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Old 11-14-2009, 10:07 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,189,088 times
Reputation: 24737

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Quote:
Originally Posted by capcat View Post
ITC, I suggest visiting the Austin History Center in person if, indeed, you are interested in the history of Austin.
Good advice!

Also, if you change the word "old" for the word "historical", you might have better luck.
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Old 11-14-2009, 02:55 PM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,982,821 times
Reputation: 5531
Another way to ask the question would be, "Have you/we become more homogenized?"

For me, the answer is yes. I arrived in Austin as a wild 23 year old party animal, anti-authority, anti-establishment, no interest in long-term romance, no interest in anything, really, that was further in the future than mid-night, unless it involved beer and chicks.

When the seatbelt law was passed, I protested by refusing to wear mine - until I got an expensive ticket, after which I conformed to the unrightous supression of "the man".

Fast forward to age 27, and one day I just woke up (on a friends couch, where I lived) and a switch had flipped in my head and I decided my party days were over, I wanted to meet a nice girl, get married, make money and have a family.

I was married at 29, had my first kid at 31, second at 34 (in 1996), was living in a suburban SW Austin neighborhood in an uncool track home (after 5 years in Travis Heights) by 1996, and all of our closest friends were other people with kids.

The long hair remained a few years longer, but I've turned more conservative (two teenage daughters does that), own a minivan, and, yes, attended an awsome potluck in my neighbor's culdesac a couple of weeks ago where my toe got run over by a kid on a trike. And worst of all, I listen to NPR, 590AM, Bloomburg News, etc. while driving around instead of rock and roll. And, I say the same things to my kids that my Dad use to say to me, regarding their choices and habits.

Am I homogenized? You bet. Are there others like me? Most definately. All the cool people became good parents living boring lives in neighborhoods that attend good schools. We're all waiting to get the kids off to college so we can become young and irresponsible again and move back to the '04 zip.

Anyone paddling the same boat as me?

Steve
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Old 11-14-2009, 04:15 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX!!!!
3,757 posts, read 9,025,775 times
Reputation: 1762
Quote:
Originally Posted by inthecut View Post
You know, I tried to get historical info on 6th, but, short of finding out its old name was Cedar St.,
Do you mean Pecan Street?
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Old 11-14-2009, 09:04 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
2,357 posts, read 7,871,457 times
Reputation: 1013
*Yawn*.

These threads always bring out the typical responses: blaming newcomers, over-unique-ing Austin, romanticizing the past, doom and gloom. Sometimes I can't believe how judgmental some people are - summing up people by the cars they drive, the neighborhoods they live in, where they were born etc...

That's some ugly-*ss behavior. Shameful.

There are still so many good things happening here. If you can't find them, that's your problem. Go sit on your couch, watch TV and be miserable.
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Old 11-15-2009, 02:33 AM
 
Location: Austin
2,522 posts, read 6,014,819 times
Reputation: 707
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jennibc View Post
Do you mean Pecan Street?
Couldn't remember, but I think you are right....the name is the name of that street festival in May as well.....
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Old 11-15-2009, 02:45 AM
 
Location: Austin
2,522 posts, read 6,014,819 times
Reputation: 707
Austin Steve, there is no shame in a city becoming more family/kid orientated....actually, Austin has finally became a solid, all-around metro, as opposed to the largely singles/college orientated mode it was stuck in for years. Ft. Lauderdale completely exorcized their own "party atmosphere", sent the spring breakers packing to Daytona and Panama Beach, and went upscale and middle-aged....

Lastly, all the young folks in Austin under 35, or at least a huge share, will still be here, well into middle age and families in 10-15 years, and, added to all the families that will move here in the same time frame, should bring Austin up to the national average per age.....

Look for the metro as a whole to age along with the young who will age-in-place themselves, especially since Austin is one of the few metros where the vast majority stay for life....
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Old 11-15-2009, 10:38 AM
 
Location: Hutto, Tx
9,249 posts, read 26,591,787 times
Reputation: 2851
Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve View Post
Another way to ask the question would be, "Have you/we become more homogenized?"

For me, the answer is yes. I arrived in Austin as a wild 23 year old party animal, anti-authority, anti-establishment, no interest in long-term romance, no interest in anything, really, that was further in the future than mid-night, unless it involved beer and chicks.

When the seatbelt law was passed, I protested by refusing to wear mine - until I got an expensive ticket, after which I conformed to the unrightous supression of "the man".

Fast forward to age 27, and one day I just woke up (on a friends couch, where I lived) and a switch had flipped in my head and I decided my party days were over, I wanted to meet a nice girl, get married, make money and have a family.

I was married at 29, had my first kid at 31, second at 34 (in 1996), was living in a suburban SW Austin neighborhood in an uncool track home (after 5 years in Travis Heights) by 1996, and all of our closest friends were other people with kids.

The long hair remained a few years longer, but I've turned more conservative (two teenage daughters does that), own a minivan, and, yes, attended an awsome potluck in my neighbor's culdesac a couple of weeks ago where my toe got run over by a kid on a trike. And worst of all, I listen to NPR, 590AM, Bloomburg News, etc. while driving around instead of rock and roll. And, I say the same things to my kids that my Dad use to say to me, regarding their choices and habits.

Am I homogenized? You bet. Are there others like me? Most definately. All the cool people became good parents living boring lives in neighborhoods that attend good schools. We're all waiting to get the kids off to college so we can become young and irresponsible again and move back to the '04 zip.

Anyone paddling the same boat as me?

Steve

Yep, sounds like us....long haired husband and all (no teenage girl yet though).
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Old 11-15-2009, 11:55 PM
 
144 posts, read 329,892 times
Reputation: 80
Quote:
Originally Posted by inthecut View Post
As Austin grows out, does it become more standardized and uniform, ala any other US metro? Do relos actually PREFER an area they can feel familiar with, with retail and such that they've shopped at in their place of origin, and with a general layout that is far more similar than different from whence they came?
......

Personally, I think Austin will extend the everpresent theme of being a blue patch in a sea of red, by becoming the default place intelligent folks(NPR Crowd) looking to move out of liberal cold weather and west coast states can feel comfortable relocating to in the sunbelt. The rest of the south obviously has little attraction, outside of Florida. Forget all of the deep south. Most of Texas as well. As Austin builds up this little patch, it will take on its own persona, as a sum of all the northern/west coast mindsets writ large.
I arrived in January, and I can promise you that I seek out the mom & pop stores because that's what I value, and that's a reason I chose Austin. From Atlanta, which is Corporate City, it's welcome to have around (like New Orleans, my home, also an avid supporter of local biz).

BTW, Atlanta is the other place northerners move to and feel comfortable in. It is what you expect Austin to become--bland, chain stores, corporate--but the difference is Atlanta never had the vibrant home-brew culture Austin has. Austin won't lose that, it will simply be surrounded by more blandness.
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Old 11-16-2009, 07:56 AM
 
Location: Austin
2,522 posts, read 6,014,819 times
Reputation: 707
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeadInSuburbia View Post
I arrived in January, and I can promise you that I seek out the mom & pop stores because that's what I value, and that's a reason I chose Austin. From Atlanta, which is Corporate City, it's welcome to have around (like New Orleans, my home, also an avid supporter of local biz).

BTW, Atlanta is the other place northerners move to and feel comfortable in. It is what you expect Austin to become--bland, chain stores, corporate--but the difference is Atlanta never had the vibrant home-brew culture Austin has. Austin won't lose that, it will simply be surrounded by more blandness.
call it the "Donut Hole" effect.........
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Old 11-16-2009, 08:15 AM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,982,821 times
Reputation: 5531
Quote:
BTW, Atlanta is the other place northerners move to and feel comfortable in. It is what you expect Austin to become--bland, chain stores, corporate--but the difference is Atlanta never had the vibrant home-brew culture Austin has. Austin won't lose that, it will simply be surrounded by more blandness.
I like Atlanta and go there often because my mom grew up there and I have a lot of Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc. there.

Austin is different than Atlanta in the many of the surrounding areas of Atlanta were established by white flight. Austin's surrounding areas were formed by economic flight, and natural growth.

Austin also lacks the rich cultural diversity and ethnic underpinnings of Atlanta. We really have somwhat of a mono-culture here, unless we want to consider the Burbs vs. Central differences. But I really see those as complimentary to one another.

FYI - Austin is large than Atlanta, Boston and many other larger cities in terms of square miles of actual city limits. The metro area of Atlanta is of course bigger than Austin, but in terms of city governance, we have many more miles of roads, sewer lines, electrical services, etc. to maintain than does the "city" of Atlanta.

Steve
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