Memories of Nau’s

12 mins read
Nau’s sign was a West Austin landmark for decades.
Nau’s sign was a West Austin landmark for decades.

Compiled by Forrest Preece

In March 2023, Nau’s Enfield Drug Store, the pharmacy, soda fountain/diner, and social hub located at West 12th and West Lynn since 1951, closed. The store held many fond memories for a lot of people. I recently solicited some stories about this cherished institution.

I lived in Clarksville a long time before Ted and I married and moved to his house on 11th Street. Nau's was a part of my daily life, along with Fresh Plus when it was still Kash-Karry and the laundromat that is now Galaxy Cafe.

Nau's always felt like CHEERS to me. As a regular, which I was for 30 years or more, I had only to walk in the door and whoever was back in the pharmacy would call out, "Hi, Janelle!" ("NORM!") and have my prescription ready by the time I got to the window. You don't get that at CVS.

Our daughters attended Mathews Elementary, about two blocks south of Nau's, and Friday afternoons meant a stop on the way home at what one called "the little grocery store" -- all that candy, the magazines! Nau's was the first place each of them got to sit at a table or booth (“BOOTH!”) separate from me and the other moms, just with their friends. As they got older, they walked on their own to Nau's from Mathews, and I caught up with them a few minutes later. The heady freedom! And I never worried about them being there without me.

I miss Nau's more than I can say. I've found another pharmacy that I like just fine, but nothing can replace the friendliness that Nau's provided, not to mention the trust I had in the Labay family. I know things change and blah blah blah, but dammit. -- Janelle Buchanan

My memories are so old from riding my bike to look at Photoplay and other movie magazines, and checking out all the new colors of lipstick and nail polish from Yardley! Mr. Nau kept the advertisement on the corner of the counter so you couldn’t miss it. I remember my father forbidding me to go into the drugstore and charge one more thing for a month! It was a treasure for the neighborhood and I’m so sad every time I drive by. More and more of our old landmarks in Austin are gone.  -- Beth Granger

Too many memories to count. My dad introduced my sister Leigh and me to Nau’s and the soda fountain. We might have been seven and five years old when we had our first ice cream soda. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. Leigh always ordered vanillas and I always ordered chocolate. My parents loved Nau’s too. Mom always said that Mrs. Nau made the best chicken salad. We went often and seemed to sit always in the first booth.

While we waited for our order, Leigh and I would gravitate to the toy section. Temptation, temptation! If we were lucky, we would leave with a Magic Slate (our favorite). We eventually graduated to the magazine rack. We always got our school cigar boxes from Nau’s. It was a hard decision because there were so many, and they all had the prettiest cigar ladies and flowers on them.

When I was at O. Henry, Barbara Benson and I would ride our bikes all over the neighborhood. Nau’s was one of our favorite places to go. We went almost every day in the summer to get 5 or 10 cent vanilla and cherry cokes … and stare at the blue glass on the shelves. I think that same blue glass was there when Nau’s closed!

I remember Lambert Labay as a cute young pharmacy student helping Mr. Nau behind the Dutch door. He was always so serious and didn’t talk too much, except to remind us not to touch the merchandise! I thought that was his job! Just too many fond memories of my wonderful family and Nau’s. -- Susan Ellis

Nau’s was a bridge between generations in the sense of simple pleasures of life, like candy and other oddities. This toothpick holder is a wonderful example of the kind of oddity that one could always count on finding there. Go in for a milkshake and some fries and come out with a battery-operated, bird-shaped toothpick holder for Father’s Day.  -- Karen Kocher

Toothpick holders always come in handy.
Toothpick holders always come in handy.

The summer of 1969, I was working at the University Co-op in the mornings and at Bill Lacy’s ad agency in the afternoons. One day a fellow Co-Op employee told me that he and his dad ate breakfast on weekdays at Nau’s with John Nuhn, who was an important adman. The next morning at 7:15, I was parked in front of where Jeffrey's is now, waiting. After Nuhn and the others entered the store, I sauntered in and sat down with them, and then started coming back each day. In late August, thanks to my familiarity with him, John’s agency took a chance and hired me, and in 1973, I landed the MRI Systems account. In October that year, MRI lured me away from the agency. Two years later, Linda Ball came to work there and I asked her out. We got married six months after that. It gives me chills to think how close I came to missing Linda, who has made my life worth living. Thank heaven for Nau’s. -- Forrest Preece

I didn’t spend much time there, but when I did, it was for getting a malt. When I heard about the closing, I was pretty shocked. On the brighter side, when they were selling everything, I purchased the shake/malt counter/cooler. They had just had it rebuilt and were ready to reinstall it when they were shut down. It has all the little pump stations for the added flavors and the soda jerk handles. I have it at my place in Lampasas. I haven’t done anything with it yet, but the hope is to utilize it in a 1950s style soda shop in part of the building across the street from the hotel I own. -- Andy Fish

Nau’s equipment may get new life in Lampasas.
Nau’s equipment may get new life in Lampasas.

Most of my many visits to Nau’s Drugs, I watched the cooks fix my breakfast on the grill or I would show up with some politico in tow for lunch. It was the heart and soul of 1950s Austin and I felt like I was eating back in my hometown of Marion, Alabama every time. --Former Austin Mayor Lee Cooke

Nau’s was a great place in the 90s. It was a community hangout, an old-fashioned store that featured a candy section, delicious hamburgers and fountain sodas -- the kind you can’t find being served much any longer. The kids loved to go to Nau’s to eat. My daughter Holly spent almost every Saturday there. I remember with fondness the woman who cooked the burgers. She was like family and she always knew your order. It was easy to do business there because we had a charge account and the pharmacy was so convenient. You always saw someone you knew in Nau’s.  --Charla Wood

I had many lunch visits at Nau’s with Marilyn and Senator Babe Schwartz, my neighbors and good friends who lived at the Westgate Tower for many years before they passed away.

At one lunch Marilyn asked about my nonprofit efforts and I told her I was on a number of boards, and that it was taking too much of my time, when Marilyn suddenly grabbed my arm and announced, "Charles, there is a little word you need to learn, ‘NO,’ and when you use it, there are NO need for apologies." This was over a Nau classic burger and malt, of course. The Schwartzs were fixtures at Nau's. If you could not reach them, you could just show up at the drugstore for lunch, and there they were, holding court. --Charles Peveto

The late florist R.A. Lewis and his wife had a daughter named Suzanne who was an artist. She painted many Austin landmarks. Many years ago I bought this one of Nau’s. I remember that Karen Kuykendall bought the one of Green Pastures. Nau’s was a landmark in our neighborhood. --Johnny Guffey

 Painting of Nau’s by Suzanne Lewis
Painting of Nau’s by Suzanne Lewis