- Coming up on "Austin InSight", a greatest hits episode from our series, "Authentically Austin".

From Joe's Bakery to Waterloo Records and more, a look at some iconic Austin favorites.

"Austin InSight" starts now.

- [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin and also from Daniel L. Skret.

(bright music) (bright music continues) - Hi there and thanks for joining us.

I'm Laura Laughead.

What makes Austin, Austin?

That's the spirit of our series, "Authentically Austin", which highlights iconic local people and places.

If you've lived here a while, it's a reminder of the city's enduring unique character, despite the growth and the changes.

And if you're a newcomer, it's all about learning important local lore.

We'll start today with something old that's new again and better than ever.

Take a look at Waterloo Records.

It's the morning on a gloomy Friday and this record store is bustling with customers.

Well, correction, Waterloo Records, a place symbolic of why people fell in love with our city in the first place.

In this edition of "Authentically Austin", we're taking you to an institution that helped put Austin's music scene on the map.

(upbeat bright music) ♪ Oh-wa oh-ah ♪ ♪ What did you tell them ♪ ♪ Video killed the radio star ♪ ♪ Video killed the radio star ♪ ♪ Pictures came and broke your heart ♪ - [Laura] Video may have killed the radio star, but it didn't kill vinyl.

- What, are you shopping for records or something?

- I guess.

- [Laura] The neighborhood record store has been a cultural hub since the '60s.

- [Customer] "I just called to say I love you, do you have it?

- [Laura] With some maybe a bit snobbier than others.

- [Customer] Can I have it then?

- No, no, you can't.

- Why not?

- Well, it's sentimental, tacky crap, that's why not.

Do we look like the kind of store that sells, "I just called to say, I love you"?

Go to the mall.

- Rhett Miller, he's a gem too.

He played our stage the other day.

I can go on and on.

It takes me hours when I actually am here as a fan to get through the record store.

- [Laura] This is Austin's neighborhood record store.

- Luda, oh my gosh, I had this on CD, that's funny.

Yeah, that's anything about crate digging, it's like music you forgot about, but still have memories on.

- [Laura] And people have been reliving music memories here for more than 40 years.

- What Waterloo is, is the energy of the music environment of Austin.

- [Laura] Waterloo Records is an Austin institution recognized nationally for its collection, its staff, and its concerts, featuring the likes of Willie Nelson, Charlie XCX, and Nirvana.

But now, the store has gotten its own remaster in this new location.

- People have been walking in and saying, "I know it's new, but it just feels like the old store."

We moved all of the old bins and the team, most importantly.

- [Laura] That's where Caren Kelleher and Trey Watson come in.

They were handpicked by the original owner, John Kunz, to take over as he took a backseat in 2025.

The business partners both have a history in the Austin music scene and beyond.

Kelleher is the CEO of Gold Rush Vinyl and helped launch Google Music.

And Watson is the CEO of Armadillo records.

- With Austin and music, opportunities are kind of always knocking.

It's just whether or not you're listening.

- Waterloo was my neighborhood record store.

I live down the street, would frequent it so often.

- [Laura] The land at the original Waterloo at Sixth and Lamar was sold in 2019, so the store had to find a new home or close.

The search took years until they found this place just a few blocks away.

- A lot of stars aligned for this to happen.

- [Laura] The store officially reopened in August, 2025.

They preserved the best of Waterloo while adding things like a podcast studio, a Dolby Atmos mixing studio, and yes, more parking.

- The scariest thing before we opened really that kept me up at night wasn't the honestly the construction or any of the hiccups, it was how was Austin gonna receive this?

- [Laura] They also have the only machine in the world to make playable 24 karat gold records.

- Somebody called it, was it "Texas Monthly", the Disneyland of music in Austin.

- [Laura] It's like a museum of artifacts of old Austin, from Armadillo world headquarters posters to the stage, part of the original Austin City limit stage from Studio Six A.

- Artists that perform on this stage can say they stood where Willie Nelson stood.

We had an artist the other day who came in and we told that story and he said, "I played the stage 17 years ago on the TV show."

- [Laura] You could call it a ballad of how Austin came to be the live music capital of the world.

And it doesn't get more Austin than Jim Franklin, Co-Founder of Armadillo World headquarters, making a surprise appearance.

- What a special moment for me to have Jim show up, sign a record opening day of this store.

- [Laura] You were blessed by the Gods of Austin in that moment.

- Yeah, yeah, and hopefully we'll continue to be.

- [Laura] But even in their new home... - I'm glad that they stuck around.

- [Laura] You might think it's hard to stick around as a brick and mortar record shop in the Spotify age.

- 'Cause everything's in your phone, your photos, your music, your email, your everything.

- [Laura] You'd be surprised.

- Add on top of that, it's questions about, is what I am experiencing online, seeing on videos or hearing, is it real?

Is it AI, or is it real?

And you know what's real?

Holding a record in your hand.

- Almost half of people that buy vinyl don't even have a turntable.

- [Laura] These days, they're buying vinyl just to own it.

In fact, young people have been driving a resurgence in vinyl sales the last 10 years.

- You get like a tangible item that you can touch and feel.

- Having a physical representation of music kind of shows outwardly that you actually care about an artist and wanna support them.

- [Laura] What's nostalgia for one generation is novelty for the next.

And Waterloo is where they meet.

- I have vinyls from my parents, and I kind of wanna get vinyls from this age to give to my children.

- [Laura] So the needles skip the track of Waterloo's Swan song, and now business is just crescendoing.

- We've really received a lot of unsolicited accolades from the community that thank you for saving Waterloo.

- It's exceeded our expectations.

How much the community has shown up means a lot to me personally.

- From music to another defining aspect of the Austin scene, food.

We can think of no better place to be called authentically Austin than Joe's Bakery on the east side, built on family, love, and devotion, and sustained by the community's love for this local favorite.

It's a local family run restaurant that's been serving up authentic Tex-Mex for more than half a century, now nationally recognized by the James Beard Awards.

But for residents of East Austin, it hardly needs an introduction.

For our first edition of our series, "Authentically Austin", we're taking you inside Joe's Bakery.

(phone rings) - Yes, Joe's Bakery, how can I help you?

- [Laura] The sizzle of beans and bacon, the plop of homemade tortillas on plates.

It's been a symphony for the senses at 6:00 AM six days a week at Joe's Bakery (bell dings) since 1962.

- Their food has been constant, so that's what keeps me coming back.

Plus homemade tortillas, you can't get those everywhere in Austin.

(Rose Ann speaking Spanish) - [Laura] These days, Rose Ann Maciel and her daughter Regina Estrada run the bakery/restaurant.

- Brains before beauty.

- Yeah.

- Christian, do me a favor real quick, sweetheart.

- [Laura] A community hotspot for generations of customers on the east side with generations of Rose and Regina's family at the helm.

Each photo on the wall is a memory of their family's history and of Austin.

- When I look back, I get very emotional, so she put it all in love of family.

- There's no crying in baseball, I've told you that.

(Rose Ann chuckles) You want a napkin?

- [Laura] Though they'll be the first to say working with family isn't always easy.

- Mom didn't answer me.

Mom ignored me.

Mom, mom, mom.

- I'm the worst employee, remember?

- Yeah.

(Rose Ann and Regina chuckle) - [Laura] Rose first started working here when she was 11 when her parents, Joe and Paula Avila ran the place.

- I mean, I grew up here.

I used to sleep behind the counter 'cause my parents would come to work like two or three o'clock in the morning.

- [Laura] But you can't tell the story of Joe's Bakery without, of course the story of Joe.

- So my grandfather was kind of everyone who everybody fell in love with.

People come in and they're always looking for Joe, "Where's Joe?"

- [Laura] Joe's boyhood dream was to be a baker.

His parents ran a baking business in Austin in the 30s, and he dropped out of grade school to help them out.

Though the restaurant bears his name, Joe's story begins and ends with women, especially his mother, Sophia, one of the kids in this photo.

- It's that picture right there.

It shows my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and her friend crossing the Mexican border at 17 years old.

- [Laura] Joe later served in the Korean War, coming home with a purple heart and symptoms of PTSD.

It was his mother, Sophia, who found a way to bring a sense of peace back to his life.

- She sold the business to him for $100 and said, "You decide, do you wanna take care of your family or continue the road that you're going?"

And so, of course, he chose his family.

- [Laura] And their business thrived.

But Rose and Regina didn't plan on following in his footsteps.

- This was not our destiny.

I mean, it is our destiny now, but it was not what we set out to do when we were younger.

When I was in college, this is not what I said, "Oh, I'm gonna go to my family business."

No, it's not.

- Nor I.

- [Laura] Rose worked in insurance for 30 years, but after her dad had two heart attacks, she came back to help.

Joe died in 2011.

(patrons chatting) Today, his 62-year-old restaurant is so popular, sometimes customers can wait an hour to be seated for their famous huevos rancheros, migas and more.

- Makes my heart swell with pride when I see an 82-year-old senior come in by themselves when they used to come in here with their other half.

- [Laura] That's the story of Eddie Benavides whose wife died in March.

- Well, it kind of reminds me of she and I being here in the mornings and had our favorite little booth, and a lot of happy memories, so I'm still going to continue coming here forever I guess (chuckles).

You gotta keep these old places open for as long, as long as possible.

- [Laura] But keeping this old place open has gotten harder.

Regina says rising costs in Austin have put a strain on their small business.

- How are we protecting the very life that is breathed in the culture, the essence of what makes Austin, Austin, how are we protecting it?

- [Laura] Joe's is a community constant, now rare in a changing Austin.

Enjoyed by a carousel of notable customers over the years, from Daryl Royal, Cesar Chavez, Musician, Ruben Ramos, and former Governor, Rick Perry.

Last year, the nation took note.

Joe's Bakery received an America's Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation.

- When she told me, I said, "No."

I said, "Maybe you meant the other Joe's.

There's a Jo's on South Congress.

I even took one of those little James Beard luggage tag.

- It was a luggage tag that they had.

- I went and put it on his grave.

I said, "We did it."

- [Regia] Yeah.

- [Laura] But if you look hard enough, you can still find Joe at Joe's anywhere, in his photos, his recipes, his beloved bakery.

- Put 'em in the red, the besitos are yellow with the pink sugar.

- [Laura] And in his daughter and his granddaughter now taking the reins.

- And my favorite thing to tell them is my grandfather didn't have any sons, or he didn't have any grandsons, nor did he want them 'cause he said the boys were too much trouble, so all he wanted were girls.

(gentle music) - From Tex-Mex to barbecue, the twin pillars of Austin food, this next story is on an innovator building upon central Texas barbecue traditions, but with a modern twist.

LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue has gained national acclaim, but it's unmistakably homegrown right here in Austin.

In a state where everything is bigger, barbecue might just be the biggest thing around.

And now the toughest critics in the business are taking note.

I'm really glad I didn't wear white.

(mid tempo bright music) (mid tempo bright music continues) - [Evan] Barbecue's Primal, you see a big tray of meat glistening with fat and juices, and peppery bark, and you can almost smell it and taste it.

- [Laura] In the beginning, there was barbecue.

- [Evan] Woo!

- [Laura] And then there was Texas barbecue.

Oh my God.

- Man, that's good.

- I know no one trusts my food reviews, but trust this one.

This is really good.

- The things that are the most important in no particular order are probably religion, barbecue, football.

It's just a cultural temple.

- Everyone has an opinion about barbecue if you're from Texas.

- [Laura] And barbecue is the business of LeRoy and Lewis in South Austin where folks line up even before doors open.

- I think some brisket.

- [Laura] At the center of this meat mecca are Evan LeRoy.

- You guys doing all right?

- [Laura] The Executive Chef and Co-Owner, Sawyer Lewis.

- Sides for you guys.

- [Laura] They're both from Texas, so they got the bonafides.

- My dad and I used to kind of cook in the backyard.

- I'm from a very small town, right?

So again, we grew up with those institutions, very old school style barbecue.

- [Laura] The restaurant is celebrating a year and a half in this building after seven years as a food truck.

- Have you cut anything?

Did you grade the briskets yet?

- [Speaker 1] Yeah.

- [Laura] The business partners and friends have worked in the restaurant world their whole careers.

Both ultimately decided to carve out their own path, and barbecue was what beckoned them.

- Woo, smokey.

- [Laura] But not at first.

It wasn't until LeRoy who's from Austin, was working in a barbecue restaurant in New York City that he fell in love with cooking his hometown cuisine.

- The barbecue is pretty good for what I knew good barbecue to be back then.

- [Laura] But this really good barbecue isn't exactly typical.

It's got some Texas traditions with some twists.

- And I would say the flat iron here is the signature of the restaurant.

Certainly, the thing that we sell the most, it's the L&L Burger.

- Ooh.

They offer unique cuts along with a spectrum of scene stealing sides from kimchi to onion rings.

(onion rings crunch) What's your favorite thing if you could only pick one, I know it's like selfish choice, but if you could only pick one, what is your like this is my baby?

- It's the Frito pie.

- This.

- All day, every day for me it's Frito pie.

We don't have ribs, or potato salad, or a lot of the things that people expect when they come to a barbecue place, so there's a lot of expectations that are not met as soon as somebody walks through the door.

- [Laura] They call this new school barbecue, unusual cut served up and cooked in the classic way, on the kind of pits Texans have been using for generations.

- Barbecue is the perfectly imperfect art form, right?

Because every piece of meat's different.

Every stick of post oak is different.

- [Laura] Another key part of new school, sourcing everything from local ranchers and farmers with as little waste as possible.

- Our whole business is around selling meats.

It's nice to know who raised those animals and that those animals had a really good life.

- [Laura] And this approach has paid off.

This summer, LeRoy and Lewis earned the second spot on Texas monthly's list of the best 50 barbecue joints in the state.

- It's pretty incredible.

We made number two by cooking our style of food, by sourcing locally, by having a different offering than that list has ever seen before.

- [Laura] But pushing the boundaries of barbecue has also paid off in ways they never imagined.

- With one Michelin star to... (suspenseful music) LeRoy and Lewis!

- [Laura] 2024, LeRoy and Lewis was one of four barbecue restaurants to receive a Michelin star in Texas, the first time the Michelin guide has ever recognized American style barbecue.

- And we opened this restaurant preparing for the Texas monthly list, and along the way, we got a Michelin star.

That's kind of crazy.

- I remember when I left my last job, my boss was like, "What are you gonna do?

Why are you leaving this to go and open a food truck?"

And now I'm like, "Ha ha, this is why we did it."

- [Laura] Now their eatery has become a national and international destination.

- First brisket in Texas, delicious obviously - If you come to Texas and you don't try any barbecue, like real barbecue, you didn't come to Texas.

- [Laura] And of course, you can't forget the locals.

- It's a bit of a drive from downtown, but it's so worth it.

- [Laura] Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Highest praise you could ask for.

It's a turning point in the culinary world.

While barbecue joins stone offer reservations, linen napkins, or snob appeal, the respect for the National Food of Texas is long overdue.

- That work that they're doing on the pit is just as difficult as it is in a super fine dining kitchen.

- Really wonderful to get here, and we're just getting started.

- We did shoot that story several months ago, but I can still taste that burger and Frito pie.

This next story is taking us all back to our childhoods.

Whether you're a kid or a kid at heart, here's an in-depth look at Terra Toys, the city's destination toy store for decades.

With hundreds of thousands of items in this toy store, you could easily mistake it for the North Pole, more like North Austin.

In this edition of "Authentically Austin", we're headed to Terra Toys, a place standing in for Santa's workshop since the '70s.

- It's cute, I don't know what this is, but it's cute.

Oh, they're adorable.

(bright music) It's a skunk.

- [Laura] Decisions, decisions for nine-year-old Landry.

- "Hi, what's your name?"

"My name's I don't know."

"Goodbye, I don't know."

You're scary, buddy.

- [Laura] She's picking out toys for families in need this Christmas.

- I mean, there's a lot of options.

- [Laura] And there was only one place to come.

- You can get yourself toys.

And yeah, a lot of people come in here, especially to get their kids toys, so their kids are happy and this is just a really happy place.

- [Laura] She's right.

It's hard to be sad in the toy store.

- Yeah, it is.

- [Laura] From stuffed animals, dolls, ornaments, puzzles, handmade toys, toys from the '20s and more.

(toy whirring) Beloved mom and pop shop, Terra Toys is like a Christmas miracle year round since 1978.

- A rabbit, and here's a bird.

And we trace 'em by hand.

- [Laura] This is the workshop of Co-Founder Charles Edwards, (machine whirring) one of Santa's more experienced elves.

- So that's sort of the rough cut through it.

(machine whirring) Yeah, we got four.

- [Laura] He still makes wooden toys by hand, like this climber toy.

- These are all hand painted.

I cut 'em out, sand them.

This toy's- - [Laura] Or gives them a new life if they've fallen on hard times.

- I met a man who said he had kept it since his sixth grade.

He was like 40 years old, and it was taken apart, and now we're inventing a way to repair it.

Put this bolt into there, and then this head will screw onto the top, so we'll get the dinosaur's head screwed on straight.

- [Laura] And it only took 65 million years.

- Oh yes, that's right (chuckling).

- [Laura] Charles and his wife Romalda met while they were students at UT Austin.

They sold snow cones on the drag for several summers while making and selling toys on the side.

- We collected toys from childhood.

We would make the things with really simple tools in our little garage apartment.

- [Laura] They worked their way up to their own store on South Congress, selling their wooden toys with toys from around the world.

In 2004, they moved to their current location on West Anderson Lane, allowing them to expand with additions like a coffee shop, a clothing line, and a local art gallery.

- We had working restrooms, which very important.

- [Laura] But as a philosophy student, Charles has an intentional approach to toys that's definitely authentically Austin.

- The idea is classic, fun, and beautiful.

It's a sense of saying will somebody play with this toy if it's handed to them, even though they don't know the background.

- [Laura] In a place like this, play means something more.

- And it's cross-cultural and eternal.

People have played with toys as a way of understanding the world.

- When children play, they're really pretending to do all of the things that they'll do in adult life, solving problems, casting different social situations on each other and exploring creativity.

(toddler babbling) - [Laura] That's something we witnessed in real time.

- No, don't hurt me.

- Mom, what's this?

Mom, what's this?

- Look at this.

- Can I have that?

(toy quacking) - [Laura] It's a generational rite of passage for kids in Austin.

- Little shopkeep, make all the little babies face out.

- [Laura] In safe hands with the next generation of the toy making family.

- If they were dental hygienists, I would not be a second generation family business owner.

- [Laura] One day, Charles' daughter, Sylvia will take over and has big dreams to add locations.

With its unique offerings, Terra Toys is a hallmark of a disappearing Austin, but also a time machine taking everyone who walks in back to the best days of their childhood.

- There's not many stores like this around anymore.

- [Laura] They're merchants of magic for kids and kids at heart.

- I see parents who are bringing their grandchildren here, who shopped here when they were little babies.

There's like that quote that says, "I'm a Toys-R-Us kid."

We have a lot of Austinites that say, "I'm a Terra Toys kid."

- [Laura] But we had to ask the toy makers the hardest question of all.

- How are you doing?

- [Laura] What's their favorite toy?

- He is part of the Charlie Bear collection, and I just love how their faces have this little who me eye.

- We have an armadillo puppet.

There we go.

Some people think they'll come to Texas and they think armadillos are a made up joke.

- [Laura] But Charles has lots of favorites.

- The deck of cards, a deck of normal playing cards.

- [Laura] And also this walking stick.

And finally... - And it's the Labyrinth, but it's one I made, so I don't know if that counts.

It might (chuckles).

- It was so much fun getting to see some old toys from my childhood.

And for the record, I did take home that armadillo puppet.

Well, that's our show.

We hope you enjoyed getting to see some of the most beloved authentically Austin places.

As always, we welcome your ideas and your input.

You can watch full episodes of "Austin InSight" for free in the PBS app, or catch up on our stories like our "Authentically Austin' series on the Austin PBS YouTube channel.

Thanks so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat bright music) (upbeat bright music continues) (upbeat bright music continues) - [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin, and also from Daniel L. Skret.

(cheerful music)