I've been watching all your videos since a recent visit to NYC (LOVE them...I think I've seen them all). As a native Texas I had to watch this one! Awesome to hear you talk about Gonzales, my hometown! Come and Take It, Baby!
Born and raised Austinite here. There’s been a huge shift in the feeling in Austin since the early 2000s, it’s weird to experience, this video reminds me of when I would tour austin as a kid for elementary school, when I went clubbing on sixth for my first time, when I stayed at the Driscoll with my friends for the first time to see if it was haunted, random stuff, but it’s crazy to see the huge changes. The gentrification is saddening. I grew up in low income housing that is now a high rise luxury apartment. I stayed homeless at a hotel where huge hotels now are, the rich have eaten austin alive and are using the shell of it as their puppet. I still live here and my family jokes every time we drive by the skyline we look for what new building is there. I love Austin. I just wish people were as kind as they were, it used to be a happy hippie community. You could walk down the street and have a conversation with people.
@@simon7762 very true. Austin has had a prominent low rider car club in an east Austin public park, I think it’s been going on 25-50 years now, it’s a newly gentrified area and the new community members are trying to ban the car club. It’s a really sour subject. It’s hard to talk to people about because people moving here that are paying 900,000 for a small run down house feel entitled because they are paying so much, not realizing they are messing with something that has been in Austin’s culture for a long long time, and not wanting to empathize or listen. It’s rich karen and kens that don’t like revving engines but didn’t research where they were moving to enough to learn this is something that has been happening every Sunday morning for longer than they can imagine with no issues. That area was a big Latino community, most of the people I knew there were happy to get up with the car club being their alarm, some for church and some just got up and went to go see the cars, or clean It is what it is as far as noise, no way around that, but it was a community activity, it was welcomed, it was looked forward to. Now dumb people are putting up signs saying go back to where you came from, when they pushed these people out of their own community by raising the cost of living for all us that were here before.
@@Bunnibabigirl I believe you, sweetheart. It's sad. Austin was cool years ago. I am from Chicago, but I can attest to the cool weird Austin days. Those are gone with the Dodo Bird.
Third generation Austinite born and raised here and I completely agree. I really miss the old small town feeling that Austin had back in the mid 90s. I work in east Austin and watching what is happening with that area breaks my heart. In a way it’s nice to see new life coming to the area, but it’s so important to preserve the history and the culture that’s been here for so long.
@@alideees Gosh, little lady. I remember walking down East 6 Street during 2008 to 2015, and I loved it so much,, for it was a cool neighborhood mixed with worn houses, a gas company, a house/repair shop for sewing machines with a bunch of cats in the yard, a cool pottery business, a YMCA, warehouses before you crossed over the tracks, a variety of offbeat clubs, Dan's Hair Salon, Cisco's-which I have yet to try out, and trees standing next to the street lamps. Oh, there was another restaurant on that street, but I believe the family either sold the place or retired from the business. I felt safe walking at night there. It was my favorite block. It had a pulse that was different from any other street in downtown Austin. Now, I do not know or understand the street. It does not move right with me. Cesar Chavez is still pretty cool with the fabulous Counter Culture Restaurant, and Mr.. Natural. Mongers was great as well. Congress was truly cool too, but now it's so different. All of the shops that supported up and coming clothing designers and artisans of jewelry, etc., are gone. Creatures has flown the coop. Parts and Labor is still standing strong. Well, Austin's weirdness has turned into blandness for the Aesthetes.
Tom I've been hooked on your videos recently. I was pleasantly surprised to see my home of Austin TX. I've lived here for 10+ years, walked down Congress a million times and had no idea about the history of the street. So cool!
Excellent video! This is the type of information I’m interested in when researching before visiting a place. Wish there were more videos like this on line.
I was born and raised in Austin and got to experience the best music ever. I worked in the Capital for awhile back in the early 70's. I went to all the best places back then. I was one of the ones that kept Austin weird. I could write a book
I just bought an apartment in Greenwich Village on E9th @ Broadway, so I've been watching and enjoying your Village tours. So funny to run across your tour of Austin, my hometown (my great great grandparents emigrated there from Sweden in the 1800's, my mom went to high school there in the 50's. Family lore is that my great grandfather planted most of the trees on the Texas State Capitol grounds, where he was the groundskeeper.) My own nuclear family moved there in 1981. Austin's a whole new city now...
Tom, I was in Austin Texas last week to celebrate my 60 Birthday. My nephew lives in Austin. I have tragic news my parents where killed in a car crash last week in Texas. I tried to make the most of my trip despite the tough circumstances. It's been a rough week for me.
Tom! Been watching your vids for ages man and a big fan! Used to live in Austin only 2 years ago before I moved to NYC.... this is gonna be great!!! Thanks for your content, it's brilliant. PS I love Austin and miss it everyday, one hell of a city! Take care.
Moved here in 93 what a great city and to watch it be ruined be these retards is sickening. Sad I will have to move soon and take my art and music somewhere else.
I used to live in Fort Worth Texas and worked at American Airlines which was near the DFW airport. I have visited Dallas, Houston, and Galveston but not Austin or San Antonio. I hope to visit those cities in the future.
I read that Edwin Booth saved the life of President Lincoln's son, Robert, who was in some danger from being killed by a train. At the time, Booth was traveling to Richmond with his friend who was the owner of Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot. I lived in Austin for 30 years, and I love the city. I lived there from 1972-1975, then from 1978-2005. The lowest rent I paid was $40 a month. The highest was $275 a month.
Great video, I plan to go back to Austin soon as when I first went things were still closed due to the pandemic. Plus there were some good insights that I didn't know at that time that I got from your video. Nice to see that walking down Congress is still an adventure with some of the lovely people you can meet there...lol.
First of all, WELCOME TO GOD's COUNTRY! Texas!!! I watch all your NYC videos and you totally impressed me with your knowledge of my home state! Great job! I hope I run into you next month in NYC! Thanks! Great job brother on filming!
This is not "gods county" whatever the fuck that means, we are a secular nation and state that is open to people of all faiths even to those that don't associate with one.
Welcome to my neck of the woods! I live and hour south in San Antonio. Excited to hear what you know about Texas history. Yep! Your 1st experience of "keep Austin weird" with that woman.
My tour is always "that's where such-and-such used to be, and that high-rise is where such and such used to be, and that apartment building used to be a co-op, and that's where I saw blah-blah, but it was a nightclub then, not a fast food place".
I loved how you mentioned the moonlight towers and then Servant Girl Annihilator but did you realize they had a connection? That they put them up partially in response to the actions of the Servant Girl Annihilator
Oh, you were so close to mentioning Richard Linklater's "Slacker" film of the late 80s. I've never been to Austin, but in my mind that's what it was like. Seattle did the same thing - super cool in the 90s, now wealth has come and tore the city down. Anyway, awesome video, I've really enjoyed all your NYC videos.
texas? wow have a great time with your bro.........just love seeing brothers be brothers.. you look taller tom well like they say everything is bigger in texas ,,,you stay safe mijo and you havent answer me hope you read this..........que paso con phil??? we love you tomasito
I really enjoy your vidoes with such a great mixture of history and humor. We've learned so much about NYC. Since I am sure you want to be accurate, I would, though, like to respectfully disagree with your description of the reasons for the Texas revolution. I believe your information may have come from Wikipedia. To get a better understanding, please read the Wikipedia information on Santa Anna, the Mexican president, during the time leading up to the revolution. Here are the important points: On 12 June (1834), Santa Anna dissolved Congress. In 1835, Santa Anna replaced the 1824 constitution with the new constitutional document known as the "Siete Leyes" ("The Seven Laws"). Santa Anna was trying to make himself an emperor. Please keep the great videos coming!
Absolutely awesome that you immediately ran into a crazy. That's really what makes Austin weird, don't let anybody tell you different. It's the relatively harmless crazy people that stalk the city's parks and public spaces.
bump bucgruond chc eze peze nehongo bajeng breze. fornr from the bg gren upl not a crmnl. thenc of ul the cool bordrlin elegl thngs on the slc rod othr thun drugs & plustc xplosv & gunfitrs. a.o.c. porn? mltare grad unethng lic softwar or song lerx yoo cood stel from forn cuntres. mac yorslf ersstbl on tndr?
Very nice video. For a New York boy, your knowledge of Texas and Austin is impressive. When you walked by the Paramount Theater, I was hoping you'd mention that Harry Houdini actually performed there. Then again, that's not something known by everyone, so I won't fault them. You touched on far more history in such a rather small part of the city, it's more than a lot of transplants know about Austin. There used to be far more cool and historical buildings, landmarks, clubs here, that were simply torn down. Too many of those corporate folks loved Austin the way it was, and wanted to establish themselves here. So what did they do? They moved here, started tearing down these cool places, putting up condos and apartment complexes...basically ruining so much of what people have loved about Austin. There's still a group of us who keep it old-school, and contribute to the reason this place will always be known as "The Live Music Capital of the World." We're damned proud of that. Thanks again.
The most impressive part of this video is how he was able avoid the overwhelming amount homeless people shuffling around downtown. Seriously what time can I go and it look like that? Or just good editing?
You're right, that sure was a weird start to the video! Great stuff yet again Tom, your knowledge is truly exceptional. Just as a side note: Lars Eighner (author of the book 'Travels with Lizbeth`) spent a lot of time living on the streets of Austin, worth a read if you can get hold of a copy.
In 1978, John Mackey and Renee Lawson borrowed $45,000 from family and friends to open a small vegetarian natural foods store called SaferWay in Austin, Texas. 1980....Two years later, Mackey and Lawson partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to merge SaferWay with the latter's Clarksville Natural Grocery, resulting in the opening of the original Whole Foods Market.
Interesting note. East Austin was the sight of the nations first African American public housing project, Rosewood Courts, built in 1939. Initially public housing was used for whites to upgrade their quality of life which started in the Techwood Homes in Georgia in 1935.
So let me get this straight. Steven Austin is known as the father of Texas and who Austin, Texas was named after, but Lee Majors, who played Steve Austin on the Six Million Dollar Man, now lives in Houston, Texas after many years of living in Los Angeles. It's a strange world. Hard to understand. This message was brought to you by random artificial intelligence walking down the street in human form.
