The famous Frisco Shop, a generations-old symbol of Austin’s great food and progressive past, has sadly announced it will be closing its doors for good next Sunday, July 29th, due to rising costs.
Earlier this year, 93.3 KGSR’s Chris Mosser visited the famous Frisco Shop Restaurant on Burnet, opened in 1932, as a feature for his Grand Old Austin Tour series, in which he takes listeners into some of Austin’s “most historic and longest-standing establishments.” During his visit to the shop, Chris interviewed manager Tina Koch who shared she’d been hired at the shop more than thirty years before as a teen. “We make most of our stuff from scratch and that’s what most of [the customers] miss, and what brings ‘em back,” she shared. But, as we’ve seen with famous spots like El Gallo, the original Conan’s Pizza and Mangia, and many more – even the happiest of customers aren’t always enough for great restaurants to keep their doors open, or at least not in their high-demand central Austin locations, no matter how many generations of Austinites they’ve served.
The shop, which was the last standing of a chain of Night Hawk establishments that peaked at seven in the 1970s, was one of the first in Austin to serve African-Americans during the early days of integration in the Civil Rights era, and to place women and minorities into management roles. We’re sad to see such a meaningful Austin relic close its doors, but we appreciate its years of service to our beautiful, and ever-changing city.
Photo Credit: KLBJ Staff
