Aimless in Austin, Day 2: Gordough’s Donuts, Austin Antique Mall, and Dinner at Contigo

Liz and I started our morning with breakfast at the South Congress Cafe. From there, we walked down a long neighborhood street to Gordough’s, and picked up some donuts.

You really have to check out their menu. I ended up getting Mama’s Cake (chocolate icing with yellow cake batter filling) and Liz got the Sin-A-Bomb (cream cheese icing, cinnamon sugar butter).

We took our donuts back home with us, and found some Star Trek TNG playing. Unfortunately, it was that awful episode with Mark Twain (whose acting style seemed to primarily one of surprised yelling).

Shortly after this, we may have gone into a sugar coma and taken a 1+ hour nap.

After looking around at some options of where we might go, we landed on visiting Austin Antique Mall.

Some early Edison cylinders.

Even while away from work, work seems to find me.

Beat Time.

“The Bootles”

Liz, looking over sewing stuff.

Golden Trumpet.

Assortment of old photos.

Typewriting for Colleges.

School of Nursing, class of ’44 – Memorial Hospital.

A set of old business ledgers.

Maybe we can display something else alongside the chemistry set?

A wall of irons. Believe it or not, there was another full wall right next to this one.

Old comics.

Player piano scrolls.

An assortment of ingredients and things that likely have not been found in a kitchen for some time now.

Ms. Mystic – one of several comics that I simply do not recognize.

Thrillogy. While I’m no comics expert, I feel like I’m familiar with most titles. This though?

Starforce Six. Is that a green latern character?

Port? Is this like a Canadian version of ROM?

This place is huge!

I spotted this unassuming group of rolled posters. On closer inspect, they were each prints of photographs.

BRITISH OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH.B.10502(WK)

War Office Photo-Crown Copyright Reserved.
(Picture issued October 1944)
FILMING WORK OF THE ROYAL SIGNALS ON THE FIELD.

On the instructions of S.H.A.E.F., a film is in production in the field, illustrating the difficulties encountered by the Royal Signals in laying lines in operational areas. This picture was taken while the film was in production.

Picture shows:- Line laying under fire.

Each rolled up print was a photograph similar to this one. And each one was just totally fascinating and breathtaking. I wanted to photograph every last one of them.

One Man’s Meat, by E. B. White.

Taped to the back cover, was a get well card.

The Operation’s Over! That’s Great!

So they did some “cuttin’ up” on you?

Hope YOU’LL soon be doin’ some CUTTIN’ UP, too!
12-22-45

One of the booths was actually used as a showcase for a local artist. While I wasn’t taken with all the paintings, I thought the style leant itself really well to the lion (bottom, center).

If you’re interested, the artist is named Elisabeth Wilborn

Frozen Foods. At first, I thought this was a cookbook listing ways to use frozen foods.

Turns out, this was an old how-to guide to freezing your own food. Using things like plastic bags and an iron!

From the people who brought you “Juggling for the Complete Klutz.”

Liz found a hardbound copy of “Invisible Man,” and inside the front cover was what appeared to be the actual signature of Ralph Ellison.

A little digging around revealed that this was a series of books published by the Franklin Library – and comparing the signature to another I found online… it seems to be genuine.

The book was listed at $115. Can’t tell whether it was worth more than that, and whether I should have purchased it. We ultimately decided on not buying it.

The room the book was in (along the shelf on the right). Liz must have had a great feeling just pulling a book off the shelf at random, and discovering the author’s signature on the inside page.

Another room full of books. I love how each room/booth has its own particular feel and personality.

A large series of drawers. How cool would it be to have something like this in the office? Each door opens upward, and slide back above the slot it covers.

I remain totally baffled as to what this is, and what it does. The markings along the edge read “An NCR Product.”

Each stick is marked with a number on time – something like 33p or 34p or 35p. If you lift up the stick, it reveals a kind of stamp – as though one would press the bottom into something.

I stared at this a good long while. No clue what it could possibly be used for.

Famous Little Kitchen Sandwiches… Served HOT

Two neat items: History of the Studebaker Corporation (left) and an Addometer (right).

Though I don’t care that much about cars, I found flipping through this book rather fascinating.

The addometer comes with a small, metal stylus that you insert into the holes around each circle. You add numbers and rotate things to the right (similar to dialing a phone number). As you go past zero, the circle to your left increases by one.

HULK READY TO TAKE RELATIONSHIP TO NEXT LEVEL

Everybody kills Hitler on their first trip.

Extra nerd points here.

For the second time today, Star Trek TNG finds us.

Margaret,

Happy Trekking… May you see all the stars that you dream of – maybe even visit one planet someday! You are a very special person and I thoroughly enjoyed being your Secret Santa.

Warmly,
Angela Paulette
12/13/93

An old, upright organ. The mirror placement seems odd. Like – why would you want to stare at yourself as you’re playing?

Organ detail.

As a friend called it: the poor man’s Simon. I remember having this guy and spending a great deal of time playing with it. “Pocket Repeat” is the most creative name the engineer could come up with, I guess.

Favturas material de laboratorio y various. Importante

This is what I love about antique malls – each booth is its own little world. And you never really know what you might find, hidden inside each one.

This was at the front desk. I guessed it was some kind of curtain rod or something related to a flag.

Turns out, it was a swagger stick, something used by military authority figures. The person behind the counter said it was sometimes used to point out flaws in an officer’s appearance, when being inspected by a superior.

Back in the city, we found a Warby Parker storefront. Er… bus front.

For dinner, we headed a bit further out of the city to Contigo.

It was nice enough out that we decided to sit in the beer garden area. For the most part, we had the whole table to ourselves.

Our drinks. Liz got a Monk on Holiday (demerara rum, mint, benedictine, angostura) and I got an El Pepino (tequila, cucumber, lime, mint). I think we both preferred Liz’s drink, and got that for our second round.

As an appetizer, we got the lomo (cured pork tenderloin), which came with leek tops, pear, and yellow wood sorrel. A really delicious starter, as we worked on our drinks and talked about our plans for the backyard.

Looking back at the Beer Garden. And we did, indeed, see several dogs over the course of the night.

Looking back at Contigo, on our way out.

Related:
Aimless in Austin, Day 1
Texas Trip: Jennifer and Dean’s Wedding