The storefront changes on East Cesar Chavez Street this fall happened fast and are already settled. One kitchen opened in mid-September, and another that had been there since 1997 closed two weeks later. The bigger questions are a few blocks south, at the water. The lakeshore between Fiesta Gardens and the Lorraine "Grandma" Camacho Activity Center hosts most of the season's public events, and it is also the piece of the neighborhood being redrawn right now. Its plans still have a public window before construction.
The first public look at the latest design concepts for that window is the morning of Saturday, Oct. 10. To see why that morning matters, start up on the street, where the decisions have already been made.
The Street Has Already Turned Over
Ben & Lynn's opened Sept. 12 at 2600 E. Cesar Chavez St., at the corner of San Saba Street. It is the first restaurant from Joshua Weissman, the Austin cooking YouTuber behind "But Better," and it is named for his parents. It occupies a restored 1920s bungalow and serves Texas-style fried chicken. The B&L Classic sandwich comes with house-made dill pickles, and a dunk in the sweet-and-spicy YamYum sauce costs $1.95 more. The menu also has nuggets, extra-crispy sea salt fries and a soft serve that changes with the season. Local beer and champagne round out the drinks. The hours are the most useful detail for anyone nearby. It is open 11:30 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, so it serves a late-night crowd on that stretch of the street.
Six blocks west, Taqueria Chapala served its last plates at 2101 E. Cesar Chavez St., on the corner of Anthony Street, on Sept. 27. Manuel Lopez and his brother opened it there on July 1, 1997. According to Community Impact's Sept. 28 report, the family closed after the landlords declined to renew the lease. Mauricio Lopez put it simply in an Instagram video: "even though we never really owned this building, our family grew up here." The menu is moving, not ending. That includes the barbacoa, the all-day breakfast, the caldo de res and menudo, and the Chapala Especial, a Jalisco-style barbacoa plate. The taqueria plans to reopen Oct. 29 at 2448 S. First St. For neighbors who went there for breakfast tacos, it will now be a drive across the river.
The third change is still in progress. Talisman Coffee, a family-run Austin roastery that already has shops on Manor Road and South Congress Avenue, is moving into a container at La Holly, 2500 E. Sixth St. La Holly is adding morning hours to make room for it. Our Austin, citing CultureMap, reports pop-up service on Oct. 8, 13 and 23 and daily, seven-day operation beginning Nov. 1. The roaster Fernando Alvarado is leading the move. That schedule is a plan as of early October, and the pop-ups exist to test how the operation runs. Check the dates before you walk over.
All three changes took weeks. A lease ended and a family relocated across town. A bungalow was restored and a sign went up. A coffee bar is spending a month on trial runs. Neighbors could eat at each one, or miss it, but none of these changes went through a public open house.
Down the Hill, the Season Fills In
The public calendar between now and late November clusters around the parks, recreation centers and lakefront in and around Holly.
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Eastside Family Garden design open house | Camacho Activity Center, 35 Robert T. Martinez Jr. St. | 9 to 10:30 a.m.; breakfast tacos provided |
| Oct. 19 to Nov. 7 | Community altar exhibit | Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River St. | Community-made altars on display |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | Hallo's Eve at Pan Am | Oswaldo A.B. Cantu/Pan American Recreation Center, 2100 E. Third St. | 6 to 8 p.m.; carnival, candy, costume contests |
| Sun., Nov. 1 | Día de los Muertos | Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center | 1 to 6 p.m.; free, family-friendly, alcohol-free |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Lady Bird Lake Kayak Clean-up | Camacho Activity Center program | Time and registration not yet posted |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Texas Craft Brewers Festival | Fiesta Gardens, 2101 Jesse E. Segovia St. | General admission 2 to 6:30 p.m.; strictly 21 and over |
| Nov. 14–15, 21–22 | Austin Studio Tour | Citywide | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; free |
A few practical notes. The city's Día de los Muertos page tells visitors coming from the Holly Street side to walk under I-35 to reach the cultural center, so the walk is short. The city has not posted a price for Hallo's Eve. As of early October 2026, Brewers Festival tickets cost $55.57 for general admission and $23.77 for designated drivers, fees included, and VIP was already sold out. The festival and the first day of the Austin Studio Tour both fall on Nov. 14, which makes for a busy Saturday on the Eastside. The Studio Tour runs both weekends citywide, and its producer, Almost Real Things, scheduled its online Explore page, where artist profiles go public, to launch by Oct. 7. Check those profiles to see which East Austin studios are taking part.
The Camacho Activity Center appears twice on the list, as host of the design open house and as the base for the kayak cleanup. The ground just outside its doors is the site being redesigned.
The Two Acres on the Drawing Board
The City of Austin describes the current site as about an acre of play area between Fiesta Gardens and the Camacho Activity Center along Jesse E. Segovia Street. Today it is mowed Bermuda grass with picnic tables and temporary lighting. The Trail Conservancy's plan, called the Eastside Family Garden, covers more than 2 acres of parkland and combines traditional playscapes, nature play and gathering areas, all designed around shade, native restoration and water access.
The project artist, Lys Santamaria, describes the idea behind it this way:
"The idea of home / la casa can be expressed through both form and feeling – by creating spaces that echo the comfort of domestic life and the rhythm of nature."
The Trail Conservancy says the design follows five themes raised during community engagement:
- Multigenerational accessibility. Play and park features for teens, adults and seniors as well as young children.
- Shade. A mix of shade trees and shade structures.
- Ecological restoration. Native plantings, grasses and a wildflower meadow.
- Waterfront connection. Wider views of the lagoon and better access to it.
- Open lawns. Room for backyard games, outdoor programs and staging for camps and classes run with the Camacho Activity Center and Mendez Recreation Center.
The garden is half of a larger effort. The city's Holly project, run with The Trail Conservancy, began as three pieces: a play area, trail enhancements and a trailhead. After schematic design ended, the three became two fundraising projects, the Eastside Family Garden and the Lakefront Trail Park. The Lakefront Trail Park would add a new trailhead at the northern entrance to the Butler Trail at Metz Park and mark the connection between the Butler Trail and the future East Link Trail. It would also build a new concrete multi-use trail along the shoreline of the decommissioned Holly Power Plant. The Trail Conservancy's project page adds overlooks, water access, bike-skills features and restoration of meadow and creekside habitat.
Why Oct. 10 Is the Date to Hold
The project has been moving for almost three years. Data gathering began in early 2024. There were three rounds of community engagement, in spring 2024, fall 2024 and spring 2025, and design wrapped up in summer 2025. The city lists fundraising and permitting as underway from fall 2025 through 2026, with construction in 2027. On the city's project page, the Oct. 10 open house is the only engagement date posted for 2026.
At the open house, Lys Santamaria and Edith Uresti of Rialto Studio, the project's landscape architect, will present the latest design and art concepts and explain the artistic thinking behind them. The earlier engagement rounds decided which themes the garden would serve. This session shows how those themes have been translated into actual designs and art.
The next-door park is on a similar schedule. The city's Fiesta Gardens rehabilitation page says design work resumed in fall 2025 and permitting was expected in spring 2026. Construction is projected for winter 2027, subject to change. So both lakefront projects next to the Camacho Activity Center are aiming for 2027.
That means this fall's lakefront events take place on the shoreline as it is now. The kayak cleanup on Nov. 7 and the Brewers Festival on Nov. 14 will both use parkland that is scheduled for rebuilding. The street changed in a matter of weeks, and the shoreline will change over the coming year. The Oct. 10 open house is the one public session on this fall's calendar where neighbors can see that change before it is built.
If the Eastside Family Garden is on your fall list, Legends Real Estate follows projects like this one, and the timelines that come with them, as part of how we work in East Austin. We're glad to talk through what the Holly lakefront plans could mean for your block and to pass along updates as they arrive. Work With Us.
