Moving from Chicago to Austin / Mapping Out Neighborhoods (Victoria, Spring: hardwood floors, apartment complexes)
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I'm going to be moving to Austin relatively soon (as in my job start date is July 22nd). Office is located on 5th'ish and Congress.
For the past three years, I've been living in Chicago, in the Lakeview neighborhood, which has a relatively artistic vibe and everything is close by.
Ideally, I could find something similar, but I have no basis for mapping out "Chicago neighborhoods" to "Austin neighborhoods." I.e., in Chicago, Wicker Park/Bucktown is the area where hipsters funded by their parents live. Ukranian Village/Logan Square are ethnic neighborhoods where the starving artists live, etc.
I'm looking for something with an artsy feel, convenient to walk to stores if necessary, and parking isn't a huge hassle. I know, very vague.
I rather not go over $1000 in monthly rent (not including utilities) for a one bedroom, which is how much I paid in Chicago. I'm hoping to swap for something nicer than what I have in Chicago, or get something similar for a cheaper price.
I contemplated finding something literally in downtown, but I imagine having friends come over would be a pain in parking, and not to mention dealing with the Friday/Saturday crowd might get old, when I don't go out *that* much. I might be missing some of the upside though, so please elaborate if so.
Last edited by sevenisprime; 06-17-2009 at 11:40 AM..
If your looking for a 1 bedroom then its shouldnt be a problem. On the other hand if your looking for a a three bedroom house then you will need to search outside Austin..
Apartments are having some great rate reductions this summer if you know what to look for..
If your looking for a 1 bedroom then its shouldnt be a problem. On the other hand if your looking for a a three bedroom house then you will need to search outside Austin..
Apartments are having some great rate reductions this summer if you know what to look for..
Thanks. I should have clarified that I'm just looking for a one bedroom apartment.
Then what ever flots your boat is well within your price range..
Thanks. Yeah, I guess I wasn't asking so much in regards to cost of living in Austin, but neighborhoods that fulfill the criteria of "something with an artsy feel, convenient to walk to stores if necessary, and parking isn't a huge hassle. I know, very vague." Keeping in mind that my work location is located in central downtown.
The adage "everything is bigger in Texas" totally does not apply when comparing Austin and Chicago. Have you ever been in Austin? It is a mid-sized sunbelt city, with a tiny historic core and much of the city is suburban sprawl built in the last twenty years or so. I lived in Chicago for 5 years and loved it, but I couldn't hack the winters. My honest answer would be that you cannot compare neighborhoods in the two cities - apples to oranges or more like watermelons to cherries - (both sweet, but scale is very different). Since you are working downtown and like Chicago's Lakeview, I would rule out anything in Austin, south of Oltorf, north of 53rd , east of Airport, and west of MOPAC. Most walkable neighborhoods in Austin are in those boundaries. Also if you think you are going to live in a beautiful turn of the last century stone or brick apartment block with hardwood floors and high ceilings on a tree-lined boulevard, forget about it - the vast majority of apartment complexes here look like complexes on the outskirts of Joliet - wall to wall carpet, textured walls that you could punch through, and unless they are brand new, popcorn ceilings, generally built around an asphalt parking lot. The good thing is most of them have washer-dryers in the units, and many of them have pools. I was initially utterly horrified by the aesthetics of these mega apartment-complexes, but I have gotten used to them. Most of the areas to the north and north west of the central part of the city are made up of these type of complexes alongside strip malls and master-planned communities, but up there to blow your nose, never mind go to bar, you have to get in your car. Great for people with children, but since you are looking for a one bedroom place and did not mention any, I shall assume that you are presently without.
Here would be my very rough translation of some central Austin neighborhoods into their Chicago equivalents - though you need to divide size and density on a kind of 1 to 5 to 1 to 10 scale.
Downtown Austin: Streeterville, near North Side in terms of new residential high-rises, mix of nightlife, retail, restaurants, businesses - probably where you want to live- parking is bad but still easier than anywhere in Chicago within half a mile of the lake.(You could probably find a one bedroom for about $1200) There is nothing like the Loop in Austin. .
East 6th street - the strip of bars where the students party hard - the college version of Rush Street and the Viagra Triangle
Hyde Park = Hyde Park. This might be the closest one - proximity to a major university, single family Victorian homes, interspersed with apartments, some retail, a few decent bars, coffee shops. Big oak trees. Austin's Hyde Park has nothing like the racial diversity or the excellent book stores of Chicago's Hyde Park. It also does not have its crime rate.
East Austin close to downtown - Pilsen, predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood- gentrifying fast. Lots of good local dining and entertainment options, funky, artsy but a little spotty.
So Co/ Travis Heights - River North without the old industrial architecture. Boho going/gone yuppy. Decent restaurants and live-music venues along the strip of South Congress. Would be my second choice after downtown.
Pemberton Heights - Gold Coast. Pemberton wishes. Old money Austin - beautiful old plantation style homes on a hill overlooking the city - unlikely to find anything to rent there, but very pretty.
Clarkesville/ Old West Austin - maybe Old Town- the area just south of the intersection of Wells, La Salle with North. Two nice retail streets in west 6th and West Lynn, some local shopping restaurants and bars, plus an art gallery or two. Used to be hippyish - now lots of newcomers.
North Loop - Logan Squarish - a little more gritty than Hyde Park (Austin) just to its south - some nice modern residential architecture, a few funky second hand stores, but tiny
U.T. Campus area - very low rent version of the section of Lincoln Park around DePaul.
With the possible exception of East Austin, there are no ethnic neighborhoods in Austin. You will be living in the most Anglo big city in Texas. No little Italy, no Greektown, no predominantly Polish or German neighborhoods. No Koreatown or Chinatown - though there is a strip mall called Chinatown, no Devon ( I miss those blocks and blocks of Indian restaurants!!!) There is however surprisingly good Vietnamese food in Austin.
There are no Bucktown or Wicker Park equivalents - though South Central Austin - the aforementioned SoCo, Travis Heights and adjacent Bouldin Creek and Barton Hills ( which is lovely, but mostly single family homes) have a similar vibe. Nothing like Lakeview or Andersonville here. To be fair, while Chicago has many more and many more vibrant neighborhoods, Chicago has nothing like Barton Springs and the hike and bike trail and the assorted greenbelts that criss-cross Austin, and while Lake Travis is a lot, lot smaller than Lake Michigan - at least it never freezes!
You have many options. You are not limited to apartments - it might be possible to rent a small house in one of these neighborhoods - there are one bedroomed houses in central Austin, and sitting on your front porch - watching the grackels and chatting to your neighbors, while drinking a Lonestar is not really something you can do in Chicago.
The adage "everything is bigger in Texas" totally does not apply when comparing Austin and Chicago. Have you ever been in Austin? It is a mid-sized sunbelt city, with a tiny historic core and much of the city is suburban sprawl built in the last twenty years or so. I lived in Chicago for 5 years and loved it, but I couldn't hack the winters. My honest answer would be that you cannot compare neighborhoods in the two cities - apples to oranges or more like watermelons to cherries - (both sweet, but scale is very different). Since you are working downtown and like Chicago's Lakeview, I would rule out anything in Austin, south of Oltorf, north of 53rd , east of Airport, and west of MOPAC. Most walkable neighborhoods in Austin are in those boundaries. Also if you think you are going to live in a beautiful turn of the last century stone or brick apartment block with hardwood floors and high ceilings on a tree-lined boulevard, forget about it - the vast majority of apartment complexes here look like complexes on the outskirts of Joliet - wall to wall carpet, textured walls that you could punch through, and unless they are brand new, popcorn ceilings, generally built around an asphalt parking lot. The good thing is most of them have washer-dryers in the units, and many of them have pools. I was initially utterly horrified by the aesthetics of these mega apartment-complexes, but I have gotten used to them. Most of the areas to the north and north west of the central part of the city are made up of these type of complexes alongside strip malls and master-planned communities, but up there to blow your nose, never mind go to bar, you have to get in your car. Great for people with children, but since you are looking for a one bedroom place and did not mention any, I shall assume that you are presently without.
Here would be my very rough translation of some central Austin neighborhoods into their Chicago equivalents - though you need to divide size and density on a kind of 1 to 5 to 1 to 10 scale.
Downtown Austin: Streeterville, near North Side in terms of new residential high-rises, mix of nightlife, retail, restaurants, businesses - probably where you want to live- parking is bad but still easier than anywhere in Chicago within half a mile of the lake.(You could probably find a one bedroom for about $1200) There is nothing like the Loop in Austin. .
East 6th street - the strip of bars where the students party hard - the college version of Rush Street and the Viagra Triangle
Hyde Park = Hyde Park. This might be the closest one - proximity to a major university, single family Victorian homes, interspersed with apartments, some retail, a few decent bars, coffee shops. Big oak trees. Austin's Hyde Park has nothing like the racial diversity or the excellent book stores of Chicago's Hyde Park. It also does not have its crime rate.
East Austin close to downtown - Pilsen, predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood- gentrifying fast. Lots of good local dining and entertainment options, funky, artsy but a little spotty.
So Co/ Travis Heights - River North without the old industrial architecture. Boho going/gone yuppy. Decent restaurants and live-music venues along the strip of South Congress. Would be my second choice after downtown.
Pemberton Heights - Gold Coast. Pemberton wishes. Old money Austin - beautiful old plantation style homes on a hill overlooking the city - unlikely to find anything to rent there, but very pretty.
Clarkesville/ Old West Austin - maybe Old Town- the area just south of the intersection of Wells, La Salle with North. Two nice retail streets in west 6th and West Lynn, some local shopping restaurants and bars, plus an art gallery or two. Used to be hippyish - now lots of newcomers.
North Loop - Logan Squarish - a little more gritty than Hyde Park (Austin) just to its south - some nice modern residential architecture, a few funky second hand stores, but tiny
U.T. Campus area - very low rent version of the section of Lincoln Park around DePaul.
With the possible exception of East Austin, there are no ethnic neighborhoods in Austin. You will be living in the most Anglo big city in Texas. No little Italy, no Greektown, no predominantly Polish or German neighborhoods. No Koreatown or Chinatown - though there is a strip mall called Chinatown, no Devon ( I miss those blocks and blocks of Indian restaurants!!!) There is however surprisingly good Vietnamese food in Austin.
There are no Bucktown or Wicker Park equivalents - though South Central Austin - the aforementioned SoCo, Travis Heights and adjacent Bouldin Creek and Barton Hills ( which is lovely, but mostly single family homes) have a similar vibe. Nothing like Lakeview or Andersonville here. To be fair, while Chicago has many more and many more vibrant neighborhoods, Chicago has nothing like Barton Springs and the hike and bike trail and the assorted greenbelts that criss-cross Austin, and while Lake Travis is a lot, lot smaller than Lake Michigan - at least it never freezes!
You have many options. You are not limited to apartments - it might be possible to rent a small house in one of these neighborhoods - there are one bedroomed houses in central Austin, and sitting on your front porch - watching the grackels and chatting to your neighbors, while drinking a Lonestar is not really something you can do in Chicago.
Hope this helps and welcome to Austin!
I used to live in Wicker Park actually and the closest equalvent is the Barton Springs Drive area of Austin but it asthetically different, the vibe is the same to me though. Yeah, I agree, there is no equivalent to Lakeview in Austin, the closest thing to it is well, downtown. If you want something artsy and kinda funky, check out the apartment complexes on S. Congress like State House(tons of pool parties there btw). There aren't any walkable neighborhoods the scale of Lakeview and no neighborhood is that dense. For a person new to Austin from Lakeview, I would recommend staying in Downtown, S. Congress, maybe East Austin(which is eqivalent to Bucktown about 20 years ago) or if you don't mind being around a lot of students, Hyde Park and the Triangle. You should be able to find a 1 BD in your price range. Good Luck!
Thanks. Yeah, I guess I wasn't asking so much in regards to cost of living in Austin, but neighborhoods that fulfill the criteria of "something with an artsy feel, convenient to walk to stores if necessary, and parking isn't a huge hassle. I know, very vague." Keeping in mind that my work location is located in central downtown.
Austin isnt that artsy.. maybe along south congress?
I'm going to be moving to Austin relatively soon (as in my job start date is July 22nd). Office is located on 5th'ish and Congress.
For the past three years, I've been living in Chicago, in the Lakeview neighborhood, which has a relatively artistic vibe and everything is close by.
Ideally, I could find something similar, but I have no basis for mapping out "Chicago neighborhoods" to "Austin neighborhoods." I.e., in Chicago, Wicker Park/Bucktown is the area where hipsters funded by their parents live. Ukranian Village/Logan Square are ethnic neighborhoods where the starving artists live, etc.
I'm looking for something with an artsy feel, convenient to walk to stores if necessary, and parking isn't a huge hassle. I know, very vague.
I rather not go over $1000 in monthly rent (not including utilities) for a one bedroom, which is how much I paid in Chicago. I'm hoping to swap for something nicer than what I have in Chicago, or get something similar for a cheaper price.
I contemplated finding something literally in downtown, but I imagine having friends come over would be a pain in parking, and not to mention dealing with the Friday/Saturday crowd might get old, when I don't go out *that* much. I might be missing some of the upside though, so please elaborate if so.
You really shouldnt move here looking for someplace similar to where you are. Chicago is a real city, austin is a medium town. For it's size, austin is great. But you will really regret moving here if you love chicago and all it has to offer. If you are looking for a smaller town with a slower pace and a warm climate then this might be the place to come to.
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