Hacker News Reader

Comment by fapjacks | Hacker News Reader

Be very careful with this decision. Austin has a reputation and the name of the city moves lovingly across the lips of starry-eyed dreamers, but I must warn you that Austin these days is an East-Coast city in the middle of Texas. I am from a town in Kansas that probably would have made a great sister city to Austin in the 80s (Lawrence), and so I understand viscerally what people love about Austin. But enough people from the east coast and Los Angeles have diluted almost all of the things that once made Austin special. Real Austinites do exist, and they are as cool as you have heard, but they have moved and live outside of Austin in places like Elgin or New Braunsfels. The city does not live up to its reputation, unlike other places (for example Portland is as weird as you hear about and Austin doesn't hold a candle to that weirdness). Just an opinion from a guy that's lived in a bunch of places.

View on HN

As someone who spent a decade there and moved on, I second this sentiment. Austin has a homogenous weirdness and a southern corporate consumer culture, and its fabled affordability is a thing of the past.

those summers tho!

What more affordable city did you move to, if you don't mind me asking?

I visit tech cities across the US often for work and in comparison I find Austin is incredibly affordable.

Maybe I don't care about the weirdness as much as you, but I've lived in Austin for the last 8 years and I think it's only getting better. Rent has gone up but it's nothing compared to the bay area or other large tech cities especially considering that salaries are in the same ballpark.

No, I don't care about the weirdness, really. Weirdness isn't some commodity. Things are just weird or they're not. Maybe that's what makes me weird. But anyways, if you are enjoying Austin more and more as time goes by, you should try living in Los Angeles. You would really like it.

While cool, LA has all the bad parts of Austin exemplified; actually ridiculous housing, insanely bad traffic, a lot more taxes, cool and weird people are greatly outnumbered by douches, a real serious drought, and I can't shoot guns.

I am being totally honest with you when I say that I ran into more and bigger douches in Austin than I ever did in Los Angeles. LA has a reputation, as well, and certainly deserves a lot of it, but also I was surprised that Austin had such a huge population of douchebags. They're everywhere! And mostly from what I understand from friends, the douchebags are the imports. People that bring their anger from Elsewhere.

I'd be curious to know where you (and sibling posters) lived and how that correlates to impressions of Austin weirdness. I live south and while I wouldn't say it's outrageous, there's a pervasive, low-key level of weirdness in the neighborhoods down here that is agreeable. Haven't seen much weirdness north.

Having moved from Boston, not sure what's East Coast about Austin. Certainly not the (lack of) Mexican food.

I lived in Allandale but spent a lot of time downtown at the bars, and a lot of time south with friends. I did not venture out into the suburbs, which I am guessing are even more not-Austin than where I lived. You're right that the weirdness is low-key and agreeable. What I mean is that people hold up the "Keep Austin Weird" and it is nothing like the weird of Portland for example. There are microcosms of weirdness inside Austin proper, but you have to go looking for it.

Also, I must apologize for specifically saying "East Coast" when describing Austin. It's unfair to you and everyone else on the East Coast. Well, mostly unfair. I've spent most of my life on the West Coast and so it was a subtle insult, but you're right, Austin is less like the East Coast than it is like Los Angeles. But one thing is for sure: Austin is nothing like Austin from the 80s, and I am just the messenger for that last statement, having spent most of my time in Austin hanging out with life-long Austinites of lore. So I apologize for the "East Coast" comment. But, I really do want some Chuy's now that you mention it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com