4 ms·

I like David's writings and I say this not as a criticism, but this article has been written by every newcomer to Austin since Texians and Mexicans first arrive

I like David's writings and I say this not as a criticism, but this article has been written by every newcomer to Austin since Texians and Mexicans first arrived to the chagrin of some very onery Comanche. Having moved to Austin in 1994 (when rent was only $250) to start my studies at UT, I discovered the town of Linklater's Slacker. I could bore you with tales of once-was Austin, like when SXSW wristbands were $35; every former Austinite has similar stories relative to the period of time in which they lived there. Underlying all these stories that seemingly describe some mythical land of milk and honey is one common thread: opportunity. Austin allows you to be anyone you want to be and affords you the opportunity to do whatever makes your heart full. Austin allowed me to serendipitously become a very successful software engineer and I will never be able to answer the question whether it was me or my environment that played the larger role in making me who I am today. I no longer live in Austin proper, rather the Texas Hill Country, just to the west. I am quite sure that from my vantage point, I can still see new Austinites like David experiencing the same wonderment I did almost thirty years ago.

thebigspacefuck 4y ago
Slacker is one of my favorite movies. Is the Austin of today still anything like that?
- singlow 4y ago
  Austin was never "like that". It was a movie. Austin is a lot of things, but we still have bohemians and misfits, but they are outnumbered by tech entrepeneurs and crypto-bros. We still have conspiracy theorists but it turns out they are assholes. The characters in that movie were marginalized so if you come here expecting them to be the mainstream you didn't get the movie.
  - jason-phillips 4y ago
    > Austin was never "like that". Sure it was. I wandered around Austin and ran into people exactly like that all day long in the early 1990s.
    - singlow 4y ago
      That was a part of Austin, and if you went to the right places you saw concentrations of that. I'm sure you still can. But it didn't represent Austin as a whole. The movie represented a particular experience. Does that experience still exist? Probably its different than it was then, but there are still lots of free-thinking bohemian misfits in Austin, even though most of us who were here in the 90s grew up and probably don't resemble that anymore. But if you come to austin and go to The Domain expecting it to be a crowd from the move Slackers and then complain that Austin isn't what it used to be then you are not getting it.
      - jason-phillips 4y ago
        > But if you come to austin and go to The Domain expecting it to be a crowd from the move Slackers and then complain that Austin isn't what it used to be then you are not getting it. Yeah but no one in their right mind would do that. That's verging on a straw man argument. edit: I stand corrected. People are stupid.
        singlow 4y ago
        Sibbling comment did: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31861455 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31861455
- nervousvarun 4y ago
  Definitely not. Austin in the early 90s was relatively inexpensive and had about 1/4 of the population it does today. https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22926/austin/population https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22926/austin/population
- bretthoerner 4y ago
  Not at all.
- jason-phillips 4y ago
  > Is the Austin of today still anything like that? No, but some things are the same. Austin still has this very friendly and curious vibe that encourages inquisitive exploration. The environment is still the same (the lakes, the greenbelts, the creeks and rivers) but they are more overrun with people now. Some of the old Austin still exists but these places are slowly being replaced by condos, typically. For example, I just read that Dirty Martin's hamburgers is going to close. The trick to finding Austin is not going to places like Uchi and Barley Swine and whatever dolled-up glam joint opens next week. No offense, but those places can fuck right off and you'll never find the real Austin there. You have to go to places like Pollo Regio, or maybe talk to the waitress at the last Magnolia Cafe who's worked there for 25 years. Go to the G&S Lounge, try to have a conversation with Jimmy and not get kicked out. If he likes you then you're OK. Go to the Cloak Room bar across from the Texas capitol and ask the grizzled bartender to tell you wild stories about what goes on across the street. Pre-internet Austin was cheap and an intellectually stimulating zoo, nestled within an extraordinarily beautiful natural environment. The low cost of living allowed the Slacker culture to thrive. That doesn't exist anymore, rent is too high which means everyone has to hustle constantly, but the friendly, curious vibe still exists.

thebigspacefuck 4y ago

Slacker is one of my favorite movies. Is the Austin of today still anything like that?

singlow 4y ago
Austin was never "like that". It was a movie. Austin is a lot of things, but we still have bohemians and misfits, but they are outnumbered by tech entrepeneurs and crypto-bros. We still have conspiracy theorists but it turns out they are assholes. The characters in that movie were marginalized so if you come here expecting them to be the mainstream you didn't get the movie.
- jason-phillips 4y ago
  > Austin was never "like that". Sure it was. I wandered around Austin and ran into people exactly like that all day long in the early 1990s.
  - singlow 4y ago
    That was a part of Austin, and if you went to the right places you saw concentrations of that. I'm sure you still can. But it didn't represent Austin as a whole. The movie represented a particular experience. Does that experience still exist? Probably its different than it was then, but there are still lots of free-thinking bohemian misfits in Austin, even though most of us who were here in the 90s grew up and probably don't resemble that anymore. But if you come to austin and go to The Domain expecting it to be a crowd from the move Slackers and then complain that Austin isn't what it used to be then you are not getting it.
    - jason-phillips 4y ago
      > But if you come to austin and go to The Domain expecting it to be a crowd from the move Slackers and then complain that Austin isn't what it used to be then you are not getting it. Yeah but no one in their right mind would do that. That's verging on a straw man argument. edit: I stand corrected. People are stupid.
      - singlow 4y ago
        Sibbling comment did: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31861455 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31861455
nervousvarun 4y ago
Definitely not. Austin in the early 90s was relatively inexpensive and had about 1/4 of the population it does today. https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22926/austin/population https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22926/austin/population
bretthoerner 4y ago
Not at all.
jason-phillips 4y ago
> Is the Austin of today still anything like that? No, but some things are the same. Austin still has this very friendly and curious vibe that encourages inquisitive exploration. The environment is still the same (the lakes, the greenbelts, the creeks and rivers) but they are more overrun with people now. Some of the old Austin still exists but these places are slowly being replaced by condos, typically. For example, I just read that Dirty Martin's hamburgers is going to close. The trick to finding Austin is not going to places like Uchi and Barley Swine and whatever dolled-up glam joint opens next week. No offense, but those places can fuck right off and you'll never find the real Austin there. You have to go to places like Pollo Regio, or maybe talk to the waitress at the last Magnolia Cafe who's worked there for 25 years. Go to the G&S Lounge, try to have a conversation with Jimmy and not get kicked out. If he likes you then you're OK. Go to the Cloak Room bar across from the Texas capitol and ask the grizzled bartender to tell you wild stories about what goes on across the street. Pre-internet Austin was cheap and an intellectually stimulating zoo, nestled within an extraordinarily beautiful natural environment. The low cost of living allowed the Slacker culture to thrive. That doesn't exist anymore, rent is too high which means everyone has to hustle constantly, but the friendly, curious vibe still exists.