"Austin Weird" (Houston, Cleveland: HOA, neighborhoods, buying)

[fil]

Haha, I live in the Mountain and drive by it on the way to 620/Anderson Mill...the guy was out there on Saturday digging a moat around the front door...no kidding.

We almost took a walk just to stop by and ask him WTF.

Weird. You figure their association would have stopped that.

[TERRIE]

Who's Leslie?

[atxcio]

Leslie attends anything in Austin that is free, and lives on the street. Gets a lot of exposure, ran for mayor, etc...

Leslie Cochran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And there is the other political person-of-uncertain-gender:

http://www.jennifergale.com/

Other Austin weird things:

- Hippy Hollow (Google it, don't think I can post the link)
- Alex Jones
- Spamarama (annual spam festival)
- Eeyore's birthday (annual hippie festival, although slim on the hippies now)
- Disc Golf
- O'Henry Punoff
- Palmer Auditiorium (oh wait, that's gone... but some remnants on performing arts center) & City Coliseum
- 290/71/360/S Mopac/SW Pkway/S Lamar "interchange" in South Austin
- Mike Judge, Bruce Sterling, "Onward Through the Fog", Slacker, Timbuk 2, Max Nofziger, homeless taking hostages on town lake, Lord English, and a bazillion other items of historical Austin wierdness

[brattpowered]

Originally Posted by fil

Haha, I live in the Mountain and drive by it on the way to 620/Anderson Mill...the guy was out there on Saturday digging a moat around the front door...no kidding.

We almost took a walk just to stop by and ask him WTF.

Weird. You figure their association would have stopped that.

LOL... I was waiting for that house to come up in conversation here. I drove some out of town guests around the city earlier this month, and they all thought that was the most ridiculous thing ever. Where we are from (CT) there is a whole lot of money and some people make their homes look like realistic chateaus or palaces-- but not the turret-and-moat style castles of children's imaginations. We all got a good laugh out of that place.

[2lizards]

Originally Posted by traceyr13

See, I thought of Leslie too...but then realized that is the only example that really comes to mind. Which really isn't all that weird, if you have spent anytime in downtown New York City, Washington DC, Boston, etc. So I don't really get the whole "Keep Austin Weird" thing, as an East Coaster for almost my entire life.

I think Austin might be weird for Texas, but I don't think it's as wacky as the travel/tourism board touts it as. Don't get me wrong, I love my new adopted home, I just don't think it's particularly "weird".

I saw in a recent edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Portland, Oregon also uses the slogan: "Keep Portland Weird." I don't know if they mean the same thing by the phrase as Austin does.

The one souvenir I took back from Austin last summer was a Keep Austin Weird bumper sticker, which I proudly display on my car. I doubt many in Knoxville know what it's about ("Who's Austin?" ).

[Thorga]

Originally Posted by atxcio

homeless taking hostages on town lake,

ummmm, what? The homeless take hostages? I've seen a LOT of weirdness in my day after 7 years in LA and 2 in Portland (gang member BBQ's, truce day on the Venice boardwalk, people with tinfoil hats, man's head in my dumpster) but I have never heard of the homeless taking hostages. Can you point me to an article about this?

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by Thorga

ummmm, what? The homeless take hostages? I've seen a LOT of weirdness in my day after 7 years in LA and 2 in Portland (gang member BBQ's, truce day on the Venice boardwalk, people with tinfoil hats, man's head in my dumpster) but I have never heard of the homeless taking hostages. Can you point me to an article about this?

Don't be alarmed. The "hostages" were some geese or something... hence the weird part. It's an OLD story, early eighties or something, I'm not even having much luck googling it. This is all I could find... it's sort of mentioned in some of the backstory:
Homer the Homeless Goose

[twange]

Originally Posted by Thorga

man's head in my dumpster)

Good Lord!

I'm not sure if that qualifies as weird. More like downright goulish...

[Phisch]

It's dumpster diving. Not too uncommon of an occurrence in Southern California if you know where to look.

[TheHarvester]

Leslie is the unofficial mayor of Austin Weird, and since he has been mentioned a few times I figure we should include a photo:



Aside from that, daily life is what's "weird." It's not really weird, the slogan is actually a movement that is all about supporting local businesses, the amazingly vibrant indy coffeehouse scene (instead of Starbucks) and having yard art, a sofa on your front porch, being defiant against the Steiner Ranch type of mentality that is even prevalent on this very forum.

An example of Austin Weird in my apartment complex is the two maintenance guys. They're nothing to write home about, but the fact that they're representative of the subculture is what tells the story. One of them has neon-blue hair, the other one has a long pony tail with pink and purple streaks. No big deal.

If you live in a subdivision with CCR's that say you have to close your garage door at night, then you're NOT experiencing Austin. People get really defensive about this, but it's simply a choice. If you're happy with your choice to live in a generic subdivision then you shouldn't feel a need to defend yourself. If you feel defensive when people (like me) bash suburban living, then maybe you're in denial about your own feelings. Choose what you want. Let South Austin (the last bastion of Austin weird) be itself. It will eventually get overrun with corporate money and uptight Californians who want to control everyone else's behavior, so it's only a matter of time before Leslie and the indy coffeehouses are gone and there will be trendy high-priced restaurants and chic department stores and Starbucks on every corner.

*sigh*