Old Austin is alive and well, you just have to look a little harder and ignore the pockets of ugly developments, commercial sprawl and chain stores and restaurants. Trust me, you're never too far from either Denny's or Waffle House. Austin is one of the fastest growing metro areas in the U.S., but it isn't really a big city and doesn't have that metropolitan air that the bigger, more densely populated cities have. What it does have is lots of great, distinctive neighborhoods and a few excellent commercial strips like Burnet Road, Guadalupe, East Sixth, South First and South Congress.
Apart from the bigger strips, Austin also has some small pockets of cool, independent small businesses. A few that come to mind are north on 6th on Lamar (Cheapo Discs!) and the eastern portion of North Loop (see Vintage Austin post from December 2007 -- the first few places we went to were there). The area around Guadalupe and 29th is another good one. We started going there to visit Ruby's BBQ, the place we ate at our first ever night in Austin back during our first visit in 2005. We'd also been next door to the United States Art Authority, where we saw the Art on Deck exhibit (see Art on Deck: Skateboard Art post from February 2008).
This past weekend, we stopped by Ruby's again, then took a stroll around to check out a few other places. After a great pair of sandwiches -- chopped beef on one, smoked turkey on the other -- we went around the corner to the other side of the United States Art Authority to grab a cup of coffee from the Spider House. The Spider House is one of Austin's older cafes, and has always attracted an interesting mix of people, including a healthy number of collegians from nearby UT. Maybe they're attracted to the huge, shady patio area. If that's not big enough, Adams Park is across the street. Maybe you don't want coffee? Spider House has a full bar with popular happy hours. Everybody loves the Spider House. Pretty good coffee too, by the way. I've even heard rumors that Leslie Cochran likes to hang here sometimes!
If you head back in the direction you came from, past Milto's Mediterranean Cafe (which we haven't tried yet), across Guadalupe is an odd looking toy store called Toy Joy. Judging by the bizarre mix of old school and new doo-dads in the window, we'll have to check it out some time. Back on the other side, up from Milto's, is I Luv Video, an interesting independent video store which looks like one of the best alternatives to Netflix. We zeroed in on Antone's Records, founded by the same Clifford Antone who started the eponymous club (yeah, go see Spring = Music post from June 2008). Lots of great vinyl -- and even cassettes if you're into lo-fi old school -- in addition to a small but great mix of new and used CDs, including a generous amount of blues and Texas artists. Finally picked up a copy of Television's Marquee Moon, which I for years had been determined to find at a used CD store but had consistently struck out.
There are more great places nestled around the corner of 29th Street and Guadalupe. We still haven't been to Ken's Doughnuts & Pastries, although we've tasted the excellent blueberry doughnut holes they sell at Emerald City Press. Texas French Bread is said to make good bread (but only average sandwiches). Don't forget Chango's Taco's. If you want a grown-up slice of 60s-style Austin, there's Oat Willie's smoke shop. Onward through the fog!
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