Port A (Port Aransas)

Port Aransas is called “Port A” by local residents. The shortened name has spread to its many visitors.
 
     
Wikipedia: Port Aransas, Texas
Port Aransas is a city in Nueces County, Texas, on Mustang Island, across Aransas Bay from the City of Aransas Pass. The population was 3,370 at the 2000 census. There is a free 24-hour ferry service between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas.
   
Port Aransas & Mustang Island
Come to Port Aransas, Port “A” as the locals call it, and find the perfect place to lay your head. 
 
17 June 1990, Austin (TX) American-Statesman, pg. C13:
Port Aransas: Called “Port A” by regulars, this bit of coast opens up to some of the top fishing in Texas
 
25 April 1991, Austin (TX) American-Statesman, “A Stay at the Beach” by Janet Wilson, pg. E1:
Known locally as Port A, this sleepy fishing community is ...
 
10 November 1991, San Antonio (TX) Express-News, pg. 3L
PORT ARANSAS
Bargains found at Port A
 
Emerils.com
June 28, 2001
South To Corpus
By John DeMers
(...)
Port Aransas on Mustang Island is an oddity for these parts, an Achy-Spring-Breaky beach destination that wants to be Florida when it grows up. As such, it excels in burgers and fried seafood pressed between brightly colored boutiques devoted to skimpy swimwear, Kodak disposables and squeeze bottles of suntan oil. But surprise surprise, the town universally called Port A is also home to the area’s most high-falutin’ fine dining establishment, a place with a real reservation book and a high-season “We’ll see when we can fit you in” attitude. 
 
Google Books
Romantic Weekends in Texas
by Mary Lu Abbott
Walpole, MA: Hunter Publishing, Inc.
2003
Pg. 161:
Port Aransas, or “Port A” as it’s known locally, long has attracted fishermen, particularly those seeking trophy catches offshore, such as sailfish, tarpon and marlin, but beach or pier fishing also yields good eats, such as flounder, redfish and speckled trout.
 
Google Books
Texas Coast
by Joe Nick Patoski (text) and Laurence Parent (photos)
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press
2005
Pg. 69:
Port A has somehow withstood the pressures of growth that come with tourism, recreational fishing, commercial fishing, winter Texans, and shipping traffic to retain its iconoclastic character.