Love Where You Live – Serving up Local Spirit
Honoring a Neighborhood Legacy
Many years ago, a quaint building at the corner of East 11th Street and Rosewood Avenue caught the eye of local restaurateurs Jade Pace-Matthews and Greg Matthews. To their chagrin, the space was already being courted as a sports bar. But when providence intervened and the liquor application disappeared from the window, the couple quickly dialed up the owners.
“It was super old school,” Greg recalls. “We met the family and shook hands, then sat in their living room and wrote down the lease.” The Turners live in East Austin, and the building has been in their family for generations. It originally belonged to Mrs. Turner’s father, Ulysses “Doc” Young: one of the first Black pharmacists in Austin who opened it as “Hillside Drug Store” in the 1950s.
Prior to that fateful day, the duo, being collectors of old things, already had a collection of paraphernalia from a pharmacy that had been shuttered in the ‘70s. This Elgin Pharmacy was “a perfect time capsule,” says Greg. They were already stocked with a collection of beautiful apothecary cabinets and display cases that would return the space to its former glory and become a defining feature of the restaurant today.
From there, it was kismet. “When Mrs. Turner and her husband told us the history, it was this ‘oh shit!’ moment,” explains Greg. “This is really about the family—we can contribute to telling their story.” And so, Hillside Farmacy was born.
The restaurant that the Matthews duo envisioned would be a contribution to the neighborhood, not something thrust upon it. “When we opened, it wasn’t like we were coming in from the outside; we were part of the neighborhood,” Greg recalls.
Hillside Farmacy has since become a beloved East Austin staple. It’s an intimate gathering space that feels high-touch, yet welcoming. Their local affiliation extends to the menu; they source almost exclusively from local farms and even turned the restaurant into a Farmer’s Market to stay afloat during COVID.
Post-COVID era, Greg says that he is focused on getting back to their roots—creating experiences that feel individual and unique. They’ve hired a new chef, Brandon Martin, and they’re renovating their outdoor patio and outfitting it for live music. “We’re all just really invigorated,” declares Greg. “We want people to have that super personable experience of really good food in this very unique place.”
Contact
1209 E 11th St.
hillsidefarmacy.com
@hillside_farmacy
Preserving History
The Hillside team has won several Preservation Austin Awards for their efforts in restoring the former pharmacy and now landmark. They were awarded a historical designation in 2019, which protects the site from future development.
But what really happened?
The house most recently known as Rosewood (on Rosewood Ave. and East 11th) was Thomas DeLashwah’s home, yet he mistakenly gets credited for selling Doc Young the Hillside Farmacy building. But what really happened? Doc Young took over Delashwah’s pharmacy on East 6th, years before he built and opened Hillside Drug Store on East 11th (according to city records). In 1949, Doc and his wife built a commercial building on their East 11th property: Hillside Drug Store, known today as East Austin’s beloved restaurant, Hillside Farmacy, and still paying homage to its pharmaceutical roots with creative menu items such as Country Doc and Penicillin.
