The true hipster city

It might have well been a scene from the Batman-Dark Knight trilogy. It’s close to sunset and a cloud of bats — probably a million, have just filled the skies. No, I’m not in a movie set but visibly frustrated at a vantage point in Austin, Texas, distraught that my camera cannot capture the visual spectacle that has just unfolded before my eyes. “Christopher Nolan should see this,” whispers one of the camera-wielding tourists.

Texas’s once low-profile capital (isn’t that what most American state capitals were envisioned to be) is enjoying its new status as one of America’s coolest cities. And it clearly didn’t happen by accident.

The bat flight is not a round-the-year phenomenon; thankfully that’s not the case with Austin’s ever-growing list of ‘must dos’. Other American cities may have taken years to build their carefully cultivated, larger-than-life images, but not Austin. Its emergence on all America’s ‘hip lists’ — from entertainment to cuisine, is clearly a 21st-century phenomenon fuelled largely by lifestyle TV shows and blogs. Austin didn’t even need the power of Hollywood. Austin-ites don’t care much about Hollywood celebrities either; at least that’s what they’d like you to believe.

Tune capital

Of all the monikers this city has embraced, nothing rings truer than ‘Live Music Capital of the World’. I needed just one evening in the Red River district to somewhat come to terms with the city’s bursting live music scene. The sheer range at the 250-odd live music venues is mind-boggling. Willie Nelson will be proud (don’t ever ask an Austin-ite who Willie Nelson is!), as quite a few venues are country-music hubs while jazz and rock are high on the list too. Saxon Pub has been around longer than Austin has been cool — 22,000-plus musical performances since the ’90s. It is one of those venues where Hollywood celebrities can blend in without being mobbed. Emo’s, just down the street, was one of the catalysts for Austin’s booming punk rock scene in the ’90s; not surprisingly they are mighty proud of their ‘rough around the edges’ image.

Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dixie Chicks, Shawn Colvin... Austin’s list of Grammy winners keeps growing. However, Willie Nelson’s bond with the Austin music scene is particularly special. In the ’70s he was part of the pilot episode of Austin City Limits (ACL), now the longest-running music programme in television history (Time recognised it as one of the 10 most influential music programmes of all time). ACL’s appeal didn’t just stop with television but inspired one of the city’s biggest live music events — The Austin City Limits Festival, held in the first half of October, one of the best times of the year to be in Austin.

(The bats would have left Austin by then though. These Mexican free-tailed bats (nearly 1-1.5 million) emerge from under the Congress Avenue Bridge and fly into the night — a daily sight at sunset between April and September.)

Austin’s music scene is not just a magnet for visitors but has also been one of the reasons young people are shifting base to the city. At last count, 131 people move to the city every single day, making Austin the third fastest growing city in the US.

A significant number of Californians make up that number, an endorsement of the city’s hipster image.

Of course, it’s not just all about the lifestyle. The University of Texas at Austin has been an integral element of the city’s DNA since 1883, sparking off multiple tech start-ups. Michael Dell (Dell Computers) is one of the many UT alumni who have led the way.

Aside from the geek factor, the city’s large student population has allowed Austin to carve an identity that defies Texas stereotypes. One of the city’s credos — one that every Austin-ite proudly wears on his or her sleeve, ‘Keep Austin Weird’ has been at the centre of this unique 21st-century identity.

Art express

From Las Vegas to San Francisco, public art is revitalising whole neighbourhoods, but Austin’s biggest tryst with public art comes with a unique twist. While some of America’s public art experiments aimed to spruce up rough neighbourhoods, Hope is an outdoor gallery that sprung up where a high-rise was supposed to take shape — in the heart of town. It’s one of America’s largest outdoor galleries, a platform for muralists and graffiti artists. Street graffiti sites are almost always reserved for professionals, but Hope is open even to newbies as long as you register and bring your own spray can.

It’s not all weird here though; this is, after all, the capital of the lone star state. One walk around the State Capitol and you know you’re in Texas. Everything’s bigger in Texas. The large Italian Renaissance revival-style state Capitol building is taller than the nation’s Capitol in Washington DC. It has been the symbol of the city since 1888 — long before the bats and live music made Austin even more famous — and went through a massive facelift in the ’90s when an incredible network of underground floors were added. A small replica of the Statue of Liberty in the Capitol Park is a subtle reminder that Austin-ites like to keep things weird. I headed straight to Allen’s after spending an afternoon at the Capitol for another slice of Texas. If you’re looking at getting kitted up cowboy-style, this Texas-style boot shop has it all — showstopper boots, belts with life-size buckles and quintessential cowboy checks. It’s one of the many must-stops along with Uncommon Objects (only bizarre curios here) at So Co (South Congress Avenue), Austin’s most famous street.

Food on wheels

Austin might be the self-proclaimed live music capital of the world but quite a few visitors don’t go anywhere close to a live gig. You will find them making a beeline for one of the city’s many food trucks though. Cheap food? Tex Mex? Wrong. Austin’s food trucks are probably the biggest reason why it is now up there with America’s gourmet destinations; many of them double as testing ground for innovative, gourmet chefs. Take Austin’s best-known Cordon Bleu Chef Paul Qui, for instance; he flits between Qui, a widely acclaimed fine-dining restaurant and a couple of trucks in the city. I’d worked up quite an appetite after an aimless walk around So Co, enough to graze on outstanding fare at Torchy Tacos and a decadent iced chocolate at the appropriately named Holy Cacao. Austin’s other claim to fame — ‘America’s most vegan-friendly city’ came as no surprise to me. This is where America’s retail food phenomenon, Whole Foods, began.

It’s been an eventful weekend and I’m back for my second night at one of Texas’ most iconic hotels. The Driskill dates back to 1886 and aside from housing one of America’s most highly rated hotel bars, is also full of legends and tales. Lyndon Johnson is supposed to have managed his 1964 presidential campaign from here and then there are tales about guests (or ghosts) who have checked-out but haven’t left. I was disappointed (probably relieved) that I didn’t have any strange run-ins. It wasn’t the ghosts but the lure of Austin’s nightlife that forced a change of plans on my last night at Austin. This time it was 6th Street, where it’s impossible to find room at popular local institutions like Shakespeare’s pub and Maggie Mae’s. Two nights is not enough to scratch even the surface of Austin’s entertainment scene; the ghosts under the bed at Driskill were probably disappointed.

Ashwin Rajagopalan is a Chennai-based lifestyle writer

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