Landed in Austin, TX today for South by Southwest 2006 — a week of seminars and conversations on web tech, emerging trends, “visionaries,” etc. Expect to be bombarded by Web 2.0 stuff. Did not expect to be bombarded by the downtown Austin / 6th St. scene. Walked out the door of the hotel hoping to scrounge up some dinner and the city opened up wide — tattoo parlors and jazz clubs, cajun restaurants (giant crawfish on the side of The Boiling Pot asking “Dya suck the heads off?”) and fajita stands, nudie revues and head shops and hip magic shows and costumed buskers and music pouring out of every doorway and even a bar with a tropical aquarium spanning an entire 50-foot wall. And it’s muggy, right in the middle of winter (should be 91 degrees Sunday). The pigeon has landed.
I had the good fortune of visiting Austin once, on someone else’s dime no less(for WebEdge95), and recall reacting to it similiarly. Its a great town. Hell, its Texas and I could even imagine living there.
I had roughly the same thoughts the first time I went to Austin. When you finally wake up the next morning, walk down by the river, check out the bat bridge and the statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn.
The Salt Lick, a surprisingly upscale restaurant about 30 min out of town, has the best BBQ I’ve ever had. (They also have one in the food court at the Airport, so you can get some more before going home ;).
Have fun! -Mike.
Austin really does do a number on the stereotype. Not sure yet that I would want to live here, but have heard from people who did move here and loved it.
Thanks for the tip on the Salt Lick Mike – I’m ready for some good ribs. Surprisingly, had the best Vietnamese vermicelli bowl I’ve ever had last night, at a place called the Mekong River.