Please, Austinites! Help Us Find a Funky Non-corporate Apartment (Dallas: appointed, apartment complexes)
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Please, Austinites! Help Us Find a Funky Non-corporate Apartment
Many thanks for any help in this matter, oh ye Austinites:
We are an artistic, liberal couple with a large German Shepherd who are moving to Austin late January and are seeking a rental property. He is a musician/videographer, she is an actress/philosopher. House or apartment matters not. After much searching online, we are dismayed to see so much bland architecture. No corporate cookie-cutters for us, please! We seek something leafy, quirky, preferably with a yard. We checked smallplanetguide, but again, all the images were of monolithic complexes. Is there a better online guide? Or is craigslist the best way to find what we're looking for? We can spend @ $1300 month, and would prefer to stay in town, as near Whole Foods as possible. (No, neither of us work for Whole Foods. We just feel so much safer in the same neighborhood as $12 lemonade.)
If you can spend $1300 a month, then you should look for houses for rent in Travis Heights, Bouldin, Clarksville, Hyde Park. But many smaller rent houses have been torn down for bigger houses and many of the cool, funky smaller apartment complexes have been flipped as condos (two in my neighborhood alone, and I'm watching a new house rise where a small rent house long was). So it will be harder. Many small complexes and rent houses rarely turn over and usually fill quickly by word of mouth. And coming in from out of town will not help
I'd try an apartment locator, most will also help you find a rental house. Definitely look at Craigslist but at this time of year, it will tough going.
Yea, my wife and I had the same desires when we came here. We a owned a really charming 1920s duplex in Ohio in a walkable, tree-lined street...I remember searching online and being dismayed by the choices in Austin as well.
Fast forward almost two years: We have been reasonably happy in our "complex". Not because we are in love with the architecture and design of our 1984 apartment but simply because we like Austin and our location is great. Since your budget is a bit higher than ours, I will second the suggestion of renting a house in the previously mentioned areas. I would check the near East side as well.
I don't know where you are coming from but the thing you need to know about Austin: it was a small town until the 1960s, and even then remained fairly small. So much of the architecture is 1960s on. And this includes MANY corporate or mega-complexes. The older buildings(up to 1950s)are therefore scarce and priced at a premium. It's not that people here don't want to live in them: they can't afford to. This is opposite of many older cities, where the older houses are often cheaper. The newer condos and apartments here are prohibitively expensive for most people. Thus, most of us are left with 1970s-80s apartment complexes.
You may indeed find what you are looking for, but the sooner you understand this about Austin, the more you will be able to adjust and enjoy living here. It was hard for us at first.
My brother lives in Austin, so I have spent a lot of time down there, looking around at different neighborhoods. I live in Chicago (a very liberal city) and always heard about how 'funky and liberal' Austin was. So, I have done a lot of research and tried to find neighborhoods that are very similar to the hip, progressive neighborhoods that we have here.
First you have to understand something - Austin has always been a smaller town, geographically, so the neighborhoods themselves are smaller as well.
centralaustinite is correct - the 'hip, funky progressive' neighborhoods - the ones that capture and represent the essence and vibe of what Austin has always been known for - are Travis Heights, Bouldin, Clarksville, and Hyde Park. Most of the homes in these neighborhoods are going to be older bungalows, single family homes. yes there are many mature trees on many of the properties, and yes, just like most "progressive" neighborhoods, every 3rd house is painted purple. The 'main streets' that run thru this neighborhood (South Congress Avenue and Lamar Avenue) have the typical "revolutionary street mural" feel to it, and is home to many unique restaurants and boutiques. The general vibe is fun, funky 'lowbrow' hipster culture (old gas stations and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer).
Austin used to be very inexpensive, but as the word has gotten out about how great Austin in, MANY people have moved there and the prices have gone through the roof. And it is very difficult to find bungalows and rental properties in these cool neighborhoods, at ANY price, as it seems there are a lot of people with the same idea of living there.
Plus, many areas of Austina re losing its funky flavor...many areas of downtown/South Austin are being developed into high-rise condos...trying to look more like Miami/South Beach than the traditional, unique Austin vibe.
Yea, my wife and I had the same desires when we came here. We a owned a really charming 1920s duplex in Ohio in a walkable, tree-lined street...I remember searching online and being dismayed by the choices in Austin as well.
Fast forward almost two years: We have been reasonably happy in our "complex". Not because we are in love with the architecture and design of our 1984 apartment but simply because we like Austin and our location is great. Since your budget is a bit higher than ours, I will second the suggestion of renting a house in the previously mentioned areas. I would check the near East side as well.
I don't know where you are coming from but the thing you need to know about Austin: it was a small town until the 1960s, and even then remained fairly small. So much of the architecture is 1960s on. And this includes MANY corporate or mega-complexes. The older buildings(up to 1950s)are therefore scarce and priced at a premium. It's not that people here don't want to live in them: they can't afford to. This is opposite of many older cities, where the older houses are often cheaper. The newer condos and apartments here are prohibitively expensive for most people. Thus, most of us are left with 1970s-80s apartment complexes.
You may indeed find what you are looking for, but the sooner you understand this about Austin, the more you will be able to adjust and enjoy living here. It was hard for us at first.
Twange is spot on here.
Another thing I want to mention, one of my hobbies, is to visit and explore many of the 'cool, hip progressive, walkable, fun' neighborhoods here in the US. Most of these neighborhoods exist in cities such as NYC, Chicago, San Fran, Seatlle, Portland, and Boulder, with some smaller, developing areas in places like Dallas, Cincinnati, Washington DC, etc.
Austin is a smaller town, that has a long history of progressivism, and was known as a haven for hippes, etc. This is because of the University of Texas being located there, as well as Austin being a state capital.
So, with this history, and always hearing about how great and cool Austin was, I was excited to check it out when my brother moved down there. I thought it was going to be a warm, cheaper version of San Fransisco, but I have to admit I was disappointed. It is a cool place, but I expected Clarksville, and South Congress/Travis Heights, to be large, super-densified neighborhoods, similar to something in San Fran, or like Lakeview/Wicker Park in Chicago, with 100,000 people living in the neighborhood, hordes of people walking around, biking, hanging out, etc, but soon realized that most of Austin is NOT walkable, and that "SoCo" is basicly only 5 blocks long, and only 2-3 blocks each direction off of the main street. Although most of the people in these small neighborhoods seem to be cool, young and hip, again, these neighborhoods are VERY small, geographically speaking, and not very dense. Most of the 'hip scene' lives spread out all over the Austin area, as opposed to living in one large, dense neighborhood.
Having said all of that, I think Austin is a really cool city! The scene, and the neighborhoods themselves, are just configured slightly different than the more well-known enclaves in San Fran and Chicago. So my advice would be to adjust my expectations of Austin to make up for this...Just my $4.20 of advice.
If you come to Austin expecting it to be a version of somewhere else, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. For that matter, if you go anywhere expecting it to be a version of someplace else, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
If you come to Austin expecting it to be a version of somewhere else, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. For that matter, if you go anywhere expecting it to be a version of someplace else, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
This is very true, but, years ago I had a job that entailed travelling quite a bit, and I had the opportunity to visit many places, including NYC, SF, Portland, Seattle, etc and many of these places, although each one unique in their own way, all had each of the following things in common:
1. Dense, urban, centrally located, "older" neighborhoods with amazing architecture and street vistas
2. Amazing views of the skyline
4. Many services located within walking distance (unique coffee shops, grocery stores, dry cleaners, bars/restaurants, nightlife etc)
5. Access to GOOD, COMPREHENSIVE public transportation (Many people in NYC, Chi, and SF do not even own cars!)
6. Interesting vibe, music, culture
7. Significantly large populations of people (mostly students and young professionals) who are able to keep the hip vibe, nightlife, and culture alive (example, the neighborhood of Lakeview, in Chicago, has 100,000+ people).
Austin only has *some* of the elements listed above, and the elements that Austin does have, seem to be in a much smaller quantity.
Expecting any place to be exactly like another is always foolish.
For example, NYC is not like SF, or Portland, or Boston, or Chicago, or Toronto or Montreal. They are all vastly different from each other in terms of personality and culture. However, there are certain basic characteristics that these cities all share(as do most great and "progressive" cities, as far back as history takes us): walkable well-defined pedestrian infrastructure, dense neighborhoods in the downtown, good public transportation, and well defined districts. In this way, Austin isn't quite there yet, and I think that's what many folks find lacking here. Austin is no longer the small, college/state government town it was in the 70s, so these missing elements seem magnified.
But there are some good things happening - despite all the doom and gloom from some that think Austin is getting ruined by newcomers. The city has completed it's Pedestrian Master Plan to improve(and encourage) walk-ability in the central core, the council is aggressively pursuing the first phases of a much-needed Central Austin streetcar system(not to be confused with the regional commuter train), and most of the development downtown is focused on creating residential density(most of it replacing parking lots). The flaw as I see it, is that the vast majority of these new residential condos are of the expensive, luxury sort. This certainly won't help to create an economically diverse downtown population and will encourage a pretty homogenous downtown culture instead. But maybe I'm just jealous
The key is if you can be patient while all of this stuff is happening. Or if you're better off moving to an older, better established city with more options. One thing is for sure: Austin won't go back to what it was before, so how it changes will be crucial: will it become a 21st century city that is progressive, green, dense in the middle and sparse on the outside, with a unique flavor...or a sprawling, boring anywhere-U.S.A. megalopolis with no distinct personality?
I think judging Austin as a large metropolis now, does it a disservice. I also think judging it on what it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago and giving it a pass on its short-comings now is also harmful and myopic. It is simply a city experiencing it's major growth spurt in the early 21st century with many growing pains. And its citizens should demand the best for its future.
Sorry Smart GXL! I was writing while you were and I'm afraid I repeated your same thoughts I knew I should have taken typing classes back in the day...
I think it's likely that, being in Texas, we don't want to pack ourselves on top of each other - that's a different kind of "vibe" than Texas in general, and Austin in particular, is known for. 100,000+ people in one neighborhood spells nightmare to me, for example - and would have when I was young and "hip" (or, rather, hippie, I guess), unless you count a neighborhood like Woodstock that only lasted a few days. That's an event, not a life. That's very much NOT what Austin has been all about, though a lot of newcomers seem bent on making it that way. (Downtown is pretty unrecognizable as being Austin, for one thing - it actually reminds me of downtown Dallas a couple of decades back, and that's not a compliment - what works in Dallas, doesn't work in Austin, that's why they're two different places.)
Our public transportation could use some work, and it's getting there, but, remember, one, the growth happened pretty rapidly and it sometime takes a while to catch up, and second, "if you build it they will come", see one.
That being said, as I said, if you come to any one city expecting it to be like another place that you might like better, you'll be disappointed. If, instead, you can approach each place seeking the things that make it unique and different from other places and appreciate those things rather than trying to fit the place (wherever it might be) into one or more of the boxes you're carrying around with you from other places, you might find that you'll like it better. Or not.
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I knew I should have taken typing classes back in the day...
