Yes, I am in Austin for work, but, if there’s anything I’m good at, it’s making a work trip into a fun trip. Which is why I decided to do a Friday Night Lights driving tour of Austin.
I only started watching Friday Night Lights in May and I have to say I am an idiot for waiting so long. It is seriously one of the best shows EVER on television. If you haven’t watched it you must go watch it now (it’s streaming on Netflix) and, if you have watched it, you must go read this now. The fact that this show is no longer on the air is an American tragedy. Seriously.
Anyway after some hurried planning (many thanks to here, here, here, and here) I set out to see eleven different sites. (You can check out my Google map of the tour here and I’ve listed all the addresses below.)
First up, the Panthers’ field.
It’s actually at the Pflugerville High School Stadium and the crappy part about it is that it’s closed off to the public.
But still cool. (1301 Pecan St. W. Pflugerville, TX 78660)
Next, Tim Riggins’ land. I can’t remember if he buys the land in season 4 or season 5, but since Tim is one of my favorite characters I wanted to make sure I paid a visit.
After a long drive down a narrow, windy road, I don’t think I ended up at the right spot. Tim’s land was much more open looking. This was covered in trees. Looking at the map again I think I needed to drive a while more down Burleson Manor Rd.. Oh well.
(7252 (or farther down) Burleson Manor Rd. Manor, TX 78653)
Third was the Panther Field House.
I don’t really know what I was supposed to find here, but that’s the only trace of the Panthers that I found. It’s supposed to be an abandoned field that they used, but really it just looked abandoned. I guess they haven’t used it in a while. Still nice to see though. And probably the oddest located place I went. (Flow Ln. and Del Valle St. Austin, TX 78617)
(Ed. to add: I ended up going back to the next day since when I got back to the hotel and looked at Google Maps I realized I didn’t go far enough south. I’ve updated the address above and here are some better pictures…)
Fourth was Garrity Motors which is actually a Chevy Dealership. It’s supposed to be on the service road of I-35 but my GPS couldn’t find it. So I didn’t go, but good luck to anyone who wants to see it. (6328 Interstate 35 Frontage Rd. Austin TX, 78745)
Fifth (after a few wrong ways trying to find Garrity Motors) was Ray’s BBQ.
I don’t think this is what it looked like on the show, but still fun. (6302 Monsanto Dr. Austin, TX 78741)
Next was the East Dillon Practice Field.
Is what it is. (2271 Riverview St. Austin, TX 78702)
My next stop was Matt Saracen’s house, but that was stupid because I drove past Vince’s house on my way there and then had to drive back to Vince’s house. So next stop should be Vince’s house.
If you watch the show you know that Vince is supposed to live in the ghetto, but I thought this was a perfectly fine neighborhood. (2681 E Cesar Chavez St. Austin, TX 78702)
After that the next stop should be Matt Saracen’s house. All of the numbers I had listed for the houses were wrong which at first made me think I was in the wrong place, but after driving up and down the roads I realized the houses were there, just with a different number.
I was sad the Saracen #7 sigh wasn’t outside 😦 (3009 Kuhlman Ave. Austin, TX 78702)
Next came the Alamo Freeze.
Yes, it’s actually a Dairy Queen and yes, I got a blizzard. The inside is nothing like the Alamo Freeze, fyi. (5900 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78723)
Finally, my two favorite stops.
The Riggins’ house!
Much nicer than when Tim and Billy were living there 🙂 (2604 Lehigh Dr. Austin, TX 78723)
Finally, the Taylor House.
Can’t you just see the team working out on coach’s lawn? Or Eric and Tammi leaving with Gracie Belle? (6805 De Paul Cove, Austin TX 78723)
So those are the 10 stops I made. If you are in Austin and you’re a fan of Friday Night Lights I highly recommend checking out some of the places. Many of them are located in the same general area. And, even if you go to all of them, it’s not that long. It took me about 4 hours all together.
And I’ll end with clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose and Texas forever.
[…] Comments « Friday Night Lights Austin Tour […]
I’m pretty sure I don’t know you, but this is amazing. Thank you so much for posting it. My wife and I are in love with Friday Night Lights, so when I got to Austin today on business I just had to find some of the places where it was filmed. I stumbled across your post via Google and to think that you even had the addresses of the homes. . . unbelievable. (Incidentally, how did you find those?)
This is definitely a worthwhile, easy driving tour for fans of FNL. I even got to the field as the Panthers were getting out there for practice. SO COOL.
We are the owners of the Tim Riggins house (thanks for saying nice things; you should see what we did inside) and we just recently started watching the series. We didn’t know when we bought the house of it’s tv pedigree.
I’ve been looking for an image of the Riggins #33 yard sign to make a copy and put it out from. I think fans would really appreciate that.
Hello Michael! I think that is just a great idea…FNL Fans (as myself) will surely love it 🙂
That. Is. Amazing.
Thanks!
Michael, that is a great idea! I hope you found the Riggins sign by now, if not…keep trying.
This show is one of the best things put out by any network period!
Great map and tour, thanks to Maggie for this post/page
Thanks very much for taking the time and for sharing the photos. I’ve stopped counting the number of times I’ve watched the entire series – but it seems that about once a year, I watch it again. Great show. It was both nice and sad to see what it looks like today – especially the abandoned playing fields.
This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. I am so going to do this.
[…] also did a self-curated Friday Night Lights tour. It was one of the highlights of my […]
hello there! I’m from Barcelona in Europe, and myself and two friends will be in Texas this next summer 2012. As big big big FNL fans, we will surely do – or at least try to – your amazing tour. Many thanks for this info, you did a great job 🙂 texas forever!
Thanks! Enjoy your trip and I hope you get to see some of the FNL locations!
[…] just like in real life, the rest of my life creeps in. However, my most popular post ever is my driving tour of Friday Night Lights taping locations in Austin, […]
Check this video out, it looks like Panther’s field is at 2404 Shepard Lane Del Valle, East Dillon as well. Kuempel Stadium is another location used earlier in the show.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/austin-we-visit-fictional-dillon-tx-home-of-friday,57324/
Thanks for the link! East Dillon isn’t a real place, the field they’re talking about is the one I list at Flow Ln. and Del Valle St. Austin, TX 78617.
edit above, should be Shapard (not Shepard) Lane which is right next to the above mentioned in the article Flow Ln. and Del Valle St
I am just only now watching FNL and am SO SAD that its not still on the air. This was fun to find.
I visited the Taylor house today, and one of the neighbors at the end of the cup-de-sac FREAKED out on us when We snapped 2 pics from the street (again, not even his house) and started to drive away. Even though wewere clearly leaving, he still chased my car as I drove backwards to leave the area, flipped me off, and called me a b*tch when I waved good-bye. So, fellow FNL-philes, consider yourselves warned. I did get a chuckle pretending he was acting just like a drunk Buddy Garrity would on a bad night at the Landing Strip to turn the situation into a more positive one.
This tour is amazing. I did it today and had come all the way from Australia. I only did a few of the spots as I was pressed for time, for those leaving downtown Austin this is the route I took:
Saracens house
Riggins house
Taylor house
Pflugerville field
All up including time to jump out the car for a quick snap it took an hour including time to get back to downtown Austin.
It was so surreal seeing the homes to the characters you feel you know like family! Texas forever!