Vanishing Postcards

The US-Mexico border is a constant fixture in today's 24 hour news cycle. But often lost amidst the noise of talking heads and pundits is any discussion of the rich culture and humanity that can be found there, and how turmoil on both sides has altered the region's social dynamics. Forgotten as well is that for decades Mexican borer towns were renowned for elegant, white tablecloth restaurants where jacketed waiters catered to a café society that transcended international boundaries. Among the most legendary was Nuevo Laredo's Cadillac Bar which famously served delicacies like frog legs and Ramos Gin Fizzes for more than eighty years until shifting dynamics forced its closure in 2010. In this episode, you're invited to join us on a trip to Laredo, where we'll retrace memories of the Cadillac through its founder's Granddaughter Wanda Garner Cash, and others who experienced it firsthand, while exploring how its influence persists on the American side through visits to such as establishments as The Border Foundry and Bar Nido. The result is a paean to the bonds that unite these cities in the face of evolving divisions.

Pancho Villa's Saddle at the Cadillac Bar by Wanda Garner Cash

The Border Foundry

Bar Nido

La India Herbs and Spices

Southern Gothic

Susto

The author and folklorist J Frank Dobie once said, "The boundaries of culture and rainfall never follow survey lines." This is certainly true of Dobie's native south Texas, which is a place shaped by both the cultures of Mexico and the American West. In this episode host Evan Stern travels below the Nueces River, to the YY Ranch where he joins the Avila Family as they convene there to roast one of this region's prized delicacies- cabrito. Amidst the revelry, the history, ethics and future of this dish of milk fed baby goat are explored through conversations with chef and culinary scholar Adan Medrano, restaurant owner Sylvia Casares, and educators and musicians Rosa Canales and Joe Perez. The resulting piece is a celebration of cross-border connections, that reveals cabrito as a symbol of the shared landscape and practices that bond South Texas and Northern Mexico.

Adan Medrano

Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen

The Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame

The third most spoken language in Texas behind English and Spanish is Vietnamese. This is especially evident in Houston, a metropolis that's home to more than 120,000 residents of Indo Chinese descent where restaurant menus tout such Texas-Asian dishes as Viet-Cajun crawfish, brisket pho and Vietnamese beef fajitas. Considering that prior to 1975 the city's population claimed fewer than 100 Vietnamese, this community's growth and visibility is remarkable. Yet the mass migration that followed the fall of Saigon not only reshaped the politics and foodscapes of urban centers like Houston, Dallas and New Orleans, but smaller towns along the Gulf Coast. In this episode, we'll explore this impact through a visit with the congregants of Saint Peter's Catholic Church, in the town of Rockport, Texas. Founded by Vietnamese arrivals in the early 1980s, they have long raised funds through a monthly Saturday cook off. While sampling egg rolls, bun and shrimp, we'll hear stories that reveal not only the history and challenges of resettlement, but hope of the American promise, and how coastal Texas and Vietnam share more in common than one might initially realize.

Diane Wilson’s successful lawsuit against Formosa Plastics violations of the Clean Water Act are at the center of the “Point Comfort” episode of the Netflix documentary series, Dirty Money. For more information on the ongoing campaign to clean the waters of Lavaca and San Antonio Bays near Seadrift, click here.

Once perhaps the greatest town of significance between New Orleans and San Francisco, Galveston's fortunes shifted following the Great Storm of 1900, and today its population doesn't even rank in the top fifty of Texas cities. But while Austinites are often apt to say that their community is really a small town with growing pains, some Galvestonians might argue that theirs is really a big city disguised as a small town. Much of this perspective is owed to its rich, immigrant history, which we'll explore in this episode by getting a taste of Galveston's Sicilian side. Island institutions like Sonny's Place and Maceo Spice, whose menus reveal ties to the old country, are visited, while memories of once thriving corner stores are explored through the stories of Al Tropea and historian Ellen Beasley. The result is a rich composition of stories and voices, spiked with the flavors of spaghetti, sausage and sandwiches.

Galveston County Historical Museum

The Central Texas hamlet of Serbin sits off a country road, about an hour past Austin. It was last included in the census over twenty years ago when its population numbered a mere thirty-seven. Yet, it remains a place of significance as the sign on the edge of town announces it as the home of the Texas Wends. In this episode, which is the first in a miniseries co-produced with the Southern Foodways Alliance's "Gravy" podcast, host Evan Stern pays a visit to Serbin's annual Wendish Fest. There, he meets with descendants of this Slavic, ethnic minority who are working hard to share and preserve their history and traditions through the seemingly simple practice of noodle making.

Texas Wendish Heritage Society

St. Paul Lutheran

Weise Farms

The Southern Foodways Alliance

Vanishing Postcards

As a special bonus, we are honored to share our space and introduce you to Travel Tales by Afar. 

On Travel Tales by AFAR, fascinating people share their stories of life-changing travel, from novelist Maggie Shipstead’s chilly Arctic saga to comedian Michelle Buteau’s tale of getting stood up in Paris (really!).

In the Travel Tales episode we're sharing today, writer Chris Colin hits the rails with his teen daughter, Cora.

As the dream of high-speed rail in California inches ever closer, Chris wanted to celebrate one of the slowest trains around: The Coast Starlight, which has chugged up and down the West coast for the past half century.  The train itself offers a mix of charming nostalgia and sublime Deco beauty, while the destinations along the way offer opportunities to share the past and present of the West Coast. Chris wanted to share this magic with Cora, who is hovering on the brink of “parent-spurning adolescence,” he says. For the two, the trip doubled as one last hurrah—one sentimental kind of trip nestled in another.

You can follow Travel Tales by AFAR on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Everyone has a travel tale. What’s yours?

Travel Tales by Afar

If you're driving East to West, the spiritual end point for Route 66, regardless of the technicalities of history, is The Santa Monica Pier. Considering this, it is no coincidence we're ending this season there where more than snapping a picture, we'll learn of the artist Bob Waldmire from vendor Mannie Mendelsohn, hear the trumpet stylings of Buddy Balou, and take some time to reflect on the journey we've taken through revisiting the voices of Michael Wallis, Jim Hinckley, Scott Piotrowski and Rhys Martin. 

Mannie Mendelsohn's Last Stop Shop

Bob Waldmire

Santa Monica Pier

Jim Hinckley

Michael Wallis

Rhys Martin

Between the years of 1930 and 1940, some 3.5 million Americans fled the Great Plains, with the Dust Bowl blowing roughly 440,000 out of Oklahoma alone. For many, the end destination was the promised land of California and Route 66 provided a path of exodus. Some, with cars loaded, followed the road all the way to Los Angeles, but at Barstow many more detoured north to the San Joaquin Valley. In the process, these migrants not only transformed California, but in Bakersfield created a sound that forever altered American music. Join us as we explore the roots of this most American genre as we trace the footsteps of such artists as Buck Owens and Merle Haggard with author Bob Price, and attempt to get a finger on the pulse of this city's scene today.  

World Records

Las Calliope

Diners are fundamental to the Route 66 experience- not just for burgers and milkshakes, but because of the connections they help facilitate. In this episode we'll step inside three in Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona to hear stories from their remarkable owners who not only labor hard to serve mouth watering pies, but compassion to those who enter. 

The Rock Cafe

The MidPoint Cafe

Westdie Lilo's

On the southernmost tip of Texas, where the US and Mexican borders meet the sea, sits the tiny town of Boca Chica. Surrounded by nothing but wild open scrub land, eight miles of virgin beach and a rich array of wildlife, the twenty-something residents of Boca Chica live in peace and disconnection. Away from the noise of the modern World.

It was that peace and disconnection that Maria Pointer, AKA Boca Chica Maria, and her husband Ray sought when they made their plans to settle down and retire in Boca Chica. But dreams of a quiet retirement are to be thrown out the window when new neighbours SpaceX move into town, right outside their bedroom window.

In this episode, some of the team behind the new app Cerca take a very special look at one of the most important journeys we may ever take via a quiet town in the South of Texas. A town which has become the launch pad to new possibilities and discovery for the human race.

The launch pad to Mars.

Cerca is a brand new app devoted to helping you take the best trips of your life. It starts with Cerca Guides - immersive, podcasts all about some of the most amazing places in the world written by locals who really know their cities.  Right now, you can listen to guides to London, Barcelona, Iceland, Paris, Los Angeles and more.