robtex
Veteran Member
One of my favorite things to do is to exchange info on where I live with info of where somebody else lives. So I typed up this entry to introduce my home town and learn about others. In it I am going to list 10 facts about Austin (my home) after a short into. Currently I live 15 miles from downdown in a small community called Round Rock. Round Rock was put on the map by Dell computers whose corportate headquaters are here. Round Rock (or RR for short) is basically a smaller subsection on the outskirts (5 miles out) of Austin so I will talk about the larger metro of Austin instead. I picked 10 because it is a round number but not too small so that I could adaquatly introduce you to my home.
1) Live Music Capital of the world. It is the official title given to this city although with cities like Memphsis, LA and NY I would wonder if it is truely true. It is a metro that appreciates its live music scene and I wanted to touch on that. What it means to live in a city that embraces live music is that one can see live music 7 days a week day or night. When I say 7 days a week I mean wensday night and Sunday morning too. Many muscians come from all over Texas and settle here to expand their hobby. The Music scene ranges from rap to grunge to country to piano music and well over 50 clubs have live music every evening. To get a feel for the music scene go to (austin chroncile website). Stevie Ray Vaughn called Austin home and his statue stands in Austin. I went to the official memorial by the city for him dressed in all black and carrying a candle in his name. People were singing and crying and a hippy was arrested for playing air guitar ontop of the hosting radio stations speaker van. Every year Austin hosts SXSW where musicians come from all over the world for a few days and the city is packed with fans of music. 6th street is the hub of the live music scene and is an entertainment district with clubs offering live music every night of the week for the length of 1/2 of the street and the adjacent streets. The only strange thing is that Austin does not have the University with the largest rock music school in it. NorthTexas State does which is in Nacogdoches...east of Dallas Texas. (jpeg of SRV statue in austin ) http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/_/viewer.aspx?path=c/c3/&name=SRV.jpeg
2) Education level. One of the highest in the country. I have heard reports that as many as 33 % of the population has a 4 year degree or higher. Most years Austin falls in the top 5 for education level (with #1 being Seattle and # 2 using being SF Cali). There are 7 colleges within one hour of one another with three being private schools one being a black college and the rest state schools. Many of the people (self included) come here get a degree and than never leave. The result is an intellectual quagmire where your bus driver or waiter may know more about physics or history than you ever thought could be possible to know. Under employment is very high with no shortagae of blue collar work but shortage of white collar work. One can go to a coffee house or bar and have a discussion on philosphy politics religion or science and that would be the norm as opposed to the unusual.
3) Southern hospitality. In the south and in Austin for sure talking to strangers is the norm. I lived in Sacramento for a while and took my southern hospitality with me. I spoke with strangers for about a week and than stopped when I noticed that the standard reaction was a glare and a brisk walk in the opposite direction. Here talking with strangers is tradition and I can't even think of a single day in years where I didn't strike up a conversation or vice versa with a complete stranger.
4) keep austin wierd. That is the unofficial city slogan. Because of the education level, music scene and soutern hospitality Austin has become what I like to think is the new alamo for the pink leftist liberal freak. The city has groups with a strong protocal for liberal ideas like gay rights, death penalty abolition, pluralistic reilgion (including atheism and agnostic), war protests pro-planned parenthood, Mary Jane legalization and support of green party ect ect. Tattoos, piercings and untradional clothing are the norm when you get to parts of the metro. As you get further out of the city you run into redneck country where the Christian right live. I sometimes Go out into that void (to me it is a void) and talk with the locals which again is southern hospitality to talk to strangers. I tell them I am from Austin and many times I will hear.."there is a lot of wierdo there aint' there?" I ask them to qualify that and they say, you know non-christian (or athiests) hippy tree huggers who ain't christian and don't think we should be kicking *** in the middle east." My first thought is "oh you mean free thinkers" but I realize that is a snobby answer so usually I say yeah its pretty liberal in Austin. Austin is the last and outlet for the liberal to feel like something other than a minority thus my analogy of Austin being the new alamo for the liberal in Texas. You can buy t-shirts with the slogan "keep austin wierd" on it at a large number or stores and shops. http://www.keepaustinweird.com/ http://www.keepaustinweird5k.com/ http://austin.about.com/od/keepaustinweird/
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2004/09/09/Focus/Keep-Austin.Weird-713824.shtml
5) website www.austin360.com. This is the main website for the city. The 360 is a highway that is also called the captial of Texas highway. It runs the length of Texas and goes past rolling hills that go for miles outside the city limits. The website has a lot of local politics on it and a good feel for life in the metro.
6) Central texas hill country. Austin is attached to what is known as the central Texas hill country. The city is hilly in and of itself and the surround area brings people who want to hike and camp. There are no mountians just hills. As a result of the geography rock climbing has become very popular here as well as hiking and camping just outside the city limits. I can drive less than 10 miles and be in camping and hiking area...maybe less than 5. Archaeology and anthropology are also big from the universities present and the land. I meet people every year that went on digs just outside the metro. Lance Armstrong has made biking very popular and because of the uneven surface and warm weather professional bikers come here to train
7) Major newspapers. I am going to just list them give a short sentence on them and move on. I am listing them because if you want to know a city you can learn a lot from its newspapers. The austin american statesmen. Biggest paper. Their headquaters is downtown on congress avenue just 10 blocks from the state capital but on the same street. The austin chronicle A leftest publication it has one of the highest ciruclations in the city. If you want to get a feel for the live music scene in austin this is the one to read. Others include the texas observer, and the austin business journal.
8) The capial. Austin is the capital of Texas. The capital is on 11 and 12th street and congress in the middle of downtown. The city is very politcally aware due to the education level of its inhabitants and its being the capital. Activism is also high. The capital itself though is very quite. Going inside the building it is very quite and the star of Texas sits in the middle of the floor. People will stand in the middle of the star and clap once to hear the echo off the cieling. That seems to be a tradtion. Security is moderate to light and other than the extravogant entry way the building seems very ordinary.
9) 6th street. Most cities have their main entertament district or area. For Austin it is 6th street. This section of the city has dance clubs, bars and a large number of places having live music. Tattoo shops, adult novelty stores and head shops are also frequent here. APD (austin police dept) patrol it area on bicycles but there is so little violence that the attitude between officers and the locals is moslty friendly. Drug addicts live on in shelters on 7th and 8th street and sometimes you can see them alseep in the alleyways. Local artists work on the sidewalks selling handmade jewery and drawings. Sidewalk musicains play for tips on the corners. 6th street is open 7 days a week and usually till 2 am on weekdays and sunday and 4 am for dance clubs on fri sat. In Texas bars are requred by law to stop serving at 2 a.m. http://www.6street.com/
10) population and demographics. source (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/planning/planfaqs.htm) (http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/popInfo.php?locIndex=26118)
founded 1839 first capital called waterloo (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/ahc/briefhistory.htm)
population 656 thousand
251 square miles
avg age 32
52-65 % white/ 30 % hispanic 10 % black all others below 10 % Asian 4.7 % (in travis not williamson county)
service industy is 30.6 % trade 22.2 % gov 19.8 % manufacturing 13.1 % all others below 10 %
land is hilly no mountains.
hot 11 months out of the year
well thats the skinny hope to get 10 things about your metro of inhabitance.
1) Live Music Capital of the world. It is the official title given to this city although with cities like Memphsis, LA and NY I would wonder if it is truely true. It is a metro that appreciates its live music scene and I wanted to touch on that. What it means to live in a city that embraces live music is that one can see live music 7 days a week day or night. When I say 7 days a week I mean wensday night and Sunday morning too. Many muscians come from all over Texas and settle here to expand their hobby. The Music scene ranges from rap to grunge to country to piano music and well over 50 clubs have live music every evening. To get a feel for the music scene go to (austin chroncile website). Stevie Ray Vaughn called Austin home and his statue stands in Austin. I went to the official memorial by the city for him dressed in all black and carrying a candle in his name. People were singing and crying and a hippy was arrested for playing air guitar ontop of the hosting radio stations speaker van. Every year Austin hosts SXSW where musicians come from all over the world for a few days and the city is packed with fans of music. 6th street is the hub of the live music scene and is an entertainment district with clubs offering live music every night of the week for the length of 1/2 of the street and the adjacent streets. The only strange thing is that Austin does not have the University with the largest rock music school in it. NorthTexas State does which is in Nacogdoches...east of Dallas Texas. (jpeg of SRV statue in austin ) http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/_/viewer.aspx?path=c/c3/&name=SRV.jpeg
2) Education level. One of the highest in the country. I have heard reports that as many as 33 % of the population has a 4 year degree or higher. Most years Austin falls in the top 5 for education level (with #1 being Seattle and # 2 using being SF Cali). There are 7 colleges within one hour of one another with three being private schools one being a black college and the rest state schools. Many of the people (self included) come here get a degree and than never leave. The result is an intellectual quagmire where your bus driver or waiter may know more about physics or history than you ever thought could be possible to know. Under employment is very high with no shortagae of blue collar work but shortage of white collar work. One can go to a coffee house or bar and have a discussion on philosphy politics religion or science and that would be the norm as opposed to the unusual.
3) Southern hospitality. In the south and in Austin for sure talking to strangers is the norm. I lived in Sacramento for a while and took my southern hospitality with me. I spoke with strangers for about a week and than stopped when I noticed that the standard reaction was a glare and a brisk walk in the opposite direction. Here talking with strangers is tradition and I can't even think of a single day in years where I didn't strike up a conversation or vice versa with a complete stranger.
4) keep austin wierd. That is the unofficial city slogan. Because of the education level, music scene and soutern hospitality Austin has become what I like to think is the new alamo for the pink leftist liberal freak. The city has groups with a strong protocal for liberal ideas like gay rights, death penalty abolition, pluralistic reilgion (including atheism and agnostic), war protests pro-planned parenthood, Mary Jane legalization and support of green party ect ect. Tattoos, piercings and untradional clothing are the norm when you get to parts of the metro. As you get further out of the city you run into redneck country where the Christian right live. I sometimes Go out into that void (to me it is a void) and talk with the locals which again is southern hospitality to talk to strangers. I tell them I am from Austin and many times I will hear.."there is a lot of wierdo there aint' there?" I ask them to qualify that and they say, you know non-christian (or athiests) hippy tree huggers who ain't christian and don't think we should be kicking *** in the middle east." My first thought is "oh you mean free thinkers" but I realize that is a snobby answer so usually I say yeah its pretty liberal in Austin. Austin is the last and outlet for the liberal to feel like something other than a minority thus my analogy of Austin being the new alamo for the liberal in Texas. You can buy t-shirts with the slogan "keep austin wierd" on it at a large number or stores and shops. http://www.keepaustinweird.com/ http://www.keepaustinweird5k.com/ http://austin.about.com/od/keepaustinweird/
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2004/09/09/Focus/Keep-Austin.Weird-713824.shtml
5) website www.austin360.com. This is the main website for the city. The 360 is a highway that is also called the captial of Texas highway. It runs the length of Texas and goes past rolling hills that go for miles outside the city limits. The website has a lot of local politics on it and a good feel for life in the metro.
6) Central texas hill country. Austin is attached to what is known as the central Texas hill country. The city is hilly in and of itself and the surround area brings people who want to hike and camp. There are no mountians just hills. As a result of the geography rock climbing has become very popular here as well as hiking and camping just outside the city limits. I can drive less than 10 miles and be in camping and hiking area...maybe less than 5. Archaeology and anthropology are also big from the universities present and the land. I meet people every year that went on digs just outside the metro. Lance Armstrong has made biking very popular and because of the uneven surface and warm weather professional bikers come here to train
7) Major newspapers. I am going to just list them give a short sentence on them and move on. I am listing them because if you want to know a city you can learn a lot from its newspapers. The austin american statesmen. Biggest paper. Their headquaters is downtown on congress avenue just 10 blocks from the state capital but on the same street. The austin chronicle A leftest publication it has one of the highest ciruclations in the city. If you want to get a feel for the live music scene in austin this is the one to read. Others include the texas observer, and the austin business journal.
8) The capial. Austin is the capital of Texas. The capital is on 11 and 12th street and congress in the middle of downtown. The city is very politcally aware due to the education level of its inhabitants and its being the capital. Activism is also high. The capital itself though is very quite. Going inside the building it is very quite and the star of Texas sits in the middle of the floor. People will stand in the middle of the star and clap once to hear the echo off the cieling. That seems to be a tradtion. Security is moderate to light and other than the extravogant entry way the building seems very ordinary.
9) 6th street. Most cities have their main entertament district or area. For Austin it is 6th street. This section of the city has dance clubs, bars and a large number of places having live music. Tattoo shops, adult novelty stores and head shops are also frequent here. APD (austin police dept) patrol it area on bicycles but there is so little violence that the attitude between officers and the locals is moslty friendly. Drug addicts live on in shelters on 7th and 8th street and sometimes you can see them alseep in the alleyways. Local artists work on the sidewalks selling handmade jewery and drawings. Sidewalk musicains play for tips on the corners. 6th street is open 7 days a week and usually till 2 am on weekdays and sunday and 4 am for dance clubs on fri sat. In Texas bars are requred by law to stop serving at 2 a.m. http://www.6street.com/
10) population and demographics. source (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/planning/planfaqs.htm) (http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/popInfo.php?locIndex=26118)
founded 1839 first capital called waterloo (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/ahc/briefhistory.htm)
population 656 thousand
251 square miles
avg age 32
52-65 % white/ 30 % hispanic 10 % black all others below 10 % Asian 4.7 % (in travis not williamson county)
service industy is 30.6 % trade 22.2 % gov 19.8 % manufacturing 13.1 % all others below 10 %
land is hilly no mountains.
hot 11 months out of the year
well thats the skinny hope to get 10 things about your metro of inhabitance.
