The Sam’s Town Point calling card has always been live music, accommodating a number of genres ranging from country to Western swing to blues. Weekly schedules are provided via the Sam’s Town Point Facebook page, a lineup densely populated with multiple acts each evening. Ramsay Midwood is a Saturday night staple on those schedules, now the owner of the bar that he stumbled upon in 2002 after taking a wrong turn. Penny Grossman operated Sam’s Town Point with the help of her son Wally and when Wally tragically passed in 2011 due to a motorcycle accident, she turned to Midwood for support.
Ultimately, Penny added Midwood to the bar’s lease, effectively gifting him co-ownership in the bar that he now operates on a day to day basis with the support of the broad Sam’s Town Point community. Penny still lives on the property and can frequently be seen in a reserved seat kept her for her perpetuity at the end of the bar. Because of Midwood’s deep appreciation and love for the bar that housed a large portion of his music career, changes were made only to accentuate the already thriving, divey atmosphere within Sam’s Town Point.
In addition to a fire pit and some general cleanup of the four acre property, Grossman converted one of the property’s structures into an AirBNB that can be rented on a nightly basis, offering walking distance access to the Austin dive bar. Multiple houses, including Grossman’s, are still in operation across the sprawling plot and a number of abandoned vehicles have been sighted over the years.
Approaching Sam’s Town Point feels like visiting a friend in a rural part of the country hosting a backyard party. The main bar structure is a long ranch-style building built around the small stage in the corner of the room that has served as launching point for many an Austin music career. The iconic, faded, glowing Sam’s Town Point sign has long been the backdrop to music sets here, the sign’s style similar to a number of affirmative sayings sprinkled throughout the space including “Someday these days will be worth remembering” and “Friends are the best part of life.”