"Developing Austin" with Perry Lorenz
"We all got liberal arts degrees, and a whole lot of my friends are, you know, are casualties in one way or another. Either, either drug casualties or lifestyle casualties, and never quite made it through school, although that's the reason that they came to Austin. And again, it was so inexpensive… People weren't having to work three jobs to figure out how to pay for their school. Student debt, what the hell is student debt? I mean, nobody I knew graduated with student debt. So it was just a completely different scene… and it was just a liberal bastion." (Perry Lorenz)
Perry Lorenz has been at the center of Austin's transformation for nearly six decades, from printing underground comics in San Francisco, to developing some of downtown Austin's most iconic real estate. In this conversation with co-hosts, Eddie Wilson and Dr. Jason Mellard, Perry traces his unlikely journey from University of Texas student and counterculture participant, to one of the city's most consequential developers, reflecting on what Austin gained and lost along the way.
Content Warning: adult themes
Content created during the global pandemic, in the room, and on Zoom.
Chapters:
01:30 - Coming to Austin in 1966; feeling "born" in Austin
02:00 - UT culture: liberal arts, no fraternities, no business school
02:43 - Visiting San Francisco, discovering the underground comix scene
03:05 - Joining the Ripoff Press as production manager
05:00 - Returning to Austin; entering the car business
05:30 - Downtown Austin in the late '70s: ignored, owner-financed, no banks
08:40 - The true story of the Rainey Street rezoning
10:00 - The shift from planned high-rises to a bar district; owners ultimately profiting
11:18 - Soap Creek Saloon's opening night bartender, tequila Wednesdays
13:00 - George Majeski making the worst of enemies get along
14:00 - Appearing in Texas Chainsaw Massacre; cooking on opening night at Pecan Street Cafe
15:50 - The Independent ("Jenga Tower")
16:15 - The Nocona at 9th & Lamar with Robert Barnstone
17:00 - Ann Richards' support; proving the downtown condo market
18:03 - East Austin condo development; the railroad land; Larry Warshaw
21:25 - UT in the '60s & '70s: open admissions, cheap tuition, student culture
23:10 - Cambodia protests; marching on the Capitol; Austin's liberal identity
24:00 - Working with Dave Moriarty in San Francisco; the warehouse culture with Jerry Garcia and Angela Davis
25:00 - Working alongside Gilbert Shelton, printing the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
26:00 - Printing for Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, Dave Sheridan
28:08 - The Convention Center relocation story: Suzanne Cannon's idea; Larry Speck's scoring matrix; convincing the city council.
31:15 - West 33rd Street: hippie houses, Joe Long, motorcycles indoors
32:50 - Reflections on Austin's change: "it was better 18 months before you got here"; history as ongoing
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Guest: Perry Lorenz - Principal of Constructive Ventures, participant in early underground comix movement, community commissioner, and decades-long figure in Austin downtown development.
Production Team:
Host, Eddie Wilson - Armadillo World Headquarters founder @Threadgills
Host, Dr. Jason Mellard - Cultural historian @jasondeanmellard
Editor, Renee O'Connor
Music Mixing, Matt Carlson @axemanguitar
Producer, Renee O'Connor @realreneeoconnor
Producer, Sandra Wilson @sandrawilson709
Executive Producer, TSSI
Music by Jake Andrews Music @jakeandrewsmusic
Production assistant, Miles Muir @miles_muir
Production consultant, Katey Psencik
