When did old Austin die?

[Auto Driller 2,504]

9 minutes ago, Lobo said:

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.  

In this context I was comparing it to the “new” Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar which is really just an appendage of another soulless apartment / condo complex. But point taken - that was before my time. 

[MAUFRAIS 6,614]

Maybe he meant the original one that was there. Or maybe he was 20 when the old one closed so be didn’t know about it.

Had some friends in to visit during college and we took them to QT Fest. Their jaws hit the floor when Tarantino walked to the front and introduced the movie and told a story about Michael Madsen finding the abortion scene we were about to see “really hot.”

[crash_davis 23,094]

Who gives a shit when old Austin died?

I like the new Austin. I liked the old Austin. I'll like newer Austin when someone bitches in 10 years how Austin was cool 10 years before.

New Austin, old Austin, it beats the shit out of living in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and anywhere else in Texas.

 

[Guest Lobo]

Just now, Auto Driller said:

In this context I was comparing it to the “new” Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar which is really just an appendage of another soulless apartment / condo complex. But point taken - that was before my time. 

Fair enough, I remember when it first opened trying to finagle through those tight diagonal parking spaces.  We used to just give up and park in the way back.  But you'd miss the experience of walking past those used clothes boutiques and bookstores and vitamin shoppes.  We actually enjoyed it because you could walk around with a beer and shop before the show started and nobody said a word because they didn't have that pre-bar license yet.  Anyway, we'd do that all the time.  We were there for one of the first shows of the first theater and then again after the remodel.  We aren't native Austinties but we've been a part of many South Austin landmark moments.  But I'd say the old Drafthouse circa early 2000's with Maebe was a big hit.  

[Dbeasy 15,039]

It all started gong downhill when in 1925 they started calling The Lunatic Asylum The Austin State Hospital.

[Wally Pryor 5,261]

When SXSW started in '87.   That was the beginning of the end. People "found" Austin. 

155 (net) people moving here every day now but things were fucked long before, unfortunately.  

But, yes, it goes back to SXSW.

[utee94 15,797]

Old Austin died when they ended the "ethnic nights" for Aquafest and started bringing in headline acts.

 

 

[BottleRocket 644]

I think old Austin is still alive and kicking but if your not 18 to 25 years old and nearly broke you’re no longer able to see it.

[Somnio 751]

3 hours ago, BradInATX said:

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. 

I don't know what to tell you.  I work right in the center of downtown.  I know the people who work in my building, and I see the faces on the streets when I walk around.  I see things much differently. 

And the demographics say what you're saying is flat out wrong.  There are more "minorities" in Austin than White people.  And since this whole discussion is about your statement insinuating Austin used to have more minorities than now, it's utterly ridiculous.

Ain't nothing wrong with it, it's your life, but it tells me you live in a bubble.  Your neighborhood is super White, so Austin must be.  Your friends and co-workers are super White, so Austin must be.  Where you hang out is super White....

In my day to day life it's not uncommon for me as a White person to be in the minority.  I shop at HEB, I go to chain stores in strip malls, and I take my daughter to all types of kid friendly places like the Thinkery, story times at the library, splash pads, school related events, go to the movies (not the Drafthouse).  Again, often times we as White people are the minority.  Certainly nothing wrong with that, just saying.

I also don't live in Barton Hills or Tarrytown, shop at Whole Foods, eat at pricey restaurants, drink at trendy bars, go to ACL tapings, etc.

Anyways, my rant is over.  I'm sure your viewpoint isn't changed.  Big waste of time.  It's just interesting to see how your experience is so much different than mine.

Peace!

 

 

[BradInATX 9,208]

14 minutes ago, Somnio said:

I don't know what to tell you.  I work right in the center of downtown.  I know the people who work in my building, and I see the faces on the streets when I walk around.  I see things much differently. 

And the demographics say what you're saying is flat out wrong.  There are more "minorities" in Austin than White people.  And since this whole discussion is about your statement insinuating Austin used to have more minorities than now, it's utterly ridiculous.

Ain't nothing wrong with it, it's your life, but it tells me you live in a bubble.  Your neighborhood is super White, so Austin must be.  Your friends and co-workers are super White, so Austin must be.  Where you hang out is super White....

In my day to day life it's not uncommon for me as a White person to be in the minority.  I shop at HEB, I go to chain stores in strip malls, and I take my daughter to all types of kid friendly places like the Thinkery, story times at the library, splash pads, school related events, go to the movies (not the Drafthouse).  Again, often times we as White people are the minority.  Certainly nothing wrong with that, just saying.

I also don't live in Barton Hills or Tarrytown, shop at Whole Foods, eat at pricey restaurants, drink at trendy bars, go to ACL tapings, etc.

Anyways, my rant is over.  I'm sure your viewpoint isn't changed.  Big waste of time.  It's just interesting to see how your experience is so much different than mine.

Peace!

 

 

 

I've lived here my entire life. I was born at Seton downtown. I've spent almost two decades of my life working downtown. I've forgotten more about this city than you'll ever know.

Look at this map and tell me that center city and the tourist areas are not white as hell. Anyone that knows anything about this city knows almost all of the minorities are east of the highway. Stop being a clown.

PS - I live in a 40-60% zone, so shove your "bubble" up your transplanted from California ass.

Edited February 10, 2020 by BradInATX

[Somnio 751]

Born and raised puto.  You're full of shit.

[BradInATX 9,208]

2 minutes ago, Somnio said:

Born and raised puto.  You're full of shit.

Do you know how to read a map? 

Literally nobody that has lived in Austin for any significant portion of time would ever make the claim that Austin is anything but lily fuckin' white west of the highway. Nobody that's not an absolute idiot, anyway.

So you're either lying or stupid. Not sure which nor do I care. 

Edited February 10, 2020 by BradInATX

[Somnio 751]

Funny how the map you posted stops at 183.  Or is that not really Austin.

Also, what census data is this map showing?  2000?  2010?

But regardless, I'll reiterate that this whole discussion stems from your idiotic statement talking about the last minorities left being pushed out.  Fucking asinine bullshit on your part.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Somnio

[XYZ 2,154]

Yeah, all you need to do is visit Houston or Dallas to realize how white Austin is.

[BradInATX 9,208]

2 minutes ago, Somnio said:

Funny how the map you posted stops at 183.  Or is that not really Austin.

Also, what census data is this map showing?  2000?  2010?

But regardless, I'll reiterate that this whole discussion stems from your idiotic statement talking about the last minorities left being pushed out.  Fucking asinine bullshit on your part.

I mean it's not. The map proves my point exactly.

Where is all of the purple (super white)? Center city and the tourist/entertainment areas

Where is all of the white/yellow (minority heavy)? East of the highway and far north Austin

 

Here's the full map for you, as well as another helpful link that you might be able to use:

http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Planning/Demographics/anglos_2010_core_per.pdf

https://www.wikihow.life/Read-a-Map

 

[BradInATX 9,208]

1 minute ago, XYZ said:

Yeah, all you need to do is visit Houston or Dallas to realize how white Austin is.

Or just about any major city in the country that's not in Utah

Edited February 10, 2020 by BradInATX

[Somnio 751]

Fuck off.  You said something stupid.  I called you on it, and now you're mad.  Bye bye!

[BradInATX 9,208]

Also, Somnio, why are you so defensive about this issue? It's a really stupid and odd hill to die on. It's off-puttingly strange and a bit creepy. I have a huge social circle of people who were born and raised here and not a single one one of us would ever argue that Austin isn't lily-white, and we definitely wouldn't get mad if someone said it was. 

ETA: Damn you just said "bye bye", yeah, you're weird as shit.

Edited February 10, 2020 by BradInATX

[staboner 4,969]

not this shit again lawd

[Bevo 13,558]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the racial composition of Austin is:

• Anglo (Non-Hispanic White): 48.9%
• Hispanic or Latino: 34.5%
• African American: 7.6%
• Asian: 6.8%
• Other: 2.2%

[Helobious 9,459]

Yeah, even statistically speaking austin is the whitest major city in Texas. It’s not even remotely close either. 

[Fastbreak 3,973]

When Holiday House closed

[Stunns38 3,460]

Can’t say when it died but the douchebag factor started increasing exponentially around 2004 or so.

[troph 24,781]

When Oltorf and South First became a safe enough hood that the police substation could be closed down.

[troph 24,781]

When the tug of war across town lake between the bubbas and the yuppies stopped happening.

[Not that Bob 735]

Nail poised above coffin lid in 1977 when Ron Mullen was elected to City Council. Nail firmly driven into coffin lid in 1983 when he was elected Mayor. 

[ButtFumble 5,164]

8 hours 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. 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.

boy people used to really give me shit for saying something similar to this years ago

really Austin has always been this way because of UT.....maybe back in the early 80s not so much, but from the late 80s on Austin was always better if you had a lot more money

back when OnE MiLlIoN DoLlArS was a lot of money I used to say that Austin was a great place after you made your first million.....now it is probably $4 or $5 million

even back in the late 80s early 90s (when I was around Austin the most) there were so many UT students and so many SWTSU students (that lived in Austin and drove there) and the ACC students that ran around pretending they would somehow get a 4 year degree of they just went to ACC for 12 years or finally be able to transfer into UT that rent was pretty high compared to most of Texas to live in a decent place and the "if we just do not build infrastructure people will not move here" sentiments were so ingrained that housing overall was just a lot more expensive

there was the lack of real industry (before "tech" exploded) besides government and UT so it was hard to have a really good paying job even with a college degree plus there were still those that would work for less to be in Austin with a degree

then of course most of the jobs in Austin outside of government and UT were service industry jobs and those were competitive as shit and paid like shit even compared to other service industry jobs in Texas because of so many students and the futon surfers that wanted to be in Austin

people always wanted to talk about all the great shit to do especially outdoors and that was 100% true, but there were so many fucking futon surfers littering Austin along with students that on weekends and other days when most people that were in school and or worked a 9-5 job could be at those places doing those things they were pretty crowded......now before the population exploded there were enough of those things that you could still find your spot especially if you knew where to go or what to do or knew some locals (I knew some from work) and knew a few less well known things

but after a while those things always seemed to be crowded and the futon surfers were just more broke as well.....the only people that could really enjoy all the "cool shit in Austin" were people that had money and thus were not stuck working the same general hours as everyone else or people that made their own hours (and probably still made money) and thus they could be free to do shit when it was less crowded

but even then in Austin because of UT and shit being open later and when the economy in general in the USA went to late night stores or a lot of stuff open 24X7 even some of those career ACC students and futon surfers could adjust their schedules to now be off during the "less crowded hours" at all the cool shit to do and thus all that stuff started to be more crowded all the time.....so for instance if you wanted to be on Lake Austin when it was not jam packed you had to be in there Tuesday or Wednesday before noon or after 5:30 in the summer (when it got dark later so you still had plenty of day light)....pretty much most of the rest of the time City Park and the and other places were jam packed and the lake itself was packed often with people trying to run around and "squeeze it all in" before they had to rush home to get changed and to their service job later that evening

same with anything else....disk golf, Barton Springs, Golf, and on and on

and to be clear I am not knocking people for not having money or for making some life style choice, but a lot of those people were like a parody of what they did not like especially the non-student futon surfers and the career ACC students.....they were in Austin, making shit money, at a dead end job, with no career advancement especially if they were not willing to move out of Austin, crowding the shit out of everything, complaining about being broke, complaining about how crowded shit is, complaining about how expensive it is, complaining their job paid shit, always worn out ragged, often doing the same shit over and over and over, and yet trying to put on this "I am cooler than everyone because Austin" attitude.....if social media had been a thing back then it probably would have been that much worse with endless selfies of people doing the same shit day in and day out while looking worn the fuck out and all the pics are filled with others just like them

again people can live their life,  but that really caught up to a lot of them fast when "tech" kicked in and Austin became really expensive and suddenly there were a lot of people with a lot of money (especially younger) and a lot of people that made their own hours, and a lot of people that made good money even in some 24X7 jobs while still being somewhat a worker bee...the only thing that helped some of those not cashing in on "tech" was when all of that exploded the service industry jobs exploded as well and thus there were more "management" jobs that paid at least decent and if you saw what was coming you might have been able to cash in on some property appreciation as you flipped from "hot spot" to "hot spot" and maybe kept a rental house or got married to someone else that also had a house and rented one out....or a few moved higher into management as Austin exploded and got control of their schedule and made pretty good money

and with that and the general growth pretty much nothing is not crowded most of the time and with all of those that have plenty of cash well even in the "off hours" for cool shit you still have them around

[DalTxHornFan 3,097]

It happened when the NIMBY Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association, backed by the ANC and Austin City Council, forced the Austin Aqua Festival to abandon the 10 night format and go to weekends only.  Weekend talent is more expensive and there is more competition for entertainment dollars on weekends.  Aqua Festival was bankrupt a couple of years after that.  Lets hear it for the soulless successors, SXSW, C3 Productions, and ACL Festival!

 

[Texas_Rocks 346]

When some good boys drunk on whiskey and wine took the Chevy to the levy.

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

11 hours ago, bolverk said:

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.

It was before I moved in 2001. Wikipedia says 2000, which sounds correct. I saw a Keep Billings Weird bumper sticker by 2003.  Or maybe it was Helena. 

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

Instead of an event, I think it mirrored the lingering decline and death of Austin Aqua Festival from the mid-80s to the late-90s.

[Armybrat 40,814]

11 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

It all started gong downhill when in 1925 they started calling The Lunatic Asylum The Austin State Hospital.

Then the CR co-opted the old name.

[Armybrat 40,814]

10 hours ago, staboner said:

not this shit again lawd

Yeah, the natives are restless.

[XYZ 2,154]

It’s a message board to talk about stupid shit. Objection overruled.

[BradInATX 9,208]

When Oltorf and South First became a safe enough hood that the police substation could be closed down.

In a similar vein, when the South Congees Motel went from an hourly rate whore house to a $300/night upscale hipster hotel. That slays me every time.

[Armybrat 40,814]

What is stupid is to pay $1,000/sq.ft for a downtown condo and 70 cents/sq.ft/month HOA fees to mimic the NYC hipster lifestyle.

[Armybrat 40,814]

1 minute ago, BradInATX said:

9 hours ago, troph said:

When Oltorf and South First became a safe enough hood that the police substation could be closed down.

In a similar vein, when the South Congees Motel went from an hourly rate whore house to a $300/night upscale hipster hotel. That slays me every time.

I thought they tore down the M&M Courts when S. Congress was rerouted.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Armybrat

[Lat22 4,010]

When they tore down the shanty?

[Bevo 13,558]

When Fred Akers became head coach?

[Cajun 11,705]

39 minutes ago, Lat22 said:

When they tore down the shanty?

"Release Nelson Mandela, ba duh bum bum..."

[Cajun 11,705]

I don't know exactly when it died, but time was called when some fuck took a cute word of mouth local saying and decided to homogenize, pasteurize, mass produce, and put the resulting product on a truck to fucking California...

Fuck you whoever you are!

[utee94 15,797]

Old Austin died when they paved paradise, and put up a parking lot.

[DaysOff 7,943]

When they tore down the shanty?

Had a drunk friend get arrested for kicking a good portion of that eyesore down. Doubt he was the only one.

[DonnyKerabatsos 86]

when they turned 2222 and 620 into major highways.

When Willie quit doing 4th of July Picnics for years.

when the F4 phantoms from Bergrstrom went silent.

when Texas tore down the horseshoe.

Mr Gattis went all in with Gatti Town.

 

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

One thing is for certain. The day Austin ceases to exist is day no one brings up race on every fucking Surly thread. 

[sidis 9,820]

i am always fascinated when these periodic pseudo-nostalgia threads pop up and they elicit such an astounding amount of vitriol over the most banal and inconsequential bullshit.

[utee94 15,797]

This is surly.  Banal bullshit is like our calling card.

 

 

[BabaYaga 15,286]

It died on Mopac.  It died on I35.  It died along side a little piece of your soul you lose everyday sitting there with your thumb up your ass in a sea of never-ending fucking traffic.

[alincoln 2,371]

[Bateshorn 9,927]

It died sometime between the last time I flew out of Robert Mueller and landed at Bergstrom for the first time.