Will Austin lose its character as the area grows?

[julrey]

Originally Posted by houstoner

An example of "Houston weird"? Notsuoh in all its bewildering incarnations. 'Nuff said.

In Houston change is a way of life. The faces remain the same; the locations just shift. If you move away for a few years and come back, you will undoubtedly not recognize the place. I'm old enough to remember Emo's and Club Some, Deep Phat, the Vatican, Dream Merchant... I could go on. But you just have to go where the new places are. For example, W. 19th St. in the Heights is becoming the new Lower Westheimer and the East End will one day be Heights/Montrose East. Super Happy Fun Land is moving there from the Heights, like all the other artists and acts priced out of those nabes. Southmore House, same. Houston, thanks to its lack of zoning, is about co-existing. The universities, mainly U of H and Rice, ensure the vibe remains. You just have to know where to find it.

I've been to Rice Village and that's exactly what I fear downtown Austin becoming. If change alone makes a city "weird" than just about every major city in the U.S. is weird to some extent or another. I don't hate Houston, especially not to the extent that I have animosity toward Dallas, but I've lived in Houston off and on since 1982 - for a collective number of years far exceeding what I've lived in Austin - and I've never got much of a concerted effort to be different out of the town. There's a certain amount of obligatory unusualness just from having so many different cultures bumping up against each other, but that's not quite the same thing.

[love roses]

houstoner...it would be really bizarre if I actually knew who you were, since I actually hung out at all of those places. Plus Rudyards, Fitzgeralds, and the Axiom when it was around.

[houstoner]

Originally Posted by julrey

Since no one ever seems to give examples when making these kind of blanket statements I guess I'll just have to take your word for it.

An example of "Houston weird"? Notsuoh in all its bewildering incarnations. 'Nuff said.

Originally Posted by love roses

Yeah, the orange show and art car parade haven't been killed yet. The westheimer street fest was killed, and if it hasn't died a slow painful death, the international festival. Houston at one time did have the same vibe as Austin, especially in the Montrose and Heights areas. Rice Village has somehow managed to keep some of its old vibe alive, but I have a hard time seeing how. Some parts of Houston do have a different drawl in the accent, but that is due to it's proximity to Louisiana. Houston used to be sort of funky and weird, but it's been squashed pretty badly by all the upscale growth inside the city core in the "weird" areas. Some of the places I used to hang out at have been torn down to make way for condos. Actually, many of them have. Lower Westheimer doesn't really even look the same and it had all the funky, cool antique stores and clothes stores/boutiques (I use the term loosely, since lots of them catered to the tattooed and pierced set or rockabilly crowd). This will more than definitely happen to parts of Austin as well, it's just a matter of time.

In Houston change is a way of life. The faces remain the same; the locations just shift. If you move away for a few years and come back, you will undoubtedly not recognize the place. I'm old enough to remember Emo's and Club Some, Deep Phat, the Vatican, Dream Merchant... I could go on. But you just have to go where the new places are. For example, W. 19th St. in the Heights is becoming the new Lower Westheimer and the East End will one day be Heights/Montrose East. Super Happy Fun Land is moving there from the Heights, like all the other artists and acts priced out of those nabes. Southmore House, same. Houston, thanks to its lack of zoning, is about co-existing. The universities, mainly U of H and Rice, ensure the vibe remains. You just have to know where to find it.

[houstoner]

Originally Posted by love roses

houstoner...it would be really bizarre if I actually knew who you were, since I actually hung out at all of those places. Plus Rudyards, Fitzgeralds, and the Axiom when it was around.

It's possible. Those places are still here. It's a small world.

[case44]

Guys, I just don't think Austin will be any less weird even after so many changes in the landscape take place in the city's center. Many people will always be moving in. It will be a larger city, and it will probably be even more diverse.

[love roses]

Although probably still East of 35.