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It's so weird to hear people talking about Austin like the "next big thing"; I first visited in 2010 and thought anyone who wasn't already there had missed the
by rconti 6y ago
It's so weird to hear people talking about Austin like the "next big thing"; I first visited in 2010 and thought anyone who wasn't already there had missed the proverbial boat.
Of course, I also interviewed at Google in 2007 but wasn't particularly interested (not that I got an offer, mind you) because I thought, "it's already past its growth phase, how much bigger can it get?"
(FWIW, I live in the valley, and I love it, though I do have a desire to live internationally, and in a city next time... not in yet another US suburb)
- bsder 6y ago> It's so weird to hear people talking about Austin like the "next big thing"; I first visited in 2010 and thought anyone who wasn't already there had missed the proverbial boat. For vibe, quite true. My barometer was the local Austin guitar stores. When the local guitar stores disappeared and/or quit catering to the working musicians, I knew that the Austin vibe was dead. People have the mythos about Stevie Ray Vaughn and his cohort. The reality of the time is that they regarded those folks as the "undesirables." Those musicians tended to live in the really slummy areas because they were so poor ... When we walked on 6th Street on New Year's a couple years ago, it was DJ after DJ after DJ ... all nice and clean and corporate. No scummy bars selling to minors here. If you want vibe, you're probably talking cities like Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Detroit, etc. I will caution you a bit about Pittsburgh, it seems to be gentrifying fast in a lot of areas. I know that practically all of the excellent little family bars and restaurants that I used to go to are all gone. The O disappearing simply reinforces that. :(