One thing to add about Austin. I think you’ll love the restaurants there. Last time I was there, I went to some hole in the wall Mexican restaurant next to the airport. Wow! Amazing.
I’ve never lived or even visited Austin, but I need to mention Alamo Drfthouse
Brian
I had heard of it but, no, I wasn’t super familiar with it. I don’t go to nearly as many shows as I did when I was younger. That said, in 2007, I saw Ratdog (twice), Phil Lesh and Friends, Mickey Hart’s Seva show, BB King, Jonathon Richman, David Lindley, Richie Havens, Richard Thompson, Bob Dylan, Melvin Seals and seven or eight local gigs.
The outdoor venue was the SB County Bowl. We get way better acts than we deserve there because performers like to do stopover shows in between LA and SF. Anyway, I’m not trying to compare SB to Austin. As far as music goes, there’s no comparison.
No.
Austin has been described as a tribal culture. This has its fun side and its negative side.
I was in New Orleans just last weekend. Made friends with a vagabond I just met that night at the hostel who got me into the VIP section of some upscale jazz place and free/practically free drinks all night long, then wandered the French Quarter together until noon. Was in Chicago for three months up until a little over a month ago; it’s an outstanding city. Haven’t been to San Francisco yet but I’ll find out in two-three weeks where my boss decides to move me next.
Other people have jumped in before I got a chance to, but there’s this little part of grammar where people often capitalize many words in a title. Live Music Capital of the World is a little something Austin likes to call itself, don’t shoot the messenger. It’s Texas, a place where we’ll call a shithouse the Great Texas Shithouse and sell t-shirts with a big brass band out front if we could finagle a connection to the epic saga of the Alamo and the Martyrs of the Revolution who gave their lives there so we could stuff ourselves with cheap Mexican food every couple of blocks. Hell, we wrote a musical about a whorehouse. And got Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton to star in the movie! (Also within easy driving distance from Austin). Dumping on me for mentioning their title is like attacking a guy because Chicago weather was really rather calm that day you visited or you went to New Orleans and noticed it actually had quite a bit of cares to remember.
Oooh. Is there a way to check these guys out via the internet?
Yeah. It’s kind of a big deal, yessir/yessum.
Yeah, so’s the French Quarter, only Austin’s not as mobbed up. But it’s still something to point out’s there. I’m a big fan of the bats tho myself.
Last night during my short trip to Austin we got a tour of the city from a few of the regular livers-in. Well, mostly because they were too trashed to give directions worth shit, but we saw a lot of the city either way. abbeytxs, I don’t live there so correct me where I’m off, minus a little teasing :), but for Stoid I noticed a couple things about the place:
Austin is actually a rather segregated city. 35 is the big dividing line between a lot of it, the poorer, mostly hispanic neighborhoods on one side and the somewhat more upscale (or at least chic poor) on the other. The tech boom has helped the city in the manner that booms are want to, but it’s also had a large increase on the rich-poor divide over there. Crime’s not too bad, overall, some broken windows if you leave your car overnight at a bad place but violent crime is (anecdotally) fairly low. Several associates and some family up there, a couple know the cops and say the gangs mostly keep to themselves and don’t really like to go heavier than a good-natured beating.
Austin is really proud of being Austin. A few fairly large schools are based there including the gargantuan University of Texas, so there’s thousands upon thousands of young adults moving there every year partially because “it’s freaking Austin”, feeding that aura. Helps keep it a ‘young’ city with all the whatever types of commerce geared toward that demographic. Going to HEB (I think on Congress) is apparently a Really Big Deal. The public transportation system is fairly decent. You move around free if you’re a UT student but other college kids take advantage of it and I’ve seen senior citizens get by on it just fine.
Driving around’s a trip. That city combines the navigational ease of the Hindu Kush with all the sense of urgency of a trip to Grandma’s. Things get pretty philosophical around E. Dean Keaton.
“Which way do I turn off that hill?”
“Left or right, it’s your choice.”
“Well which way’s better?”
“It really doesn’t matter.”
“Aw geeze.”
The cars are very friendly (much friendlier than Houston), but anybody who says they know where they’re going is probably lying through their teeth. Traffic laws, turn-only lanes, No you can’t go through here this is a sidewalk, they’re more like guidelines. Yet everybody’s pretty cool about it all; they’re very understanding. Especially on New Year’s Day --“Red light? Green? They both hurt my eyes. Guide me home Jesus.”
Did I mention how proud people in Austin are of being in Austin? Even the coffee houses (of which there are several, several) treat each day like a multi-colored Texas-sized jamboree packed to the gills with those dour-yet-witty hipsters. I like them tho, know them well, they’re cool folk even if some can be surprisingly class conscious for kids too bohemian to afford clothes that fit them properly. Waltzed into Austin Java this morning: “Uh oh, I think we’re a little under-hip.”
This is possible the perfect Austin post. Every time I visit it’s usually not for very long and I end up satisfied I came but not sad to leave. But I’ve got immediate family up there; whenever they talk about it (and they do) and whenever I stay long enough to stretch my legs out I always have a fine time.
Actually, central east Austin is rapidly becoming gentrified. It’s where I live and the nieghborhood is about 1/3 new residents and 2/3 long time dwellers of Meixcan descent. (you should’ve seen the fireworks in the neighborhood last night; bigger and better than the city’s official 4th) Austin doesn’t have the really crime ridden areas that you see in bigger cities like Atlanta or Detroit and even in the dodgier areas (like possibly Riverside), it’s relatively safe. (BTW, there’s a RFQ from the city for a master plan for Riverside; since it’s a direct shot from the airport, the city wants to reform it and make it “Austin’s gateway”.)
I don’t know, I think it just depends on familiarity like most cities. If you don’t go often, downtown central Austin can be kinda confusing with one way streets but the city is currently working on converting many of those back into two-way. It’s kinda weird around the University since they’ve converted some of the streets into pedestrian only walkways but most people try to avoid driving on campus anyway.
I love Austin, I’ve lived here 14 years and have no desire to move. I do admit that it’s not the greatest tourist town; I sometimes have trouble finding stuff to keep visitors occupied. But it’s a very comfortable, funky place with lots of great places to eat, activities, etc.
No. I am going to move to Austin and drive my jacked up H2 like shit everywhere at five miles an hour while talking on my cellphone and eat at TGIFridays and Chili’s instead of Chuy’s and Trudy’s and move right next door to you and never, never, never rake my lawn. Never.
Amazing timing on this thread! I just decided to move to Austin (from Santa Barbara - hi hajario!) and was going to start my own “Tell me about Austin” thread. I’ve been there a few times and other than the weather (born and raised in SB, most everywhere in the world has “bad” weather) and the sprawling nature of the city (though not nearly as bad as LA), it seems like a cool place to live.
What’s the job market like for a college-age guy without a degree? I have no qualms about working retail or hospitality, as long as it can pay the rent. Speaking of which, very brief craigslist investigation makes it look like ~$800/month for a 2-bedroom place is about average. Is that the case, or did I just not look hard enough? My friend that I’ll be living with lives off the 183 at Braker. I’ve been to her place once or twice and it seems like a decent enough area but a hell of a ways from anything. Is it? Or is everything just a ways from everything else?
Gotcha. I agree with that meaning and I apologize.
Totally. I had forgotten about how strange the roads were there.
I didn’t know you lived here. We’ll miss you. Good luck.
I don’t get this. Sure, no one wants their city suddenly doubling in population. But can a handful of dudes from a MB have any effect at all? And, the fact that they are felow SDMBers means that they are very likely well above average in smarts and coolness- exactly the sort of dudes I’d like to add.
Hey, fellow SDMBers- come to San Jose. Welcome. 
I don’t know what the job market is like but you can get way more central that 183 & Braker. Before I bought in January, I had a two bedroom in Clarksville (on 12th St, between Lamar & Mopac) for $650. Admittedly, it wasn’t a new apt and didn’t have things like a dishwasher but it was a $5 cab ride to 4th St. and I could run down to the lake. There’s also lots of cheap stuff north of campus and just east of 35 is getting nicer. Plus, there are a gavillion freakin’ condos going up downtown that will probably be rentals soon. On the other hand, I don’t know how big Santa Barbara is but Austin isn’t all that large. If traffic isn’t bad, you can get from your friend’s apt to downtown in maybe 10 minutes.
I assume you’ll have a car, right? Because it’s a necessity, especially living as far north as you will be. The shuttle buses to UT are pretty reliable - one of my colleagues uses it for her transportation and has only been left at the side of the road once!
Truth be told I can’t opine much about the job market, but my sister doesn’t have a degree but works in high tech. She makes decent money, and I would think you’d be able to find a job that pays the bills, especially if you’re into the hipster coffee house scene type gig.
The rents look about right, but I think you can get a bit lower. 183 & Braker is near high-tech stuff like the Pickle Research Center, IBM, and so forth, so it’s a little more than areas like Riverside (mostly students, slackers, and wage workers). I figure everything’s far apart - I live off Mopac a few exits beyond where you’re talking about living and it’s 15 miles to UT from my house.
I mean, North Austin is getting pretty much all of what is available in the other parts of central and south central Austin - restaurants, stores, etc. There isn’t really an entertainment district up north, probably by design, like South Congress or Sixth Street. So if that’s your scene, you’ll have to head south on Mopac to get closer to the action.
Heh. “The 183.” Careful, UncleRojelio will have you out on your ear…
Skylark, I just learned about the band so once I get some info from my friend, I’ll see if I can’t find a website or something…
Awesome. But I think you live here already, don’t you?
Already been done by a million other fuckers before you. Austin sucks now because all you yankee fuckers think exactly alike. Try to have an original thought once in awhile.
So maybe it’s time for you to get out of Austin. However, I think you’d probably find most places full of miserable fuckers.
(Hey, I was admitted to UT. But Mom couldn’t afford to send me to Austin, so I’m still down in the Evil City on the Bayou. Which isn’t all that bad. So don’t come here!)
Whoa whoa whoa! Take it easy, man, it was a joke. I don’t own a Hummer and I’m not moving next door to you, okay? I’m just a fellow Texan poking fun. Deep breaths, bro, deep breaths.
You recognized the Hummer? 
Actually no, but the missus is an ex-Austinite and we’ve talked about re-relocating.
I sure appreciate all the contributions! I’m planning to be there from Jan 12 to Jan 16 to do the initial checkup on the joint, maybe I’ll bump into some of you.
Austin is a stinking hellhole of sin. Everyone, try not to move here all at once.
That is the best clip I have seen all week.