11306 N. LAMAR BLVD.

FORMER LOCATION OF: SKYLINE CLUB

HEYDAY: 1950-72

“When you’re talking about the history of country music in Austin, you’ve gotta start with the Skyline, which was the far north counterpart to the Broken Spoke. Everybody played the Skyline, from Patsy Cline to Jim Reeves to Ray Price to Lefty Frizzell — you name ’em. The Skyline was where both Hank Williams and Johnny Horton played their last gigs. And how’s this for irony? Johnny Horton married Hank’s widow, Billie Jean Williams. Another legendary performer who played there was Elvis Presley (on Oct. 6, 1955). Elvis’ first show in town was at the Dessau Hall in ’54, where there were 12 people in the audience, but when he came back a few months later he was red hot and the Skyline was packed. The girls stole his hubcaps and they wrote all over his car in lipstick. Austin had never seen anything like it.”

TESTIMONY FROM: Performer and country music history buff Monte Warden, who was too young to play the Skyline, but was able to retrieve pieces of the stage before they tore the building down in 1989.

FOOTNOTE: The Skyline building housed Soap Creek No. 2 from 1978-80. After Soap Creek closed and moved to South Congress, the Skyline housed a swingers/sex club for a few months.