very eyes. There’s a lot of soul in these old fashioned sandwiches like the King Combo and the Queen B--even if you get them on white bread. It does my blood pressure a world of good to visit “The B” and I often drive over here when my life is too "interesting." Somehow, this is an island of sanity in the midst of a high tech jungle.

As a note of interest, the Avenue B has been used for a location in several movies. Finding a store like this in a middle of the high tech mecca like Austin has to be a godsend for moviemakers doing a period piece. (By the way -- the sandwiches really are wonderful.)