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Plaza Saltillo
On Sundays, Plaza Saltillo is transformed from a silent concrete station into the lively HOPE community farmers’ market. In the small gazebo at the west end of the plaza, a … Continue reading →
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Chicken Shit Bingo
Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon is an Austin institution drawing people from all over the world for Chicken Shit Bingo, cheap beer, friendly atmosphere, and a taste of Texas culture. Ginny’s … Continue...
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Noteworthy
A fellow graduate student recently found a handwritten note on her car, which has a California license plate and was parked in Austin’s Hyde Park neighborhood. It reads (spelling errors … Continue...
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Boomerang Days: Drag King
The University of Texas’s alumni publication, The Alcalde Magazine, has recently featured some incredible and poignant essays exploring how the city has changed since many of our alumni were students...
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A Well Attended Disappointment
In this transient metropolis, some traditions won’t die gracefully. Through hearsay and unaccountable publicity in local holiday event guides, the 37th St. Christmas light display has been eking out a...
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The Rail in Austin: A Conversation with Niran Babalola
When asked what the biggest issue facing Austin is, we typically hear a smattering of answers, but the most common refrain involves traffic, sprawl, and public transportation. No surprise, then, that...
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Atomic Austin
Although our editorial board has mostly been concerned with changes confronting the Austin of the 21st century, a most violent end to Austin was anticipated half a century ago. During the height of the...
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Zombie Jesus in Hyde Park
Zombie Jesus was inspired by a conversation I had with my son Dylan after we drove past a group of door to door evangelists and laughed about the absurd way … Continue reading →
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Alright Alright Alright: We Get Older, Dazed Stays the Same Age
Dazed and Confused (1993) turned 21 last year. Yes, the film that follows a longhaired teenager and his friends as they attempt to avoid being hazed, the film in which … Continue reading →
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Goodbye to a River?
In May of 2014 I returned to Austin for one last research trip before finally sitting down and completing my book on Austin’s history. Having been gone from Texas for … Continue reading →
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Pandamonium Playland
When I was a kid growing up in Austin, birthday parties were fairly typical. If it wasn’t a friend’s house, it was video games, putt-putt golf, bumper cars, or a … Continue reading →
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Keeping Austin Weird: Graffiti and Urban Branding
In Austin, one phrase has become synonymous with the city: “Keep Austin Weird.” This slogan is found on everything from keychains to bumper stickers to tie dyed shirts in Texas’ … Continue reading →
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Left Behind
Photographer Julian M. Johnson shares the following: “Born and raised in Austin, I took the city as a given. I left to go to school in Connecticut, and when I came … Continue reading →
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Austin Old-Timer and Newcomer
I. Austin is the capital of the American Renaissance of the beginning of the twenty-first century. The explosive construction of bridges, ramps, roads, buildings; the flow of creative, inventive, and …...
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How Austin Became Weird: The Story of a Slogan
Everyday, thousands of Austinites roam our city’s sidewalk-less streets, creep along its concrete highways, and ramble through the corridors of its universities and start-ups with one question burning...
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The Curious Case of Clarksville
It’s no secret that Austin, Texas is a growing town. Residents gripe about the weak infrastructure, how the bustling tech industry has made the city less weird, and the pains … Continue reading →
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Ella: Fighting to Save a Few
Any life spanning seven decades is bound to have its share of twists, turns, and dreams deferred–maybe some that are never realized at all. After I had been meeting for … Continue reading →
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North Lamar: Austin’s Most Cosmopolitan District
Austin’s most cosmopolitan district is growing—not in the heart of downtown—but along a two-mile stretch of North Lamar between Rundberg and Braker Lane at the northern edge of the city. … Continue...
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Shadows of a Sunbelt City: An Excerpt
In 2013, popular Texas Monthly magazine published a collection of commentaries on Texas’s major cities, and two of them were about Austin. One, written by John Spong (a Texas Monthly … Continue reading →
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“The difference between a cocktail waitress and a stripper? Two weeks”
“There’s a joke,” Raven told me during our first meeting back in September 2012. “What’s the difference between a cocktail waitress and a stripper? Two weeks.” She laughed loudly and … Continue reading →
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