Hill Top Cafe: This 1930s era gas station surely holds many stories if walls could talk. The 30s hand crank gas pumps still stand but beyond that this little station turned cafe is serving up great food and live music. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Welcome: The Hill Top entrance is very typical of an old gas station. The old screen door with the bread ad welcomes you in. When crowded, patrons can sit at folding tables with red Coke chairs or sit on a weathered church pew seen on the wall by the door. Above the door is a welcome sign and the grill of a late 1940s Buick. Who wouldn’t want to look further! Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
Sitting on a hilltop about 10 miles north of Fredericksburg, Texas at the intersection of US Highway 87 and County Road 648 is a 1930s era gas station. As one description stated it is “inconveniently located in the middle of nowhere”.
The old 1930s hand crank gas pumps are still standing out in front of the station but all that is served these days is delicious food and Texas blues music at the Hill Top Cafe.
We have passed this place numerous times at 65 miles per hour, but it always catches my eye. We’ve seen it on weekend evenings with a crowd of people and a parking lot full of pickups and a car or two and we’ve seen it at different times of the week when perhaps a couple of vehicles may be present but there was always activity around this old gas station.
During a recent trip through the area, we made it a point to stop and check the place out. To our surprise, the menu consisted of a mixture of Greek, Cajun, and Texas food. The vegetables were fresh and the fish that we ate was delicious. Almost every inch of wall space in the cafe was covered with memorabilia of many interests but primarily music related.
Live music is a big thing in central Texas and the Hilltop Cafe is no exception. There is an area in the corner of the cafe for musicians. Live music is held most weeks from Thursday evening through Saturday evening.
These are the wonderful surprises that we love to find while traveling. We love the unexpected whether it be a cafe, a museum, or whatever we happen to be visiting along the way. This little cafe is now on our list of places not to miss when nearby. Perhaps next visit we will try out the fresh homemade desserts!
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn were traveling around the country prior to the pandemic and he has been sharing his photographs, which appear in the ‘Posts from the Road’ series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Antique Pump: A crackled Texaco logo decorates the side of one of the antique gas pumps at the Hill Top Cafe. The area of the pump on the right side happens to be facing south and has taken the brunt of the aging marks of rust and peeling paint under the hot Texas sun where the left side faces the shady side and remains in good condition. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Live Music: We visited the Hill Top Cafe on a Tuesday about 2 p.m. so the live music was silent during our late lunch. Live music is held Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings most weeks as well as other random times. The ‘stage’ area is a corner in the cafe, which is decorated with signs, posters, records and numerous other items. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Walls: Signs, photographs, license plates and even a mounted deer head are just a sampling of the memorabilia that covers every wall in the cafe. Also seen here are Hill Top Cafe tee shirts for sale. One could browse for an hour and not see everything these walls have to offer. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
