COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY MONTROSE AIN’T THE WORST PLACE FOR A BAR FROM AUSTIN “[I]s there some magical mysterious essence of Houston that a person from Austin couldn’t possibly understand? Or vice versa? Inner loop Houston is just like inner (loopless) Austin. Suburban Houston is just like suburban Austin. You can rest assured that Doc’s, designed to appeal to the South Congress crowd in Austin, will also adequately accommodate the unique needs and wants of the Montrose crowd.” [heyzeus, commenting on Austin Bar Doc’s To Remedy Montrose Wendy’s Wreckage]
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Agreed. Having visited both inner and outer areas of Austin, Houston and Dallas, I can vouch that the inner areas are all a lot alike and the burbs are all a lot alike. A city-dwelling Austinite has more in common with an inner loop Houstonian than they do with a person from Round Rock.
Austinites typically frown on our lack of topography and our industrial impediments to aesthetic perfection. If they bring up the live music thing, I usually make a crack about hearing an emo version of Pancho and Lefty at the dry cleaners.
I see Houston, DFW, San Antonio and Austin as tex-mex platters. One might have an enchilada instead of a taco, and one might be bigger than the other, but they all end up feeling about the same at the end of the day.
Well, Austin does have a younger more Anglo demographic than Houston and most people ding the city much prettier, you know hills as opposed to petrochemical plants–but Houston’s Arts are far superior, it has major league sports a much more diverse stronger economy and let’s face it, Houston is wayyy bigger –but I agree with the Tex Mex analogy, all the big cities in Texas are very much related and actually very similar when you look deep down
Nate for comment of the day!
I’m tired of Houston, no identity, make a buck, ugly (people and scenery), whack
As a substitution for comment of the day, I suggest posting a link to the emo version of Poncho and Lefty.
Higher Density – does that exist? If not, can someone talented *make* it exist?
Mostly Houstonians get bored hearing Austinites going on about how weird and cool their cute little town is. It’s nice! It’s pretty! It’s also nothing special if you’ve ever been to lots of small and medium sized cities outside of Texas. It would be a more appealing place if it would just be what it is, and cut the pretense.
Austin wouldn’t be Austin without the overwhelming urge to be tragically hip.
In a real way, Houston is way more weird than Austin. Austin has a younger, more counter-culture population but all that has become mainstream anyway. Houston, on the other hand, is weird as in strange or unique in its ability to freely and quickly remake itself based on economics, not by committee. But instead of Houstonians embracing this uniqueness, we groan how we should be like Boston, NY etc and moan about not preserving buildings (I am in this group), this one going up in an inappropriate spot etc, that one not being architecturally congruent. But it’s like we’re living in a huge sand painting with things we see getting constructed and others destroyed constantly, which is the beauty, reality and terror of existence, the wabi-sabi beauty of impermanence. Austin is a peace symbol, Houston is actual war.
Austin on the surface is a weird hipster counterculture town, but that’s only because those people are the loudest and stand out the most, if you dig deeper and get to the root of who runs the city, who owns the million dollar mansions on the lakes and who pays most of the taxes, you’ll see the same ole white conservative crowd that’s at the core of every Texas city… and that makes me sleep better at night.
@Ash – Thanks for the thought-provoking, constructive comment :|
You just stereotyped two million people. Despite your pronouncement, over the past decade, I’ve found a fair number of “lookers” in Houston to sleep with, or ogle at the mall. You now have me doubting my entire rating scale (till now, assumed I am a 7 with a range of 5 to 8.5 – but I admit that I drunkenly hooked up with a 4 once).
Do they have police checkpoints at the Austin city limit signs to reject entry to anyone below a 6?
Austin is “Anglo” now? That explains the decline.
Maybe the “easy money” crowd is building mansions on the lake but that just makes them the “same ole” transplants. Central Texas’s heritage is German and Czech.
I love Austin. Lived there for over 10 years before moving here. It’s a bit crowded and the traffic is gnarly, but it’s a great town. I’ve come to love Houston, too, for different reasons, but one thing I’m not gonna do is do what so many Austinites do and play this Us v. Them game, which very often exceeds benign teasing and goes right into hostility. I have a t-shirt that says, “It’s Okay to [heart] Houston” that I wear whenever I go to Austin, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stopped on a sidewalk and confronted over it. It’s a funny little provocation that gets the dumbest comments.
ATX is a pretentious, podunk, backwater.
Stephen F Austin who founded Waterloo, that later became Austin, was uh —Anglo–but whatever
Anon22, my anglo-scots-irish ancestors were some of the folks who sold land to the Czechs and Germans. The anglos were here first. I’ve seen very few Czech and German names on land grants.
If Austin were an Anglo town, it would be a lot more like Houston.
If we’re talking about “first” (which we are not) the Europeans were first to arrive, after the Native Americans of course. How could anyone argue anything else?
OMG –the Native American card–seriously??–lol–what about the Dinosaurs, they were in Austin before the Indians–hmmm, some may have walked over from England when it was part of Pangea–maybe they were–ANGLO??
I lived in Houston for a number of years, and have lived in Austin for quite awhile now too. I love both cities. There are differences (largely products of differences in size and demographics) but in most senses they’re highly similar: Same culture, same trends, same tastes.
It’s mind-numbing to me the number of times Austinites say things like “oh no, a chain from HOUSTON (or Dallas), how could they possibly get us here in Austin?” So it was with great amusement that a commenter complained that Doc’s, a run of the mill but totally ok bar and grill with two Austin locations, couldn’t possibly “get” Houston and would somehow destroy the local culture. Same being true of several comments here (hi, markd!).
People, get over yourselves. Enjoy the amenities your city offers. Go visit the other places in the State to enjoy the things they offer. But don’t base your self esteem on stereotype-based, contrived differences between large metropolitan regions. Viva el tex-mex platter.
Dont get me started on the Dino’s! Day terk er jerbs!
Austin has more younger, under-employed people than does Houston. I think there’s a certain set of young college grad who will move to Austin without a job because “it’s cool”. Young college grads who move to Houston are more likely to already have job lined up before they get here.
As to the anglo thing, according to the 2010 census, Austin is more heavily non-Hispanic white than Houston.
Austin: 48.7% White/35% Hispanic/8% Black
Houston: 44% Hispanic/26% White/24% Black
Meanwhile all the really cool kids have moved to San Miguel.
One thing (and only one) that Austin has that we in Houston don’t have, is that’s where you have to go if you win the big one in the Texas Lottery.
They banned all grocery bags, even for visitors, so yeah, Austin is weird.
Funny, the other day I was thinking about how of all places Houston could really be the place that could end up with a large majority of the inner loop “gentrified” in the yuppie whole foods kind of way.
I mean there’s really nothing stopping that from happening, and the end result would certainly not be any less “Houston” – and probably a step up from the usual Wal Marts popping up all over the place lately.
Oh yes, and Austin is what it is but any dinosaurs meandering into Montrose would hopefully be Celt :)
@Dana-X great breakdown.
@Anse Awesome shirt, i want one.