DestinatioN DowntowN
By: Jason Ren Arnav Karnik Abhinu Meka Ryan Abou-Hamdan
Ezine Fall Semester 2018 Destination Downtown — Fall Ezine 2018 | 1
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Letter From The Editors
W
ith buildings fighting for height and modern looks, bars that will spin the world around, food that will leave its host with an ambrosial taste, and live music that will relieve stress from any situation, Downtown Austin is the prime location for a fun, exciting experience.
Our magazine is packed with information regarding the food, live music, architecture, and bars at downtown Austin. We hope to spread the joyful and accepting atmosphere of the technological hub and hope that you dear reader, give downtown a chance. Austin is a rapidly growing city filled with diverse backgrounds and cultures, this magazine will show how downtown Austin plays a major role in keeping Austin weird and loyal to its history.
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Jason Ryan
Ryan Abou-Hamdan has two siblings, one brother and one sister, and before attending LASA, he went to Kealing Middle School. In school, his favorite subject is Math or Pre-Calculus in his case. Ryan plays the trombone for the LASA band, and besides band, he also plays on his PlaySation in his freetime. His favorite food is mexican food, especially fajitas, while he likes to listen to hip-hop music the most. In his freetime, Ryan also likes to play sports and his favorite is soccer. Arnav Karnik has one sibling, a brother, and before attending LASA, he went to Kealing Middle School. In school, his favorite subject is Math, which is, in his case, Algera II. Arnav plays the cello for the LASA orchestra, and besides playing music, he also likes listening to any type of music, as long as it is good. His favorite type of food is Italian, especially pizza. In his freetime, Arnav also likes playing basketball with his friends.
Abhinu Meka has one sibling, a brother, and before attending LASA, he went to Walsh Middle School. In school, his favorite subject is Math, which is, in his case, Algebra II. Abhinu also enjoys listening to hip-hop music, and his favorite type of food is Mexican, especially enchildas from Chuy's. In his freetime, Abhinu likes playing basketball with his friends, and whenever he isn't swamped with homework, he likes watching TV shows on Netflix. Jason Ren has two siblings, one brother and one sister, and before attending LASA, he went to Kealing Middle School. In school, his favorite subject is Math, which is, in his case, Algebra II. Jason also enjoys listening to hip-hop music, and his favorite type of food is American, especially hamburgers. In his freetime, Jason likes playing basketball and soccer with his friends; furthermore, Jason likes to shop for shoes and play videogames on his PC in his freetime, too. Destination Downtown — Fall Ezine 2018 | 5
Table of 10
Popu Food lar Truc k
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The Drink of a Lifetime
22
Famous Live Music Venues
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Top 5 F amous Downto wn Aus Building tin s
Contents et r c e S The od o F f o e c n e u l f
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In
Bars
in Do wnto wn Austi
n
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What Makes a Musician
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f o n o ti i n i f e The D ntown w o D
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The Secret Influence of Food A new identity for a growing city By: Jason Ren
At ACL, many of Austin's most famous and well known food trucks gather to offer and extremely diverse set of food. From Salt Lick Barbeque to Torchy's Tacos, ACL Eats has all the Austin food anyone could want. Photo courtesy of Nadia Chaudhury
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Located on Lamar, the Gourdough's public house is a bar and restaurant that serves as the only brick and mortar location for Gourdough's. Photo courtesy of Amanda Waltman
T
he soft noise of country music plays in the background, accompanied by the voice of a football announcer on the television. The environment is comforting and it gives off a sense of safety. People talk amongst themselves at the various tables scattered around the mostly brown interior of the restaurant, Gourdough's. The manager of the place, Jeremy Osborne, sits on the other side of the counter, looking off into the distance, thinking about his response.
the culture, and most importantly the food are what defines this unique and diverse city. Food trucks are successful and prosperous here in Austin, with many of them being recognized nationwide. For example, Torchy's Tacos started here in Austin with a only a small food truck and a dream. They have now grown
National Quality Award. With all this success, the question has to be asked, how has Austin been changed by these food chains? According to Jonathan Zhou, an amateur chef at Chen's Noodle House, "Just by having a bunch of food from different places, that makes Austin so diverse...[it] can affect your judgment on the world," Zhou said. Perhaps that's why Austin is the fastest growing city in America. The food provides a medium through which people can understand other backgrounds and appreciate them, making people more accepting and welcoming. For some people, food is their entire life-what they think about day and night.
“Just by having a bunch of food from different places, that makes Austin so diverse...[it] can affect your judgment on the world.”
"When you come here, that's what you do," Osborne said, "There's bars and restaurants and the Green Belt. That's what everybody wants to do when they come." This is quintessential Austin. The buildings might be newer, they might be taller and shinier, but when it really comes down to it, the people,
to 17 different locations all over Texas with one even in Oklahoma. Mighty Fine specializes in burgers, fries, and milkshakes and was started back in 2007 as a food truck. They now have grown to be a well established chain with four brick and mortar locations and have even won the
Jeremy Osborne, manager of Gourdough's Public House who has worked in the food industry his whole life, had his view on food.
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"[Working with food] makes you appreciate all aspects of where it comes from... you get your food and you know that somebody's prepared it. Somebody prepped it. So I appreciate all the work they did," Osborne said. For others, food is not as special, but still recognized as important. This is the case for Bowen Zhong, who helps manage a family restaurant with his dad. "I don't really think about food that often unless I know for sure I'm going to this really good place I love such as Torchy's," Zhong said. "Other than that food is just something that's necessary that we have to include in our lives." Zhong views food as a add-on to any good experience, not the experience itself. It's interesting when people like
Asia Cafe is a shabby looking restaurant that is extemely welcoming. Asia Cafe focuses on its food instead of its looks. Photo courtesy of Food Dilettante's.
him don't really think about food all that often, even they know of many local food places. This shows how much food has permeated throughout Austin culture. However, not everyone is happy with Austin food growing so popular. "In recent years I think the service has gotten a lot worse actually... the more people, the more they have to make and the less customer-friendly they can be," Zhong said. Even restaurant managers agree with the fact that more people means less customer service. "I think the smaller [the restaurant] is, the more the people that work there are involved, the more they care about the food," Osborne said.
no Austin restaurant will be too big anytime soon. Being more involved with food and cooking is good, but what good does that do if that extra time and dedication doesn't amount to anything? It turns out that time might just be the most important aspect of cooking and preparing food. "[The most important part] is timing because cooking involves a lot of stuff. You don't want your steak to be overcooked, undercooked, you just want it rare or medium rare," Zhong said.
However, he views being too big as being a multinational chain, so it's safe to say that
For Zhou, timing is also an essential part of cooking. "It's hard to get that balance... sometimes it gets burnt on the outside but [the steak] is raw on the inside," he said. The extra time and dedication that these local Austin restaurants get may just be the key to their success then.
For those who love trendy food with a distinct identity, Torchy's is the place to go. Torchy's has quickly expanded to one of Austin's most iconic restaurants. Photo courtesy of Selin Ashaboglu.
Located on Congress Ave., this Chi'Lantro location is a perfect representation of how Austin blends different cultures. Having fries mixed with kimchi allows Chi'Lantro to offer something unique. Photo courtesy of Lauren Hallow
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Of course this isn't the only reason. Location and environment can also play a big part in how a restaurant feels and how enjoyable it is to a customer. When Osborne started working at Gourdough's, he made sure to add his own touches to make his restaurant more appealing.
Zhou's view on what makes a restaurant appealing is location, location, location. "It's either gotta be downtown or a place with a really nice view," he said, "Good service comes next, and then the food." Austin has a lot of high end and local restaurants downtown, which is lucky for him.
"How the restaurant looks on the outside doesn't really matter... the outside [can] look pretty shabby but the inside is very welcoming with good food and good service," Zhong said. There are plenty of places like Salt Lick and Torchy's that have locations outside of Downtown with a very welcoming and comfortable environment. Food helps people socialize and come to know and respect each other. "If you're eating food together... it's a lot better than just talking... because food really connects you guys," Zhong said. Of course there is the physical, tangible aspect of food, but its influence has reached much farther than that. It has the unique property of being able to bring people together no matter how different they are, and the restaurants cater to that ability.
For people like Zhong with other tastes, there is something for them here in Austin too.
Osborne explained why he thinks his restaurant and others in Austin have been so successful. "I think the
"I did a lot of the patio stuff: the jenga there, the dartboard, Pacman chair, the Pacman lights. Osborne said, "It's starting to come around. They had the tables and the TV's out here... but [I] just added a little more."
people like to be treated well... if they're not happy when they get here, you sit a big plate of icing on them and then they change their mood. So nobody's ever really disappointed when they leave," he said. Austin is a city largely defined by its food, most of which comes from many creative and unique food trucks and restaurants. No matter where in Austin, there is always a place for everyone. There will always be other things that might take the spotlight for a moment, maybe a trend, a fad, a new development somewhere in the city, but the influential thing in Austin will always be the food. Local Austin food has proven it is not temporary, and it is here to stay, so next time you're downtown, going to enjoy your favorite restaurant in Austin or just visiting the city, you'll consider the food and the meaning it has just a little bit more.
Salt Lick's sausages, briskets, and roibs are placed next to their world famous BBQ sauce. Salt Lick offers a sense of Austin's uniqe culture while still serving good old BBQ. Photo courtesy of Salt Lick BBQ.
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Popular food trucks GOURDOUGH’S Gourdough's has arguably the most unique food Austin has to offer. They specialize in massive donuts with a large variety of flavors. They also offer burgers and other more traditional food items at their only brick and mortar location on South Lamar. Photo courtesy of Kimberly Vardeman
TORCHY’S
Torchy's started a food truck and now expanded to many brick and mortar locations. They specialize in combining tacos with many american foods such as sausages, grilled salmon, and fried avacado.
Photo Courtesy of Jason Ren
Photo courtesy of Bex Walton
MIGHTY FINE
Mighty Fine was founded in 2007 by the same people who founded Rudy's barbeque. These guys specialize in fast casual burgers and shakes. There are now 4 locations in Austin, all of which are extremely successful. Photo courtesy of Carol Killgore
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THE MIGHTY CONE The Mighty Cone is one of many food trucks made popular by the annual music festival: ACL. Their menu consists of various meats and veggies that are deep fried and put into tortilla cones for anyone to enjoy.
CHI’LANTRO
Photo courtesy of Valerie Hinojosa
Photo courtesy of Andy Sternberg
Chi'Lantro was born from the creativity and genius from its founder Jae Kim. Chi'Lantro sells a mix of Korean BBQ that is so successful it now has four brick and mortar stores and a food truck.
HEY CUPCAKE
Photo courtesy of Mike Prosser
Hey Cupcake was started by Wes Hurt and his childhood friend, Brian Morris. There are 5 Hey Cupcake locations in Austin, one brick and mortar and four food trucks. They cater to any event, from birthdays to parades to even UT football Photo courtesy of Austin Evan games. Destination Downtown — Fall Ezine 2018 | 13
Bars in Downtown Austin By:Ryan Abou-Hamdan
Alex Shoemaker, a bartender at the Roosevelt Room in Downtown Photo Coutesy: Maggie Svoboda
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Downtown Austin’s Greatest Bar Features
Matt Ross, the manager of the Roosevelt Room Photo Courtesy of Matt Ross
The Mort Subite Bar in Downtown A Photo Courtesy of ATMTX Blog
In every movie, a bar is depicted as a place where right when you open the doors, there are drunk people teetering all over the place, people scowling and shooting dirty looks at you. On the contrary, downtown Austin bars are as friendly as bars can get. Smiling faces making sure that "every guest is the guest of honor," as Matt Ross, the general manager of the Roosevelt Room in downtown Austin, said. Each bar is unique in every way, but the best bars all have something in common. They have a cool vibe and think very highly of their customer's ideas and feelings. Each successful bar has its own style and every style attracts different people. Every person has their own opinions on which bars they prefer, but downtown Austin has it all. 6th Street is home to a large portion of bars in Austin, and it is always bustling with activity which could be anything from a "12-person bachelorette party
full of 20-somethings, to a four top of 50-somethings looking for a nice cocktail on a nice night out," Ross stated. Austin has been expanding and downtown has been getting more and more action. Bars have been "ramping up and building clientele" because the "service staff and bartenders who worked here worked very good at their jobs." These bars all have a rule that they use when a customer is unsatisfied, which is to "learn: listen, empathize, apologize, react, notify." "We have eight core values of this company and one of them is every guest is the guest of honor," Ross said.
Downtown bars serve anything from Belgian to cocktail to tap beer. The bars in downtown are infused with so much outside culture and it makes it all the more valuable. "You look at the chalkboard of the draft list, it's Flemish, it's French, a little bit of German," said Collin Browning, the general manager of the Mort Subite Belgian Bar. When you order from Mort Subite, you get "Belgian beer, not just Belgian style" said Browning. "They [Belgium] were not regulated so much by the government so they [could] do whatever they wanted, [ending] up with a lot of crazy different yeast strains" Browning said.
Some of the best bars are set Each bar allows their guests apart by "the setting and the to "pick what flavors, what pricing [which] creates a styles [they] want and ultimately certain type of clientele," Ross [you're] conveying a story to your said. guest," Ross said. This makes the experience all the more Not only this, but Ross said, exciting, giving the customers "I've always been very more pathways to choose from. Destination Downtown — Fall Ezine 2018 | 15
The Handlebar in Downtown Austin Photo Courtesy of Austin Eater
service-oriented." Ross explained. There are lots of bars who get mad at their guests for the things that they would do, but due to the friendliness of the Roosevelt Room, and the fact that he had those same standards, he decided to work there. Many of the best bars make "all bartenders go through an apprenticeship program, no matter how many years experience they have had" Ross said.
uniform both in how they act, and what they do for their guests. After having to go through that apprenticeship process, the bartenders
cocktail concoction more whenever they are in need of a larger selection, or if they just want to add onto their menu to give it more pizazz. These bars in downtown that are specialized in cocktails work harder on creating new cocktails in order to keep them changing and unique as they are mainly cocktail bars. Browning said, "There's been a lot of cocktails that I've done where there was my ingredients... from experience of knowing what, what goes good with what."
As far as people, when they google best bars in Austin, we’re pretty much always the first to pop up.
This helps the bar become more oriented as everyone will have learned the same way, will serve the drinks in the same way, and will all be
appreciate the gig more. They're definitely more loyal and dedicated to us," Ross said. Some of these bars also create their own drinks. The manager's try to work on their
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Downtown Austin bars are
also full of personality. Michael Ware, the general manager of the Handlebar bar said, "some bars in downtown Austin are strangely themed, not to the point where they are too weird, but to the point where they fit in with our culture." Austin's motto is Keep Austin Weird, and bars in Austin such as the Handlebar, where every bartender has a mustache, and the Jackalope, where the bar is decorated in taxidermy definitely prove that motto to be true. These kinds of bars also happen to do the best as they are the most unique and they are the ones that aren't found
as often. Ware said, "many people, although they may not be particularly interested in our beer, decide to come so that they can be in a different environment and experience our different style." Bars such as these happen to have some of the highest starred ratings, with the largest amount raters. "Belgium has a different kind of brewing technique, which always goes back to history of brewing, [and that] culture creates new creative ways of bringing more beer into downtown," Browning said.
"Having all of these bars and all these different cultures becoming infused [in Austin] creates a more diverse Austin culture and begins to attract more and more people from different places to try out these different styles," Ware said. Austin is widely known for its diverse variety of bars with a wide range of cultures slowly becoming part of the norm in Downtown. These bars all have good service, diverse styles, and professionalism. Thanks to all of Austin's culture, it is a great host to bars and has some ambitious bars aiming to be the best.
View of downtown from the rooftop of the Azul Rooftop Bar at the Westin Photo Courtesy of Eater Austin
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The drink Have Photo courtesy of: Fifty Five Bar
By: Ryan Abou-Hamdan
The Roosevelt is the best bar in Dosntown. It is a cocktail based bar with friendly service and sit down drinking
The Roosevelt Room
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A cocktail heavy bar that is in Austin's oldest Fire Station. Built in 1885 and it is also a hotel. Fire House Lounge
A fun bar where the bartenders all have mustaches. Handle Bar
of a lifetime a seat Photo courtesy of: Fifty Five Bar
It is Austin's first Ivy-League themed Bar. Nice eatery, bar, and place to watch sports. Academia
A very casual bar to hangout or work, with many imported Belgian and tap Beers.
Mort Subite
This bar is in a corner of a parking garage, with very dark and chill vibes.
Garage
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What Makes a Musician By Arnav Karnik
A Reason to Perform
T The new Antone's Nightclub in Downtown shows off its new stage Photo courtesy of: Ralph Barrera
he warm lights illuminate the stage, the performers breathing hard, having just finished playing. There is a split second of silence, as the audience processes what just happened, and then, the applause. The musicians on stage stand and walk off, leaving just an echo of the music that just occured. This is the impact that live music has on an average audience member, this is the reason people spend so much money on concert tickets. As watching a dedicated performer live is an experience like no other. Music is the the expression of emotion through a tune or melody, and musicians are just conduits of that emotion.
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HAAM benefit day concert being played at the Continental Club. Photo courtesy of: Trey Ratcliff
'The point of [music] is to make people feel something and to ideally make their world a better place for at least a little while,' professional musician Paul Lidel explained, "The idea of playing music...is to have people enjoy it and to just improve their day." Musicians perform for their audience, regardless of the style of music, each musician will say that live music is meant for the audience. "It doesn't matter whether [the audience] is listening to me on a recording or if they're there to see me live, I just want them to enjoy [the performance], and to be entertained," Lidel said. Music inspires different emotions in the listener, but what it all has in common is that it brings people together. When Lidel writes music, he says, "The good music doesn't feel like I wrote it. So even if I'm the person that writes it, it feels as if there was somebody else writing it. It feels like it just came from a different place." He later talks about his good ideas coming from the right side of the brain, the 'creative' side, where the less logical, more instinctive part of the brain lies. Lidel said that his
musical ideas that come from the right side of the brain are more child-like because children are more in-tune with their emotions, and given that, it makes sense that children are more in-tune with music than adults.
it, I know it wasn't compelling enough and I will follow up, and make it better, and that has helped me as a musician too...I've learned that if something doesn't go your way, you've got to get up, focus, and keep persisting."
Teacher and musician Erik Rivas-Rivas said that his ideal musical performance is making an experience for the audience, and he doesn't mind playing the background music for the experience.
This quality is necessary for a musician to thrive, because nothing will always go the way people want it to go. There might be a performance that went badly or there might be an audience that just won't respond to the music. The important thing is to just let it go and look towards making the next performance the best that it can possibly be.
"I'm okay being the soundtrack for their experience...[the concert] is just a facet of it," Rivas-Rivas said. A performance should be an experience dedicated to the enjoyment of the audience, not just a causal event. Rivas-Rivas has learned important life lessons from being both a teacher and a musician, such as the concept of perseverance: "When I give a presentation, and I don't see a child following up with
There are also people who make businesses off of music, like Rob Bentley and James King from Don't Stop Rockin', a music school in South Austin. They noted the pros and cons, working in the music industry, "There are lots of tradeoffs that I think people in the arts make in in general, which is if your priority is to make a lot of
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Skrillex performs on the Honda Stage at the 2014 ACL Music Festival Photo courtesy of: Honda Pictures
“If something doesn’t go your way, you’ve got to get up, focus, and keep persisting”
dough than you probably are in the wrong business, or if you immediately want to go get a mortgage and drive a new car instead of the 10 year old car," said Bentley. Running a business in the music industry takes dedication because the rewards won't manifest until several years of hard work have been invested. "Don't Stop Rockin' started off as two people renting out Gorzycki Middle School a couple nights a week teaching six children how to rock," King said while talking about the downsides of the music industry. There was little to no profit for the duo; they
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invested all of the money into expanding the business, and they didn't start paying themselves for four or five years until they finally had their own location, and time to take a breath. It's not all bad, though, the freedom in making a living in the music business allows people to do things they otherwise wouldn't. King and Bentley invest their time in other musical options. They are currently working on publishing the LP of one of their closest friends. James and Rob stated that they could work on the album because "We have the ability and the flexibility to [pursue other passions] because we are our own bosses and we
Confetti rains from the ceiling of the 2017 South By Southwest music festival in Austin Photo courtesy of: Festival Squad
set our own hours." Being a musician is a conscious choice that people make. They accept the tradeoffs and they continue pursuing their passions because they love music. Being a musician takes dedication to persevere even through the bad times, "There is no progress in music without setbacks, but the most successful musicians that I know, they all say that the challenges were worth it," said Lidel. If the struggling musicians continue pursuing their passion, then there will be rewards. King and Bentley
persevered through the dark time of their business, renting out a local middle school for classes, and now they have their own location with a couple hundred students and plenty of free time to pursue other passions. Pursuing music as a career option comes with pros and cons, but the musicians that have stayed in the industry the longest will say the same thing, they stay in music because they love it, they love inspiring emotion in their audience, and they love creating new experiences that the audience will remember for years to come.
Eric Johnson's Blue Fender Stratocaster which was played by him in multiple concerts. Photo courtesy of:: Icarus Gludy
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Famous Live music Venues The Go-To Guide to Choosing Your Venue The North Door If you want a venue with a great sound system and spacious seating which also features many different genres of performancyes, this venue is for you.
By Arnav Karnik
Photo courtesy of: The North Door
parish Photo courtesy of: Austin Chronicle
Photo courtesy of: Do 512
Parish is a venue locasted on the iconic 6th Street, and it demonstrates that culture in its sound and environment, This venue also features many different events besides music.
Cedar Street Courtyard This outdoor venue pairs good drinks and great music in a fanitastic combination that leaves people satisfied every year at SXSW.
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Photo courtesy of: Parish
Photo courtesy of: KUT
Antone’s Nightclub This historical venue has been greatly influential to Austin culture for the past 40 years. This venue has featured famous names such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Muddy Waters.
The Cactus Cafe
The Cactus Cafe is a modern venue that is a hit for university students in Austin. For good reason too, as the Cactus Cafe is a renowned venue acknowledged by Billboard magazine as "solidly respectable" and "savvy." Photo courtesy of: Thunder Tix
The continental club
Photo courtesy of: Eleonor Segura
The Continental Club is a historical club has been featuring fantastic music for around 60 years now. The Continental Club is a must if you want to experience Austin culture at its finest.
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the Definition of
d o w n to w n How downtown Austin manages to stay traditional to its culture despite its growth.
By: Abhinu Meka
A beautiful aerial view of Downtown and surrounding water and greenery. This view is acknowledged by several architects as the best in Texas. Photo Courtesy of Images From Texas.
D
eveloped cities continue to have height wars, getting taller and taller, blocking out the beauty and hindering the city from being unique. On the other hand, Austin is the home of the city with the tallest buildings in the west with zoning guidelines that help preserve the beauty in downtown. Its liveliness throughout the energetic streets and bright lights that make nighttime in Austin brighter than day are what help Austin stand out from other cities.
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An internal view of downtown with the major buildings such as the Forst Bank and Austonian. during the nighttime with beautiful lighting. Photo courtesy of Nicole Burton.
Tom Zimmerman has been a tour guide in downtown Austin for over 15 years and is part of the Austin Tour Guide Association. Specializing in art, culture, and history of Austin, Zimmerman said Austin is known for its unique cultural routines, such as ACL. "Downtown Austin is not like New York City or Chicago and not like Dallas. Other cities kind of spread in all directions. [Austin] honored its culture for a long time. it's walkable and it's nice... we know that Texas [was] formerly called Tejas which means friendly and we keep our town friendly by preserving the past," Zimmerman said. From this, it's evident that Austin is a special town because its citizens keep Austin weird. Austin has grown and evolved into a city with unique and modern architecture. Despite the fact that Austin has buildings almost 700 feet tall, it
has always respected the height of the capitol building and has left out specific scenic viewpoints for the Capitol. STG design is one of the several architecture firms that is essential to downtown Austin due to its innovative designs found in downtown buildings. Jim Stephenson, a head architect at STG Design, agrees that Austin has always respected its past while preparing for its future; he stated that he faces the challenges as an architect with "capitol view corridors... and capital height limit rules." "Austin is incredibly complex on the zoning side, so we have compatibility restrictions that limit height when we have to be really careful that buildingd limit the height of the development," Stephenson said when asked about his major hardships. The rigorous rules enacted
by the government of Austin caused the city to stay traditional to its culture. It's significant to the society of downtown that Austin is developing from its roots rather than rebuilding its history like several other major cities have. Although downtown Austin may seem like it's a place with a limited amount of problems, in reality, Austin faces the major challenge of a rapidly increasing population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Austin's population grew from 790,491 to 950,715 over the span of only six years. The city of Austin, especially downtown, has to constantly adapt to the booming population growth. "Commute is the biggest challenge because... the number of people that are here are multiplying, just like a big city... the infrastructure is kind of lacking growth," stated Ash Obulreddygari, an employee at ERS.
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Obulreddygari believes that one way of reducing the problem of commute is to include public transport. "Public transport would be good if you can get a metro because if you wanted to be on a bus you're still going to be stuck behind a car, so there's no point for a bus."
Austin can be doing a better job with their development of downtown. Moreover, Stephenson said, "a key thing is we don't have public transit here. We have buses, but most mature cities have at least a light rail... really mature cities, obviously have subways... but Austin has time and time again, rejected light
downtown, after the fact that there is much traffic and issues with commute and the fact that Austin has learned to stay traditional, it is important to acknowledge the structure of the modernistic buildings here in downtown Austin.
The buildings that are known After suggesting to include as tall include the Austonian public which is 683 feet tall, transport such as the “I like all the people that come metros Independent which is here, good people come here 690 feet tall, and the rather than buses, 360 because they know it’s a carObulreddygari went on Condominiums which is ing community. Some people say 581 feet tall. to say that someone should ‘Keep Austin Weird’... but I say All three of these "conduct research ‘Keep Austin Wonderful’.” about the patterns of elegant buildings serve traffic and where the the same most purpose -- they all traffic in rail or any kind of mass transit." provide downtown is." Stephenson adds to the points condominiums for the made earlier by stating that not people of Austin to stay. As the She believes that much public transport is present commute to downtown grows understanding where population in Austin because the CBD and difficult, an influx of people will and traffic levels are the most Austin government keeps move into the technological hub, dense is the first step in declining ideas of public and if they are looking for a providing a smoother commute transport. fancy place to stay, one of the for people working or living in tallest towers is an ideal downtown. This is proof that In the unique place of destination. Downtown Austin has a magnificent sunset during springtime. Photo courtesy of Cindy Widner
Austin traffic is slowly becoming one of the major problems in downtown. Photo courtesy of Austin Chamber of Commerce.
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A few other buildings that are around the height of 500 feet are the Frost Bank Tower and the W Hotel. Even though its buildings are growing increasingly taller, Austin still has a significant amount of ground level interaction, unlike many mature cities up north, like Dallas and Houston because these cities have established underground parking as an effort to reduce vertical height of buildings. "There's a, a nice street life...a lot of people living in downtown austin have always been good about making developers put retail at the ground floor. So if you go to houston or dallas, you see a lot of buildings that come down to the ground and they may have an office lobby or... take parking down on the ground, but there's no street level interaction," stated Stephenson when asked of his opinion on ground level interaction. Stephenson claims that his favorite building in downtown Austin is "the W hotel, ... [Stephenson] tends to be kind of a modernist or a minimalist in design, so... It's simplistic form really speaks to [him]." From this it is clear that the people of Austin do not prefer taller or larger buildings, but since Austin is
rapidly growing, the increasing height of buildings is inevitable. Austin is a city that about 1,000,000 people call home, and as Austin continues to grow in population the buildings will get taller while the commute gets more hectic. The hardships in commute will cause people to move into one of the tall condominium-packed towers that are constantly being planned or built. However, the growing population will, unfortunately, prevent the traditionality in Austin today. "I don't want any... [tourists] to stay and eventually I tell them that that our city has grown too fast. I make sure I tell them about the capital, this world class university, the diversity in architecture... and all those good things, but also make sure they find out that there are scorpions here," said Zimmerman when asked about his greatest challenge as a tour guide. "I don't really want to close any door. In this quote, Zimmerman summed up the difficulties of population growth and how they will affect the Austin we know today. Whatever the change or problems, the culture of downtown Austin will always remain weird and stay loyal to its traditional culture.
Austin is under major phases of construction, causing large amounts of redirection of traffic. Photo courtesy of Lars Plougmann
ACL is one reason Austin is unique from other major cities since it is an Austin tradition. Photo courtesy of Ralph Arves
Austinites also celebrate the fourth of July in downtown as a tradition. These traditions are what keep Austin weird. Photo Courtesy of Deering Davis
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Top 5 famous Downtown The Independent The independent is a skyscraper that is one of the newest buildings in Downtown. The modern skyscraper's construction began in 2016 and is projected to finish in 2019 as the tallest building in Downtown, surpassing the Austonian. At a projected finishing height only The a few feet taller than the Austonian Photo courtesy of Ryan Cramer Austonian, the Independent currently is also a building filled with holds the title as beautiful, expensive the tallest building, condominiums. Once at 683 feet (56 floors), finished, the condominium in the downtown skyline will be the tallest building and will hold its title until 2019. west of the This luxurious building is one Mississippi River in the packed with several condominiums United States. Known and amenities for its residents. The as the Jenga Building, Austonian is such a special building the Independent has a due to its environmentally conscious unique block-like design. The building is designed structure with a to minimize water and energy use distinctive stacked with low-water design. The landscaping and a reclaimed-water independent will lead irrigation system. Unfortunately, the its fellow once unique building has a skyscrapers into competitor in both the height of the future. the building and the purpose of the building that is projected to finish in 2019. Since its finish in 2010, the Austonian has been an extraordinary contribution to Downtown, Austin. Independent will lead its fellow skyscrapers into the future.
Photo courtesy of Wally Gobetz
The Austonian
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Austin buildings
By: Abhinu Meka
The U.T. Clock Tower Because it's construction was completed in 1937, the U.T. clock tower is one of the oldest buildings in Downtown, Austin, yet the tower is still 307 feet tall, quite a height for a building almost a century old. The tower is the main building of the world-famous University of Texas at Austin campus. Despite its beauty and contemporary looks, the clock tower has a gruesome history with it. For example, in 1966, an architectural engineer in the university by the name of Charles The Whitman climbed to the observation deck of the tower and killed or wounded up Frost to 50 people in the span of 96 minutes before the police shot Whitman down by Bank is climbing on top of the tower. Along with the shooting, several an older students commited suicide by jumping off of the tower, causing the building in observation deck to be closed for many years. The history and architecture of Downtown due the tower certainly contributes to the history of Downtown. to the fact that it was completed in the year of 2003. The tower is very unique from all the other Downtown buildings, given that it has a distinctive Photo courtesy of Rachel Corbelli pyramid-like crown. At a towering height of 515 feet, the bank is one of the tallest Photo courtesy of Nicole Raney buildings in Downtown. The tower is one of a kind since it was the first high-rise building to be constructed after the tragic 9/11 attack. The Frost Bank tower is one of the hundreds of branches of the Frost Bank throughout Texas, carrying out the bank's logo at over 400 feet. This architectural icon is an essential piece of Dowtown's skyline.
The Frost Bank
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Drive Safe Or this might be you
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Ladies and Gentlemen, We got him
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