Threadgill's

"Threadgill's was Austin's first theme restaurant, and it's theme was AUSTIN." — The LA TIMES

When John Morthland in the L.A. Times made that prophetic statement, it sounded good to me, so let's take it a bit further and claim to the 1930's through 1960's in Austin as the theme of the original Threadgill's on North Lamar Blvd. The big, new shiny one downtown sits next door to the site of the late, great Armadillo World Headquarters and contains a large portion of memorabilia from the musical hey-day of Austin in the 1970's. The juke box holds 100 albums of artists who played the 'Dillo and the piano hanging from the ceiling was played by artists as diverse as Count Basie and Commander Cody, Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles, Leon Russell and Captain Beefheart. Threadgill's tries to serve as a link between the new Austin and its past. In matters of music and food, we represent a time before disco or microwaves. I've been fortunate enough to encounter many of the colorful and talented folks who have made creative contributions to the city over the past fifty years. I've saved mementos that I'll share with you if you'll just take a moment to look around. ---Eddie Wilson, Proprietor

In 1996, Threadgill’s World Headquarters was opened in south Austin, right beside the residence of the Armadillo Headquarters. Wilson has made a distinction between the two locations: the original location on North Lamar has the theme of Austin between the 1930’s and the 1960’s. The south location celebrates the history of the Armadillo and its salad days of the 1970’s. The memorabilia of the Headquarters represents the hey-day of this era from the juke box which contains many of the artists who played the Armadillo, to the piano that hangs from the ceiling which has been played by artists as diverse as Jerry Lee Lewis to Captain Beefheart.

Music Booking for Threadgill’s
World Headquarters please contact :

Please Contact: Paul Minor
Superego@prismnet.com

(Please note, due to the heavy volume of booking inquiries we receive we can not respond to everyone. We will contact you if we have an open spot that we think might be a good fit)