The last dances are always the most telling. The last dances, the last calls, the last times that familiar faces will gather in a familiar room and pretend that some things will not change. We live with the assumption of perpetuity, the idea that the places we’ve always known will continue to be there. But, of course, they don’t.
It is happening in Coupland. Not with a whimper, but with a series of final, celebratory shouts. The Coupland Dancehall, a low-slung, red-brick building that has stood on Hoxie Street since 1904, is closing its doors.
A short drive, a world away from the expanding sprawl of Austin, this small town of around 300 people is losing a part of its heart.
Patrons share fond memories at Coupland
A simple announcement on August 7, a few spare words on Facebook, was all it took to make it real. “It’s the end of an ERA, or two or three… A true-blue Texas honky tonk. A two-step back in time. After decades of boots, beer, heartbreak, and hell-raising, Coupland Dancehall is calling it ‘Last Call.'” An exact reason for the closing was not stated…