Aah, Austin, laid-back city in the lake-laced hills, home to cyberpunks and environmentalists, high culture and haute cuisine. A leafy intellectual enclave lying well outside the realm of Lone Star stereotypes, Austin has been compared to Berkeley and Seattle, but it is at once its own place and entirely of Texas.
The University of Texas (UT), vastly expanded beyond the 40 acres deeded to it in 1883, is a key source of the city's cultural savvy. Its assets include a presidential library; theater, dance, and concert venues; major literary archives -- UT was the model for the wealthy American university in A.S. Byatt's novel Possession -- and an important art collection. But UT's funding comes from oil money, and Austinites display typical Texan fervor when it comes to rooting for the Longhorns.
Despite its growing concrete nexus of highways and business parks -- many devoted to high-tech enterprises, like the one started by UT graduate Michael Dell -- Austin's heart is green. It has a vast municipal system of parks and preserves, and a bustling hike-and-bike trail near downtown's Town Lake. And there isn't a species in the region, no matter how small or ugly, that isn't vociferously defended if its extinction is threatened.
When they're not exercising or espousing environmental causes -- or even when they are -- Austinites love music. Their obsession is large scale: The city has gigantic record stores, a shop devoted solely to music art, and more than 100 live music venues. One of the most appealing aspects of the local scene is the wide range of good sounds to be found at unexpected, completely original places: barbecue joints, Mexican restaurants, converted gas stations. The atmosphere almost everywhere is assiduously laid-back; legends like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez still perform at intimate spots like the Backyard, and covers in the smaller clubs are still relatively low.
Many Texans who live in faster-paced cities like Dallas or Houston dream of someday escaping to Austin, which, although it grew by 41% in the 1990s and passed the half-million population mark, still has a small-town feel. Meanwhile, they smile upon the city as they would on a beloved but eccentric younger sister; whenever an especially contrary story about her is told, they shrug, shake their heads, and fondly say, "Well, that's Austin."
