When did old Austin die?

[Anastasis 23454]

When the Draught Horse changed its name. 

[gmr548 16575]

2 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

 Texas pre-game tailgating with more interest in the partying than the team. 

To be fair, since 2010, if your tailgate isn't more fun than the product on the field... Your tailgate sucks.

[52-80 19140]

For me the sweetspot size for a city is 500-700k.  Big enough to have many amenities, but not too big for tons of high rises, interminable Traffic, and corporatization.

 

That inflection point hit Austin sometime around 2000.

 

While the other answers aren't wrong (=perpetual get off my lawn cycle), the Austin I heard about before I arrived was what attracted me, and that character has since been lost, independent of my being there

[Macanudo 12974]

41 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

To be fair, since 2010, if your tailgate isn't more fun than the product on the field... Your tailgate sucks.

Hey, farting in the bathtub and making a poor man's jacuzzi has often times been more fun than Texas football lately.

[BradInATX 9208]

2 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

I’d argue austin is better than ever. Been here since 1990. You’re either growing or stagnant/dying. I much prefer the former. Sure we’ve lost some music venues but we’ve gained many others. We’ve lost restaurants and gained 100x more and a lot more variety. My only real regrets are the traffic and that we’re past the point of mom and pop restaurants being able to make a go of it in a brick and mortar. At least there’s the trailer option I guess.

Austin is great now if you have money. 

At some point roughly starting around the late aughts, it became really difficult for people who were lower-middle-class and below to live comfortably in Austin and enjoy what Austin has to offer. When that happened a lot of original Austinites left or got pushed out. Now the city-center, while still a lot of fun in some ways, is full of new-money tech kids and coastal hipsters. It doesn't feel like the Austin I grew up in. But the "beginning of the end" - when the impetus for the above happened, was probably around the Frost Tower build, so the OP is spot on.

As someone who has lived here my entire life I, like you, still enjoy Austin quite a bit. But it's not the same Austin it used to be and you have to be pretty well-off to enjoy it. 

The only part of Austin that still retains the "old Austin" vibe to some extent is deep south Austin (below Ben White). Downtown/Center City is tech kid/hipster central, north Austin fucking sucks dick, and East Austin is just the outgrowth of downtown slowly pushing what few minorities we have left out of the city. I guess West Austin is still full of yuppie assholes, so nothing there has changed.

Edited February 9, 2020 by BradInATX

[tx 3 putt 76859]

Late 90’s when ‘keep Austin weird’ popped up 

[gmr548 16575]

3 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

Hey, farting in the bathtub and making a poor man's jacuzzi has often times been more fun than Texas football lately.

Didn't know you've been to one of my tailgates!

[gmr548 16575]

2 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

Austin is great now if you have money. 

At some point roughly starting around the late aughts, it became really difficult for people who were lower-middle-class and below to live comfortably in Austin and enjoy what Austin has to offer. When that happened a lot of original Austinites left or got pushed out. Now the city-center, while still a lot of fun in some ways, is full of new-money tech kids and coastal hipsters. It doesn't feel like the Austin I grew up in. 

As someone who has lived here my entire life I, like you, still enjoy Austin quite a bit. But it's not the same Austin it used to be and you have to be pretty well-off to enjoy it. 

The only part of Austin that still retains the "old Austin" vibe to some extent is deep south Austin (below Ben White). Downtown/Center City is tech kid/hipster central, north Austin fucking sucks dick, and East Austin is just the outgrowth of downtown slowly pushing what few minorities we have left out of the city. I guess West Austin is still full of yuppie assholes, so nothing there has changed.

This is really true of most every major American city since the recession.

[BradInATX 9208]

3 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

This is really true of most every major American city since the recession.

Also true, with a few exceptions. Though Austin and NYC are now the only two cities I've ever had a restaurant try to charge me $8 for a can of local beer.

Edited February 9, 2020 by BradInATX

[bolverk 29644]

1 minute ago, tx 3 putt said:

Late 90’s when ‘keep Austin weird’ popped up 

The Keep Austin Weird tag line first came about as a rally cry to support local business in response to the City providing an incentives deal to a developer who wanted to build a shopping center anchored by a Borders bookstore at the corner of 6th and Lamar in the 2002-2003 timeframe.

The owners of Waterloo Records and Book People were justifiably upset about that proposal so they partnered with Robin Rather’s group Livable City to pay for a study that demonstrated independent businesses were better for the economy because profits stayed local. After that report came out, the City backed out of the agreement due to grassroots opposition.

That plot of land was the old car dealership where Whole Foods is now located.

[Message Board User 12394]

23 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

As someone who has lived here my entire life

Username definitely checks out.

[F250 28760]

Once the swimming holes ceased being egalitarian, Austin died.

The David Allen Coe line, "Where Bikers Stare at Cowboys Who Are Laughing At The Hippies." Always reminded me going to a swimming hole in the summer. Usually there was an assortment of dirty bikers, red necks drinking Lone Star, old hippies, college students, normal folk and the random breeze of marijuana.

[Somnio 751]

45 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

slowly pushing what few minorities we have left out of the city.

Not with this bullshit again.  Austin is more diverse than it has ever been.  It is a freaking minority-majority city.  The Hispanic and Asian populations have skyrocketed.  The share of non- Hispanic Whites has dropped 20 percentage points in the last few decades.

And along with the White share, the Black share has also declined.  However, in absolute numbers there are more Black people living in Austin than ever before.

I could post a bunch of links, but I'm not going to bother.  I've done so before, and had negative responses because it doesn't fit in to the narrative certain people wish to believe.

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Degenerate Gardner said:

Coincidentally or not, around the time Circle C went in.

Of course I defer to Armybrat who is a much better authority on Austin during Pangea.

Oh bro, did you guys used to hang out at Pangea over in the Warehouse District about ten years ago?   My crew and I fucking owned that place back in the day.  Wall to wall hot Austin ass and bottle service.  Pangea was the lit spot.  Too bad Austin changed.  

[Deej 76748]

2 hours ago, Anastasis said:

When the Draught Horse changed its name. 

When they changed it to The Draught Horse? It was The Draught House for many years before that. Thankfully, it changed back.

 

[Anastasis 23454]

10 minutes ago, Deej said:

When they changed it to The Draught Horse? It was The Draught House for many years before that. Thankfully, it changed back.

 

Yeah. I am familiar with the history. They changed the name back ca 2000. 

[Deej 76748]

Just now, Anastasis said:

Yeah. I am familiar with the history. They changed the name back ca 2000. 

And that was the beginning of the end. 

[Deej 76748]

Final nails in the coffin were Lala's changing hands and The Poodle Dog becoming The Aristocrat. 

[Anastasis 23454]

1 minute ago, Deej said:

And that was the beginning of the end. 

Precisely my point. Something about punching out the stained glass letters fucked with their juju. Don’t even get me started about the flat panels. 

[Deej 76748]

1 minute ago, Anastasis said:

Precisely my point. Something about punching out the stained glass letters fucked with their juju. Don’t even get me started about the flat panels. 

It crushed my soul to see it changed to Horse. I grew up in that place.

Still have Dry Creek.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Deej

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

Slightly on topic. In going from '96 to '18 w/o seeing Austin, I can't get over how closed in everything felt when returning to Memorial Stadium for a game.  

[Helobious 9461]

1 hour ago, Somnio said:

Not with this bullshit again.  Austin is more diverse than it has ever been.  It is a freaking minority-majority city.  The Hispanic and Asian populations have skyrocketed.  The share of non- Hispanic Whites has dropped 20 percentage points in the last few decades.

And along with the White share, the Black share has also declined.  However, in absolute numbers there are more Black people living in Austin than ever before.

I could post a bunch of links, but I'm not going to bother.  I've done so before, and had negative responses because it doesn't fit in to the narrative certain people wish to believe.

CSB.. me & my cousin were in Austin some months ago to see a concert and we ate at the cedar door before a show. It was Friday night and pretty busy. He kind of looked around and said to me “bro we’re the only mexicans in here I think”. I looked around too and saw he was right. It wasn’t bad or wrong in anyway, but I’ve honestly never been in a place in Texas with that many people and been the only hispanic person. It was just a different experience. So I think it’s safe to say Austin sure “feels” like the whitest city in Texas. Again it’s not like that’s inherently wrong, but it’s definitely noticeable. 

[Bevo 13557]

47 minutes ago, Deej said:

Final nails in the coffin were Lala's changing hands and The Poodle Dog becoming The Aristocrat. 

Tell me about the Poodle Dog Lounge history. I went there once while I was in school. Some Billy Gibbons looking dude missing his front teeth was with his girlfriend who was also missing her front teeth. He looked at me wearing a Polo button down and drawled, "Boy, you as ugly as a mudhen". I started laughing. He said, "Boy, did you hear me? I said you as ugly as a mudhen". By this time, I was almost on the floor. He then said, "You want to fight". And I said, "Naw, I'm good." "You want a beer?" Anyway, that was my one and only experience at the Poodle Dog.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Bevo

[Deej 76748]

3 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Tell me about the Poodle Dog Lounge history. I went there once while I was in school. Some Billy Gibbons looking dude missing his front teeth was with his girlfriend who was also missing his front teeth. He looked at me wearing a Polo button down and drawled, "Boy, you as ugly as a mudhen". I started laughing. He said, "Boy, did you hear me? I said you as ugly as a mudhen". By this time, I was almost on the floor. He then said, "You want to fight". And I said, "Naw, I'm good." "You want a beer?" Anyway, that was my one and only experience at the Poodle Dog.

That pretty much sums it up.

[BradInATX 9208]

1 hour ago, Somnio said:

Not with this bullshit again.  Austin is more diverse than it has ever been.  It is a freaking minority-majority city.  The Hispanic and Asian populations have skyrocketed.  The share of non- Hispanic Whites has dropped 20 percentage points in the last few decades.

And along with the White share, the Black share has also declined.  However, in absolute numbers there are more Black people living in Austin than ever before.

I could post a bunch of links, but I'm not going to bother.  I've done so before, and had negative responses because it doesn't fit in to the narrative certain people wish to believe.

 

Woah, settle down there cracker.

[Bevo 13557]

3 minutes ago, Helobious said:

CSB.. me & my cousin were in Austin some months ago to see a concert and we ate at the cedar door before a show. It was Friday night and pretty busy. He kind of looked around and said to me “bro we’re the only mexicans in here I think”. I looked around too and saw he was right. It wasn’t bad or wrong in anyway, but I’ve honestly never been in a place in Texas with that many people and been the only hispanic person. It was just a different experience. So I think it’s safe to say Austin sure “feels” like the whitest city in Texas. Again it’s not like that’s inherently wrong, but it’s definitely noticeable. 

I have so many Spanish only speaking patients and my workers are mainly hispanic (although none currently speak Spanish). When we go out for lunch at Casita Guanajuato almost everyone is hispanic. I think you are going to Torchy's or El Dorado, not that anything is wrong with that.

[BradInATX 9208]

7 minutes ago, Helobious said:

CSB.. me & my cousin were in Austin some months ago to see a concert and we ate at the cedar door before a show. It was Friday night and pretty busy. He kind of looked around and said to me “bro we’re the only mexicans in here I think”. I looked around too and saw he was right. It wasn’t bad or wrong in anyway, but I’ve honestly never been in a place in Texas with that many people and been the only hispanic person. It was just a different experience. So I think it’s safe to say Austin sure “feels” like the whitest city in Texas. Again it’s not like that’s inherently wrong, but it’s definitely noticeable. 

Yeah I mean you can cite whatever demographics you want but really all you're doing is telling a story of two Austins. If you go to any of the tourism/hospitality/commerce areas of town, it's whiter than hell. I've been to almost every major city in the country and outside of SLC and Provo I've never seen a city more white than Austin in the "visible" areas. 

[utee94 15797]

Austin died when The Stallion closed.

[Deej 76748]

And The Night Hawks, 2-J's, and when Matt's El Rancho moved from 1st Street.

And when Bob Cole became the voice of the Longhorns. 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Deej

[Armybrat 40814]

1 hour ago, Deej said:

Final nails in the coffin were Lala's changing hands and The Poodle Dog becoming The Aristocrat. 

Some of my colleagues liked to hang out there after school in the 1970s & 1980s.

[Armybrat 40814]

24 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Austin died when The Stallion closed.

Along with a lot of folks who had eaten there.

Miss that yaller gravy.

[Deej 76748]

The Poodle Dog sponsored my high school basketball team.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Deej

[Anastasis 23454]

34 minutes ago, Deej said:

And The Night Hawks, 2-J's, and when Matt's El Rancho moved from 1st Street.

And when Bob Cole became the voice of the Longhorns. 

2-Js was high living.

[Anastasis 23454]

Also have fond memories of the ice cream shop in the place where julios is now. Use to walk down there with my grandma. 

[Dewey 3286]

When being weird meant turning a profit.

Things would have changed regardless,  nothing last forever and blah blah blah. I live in a smaller town now and all the natives bitch how things have changed, just like I used to bitch about Austin changing. 

Think I might run for mayor or city council just to fuck with the natives. 

[utee94 15797]

14 minutes ago, Dewey said:

When being weird meant turning a profit.

Things would have changed regardless,  nothing last forever and blah blah blah. I live in a smaller town now and all the natives bitch how things have changed, just like I used to bitch about Austin changing. 

Think I might run for mayor or city council just to fuck with the natives. 

Yup, the only truth uncovered in this thread, is that people always bitch about everything.

 

 

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

6 hours ago, justhookit said:

When Cedar Door moved from the Lamar/1st location. 

beat me to it.  this.

[Iceman 2690]

1836?

[The University 851]

1846.

f anson jones

Edited February 9, 2020 by The University

[Auto Driller 2504]

I was born and raised in Austin. Will be turning 33 pretty soon. I struggle to come up with a single even that marked the change but the completion of the Frost Tower seems like a good enough landmark. I also wouldn’t discount the 2005 national championship. Obviously it was an incredible event for the university and everyone who posts on this site but it also put a huge national spotlight on UT and Austin that probably accelerated the huge influx of immigration into the city. I agree with other posters that you can’t “pause” a city - it has to grow and evolve to survive. But the new Austin isn’t for me. I prefer to remember it for what it was in the 90s and 00s and build a life elsewhere (outside of 6-7 Saturdays in the fall).

Other places that I was sad to see go:

- Players on MLK

- Nau’s in west campus (and the destruction of every non-6-story apartment block complex)

- Pok E Joes on 5th (food wasn’t the best, but I still loved it)

- The original Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar

I could go on...

[hayden_horn 11362]

i came down here in 1996, and i think that was around the time of the transition. i went to shows a liberty lunch and southpark meadows in college. when we won the big xii conference in 96, there was one hell of a party on the drag, with toilet paper, people on top of buses, and there was a bar on 24th that was like a ramshackle fireworks stand. i think it was called wheeler's. they served anyone and everyone that night. i remember watching the cops across the street somewhat warily, but they didn't seem to care, even when the frat boys tried to open the car doors of moving vehicles. a scene like that would NEVER be countenanced today.i think i would maybe, if i had to peg a single event, it was the mardi gras riot in 2001. that may have been the final nail.

ironically, that is exactly five years after i arrived. so @formermav43 was spot fucking on. but i really think it was during that time period from 96-01, when office space came out and the tech industry really blossomed in the 90s. that forced a major demographic change in the city, and it brought money to town. that money meant spending power, and that meant fewer nights out at the nighthawk, or whatever, and more at trulucks. it also meant densification downtown, and more demand for living space downtown. i thought the whole thing was a house of cards when the housing crisis hit, but then, that never really affected austin, because of how many people were moving here. additionally, previously, people came to school here and moved to dallas or houston or san antonio or somewhere else to make a living. suddenly, it was actually possible to stay in austin and get a real job. so, naturally, people did. i did. so really, it's my fault (and the generation of people who went to school from 96-00), as well as the maturation of sxsw, aclfest (started in 2002), and other big time events that brought people to austin and they liked it so much they wanted to move here.

austin became an actual destination, rather than a rinky dink backwater where stevie ray would play tiny clubs. instead, we suddenly had ben kweller and liz phair and rem paying a major outdoor festival on par with the best other fests on the globe. as a result, people came, and wanted to stay.

[Deej 76748]

2 minutes ago, Auto Driller said:

I was born and raised in Austin. Will be turning 33 pretty soon.

So precious.

[XYZ 2154]

All the bad shit happened in the late 90s, such as the closing of Captain Quackenbush’s Intergalactic Espresso and Dessert Company. There’s no way that Austin could recover from that.

[Auto Driller 2504]

10 minutes ago, Deej said:

So precious.

I guess we can’t all be old turds lamenting the arrival of running water.

[Deej 76748]

Just now, Auto Driller said:

I guess we can’t all be old turds lamenting the arrival of running water.

You've mistaken me for Army Brat.

[Carl Spackler 3479]

When I moved away.  Austin hasn't been the same since.

[Red Six 131]

43 minutes ago, Auto Driller said:

I was born and raised in Austin. Will be turning 33 pretty soon. I struggle to come up with a single even that marked the change but the completion of the Frost Tower seems like a good enough landmark. I also wouldn’t discount the 2005 national championship. Obviously it was an incredible event for the university and everyone who posts on this site but it also put a huge national spotlight on UT and Austin that probably accelerated the huge influx of immigration into the city. I agree with other posters that you can’t “pause” a city - it has to grow and evolve to survive. But the new Austin isn’t for me. I prefer to remember it for what it was in the 90s and 00s and build a life elsewhere (outside of 6-7 Saturdays in the fall).

Other places that I was sad to see go:

- Players on MLK

- Nau’s in west campus (and the destruction of every non-6-story apartment block complex)

- Pok E Joes on 5th (food wasn’t the best, but I still loved it)

- The original Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar

I could go on...

 You mean the original Alamo Drafthouse Downtown on Colorado, which was basically Tim League showing weird movies he liked and serving beer, nachos, and burgers while doing so. There were the $1 midnight movies, like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and the mashup of Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. They hosted Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation, which had a guy in an oversize novelty foam cowboy hat handing out flyers on the West Mall. And if you showed up for the 7 p.m. show, you were turned away because it was full, but you could still buy tickets for the 10 p.m. showing, which gave you three hours to go back home and get blazed before coming back for the premiere of Dr. Tran.

Those were good times. But they're over, and the Alamo is now a nationwide chain. I'm not sure if their rise merely coincided with the death of "Old Austin," or if they were a contributor to its demise by commodifying Austin eccentricity with their expansion -- first into Cedar Park, then into the rest of the world -- film festivals, and production companies.

[Harrison Stafford 3335]

I can't tell you when Austin died, but I can tell you when the death march began.  It was the mid 70's amid the resignation of Richard Nixon and the end of the Vietnam War.  The anti-war, anti-establishment activism on campus and in the community fizzled along with a goodly portion of local political activism that had kept Austin developers at bay.  That's when Austin's rapid growth began.  In that same time period,  Schlotzsky's expanded opening it's second location (Dobie Mall) and DKR called it a day. Austin's vibe had shifted.  You could feel it.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Harrison Stafford

[Dewey 3286]

26 minutes ago, Red Six said:

 You mean the original Alamo Drafthouse Downtown on Colorado, which was basically Tim League showing weird movies he liked and serving beer, nachos, and burgers while doing so. There were the $1 midnight movies, like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and the mashup of Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. They hosted Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation, which had a guy in an oversize novelty foam cowboy hat handing out flyers on the West Mall. And if you showed up for the 7 p.m. show, you were turned away because it was full, but you could still buy tickets for the 10 p.m. showing, which gave you three hours to go back home and get blazed before coming back for the premiere of Dr. Tran.

Those were good times. But they're over, and the Alamo is now a nationwide chain. I'm not sure if their rise merely coincided with the death of "Old Austin," or if they were a contributor to its demise by commodifying Austin eccentricity with their expansion -- first into Cedar Park, then into the rest of the world -- film festivals, and production companies.

Something like 5 bucks to see "the Mack" and a free 40 of OE at the door

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Auto Driller said:

I was born and raised in Austin. Will be turning 33 pretty soon. I struggle to come up with a single even that marked the change but the completion of the Frost Tower seems like a good enough landmark. I also wouldn’t discount the 2005 national championship. Obviously it was an incredible event for the university and everyone who posts on this site but it also put a huge national spotlight on UT and Austin that probably accelerated the huge influx of immigration into the city. I agree with other posters that you can’t “pause” a city - it has to grow and evolve to survive. But the new Austin isn’t for me. I prefer to remember it for what it was in the 90s and 00s and build a life elsewhere (outside of 6-7 Saturdays in the fall).

Other places that I was sad to see go:

- Players on MLK

- Nau’s in west campus (and the destruction of every non-6-story apartment block complex)

- Pok E Joes on 5th (food wasn’t the best, but I still loved it)

- The original Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar

I could go on...

I don't want to get all holier than thou true Austinite with you, only been here 25 years as opposed to your 33...but the original Alamo Drafthouse was not on South Lamar.