From the Way Back Machine: the waitresses with Kent Cole, 1982

Back story: the Omelettry West was the first incarnation of today's Magnolia Cafe. Kent and his wife Patricia were asked to help open a new location for the Omelettry. K & P were quickly made part-owners of the new venture and went to work. Kent only learned to cook the day before the official opening.

A year later, Kent found himself single again. Perhaps that explains the gorgeous look of the waitresses in this picture.

The photo was taken by Jack Rheem for a special project: a 13-month calendar to be sold to customers (the extra month was called "Thermidor" which explains the extra long Texas summer between July and August). Each month featured a beautiful B/W photo of the early staff and cafe environment. It is the ultimate collector's item for Magnolia Cafe followers.

I'll eventually post all of the pictures to this blog. Thanks for your interest.

dP

The Kid Art Show, recent contributions by talented customers.

YouTube introduction to the Annual ROT Biker Rally, Austin, TX

It's here! It's time for the motorcycles to engulf downtown Austin and the Travis County Expo Center. We've got a video from YouTube to help you get excited:



The official rally takes place over three days, June 14-16, at the Expo Center.

FREE PARADE & CONCERT on June 13th:
Congress Ave (from 2nd to 11th and 1 block on each side) will be closed for the parade from 4pm Friday to 2am Sat. The parade will happen at about 7:30pm and the concert should end around Midnight.

Magnolia Cafes, at two locations near downtown, will be welcoming visitors and locals with excellent home-cooked food 24 hours.

www.rotrally.com For road closure, concert and parade info, visit the City of Austin's web site.

Neon Sign of the Magnolia Cafe - Austin, Texas - "Sorry, We're Open"

Neon Sign of the Magnolia Cafe - Austin, Texas - "Sorry, We're Open"
Originally uploaded by JIMWICh

This beautiful picture of our sign was posted by a fan on Flickr. The owner of the picture has suggested this music as well. What an interesting combination! Please feel free to play this podcast to enjoy the sounds of Texas (?)

Says Meg of Minnesota: Every person deserves their own Magnolia Cafe

Meg writes a blog to share her Top Five lists.

We're please to make it into her Top Five Restaurant list. She writes: "What makes food so great is the rest of the experience."

5. Magnolia Cafe, Austin, Texas
I had dropped out of high school and was waiting to find out whether I got into college or not the summer my sister came home from her freshman year at UCLA. A little after midnight, Sarah and I wanted to find a cup of coffee, so we went cruising around South Austin. That's when we found Magnolia, the digs I can't go without patronizing every time I visit Austin. I bring everyone there, and all the food is delicious. Every town deserves a 24-hour greasy spoon. Every person deserves their own Magnolia Cafe.

Click here to read her full blog post. Thanks Meg!

What we didn't know about SXSWi

The Magnolia Cafe is part of the "inner circle" of SXSW Interactive intelligentsia. We discovered this blog post about us by a fan:

SXSW Interactive (day 1)
Posted by Nick Finck public@digital-web.com
March 7, 2008

...I myself have been busy hammering away the details on my presentation for Saturday only to take a break for a midnight dinner at the notorious Magnolia Cafe were geek ideas for the next killer apps are discussed and new companies are formed seemingly overnight. Tonight there were few from the web industry at the cafe, my guess is because most of them are still stuck in Dallas. Tomorrow should be pretty exciting and we are hoping for a more insightful blog post summary that goes beyond the weather and travel.

We'd like to remind our visitors to Austin that we're open 24/8. We hope that you can stop by, grab a meal, form a new internet company and blog about us.

For a recent review of Magnolia Cafe, please visit this updated page on CitySearch. We're so happy that they recognized the Real Us at "Four and 1/2 Stars!"

Our friends on Flickr enjoy the Sorry sign

sorry (reposted)
Originally uploaded by mofo

It's amazing how this marketing message got started. Let me be clear to say that I wasn't there, but I saw the original sign in the window at the Omelettry West (which later became the Magnolia Cafe under the new ownership by the former sweat equity manager, who later became my husband, Kent Cole).

If you can imagine the intensity of starting your own restaurant AND having to be one of the cooks in the kitchen from opening to closing -- well, this sign is a result of post-traumatic-cook-syndrome.

The sign was prophetic: only years later did we become a 24 hour eatery. Maybe because, when you turned the sign over, it said Come In, We're Closed.

I'll be blogging a bit about our creative marketing choices from 1980-1995 or so. You might enjoy staying in touch with us and seeing the eccentric charm of Kent Cole in print advertising. Thanks for your generous time and curiosity about the Magnola Cafe.

d.p.