Introducing Austin
An eclectic pick-and-mix of retro funk and new-age entrepreneurial spirit, Austin’s best side is a mystic soup of social consciousness and capitalist development, tattoo-covered artists and internet millionaires. Quality of life reigns supreme. Here even the buttoned-down businessmen are likely to take a day off to go swimming in spring-fed pools, jogging along Town Lake or kayaking on the river. Almost any night here you can listen to live indie rock, jazz-funk, alt country, punk ska, acoustic rhythms, Latin sambas, Tejano trumpets, world beat…shall I go on? All this coolness has not gone unnoticed. Locals are concerned that too many cooks are spoiling the broth as more people continue to migrate here and suburbs spread further north. ‘Keep Austin Weird’ extol local bumper stickers, and so far the town isn’t overly gentrified – and the restaurant selection has noticeably improved.
Advertisement
The Texas capital, founded on a bend in the Colorado River in 1839, in large part took shape because of the University of Texas (UT), founded in 1883. All those longhorn tattoos and car-window stickers you see? Those are Bevo, the mascot: ‘Hook ’em horns!’ In the 1960s and ’70s, local beer joints launched the likes of rock diva Janis Joplin and cosmic cowboy Willie Nelson; a league of performers carry on the tradition today.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
Tips & articles
-
Bourbon and beyond: North America’s thriving craft distillery scene
22 May 2012
Prohibition in North America never worked. Canada largely kept on quaffing and the US failed to temper its love for...
-
Austin’s musical heartbeat
3 February 2012
Austin rocks. It may not possess the big-ticket attractions of New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco, or the culinary...
-
Celebrity travel: if you can’t be a star, join them
9 August 2011
Now that you can fly to Iceland on the Iron Maiden plane (check out our recent Q&A with the plane’s...
Thorn Tree forum discussion
Recent posts
-
RE: Hard-of-hearing drunk messes up TV shoot
by EM_Guero 26 May 2012
heh, that's pretty funny. I've seen a few movie scenes being shot but I was never very close. Once they were filming a Tarantino movie…
-
RE: Guatemala with kids?
by hennaLisa 25 May 2012
Wow, thanks for the reply. We lived in Austin for 5 years, by the way. Our son was born there! Any locations you'd recommend to visit…
-
RE: Guatemala with kids?
by Aloysius 25 May 2012
Lisa, for starters Tikal in not in the area of the peten that the state department talks about. Course, those state department people…
Hotels & Hostels in Austin
-
Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites Austin Round Rock TX
Austin(3 star Hotel)
From US$47.87 per night
Book now
-
Book now
-
Book now
Advertisement








