Here’s the Austin city travelogue written by traveller Jayanthi Chandrasekaran. Discover her amazing experiences and learn about the attractions in Austin, the capital city of Texas!
Austin, the capital city of Texas, with its heavenly breakfast-tacos, tex-mex delicacies, live music and iconic street art and murals, all with their unique quirks seems to be a magnet attracting creators and innovators who see the world differently. Red Wassenich, a librarian and Austinite, lamented about the new culture of high-tech and luxury eroding that old world niche of Austin and shared his perspective in a radio show to keep Austin weird in 2000. Unwittingly he became the author of an inspiring slogan, the echoes of which can be felt in downtown Austin.
The call to keep Austin from steering too much away from its character is evident as we walked past several shops on South Congress Avenue. We could see how businesses have paired up with local artists to create a colourful city with signs calling out to you – “You’re My Butter Half”, “Greetings From Austin”, “How You Doin?”, “I love you so much”. In fact, we saw people lining up to take pictures in front of these colourful murals.
The street art, funky boutiques, and live music venues constitute Austin’s colourful tapestry.
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For instance, the mural of ‘Jeremiah, the innocent frog’ greets with ‘Hi, How are you” at the corner of Guadalupe Street. We learnt from our tour guide that there once stood a record store called Sound Exchange whose owner commissioned the musician Daniel Johnston to paint a mural of the frog on the outer wall of the store. Now even after several changes of hands and renovations of the building, the mural still stands as a testament to the spirit of the people of Austin. In 2018, Austin’s Mayor Steve Adler declared January 22 to be “Hi, How Are You” Day in an effort to celebrate mental wellness.
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It seems even Nature contributes in appreciation of the theme ‘Keep Austin weird’. The Ann Richards bridge spanning across the Colorado River on Congress Avenue hosts millions of bats underneath the structure. It is a maternity colony for bats, and female Mexican free-tailed bats raise an estimated 750,000 pups each year at the bridge. Every night from March to October, millions of bats emerge from beneath the bridge making it a highly sought-after tourist attraction. The spectacle of long columns of emerging bats can be viewed from atop the bridge or from the boat anchored in the river.
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While wandering the streets of downtown along Brazo Street, we came across a very weird shop named, Floppy Disc Repair Shop and did a double take. Floppy disc in 2024 and how do you even repair it? We found out from the locals that it’s one of the speakeasies or secret bars. There are many cocktail bars hidden behind confusing storefronts all over Austin and will take some effort to find and enter these bars. Figuring out your way in is all part of the fun.
The country singer and guitarist Willie Nelson made Austin his home in 1973 and his concert ‘Austin City Limits’ was embraced by the city’s rock and folk fans who considered his music weird and normal. In 2010, Austin, Texas renamed Second Street to Willie Nelson Boulevard and unveiled a life-size statue of Nelson at the entrance of Austin City Limits’ new studio, in his honour.
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Where else can you come across The Cathedral of Junk? It’s a true cathedral made up of every kind of object such as tools, dolls, toys, cars parts, toilets, building materials, signs, baskets, tires, bells, mannequins, beads, you name it..!
The Museum of the Weird is Austin’s own dime museum (low cost) where one can find freaky stuff like a cow born with two faces, a fish with fur, a two-headed chicken, shrunken heads and other weird stuff. It’s not an uncommon sight in Austin to come across bicycles as tall as trucks, cartoonish cars, a giant guitar on the roadside or a brightly coloured home with peculiar front yard décor.
Keep Austin Weird obviously doesn’t push Austin to the stone age, but the city finds a balance between evolving (where the creative professionals and entrepreneurs have spurred innovation and growth) and retaining the heart and soul of its quirky and eclectic nature.
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