If you mean far and away the best city without a team nicknamed the Texans, then I agree with you DD!
I don't get the "keep Austin weird" thing. I lived there and it isn't close to as weird as most cities. Weird is the beer can house or Charlie's Coffee Shop in the Montrose. Austin is heavily populated with politicians, mostly well-off college students, corporate techies and musicans trying to make money off of the aforementioned. I've seen the weirdest in Austin and it can't even come close to even a mild night at Power Tools 10 years ago.
Not to mention numbers over the past 20 years. I've seen some super weird stuff happening in and around that place. I do like the hills, and the lakes in Austin are better. Good thing Austin is so close.
That annoys me on a daily basis the entire 5 years I have lived here. You would be surprised by how many people who have lived in Austin their entire lives use the phrase audibly. "Hey that guy has blue hair! Yeah! He is keeping Austin weird! Right on!" I just assume they have never been to any other major city in the US, because like you said, Austin isn't really that weird. I think it was just started as a slogan to remind people to support local businesses. That is what the stickers say.
I kind of get it. It's more like 'quirky', but I've always felt the Austin 'weird'. It's not to say that you couldn't find examples of 'weirder' in a city of 3 million, but Houston's mainstream is not weird. For instance, when I think of shopping in Houston, I think of Neiman Marcus and the Galleria. When I think of shopping in Austin, I think of the funky little shops on Lamar and 6th streets. When I think of restaurants and bars in Houston, it's Westheimer. Pretty standard, some upscale fare. In Austin, it's 6th Street and Warehouse district. Again, doesn't mean that there isn't funkier stuff in Montrose, but it would be like if Westhmeier was gone and replaced by Montrose businesses.
Not just support them, but keep them from going out of business. What makes a city unique is also what keep tourism up (except for Detroit's 'uniquenes'). When a longtime Austin institution goes out of business, the local media is all over it. To many, it would be like Threadgills closing and being replaced by a Chilis.
Is that a good thing? Not the sexiest campus out there. From personal experience (since I have attended all 3 schools), Vandy and Texas gals blow Rice gals away. Its not even close. Like comparing bar hopping in Jersey to pub crawling in Iceland. I'll admit I cant stand the Real World, but I hate all reality TV. Hell, my sister's friend won the Swan last week and it almost killed me watching it. I'll toss Molotovs while you load the bazooka.
That is great you guys love Austin and think that it is the shiz. Now just stay there. Can't stand people that live in Houston and are pro-Austin and so anti-Houston. Love it or Leave it!
Only 18 years, actually. Are you implying that Westheimer & Post Oak no longer have a lot of restaurants?
