Anyone here lived or from the Southwest? LATEST: We Chose Austin

[theavrock]

Nez -

 

Is it really that humid there? I was under the impression that Austin was humid but nothing like the East coast and even less than Wisconsin.

 

I think we have kind of come to the conclusion that its between ABQ and Austin. I have been doing a lot of research on the cities but its always hard to get an accurate picture on them.

 

 

Austin

 

Pros:

 

Great music scene

 

Fun nightlife/young crowd etc.

 

Nice weather year round, save some heat in the summer

 

One of the few large cities in the country to have positive job growth

 

 

 

Cons:

 

Traffic

 

housing is expensive in the city

 

lack of pro sports

 

ABQ

 

Pros:

 

Great outdoors for hiking, climbing etc.

 

Affordable housing/rentals

 

Great arts community (the gf is a dancer)

 

Awesome weather

 

 

 

Cons:

 

Quieter/not as much going on

 

lack of pro sports

 

 

 

I know there are some things I am missing on the list, but thats my quick and dirty analysis.

 

 

 

[Nez]

Well, I live in Madison, MS....just outside of Jackson. Austin is obviously west of me, but speaking as a transplant Wisconsinite frome experience......the summers are HOT and MUGGY. There are no other words to explain. Moving to eastern Texas is not going to be much difference than it is here. Texas is blazzing hot man. If you like that, go for it. I don't necessarily not like it, but don't set yourself up for something you don't want. Austin will touch 100 degrees in 1 summer week than Milwaukee will touch 90 all year long.

 

Granted, your winters will be a lot nicer....but again, Austin will not give you nice weather 'all year round'. Will you be freezing your tail off in the winter, no...but you will definently need winter clothing.

 

If you want beautiful weather all year round..i would suggest South Florida or Southern California...

[theavrock]

Alright so over the past few weeks we talked about everything and we chose Austin. We will be moving in Sept and doing some recon in late May (May 22nd-26th). Now since we settled on a destination I was hoping to get some more specific questions answered.

Neighborhoods?

 

We don't need to be close to downtown but I don't want to be surrounded by a bunch of strip malls and chain stores, which is what I have heard a lot of the outskirts tend to be. Are there any funky neighborhoods with mom and pop/locally owned stores and restaurants so we can get that but don't have to be paying the prices of downtown living? We will be renting and would like to keep it between $600-1000 max for a one bedroom.

 

Should we contact an apartment locator? I'm used to going on Craigslist in Milwaukee, but all of the listings have the addresses which it seems like almost none of the Austin CL ads do.

 

Areas I have heard that seem interesting so far include: Clarksville, Tarrytown, Travis Heights, Bouldin Creek and Barton Hills.

 

What's on your top must do's when your friends and families visit you in Austin for the first time? I'd really like to see the real Austin and avoid the touristy stuff that it may have. So any bars, restaurants, attractions etc. you can think of would be great.

 

Also I'll be graduating with a degree in Env. Sciences and applying to law schools for the fall of 2010. It would be cool to do something in the environmental/wildlife field, but obviously competition is stiff and if I will be giving it up to go to law school anyways I'm not sure if its worth the effort. I am a bartender currently and figure that if I can't find anything in my field maybe I will just try to hitch on at one of austins saloons. Anyone have any advice on either the environmental field or service industry or even just getting a decent paying job in general. When it comes down to it I'll only be doing it for a year so as long as I am able to make a living I'm not too picky.

 

Lastly if any of you Brewerfan Austinites will be around in late May let me know and maybe we can grab a beer. I won't know anyone down there so it would be nice to start establishing a network of friends out there.

[UeckerAddict]

Congrats to you on your upcoming move to Austin. I moved here from Madison in August and have had the best time.

 

When it comes to Austin, I had it (cornily) described to me as such: It is like a giant twinkie. You want to live in the creamy middle. If you look at a map, the "creamy middle" is the area between the four highways. Ben White and 183 (on the south and north) and 35 and Mo Pac (on the east and west). Anywhere inside of these boundaries is a great place to live. I started out in Hyde Park, which is north of downtown (6th street is seen as the epicenter) and south of 183. Anywhere off of South congress is also great. I presently live in a three bedroom house, with a large band space, that is a total of $800 per month. Not bad. Unfortunately, I can't really advise you on apartment locators since that scouting job was pretty much done for me by those I live with.

 

What to see and do depends largely on your interests. Live music is anywhere and everywhere. Great places to hangout include The Spider house (awesome outdoor coffee/beer/food venue), then there are many cool bars. I prefer the Red River District, which is perpendicular to 6th Street, for music, which includes the famous and infamous venues such as Emo's, Stubbs, Red 7, and the new hot spot (which is last on this list for me) The Mohawk. Too bad you missed SXSW, but it will be around next year. Austin City Limits comes back in the fall. My favorite bars are Shangri La (a lot of hipsters, but yet it avoids the trendiness of most hipster bars), Lala's (a little north, but a cool little place run by two old ladies who play all 50s music and have the place decked out in Christmas lights. Reminds me of the bar in Goodfellas where joe Pesci took out Billy Bats.), and Barfly's which is a bit of a dive, but I personally like dives. Lovejoy's is another dive off of 6th street and is a bit of an oasis if you're looking to avoid the college type places. Not sure Lovejoy's and Barfly's are a place for your parents, though.

 

Presently I am managing at a restaurant while I get my certificate to become a teacher. I just turned 28 and graduated from the UW last May (I took a number of years off from school before going back). A bunch of my friends moved down here for band purposes and, after visiting a few times, I was sold. Their band can be found at myspace music under the title Watch Out for Rockets. I haven't been through a whole summer yet, and I hear it can get pretty miserable weather wise. However, as my friend put it, for four months the days are really bad, but I have air conditioning and the nights are great. It beats the winters of Wisconsin. Barton Springs and the swimming holes are apparently unbelievable in the summer.

 

The Alamo Draft house are the greatest movie theaters there are (three locations), I luv video is the greatest video store, and Waterloo records is an unbelievable record store. I've gotten my share of breakfast tacos and the nashville sounds will come and play the Round rock Express (about 5-10 miles north and named after their owner, Nolan Ryan) twice this year. I also am catching the Crew in Houston. There is a Packer bar that only plays Packer games (no matter who else is playing) when they are on. It's called Billy's. The big sports bar is probably Dave and Buster's, though I must admit, I haven't been to many sports bars since I moved because there are just better places to be.

 

I'll definitely be around come May. If you get a hankering, feel free to drop me a line on here.

[theavrock]

Thanks for the recommendations. I will def check out those places and see what I can when I'm in town.

From my research Austin seems to be really expensive in the downtown area for a city of its size and then prices drop obviously the further out you get. I would love to live in the Bouldin Creek, Travis Heights areas but I'm not sure if its in the price range. Do you have any preference for South or North Austin?

 

I am a big fan of divey sorts of bars. Can't really stand the whole club atmosphere. Any other tips or pieces of advice I might be missing?