How does South Central Austin differ from South West Austin? (Round Rock: apartment, lease)

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

I sense some bias here. LOL

Its an Eep!

[artsyguy]

No. He sees things clearly.

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

I sense some bias here. LOL

[senormatt]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

In other words, 78704 is a destination zipcode flooded with people attending venues....... ACL Fest, SoCo, Restaurant Row, Auditorium Shores, Hike and Bike Trail, Long Center, Barton Creek Greenbelt, Zilker Park, Barton Springs Pool, S. Lamar, etc.

There's always something to do in 78704, especially being right next to downtown. Yes it's diverse in that there are some lower income people (what's wrong with that?), but it's mostly people who've been living in the area for many years along with more recently built/remodeled homes and condos. The area I live in is surrounded by at least 50+% nice $350k plus homes and great neighbors, at least half with families and children. Besides being surrounded by nice walkable parks and restaurants, you're pretty much less than 5 minutes away from at least 95% of the best things the city has to offer. I can't think of much of anything I'd drive to go do for fun in Southwest Austin.

Originally Posted by eepstein

Very simple. South Central Austin is mostly filled with a mix of poorer blue collar people and struggling musicians that will never amount to anything (mainly along south congress). There are also quite a few "low budget" and uninteresting shops and restaurants along that same stretch of road. I think this is the area that they consider "the austin vibe". Trashy, run down businesses that cater to hippies is "the austin vibe"?? Ok whatever.

Southwest Austin is far nicer with more money overall. The people are more white collar and it sits more on the edge of the hillbilly county, so the homes are way more expensive. Very nice business out there as well (especially Westlake and southward)

Jeez, when was the last time you've been down there? Last time I walked along South Congress and went into the boutiques/shops they were all too pricey for my liking and I don't remember a single shop catering to "hippies". I think your perception of the area is a little off.

I personally think all the food trailers in the 78704 area are great. Some have really good food at reasonable prices (Anthony Bourdain digs them and is doing a feature on them this summer). Besides the budget food choices which are plentiful and yummy, 78704 has some great restaurants in Austin such as Uchi, Paggi House, Vespaio, South Congress Cafe, Green Pastures, Perla's to name a few.

I can literally eat at a different (good) place in 78704 everyday for AT LEAST a couple months - I don't think any other zip code in Austin has more good food choices.

Some businesses have been in the area for many years so while buildings appearance don't meet your standards, they're Austin originals and are still in business for a reason.

78704 is one of the best places to live in Austin in A LOT of people's opinion. Not sure why you're so hateful against the area, but you probably haven't experienced it fully or had a bad experience. My favorite spots are actually on South Lamar and South 1st rather than Congress myself. If you can't find something you love in the area, you're not looking hard enough - there's something for everyone here.

[austin-steve]

Besides being surrounded by nice walkable parks and restaurants, you're pretty much less than 5 minutes away from at least 95% of the best things the city has to offer. I can't think of much of anything I'd drive to go do for fun in Southwest Austin.

I don't disagree, but most of us don't spend 95% of our lives having fun or enjoying the cool attractions Austin offers, especially with school age kids to haul around in our minivans. So SW Austin, while perhaps not as "fun" as 78704, offers 95% of what most of us boomer-with-kids need for our everyday family lives, like a killer HEB (I know I'm old now - calling a grocery store "killer") and good homes for $120 per sqft vs. $250 psf in 78704.

78704 is where we go to have fun, spend money, observe the natives and remain connected to the vibe and vigor we are in denial about losing after we had kids and left the '04.

I say this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and I know there are families making it work there, and I wish I could, but I crossed over to the other side, at least until the youngest heads to college. After that, might be back as emtpy-nesters when we have more time for the type of fun 78704 offers.

Steve

[tongpa-nyi]

The difference between south central and southwest Austin can be described partially as follows:

South central, you can still find very funky cheap rentals, voting is about 95% liberal, you can walk to 5 different independent coffeehouses and there are many local restaurants and oddball little stores.

SW Austin is full of beautiful trees, is closer to the Greenbelt, is more family-oriented, less densely populated, and less liberal (probably about 65% Democrats, just a wild guess, depending on how one defines SW.)

[senormatt]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I don't disagree, but most of us don't spend 95% of our lives having fun or enjoying the cool attractions Austin offers, especially with school age kids to haul around in our minivans. So SW Austin, while perhaps not as "fun" as 78704, offers 95% of what most of us boomer-with-kids need for our everyday family lives, like a killer HEB (I know I'm old now - calling a grocery store "killer") and good homes for $120 per sqft vs. $250 psf in 78704.

78704 is where we go to have fun, spend money, observe the natives and remain connected to the vibe and vigor we are in denial about losing after we had kids and left the '04.

I say this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and I know there are families making it work there, and I wish I could, but I crossed over to the other side, at least until the youngest heads to college. After that, might be back as emtpy-nesters when we have more time for the type of fun 78704 offers.

Steve

That's very true - can't disagree with you.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I don't disagree, but most of us don't spend 95% of our lives having fun or enjoying the cool attractions Austin offers, especially with school age kids to haul around in our minivans. So SW Austin, while perhaps not as "fun" as 78704, offers 95% of what most of us boomer-with-kids need for our everyday family lives, like a killer HEB (I know I'm old now - calling a grocery store "killer") and good homes for $120 per sqft vs. $250 psf in 78704.

78704 is where we go to have fun, spend money, observe the natives and remain connected to the vibe and vigor we are in denial about losing after we had kids and left the '04.

I say this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and I know there are families making it work there, and I wish I could, but I crossed over to the other side, at least until the youngest heads to college. After that, might be back as emtpy-nesters when we have more time for the type of fun 78704 offers.

I'd like to add that a LOT of the "best things to do that Austin has to offer" are actually kid-friendly, and being exposed to them from an early age creates some interesting adults.

Steve

Speaking as one of those "boomers with kids" families, we quite happily raised kids in 78704 (Barton Hills) for quite some years - until the eldest was off to college and the youngest was in 7th grade and the one thing we couldn't do raising kids in Barton Hills was have our 4 horses right outside the door. Only reason we moved. Granted, I did have to drive her 15 minutes to the Waldorf School every day even though, then, Barton Hills Elementary, which she attended briefly, was considered one of the better in the city due to the demographics of the area surrounding it including a LOT of highly educated parents including UT professors and staff, but I would have had to drive her there no matter where in Austin we lived except right next door to it - in which case we would have had to drive the 15 minutes to get to the rest of the things we liked to do.

We had quite a few neighbors about our age (and younger) raising their kids there, too, so it's not like it's not a family-friendly neighborhood for raising kids AND enjoying all the best that Austin has to offer. It just depends on your priorities and how diverse (in every sense of the word) a neighborhood you want to raise your kids in, I guess. Our children (being 12 years apart, so there was about 30 years of parenting going on there and quite a difference) have grown up living close to UT, in Highland Park over west of Mopac, in Northeast Austin, in Barton Hills, out in the country - in fact, just about everywhere except the places that some consider the "best" place to raise kids. We never lived in an HOA neighborhood with a pool - we used Barton Springs pool and Deep Eddie and Hamilton Pool and the lake, instead. Our neighbors were of all generations and stages of life (just like when I grew up back in the Dark Ages), and our kids were friends with most of them. We ended up in 78704 when the eldest was in high school at private school in the UT area and the youngest was just about to enter kindergarten. Worked great for both of them.

I'd like to add that a LOT of the "best things" that Austin has to offer are actually kid-friendly, and being exposed to them from an early age creates interesting and thoughtful adults, in my experience, well able to function in a variety of locales.

[Betina Foreman]

The thing is Meridian has great builders and gorgeous homes, but they are on small lots and your not going to be able to walk to anything besides your neighbors house. It is way too far to walk up HWY 45 to Escarpment to get the HEB or Santa Rita or Blue Bamboo.

Your better off looking in Legend Oaks, Maple Run, Oak Parke, or SoCo. Some parrts of Oak Hill are walkable to Starbucks or Jack Allen's or Mickey D's.

[doctorjef]

Oak Hill???? Ugh!!!

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Oak Hill???? Ugh!!!

You obviously have not visited in a long time. The Legend Oaks and Circle C areas of Oak Hill are excellent neighborhoods.