Can Mi Trailita y Mas Revitalize "Murder Corner"? – Austin Chronicle
When it opened in January of this year, Mi Trailita y Mas brought dreams of the critically acclaimed Mexican street cuisine of son-and-mother duo David Salinas and Maria Santos Rodriguez’s Taqueria Mi Trailita food truck to brick-and-mortar fruition. From the hangover-curing breakfast tacos and migas to the superb tortas and tacos, Mi Trailita y Mas, although currently just occupying a small section of their building at 5706 Manor Rd., has sparked the kind of consistent foot traffic the corner hasn’t seen from a restaurant since the soul-food-slinging Gossip Shack moved north. Not only does this development rightfully herald success for a hardworking neighborhood family, but it might also signal hope for one of the most troubled intersections in East Austin.
Rogge Lane and Manor Road is no stranger to commerce. Perhaps it hasn’t always been the type that attracts tourists, but if you ask the locals, this corner of East Austin holds strong memories. “There was a grocery store called FKB,” says City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison, who grew up in Austin and attended nearby Pecan Springs Elementary. “I used to get food stamps from my mom back when we still had actual paper food stamps. We would use them at FKB and then go to the playground [at Pecan Springs] or to the 19th Street Baptist Church across the street.”
When asked about the area, Tiffany Washington, who grew up in Colony Park and owns Dobbin-Kauv Garden Farm on the northeast corner of Rogge and Manor, remembers the old Mrs. Baird’s Thrift Store location that was once located here. “We used to come here all the time and go to their bread tours, and it would always smell like bread,” says Washington, who attended Winn Elementary in University Hills.
East Manor Road in particular, since the late Eighties and the crack epidemic, has been the site of multiple shootings and murders over the decades, with Rogge and Manor – not-so-affectionately known as “Murder Corner” – having been a hub of activity given that it had multiple stores, parking lots, and bus stops in what was mostly an affordable residential area.
Washington, a military veteran who originally established her farm in September 2018 and hopes to one day buy the land outright, moved in after the previous tenants left after finding a bullet hole in one of their windows. Her husband, Roc, is sanguine about the nighttime gunfire neighbors complain of. “That just be them shooting in the air to prove a point to each other. As long as they keep it in that air …” he says, motioning to the next-door Pecan Springs Commons, which received $2.5 million from the city of Austin in 2011 to house people at risk for experiencing homelessness.
When asked about the intersection, Harper-Madison reminisces about her personal experiences as a youngster dealing with rough-and-tumble bullies on the block. “I had to figure out that I had these hands and that I knew how to use them,” she says. “Rogge and Manor is where I found myself. Rogge and Manor is where I saw that I was strong.”
Other parts of East Austin have gradually transformed through the “magic” of gentrification: Manor Road west of Airport has become an IBIZ district – neighborhood-centric groupings of locally owned businesses – due to its proximity to UT, and many spots on Austin Police’s 1992 drug market list in that area have since been redeveloped. East 51st Street is dotted with developments where trees once draped the empty roadways; just south of that, the city is building a new middle school and skate park near the Morris Williams Golf Course. Highland Mall, once a center of Black culture, is now a community college surrounded by condos, while Colony Park on Loyola across 183 is slated for a MetroRail station and a mixed-use community from Catellus, which brought us the Mueller development. It is against this backdrop that Rogge and Manor stands out while other notorious ATX corners disappear in a shroud of multistory, mixed-use, outsider investment and rising real estate prices. “Because of gentrification, you don’t see as many striving Black businesses in the community anymore. It’s too expensive,” says Washington.
The old La Michoacana grocery store at the Dimension Property-owned 5706 Manor Rd. was sold a few years back and was turned into Órale, a San Antonio-based Mexican grocery chain. Órale promptly shut down during Winter Storm Uri (although the block never lost power due to being on the same circuit as the Dell Children’s Hospital in Mueller). Since then, the shopping center has largely sat empty; a salon and a MetroPCS store kept the lights on while locals chilled nearby in the parking lots or at the adjacent bus stop.
Throughout all this, Taqueria Mi Trailita, found half a mile south at 5301 Manor Rd. near Masjid Khadijah and its Islamic school Austin Peace Academy, has been a near-institution in Northeast Central Austin for more than a decade; the popular taco truck has outlasted countless competitors over the years.
“My family has lived off Loyola and Johnny Morris for a long time,” says David Salinas, citing the family’s desire to establish a business near home when deciding where to set up shop. Both Taqueria Mi Trailita and its close-by neighbor S-H Donuts bring crowds to a part of East Austin that hasn’t always been known for hipster foot traffic; Mi Trailita y Mas seeks to provide the same consistency that made their taqueria truck a neighborhood staple.
Salinas can be found virtually every day at the restaurant, running back and forth from the kitchen while talking to customers. Although the decor is modest to begin with right now, Salinas has ambitious plans to one day expand the indoor space, add a patio, and obtain alcohol licenses. His family’s restaurant represents a new community hub for a strip on Manor Road more traditionally known for car garages and Herbalife resale than for fine dining and happy hours.
Much like its taco truck big brother, Mi Trailita y Mas was born of finding the best and most affordable space to showcase the family’s culinary skills that was also close to their family residence. Along with businesses like Dobbin-Kauv and the nearby Rogers Boyz Family BBQ, located in the Diamond Food Mart across the street, Mi Trailita y Mas could be part of a rebirth of Rogge and Manor as a place where minority-owned local businesses can thrive and be recognized by the city at large, and young Austinites can aspire to represent their community. Or at least not have to worry as much about getting jacked or catching stray bullets.
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David Salinas, Maria Santos Rodriguez, Taqueria Mi Trailita, Rogge Lane, Manor Road, Tiffany Washington, Natasha Harper-Madison, Murder Corner, Mi Trailita y Mas
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