The building at 6416 North Lamar Boulevard began in the 1930s as a service station and beer joint, and became the tavern where a young Janis Joplin sang before she was famous. Kenneth Threadgill, born in Peniel, Texas, in 1909, went to work at the station in 1933 and bought it that December, renaming it Threadgill's Tavern. It still sold gas and food, and it held the first beer license issued in Austin after the repeal of Prohibition. Joplin, a friend of Kenneth and his wife Mildred, was a regular, and she sang at the tavern's open-microphone shows. In 1970 she flew back to Austin for a concert held for Threadgill's birthday at a park near Oak Hill; she died three months later. Mildred Threadgill died in 1974, and Kenneth closed the club.
After the building sat empty and survived a fire, Eddie Wilson, the founder of Armadillo World Headquarters, reopened it as Threadgill's restaurant in 1981, serving Southern food with live music. Kenneth Threadgill died in 1987. Wilson closed the restaurant for good in 2020, auctioned its memorabilia and sold the property. In 2021 a developer proposed about 90 apartments on the lot, first with full demolition, then with the front restored to its 1960s look; the Historic Landmark Commission voted unanimously to urge keeping as much of the exterior as possible.
Getting there
30.3323, -97.7226
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