The Austin Chili's meme harks back to ill-fated Lil Abner's

 

First you have to know about the Chili's restaurant in Austin on the corner of Lamar Boulevard and 45th Street. The Reddit pranksters have made it into a sacred spot. It's a meme among memes. 

What they don't know is the location has a topless past. Lil Abner's opened in April of 1975. It soon was a haven for bikers and "experienced" dancers who were no longer teens and likely sported a few bruises on their legs and heavy makeup on their smiling faces. 

 The bar was the first of three topless joints to pay homage to the comic strip. Daisy Mae's opened in North Austin in the former Kicker Jim's Country Disco in 1981. The next year Mammy Yokum's opened in South Austin. The tittie bar trifecta didn't last long.

In December 1984, Lil Abner's burned down. It first they thought it was faulty wiring.

Austin American-Statesman Mon, Dec 03, 1984 ·Page 11

 

Then Daisy Mae's was torched two months later, and both fires were deemed arson. Daisy Mae's manager Patrick Ellington spoke of threats from unnamed patrons. Some opine bikers get pissed off. Some say it was an inside job. Forty years later there are no clear answers, but plenty of stories to be told.

Austin American-Statesman  Wed, Feb 06, 1985 ·Page 19

 

 

 Mammy Yokum's apparently didn't last as long as the other clubs. The last mention to be found of it in the Austin American-Statesman is in 1983, less than a year from its opening.  

 Mystery, anyone? 

 

 

  

 

My book about the Ross Sisters is complete

 

Through the Lighthouse Writers Workshop's Book Project, I've completed the third and final draft of my book about the Ross Sisters titled The Contortionists. I'm not in the process of querying literary agents and working toward publication. 

For the latest, follow the Facebook page here or get more info at joeoconnell.com.

You've likely seen the video on Youtube. Soon you'll learn their true story.

Here's the story:

Three sisters from West Texas saved their family from the Great Depression when a chance encounter with acrobatic neighbors sparked an unexpected career as singing contortionists.

The Ross sisters quickly traded in their childhoods for roadhouses and rodeo shows. Soon they were on Broadway and in the movies. At the urging of their mother Veda--who trained them relentlessly--the girls lied up their ages.

Just after WWII ended, the Ross Sisters sailed on the Queen Mary to London to perform in a hit stage show. Free of their mother for the first time, they each met a fellow performer and married: Betsy Ross to a schizophrenic and charismatic dancer from America, Vicki Ross to a lovable French ventriloquist and baby Dixie to an English actor and comedian.

Dixie would die on her 15th wedding anniversary, and her sisters would be left to pick up the pieces.

The Ross Sisters fame was short-lived, but bubbled up in the '90s when their act was featured in the film That's Entertainment III, and again in a new century when their contortions made them Youtube sensations.