“When Soap Creek opened, the Armadillo was king, but they only served beer over there, whereas Soap Creek served liquor, so you had a slightly more mature crowd at Soap Creek. Plus, that was where all the musicians hung out. The Armadillo had a lot of tourists and frat boys, but because Soap Creek was out of the way, with this winding, pothole-filled road to get there, you had to really want to be there.

“Tuesday nights were always cool, because that was when the Cobras (with Stevie Ray Vaughan) played. Wednesday was tequila night, at 40 cents a shot, so that was always a wild one, but the one night that sticks out the most was when the Grateful Dead was in town and their roadies dosed (sneaking LSD into drinks) everyone in the place. I remember Johnny Winter was there and he was jamming with Doug Sahm, who was always there because he lived practically next door. You had to stop selling alcohol at midnight, so when five or six cops busted in at around 5 a.m. they thought they’d find all these people still drinking and they’d haul us all in. But nobody was drinking. Everybody was just tripping and so the cops had to leave.”

TESTIMONY FROM: Kerry Awn, who designed the calendars at all three Soap Creek locations, including No. 2 at 11306 N. Lamar (the former Skyline) and No. 3 at 1201 S. Congress.

FOOTNOTE: All traces of the original Soap Creek, perhaps the most beloved and character-filled club in the history of Austin, have been bulldozed and “landscaped” off the face of West Lake Hills. In fact, the original address doesn’t even exist, as Soap Creek No. 1 would be in what is currently the 3200 block of Bee Caves Road. Said former owner GeorgeMajewski: “There are now $200,000 condos where my septic tank used to be.”