San Antonio or Austin, where should we relocate? (Houston, Dallas: middle-class, apartment)

[deadcoder]

San Antonio... San Antonio... San Antonio
because I love this city

[googie2525]

Originally Posted by Chaka

LOL! I think that's a fair, generic representation.

we fit #1 almost entirely (some would argue we're not youngish anymore though....). Ok, and I just let my subscription to Dwell lapse. But we're in San Antonio's little liberal/artsy/few TVs enclave. I guess we're in the wrong place. Too bad my husband's company won't move to Austin!

Yeah, it was fairly generic I'd say, and we definately fit #1 hand-in-glove as well, ALTHOUGH I do love my television(s) - why, how else would I watch my Ingmar Bergman discs?

But seriously, being childless, youngish (I'm 37, but quite immature, the missus 25, and very mature), we really miss all the great things Austin has to offer: the GREAT live music, the WAY better shopping (in the way of great vintage clothing selections mainly), the superior eateries and art galleries, and whenever Alamo Drafthouse brings down QT (as in Tarantino) or some obscure 70's biker flick director for a Q&A/film fest thang, I just seethe with envy.

BUT, Austin IS changing, it's becoming polorized in many ways (the "burbs versus the soco's" thang) - but I don't think it'll ever really lose that "Keep Austin Weird" spark being a college town, etc.

And yeah, I let my Dwell sub expire too, although I did renew my Atomic Ranch, Interview, and Wallpaper subs!

[Chaka]

Oh, we OWN a TV, but we use it mainly for DVDs. Rarely watch network, and we don't have cable.

We DO have a kid, so our nightlife is limited anyway...but if you're youngish at 37 I guess I count too...Ya know, though, I've had bad luck with restaurants in Austin. I go fairly often, and except for one Thai place I LOVE, I've yet to find a restaurant I've been really excited about. I have had better luck in SA, but that is likely 'cause I live here and know where to go. Help me out. I'll be there again in a couple of weeks. Staying near University area. love Indian/Thai/Italian (tho not really American Italian all sauce)/Persian/Middle Eastern but also COntinental foofy places too Where to go? Ideally on the quieter side. Having a kid, I like to take advantage of 'alone' time when I'm away for work and eat with my book for company rather than a rock band. Though I do like my rock bands

[texasgirl1]

Ya know, though, I've had bad luck with restaurants in Austin. I go fairly often, and except for one Thai place I LOVE, I've yet to find a restaurant I've been really excited about. I have had better luck in SA, but that is likely 'cause I live here and know where to go. Help me out. I'll be there again in a couple of weeks. Staying near University area. love Indian/Thai/Italian (tho not really American Italian all sauce)/Persian/Middle Eastern but also COntinental foofy places too Where to go? Ideally on the quieter side. Having a kid, I like to take advantage of 'alone' time when I'm away for work and eat with my book for company rather than a rock band. Though I do like my rock bands [/quote]


These are closer to downtown area which is only a few blocks: Try Clay Pit, Mars, Cafe Josie, & Uchi (if you like Japanese/sushi)

[JuneOf48]

I have a feeling that I'd like living in Austin. I have good friends there, and I go up often. Nevertheless, there's something in me that really likes LIKING San Antonio. I never really knew what people meant when they talked about "liberal elitism" until I saw the reaction of some self-identifying "liberal" people to life in San Antonio. If you think that being "liberal" implies having constant access to high-class, high-status consumption choices--think a taste for distinction a la Vanity Fair--San Antonio will come as a letdown. There aren't fabulously dressed people everywhere. There aren't a million and a half wine bars or hipster clubs. High-priced, local, organic cuisine is not available on every corner. You won't find the next-most-hippest-band playing every night of the week. This is all very true.

The "liberals" whom I know that like San Antonio have a different perspective. They're more of the old school populist-humanist variety, a la Studs Terkel or Jonathan Sayles. They like living around all sorts of different folks. They like living around poor folks. They don't want to be spoon-fed high-priced commodities on a daily level. They appreciate building communities that are somewhat "off the grid." They appreciate that San Antonio feels more like Mexico than it does San Francisco or New York. They like to share a (very cheap) beer with a soldier, a cowboy, or someone whose immigration status they're not even sure of. They get off on the common bond that they feel with friendly people who seem so very different at first glance. And they like to participate in the nice little chunks of intellectual, independent, and critical cultural life that this city DOES have to offer, at least if you live close to downtown.

Basically, if I were to live in Austin, I'd feel like I was living in a very interesting and pleasing, if also somewhat elitist, ENCLAVE. In San Antonio, I feel like I'm living in the WORLD, with all of the muck and goodness and badness that it has to offer. I like that.

(And, FYI, I'm an overly educated vegetarian who loves independent music and cinema and discussions about German philosophy and contemporary politics.)

[Rasero]

I forgot another thing I loved about Austin: John Aielli's show, "Eklektikos", which comes on daily from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. on KUT (public radio station). While other NPR stations in the nation have talk radio during this time, in Austin they play eclectic music! And you never know what John is going to play; it usually depends on what day it is, is it raining outside, is it hot, or he might play songs related to some artist's birthday or some obscure national holiday in a different country.


When I miss Austin, I just tune in to the Internet feed of Eklektikos and imagine I'm still there amidst all of the weirdness!


kut : music | Eklektikos

[hello13685]

I must say that I actually agree with most of what Juneof48 just wrote. I think he captured the feel of SA pretty well. Only a couple of things I see differently. I don't think that SA is like "living in the world" in the sense that, in my experience, it embodies primarily a Mexican influence (that Juneof48 also mentioned) whereas the cities I love are much more multi-cultural and "worldly" at least as I define it. Similarly, I also disagree in that I don't think that SA has all of the "goodness" that the world has to offer. And whereas I do think that Austin is a step up from San Antonio in light of the factors that Juneof48 lists in his first paragraph, in the grand scheme of things, it is still not even on the charts when you consider the country as a whole. In other words, I wouldn't find Austin to be anything to be elitist over--it's kind of overrated. About two-thirds of my several UT Austin faculty friends and IT friends, that moved to Austin from all over the country, sit around and complain about how hick it is--honest! Unfortunately, they find solace in my San Antonio experiences.

[thesleepyshape]

As a San Antonio native/longhorn that bleeds orange (cut me, I dare you), I'd have to say I prefer the overall local vibe attached to close-knit, multi-generational San Antonio over the disjointed circles of social culture found in Austin.

Austin has a youngish "educated" population (UT is chock full of young Texans and international (Asian/South Asian) students) with a smattering of older, newly-Texanized Cali wanderers trying to reestablish an IT hub. Just a quick message: we can smell the California all over you. you're about as Texan as Kennebunkport Bush. Don't confuse this group with the Westlake/Northlake Austin elite (westlake dragon pride: we're rich, we're white, we're westlake) That's typical capital city capitol style.
Take the layers of yuck from an otherwise incredible art and music center and you have a gem of a city, albeit an expensive one.

Austin on a typical night: 6th street frat fights (unless you're venturing eastside- the unsung hero of Austin nightlife: a monthly sock hop and best pizza in town, East Side Pies). 4th street keeps it artsy and entertaining. 10th street keeps it gay and proud.

austin: san antonio
6th street: riverwalk (like polly esther's 10 years ago)
4th street: south alamo/flores
10th street: main street
Austin natives tend to scare themselves and others over Chicon street or South Austin the way San Antonians frighten out-of-towners with eastside/westside/southside stories. It's an issue of being aware of your surroundings, not an issue of gangland target practice.

Us natives of San Anto like to keep it on the hush about how neat the city is, and how most of us have been to the Alamo once or never. And how we can never forget the buttercrust factory school field trips.

It's a slower paced city akin to the largest small-town you've been ever been to. Everybody knows everybody (or their parents). Seedy neighborhood bars abound- without the pestering 6th street bouncer types advertising the drink special of the night. We have a great mayor that cares about creating spaces for bicyclists and pedestrians (Brackenridge Park restoration, for example). It's not the bike-friendly streets of recently gentrified Hyde Park, but it surely feels progressive (a far cry from the previous scoffs at the mere suggestion of bike lanes).


Summing it up Austin is a GREAT place to visit, swim in the summertime (greenbelt, zilker, barton springs), eat some cochinita pibil (Austin loves the yucatecan food)...then fight the I-35 traffic back to the comfort of norteno taquerias, back yard barbeques, and spurs fever.

[dweej]

Originally Posted by thesleepyshape

Summing it up Austin is a GREAT place to visit, swim in the summertime (greenbelt, zilker, barton springs), eat some cochinita pibil (Austin loves the yucatecan food)...then fight the I-35 traffic back to the comfort of norteno taquerias, back yard barbeques, and spurs fever.

I love this...

[tony78201]

Since you have a family, then san antonio should be a nice fit. but if you were single, I'd say Austin for sure. I know if I could, I'd move to Austin in a heartbeat.