Moving to Austin, any suggestions

My was recently head-hunted for her job in Chicago to go work for an Ad agency in Austin. I'm excited to check out the car culture and not have to shovel snow, or deal with winter here. If you-all (I'm going to be using that word a lot) have any suggestions, that would be great. Matt

 

First suggestion, forget about the "you-all". Use of this phrase will mark you as both a yankee and a ****. Try for more of a "y'all"; rhymes will the leather-working punch called an awl. This should help make the transition to the south a bit easier on you.

Seriously, Austin sounds like a happenin' place, gotta be more fun than Montgomery.

 

Texas is sounding like a great place to be. The girlfriend and I want out of Denver and Texas is a place we are considering, maybe even go to Plano and work for Dr.Pepper ha ha , cause I dont want to work at a car dealer anymore.

 

Do a search here for "Austin". There are a few posts that have lots of good info about Austin. You should be use to the heat after that last few summers Chicago has had.

 

Austin is the best place in Texas to live from the inside scoop! My friend out here in lalaland, L.A., just bought a flat or condo for like nothing. Now he has 2 condos and 3 acres of land in Hilo and Kona on the big island in Hawaii, his house here in Pasadena, a place in Oregon and now that place in Austin. He knew from his real estate agent that that was the next place to buy. It is one of the untouched soon to be hot market places along with Atlanta and Oregon. Just a little info for ya since you are movin there. KNUX!

 

Untouched? Sheeeyat, hehehe Austin is a cool city, but traffic sux and compared to where I live (suburb of Ft. Worth, and I know it is not near as cool a place) Austin real estate is high I think. (Traffic sux in Ft Worth now to though, it is booming everywhere around here) But you guys from Cali can sell your houses and buy one 3 or 4 times bigger here and then still put money in the bank. I talk to Cali transplants all the time that tell me yea I sold my place there for like half a million and I bought a house here that was way bigger with more land for 300k. Pretty crazy, but the quality of life in Cali is a little better. The summers here ****.

 

You've obviously never lived in SoCal in the summers......the summers here in Texas have been nothing compaired to SoCal. 105 with 90% humidity and a 3rd stage smog alert........The traffic here is again, nothing compaired to SoCal. Try going 30 miles to work in the AM and it taking 2 hrs and 45 minutes every morning, with clear weather and no accidents......

 

Austin real estate prices depend were you are looking. I have seen from the 60's to 3 million $$$ homes.

 

I suggest you learn that there are four roads that run north and south, learn them , MoPac, 183, 360 and I-35, we are still working on the whole east/west thing....Mopac is also 1, 183 is also Research Blvd, Ed Bluestien and up north Bell, 360 is also The Capital of Texas Highway but turns into 71, but 71 kinda is also 290....I-35 is a cluster and should be avoided at all cost, but really trafffic...? Who cares, everyone has it, that is because we are Americans and like to drive, not be packed together in a tube or bus letting some one else do the driving!

And yeah it gets hot, but better then those lake winds in January! Do me one favor, if you find that Austin is not for you, just go quietly, nothing I hate more then a transplant who *****es about how my town blows, you don't like it, hit the bricks!

Other then that, come on down! We ain't the small college, hippy town we once were, but people are freindly, the waters are cool and and the girls are hot. And there is always stuff to do if'n ya know where to find it. Go to Shady Grove on a Sat. sit outside have a green chili burger and some chili-cheese fries with a Shiner Bock and if you and the old lady don't feel totally comfortable and at peace, I'll buy your bus fair home.

One last thing the Cubs and Bears ****!

 

Forgot Lamar.

Really, you can find most everything from Lamar, 183, Mopac, Ben White, and I-35.

 

Yea you are right. I never have been in SoCal in the summer. I have mainly been to northern cali and I worked in Beverly Hills one time for like a week in the spring I think and the weather was great. But I know everything there is so much higher that you cannot blame someone for wanting to move out here. If someone retires and sells there home and moves somewhere this much cheaper it makes for a comfortable retirement I am sure. And the traffic is definately worse there as well. I am just a country boy that commutes to work and traffic on 35 and 820 is so much worse than even 5 years ago here it is not even funny. But such is life. I still would not want to move anywhere else really.

And yea I was looking at real estate around the hot beds in Austin so that is why it probably seemed so high to me. It was also a few years ago and real estate around here has jumped in price so much it is probably comparable in cost now in a lot of places. Austin is a beutiful city. It and San Antonio are the two prettiest cities in the state I think. There is tons of stuff to do there to and the people are really friendly. Plus I think everyone on the HAMB is going to end up in Austin eventually

 

LOL, I agree with you on that one

 

Austin ****s... I'm moving to HAWAII.

 

GSD&M

 

The Austin music scene is as vibrant as you'll find. All sorts of music to be heard, but I can't believe nobody has mentioned The Continental Club. It'sn a bastion of rock-a-billy, country swing, and music of that nature. Plus, if I remember correctly, the owner(s) are rodders and kustom freaks like us. There seems to alway as be a contingent of trad rods and such parked out front on the weekends. Be sure to check it out.

 

I just spent a week in Austin (two weeks ago). It was the first time I had been there. The humidity (97 degrees and raining) was really bad for a California boy like me. But other than that, I loved it! The people seem a notch friendlier (is that a word?) than I am used too (or maybe even two notches friendlier) and 6th street was a blast! I definately look forward to going back.

Mike

Edit: I forgot another thing I liked...Austins slogan....."Keep Austin Weird"

 

Austin is fun. Been having a blast ever since I moved here a couple of months ago. Always something to do here. Traffic ****s, thats why I live around the corner from work. I've lived in Houston, Corpus Christi, and the ****hole Waco...and Austin is BY FAR superior to all of them combined.

 

Matt - gimme a shout sometime, I'll give you the strait dope on Austin (I lived there 9 years before moving to Chicago). Short story, Austin=best town on the planet.

Mike Z

PS -- Is the job at GSD&M? Supposed to be a good outfit.

 

Sounds good Mike, I'll take you up on that offer. Are you going to be in my neighborhood anytime soon. We could grab a beer at one of the 100 or so bars around here. Matt

 

GSD&M = Guns, ***, Drugs & Money.... A friend has worked there for about 4 years, likes it. Plus you can walk across the street to the best grocery store on the planet, Whole Foods.
Lots to do here, a great place to live.

 

Matt -- You're northside, right? I'm in Chicago tomorrow (Lakeview area) but got a thing going on... how about the Big C show at Martyrs Thursday nite? It's on Lincoln, about 2 blocks south of Irving Park. I'll buy first round.

 

Mike,
That sounds like a plan. What time does it start? The wife and I might grab some grub at Brownstones before the show, if you'd like to join us there? Matt

 

btw Austin is a beautiful place. I love it here and I was just kidding...

 

Matt - show generally starts at 930 or so, usually a bunch of HAMB guys are there. I'll give you a shout this week if me and my wife can get going early enough to catch dinner with you -- is that the Brownstones on Sheffield?

 

thinking of packing up too. my friend moved to pfluger ville and loves it . so me and my hotrod will be on our way there someday . billy

 

I see how you are Ryan. I told where I moved and then you bought a house on the opposite side of town. That is a nice area I used to go ride my bikes out that way alot.