Austin, TX Watmm'ers

In September my band will be packing up and moving to Austin, TX. Done deal. We're already set on it. The question I have for you all is where, as fresh new musicians would be the best part of town to move to?

We've been considering two different living arrangements:

1. Rent a house with lots of space and rehearse/record there.

2. Rent a smaller (and possibly cheaper) apartment and then keep our gear in a practice space somewhere nearby where we may go to practice at any time of day.

There will be three of us total moving to Austin, and we've already spent some time there, so we know the lay of the city fairly well. What neighborhoods do you feel are most conducive to gigging musicians? Generally, we would like to be in a part of town with a high density of musicians so we may quickly acclimate ourselves to the local scene and get to know everyone. We wanna be where the action is.

Conversely, we'd like to stay away from the "quiet" parts of town, where you may generally find older folks and families; places where there is likely to be less activity.

The impression that I get is that living south of Ladybird would be relatively expensive and have less musical activity in the area. Accurate? Although rent is generally cheaper there than in Boston (where we come from) we're not in a hurry to live in a gentrified area.

Also, since we'll be looking at rehearsal spaces that we can rent full-time I was wondering if you all had any wisdom about places that are good, places to avoid, etc.

Thank you so much for all of your help.

pm wahrk

Say hi to Leah's husband and group LOL

north is cool, south is cool too. Everything is pretty accessible. Don't really know how to answer except don't worry about it too much each area has it's perks and it is all pretty much similar. Except east is more black people and west is more wealthy douches. Stay central N/S, or east there are some cool places east.

Oh yeah, and what's the best time to go about looking for a house to rent? One month before I wanna move in? Three months before? Boston starts leasing out houses months in advance, and almost all of the leases end August 31st and new ones begin on Sept 1st. Is there anything like that in Austin?

North Loop/Hyde Park area in North Austin around 45th street to 54th on the west side of hwy I35.

and

East Austin between 6th and 1st street. On the east side of hwy I35.

I live in Dallas now but I lived in Austin for many years.

I heard Hyde Park is generally full of UT students. Is that correct? Also, how's the city for biking. How's are the bus lines? What time do they close? Are there any 24 hour places?

  On 5/18/2012 at 11:12 PM, Wall Bird said:

I heard Hyde Park is generally full of UT students. Is that correct? Also, how's the city for biking. How's are the bus lines? What time do they close? Are there any 24 hour places?

Hyde Park is a bit pricey and full of all different persons. West UT Campus is where you don't to live if you hate living next to frat and soro parties constantly. North Loop is a little north of Hyde Park and not nearly as expensive, you should look there and on the east side between 1st and 10th street as well.

Biking is very popular and the bike lanes are better than most cities in the US.

Kerbey Lane is my favourite all night diner in Austin. Magnolia Cafe and Star Seeds are also popular/good 24hr diners. One of my good friends is the executive chef for Kerbey Lane so I know the quality of the food is good. I wish Dallas had a Kerbey Lane. Miss that a lot.

The bus system is like four times better than Dallas'. Very easy to use and reliable, not filthy buses.

Austin is a great town.

FUCK!! I've been typing for like an hour and a half and I fucking hit backspace when I didn't have the text area focused! Fuck everything in the god damn world. *sigh*

Whatever. Don't go anywhere near Riverside. It sucks a humongous bag of dicks. Try North Loop/Hyde Park/Rosedale or East of Downtown. I used to live on East 9th and it was pretty sweet, if a little sketchy. I now live out by Loyola and love it so far, but it's secluded and full of families, so I don't know if you'd like it. I know a lot of musicians that live up around Metric, though I've heard a lot of shit talked about the place. Never seen anything bad up there myself though. Cameron doesn't seem bad either. South Congress is decent but probably pricier due to the proximity to SoCo's businesses and stuff.

I don't know much about the practice spaces, but I know peeps who've enjoyed using Music Lab. Music Gym is pretty nifty too I hear, but they rarely have openings or something. I've always practiced in houses.

Biking is pretty great in Austin, as long as you aren't a baby about hills. Get yourself a light road bike if you don't have one already, or you'll hate yourself.

The buses have been shit for me and I wouldn't recommend them. They'll get you there though usually. The night owl's are pretty spaced out though, so for evening travel be prepared for a long ride or just ride your bike.

  On 5/19/2012 at 7:31 AM, Atop said:

Kerbey Lane is my favourite all night diner in Austin. Magnolia Cafe and Star Seeds are also popular/good 24hr diners. One of my good friends is the executive chef for Kerbey Lane so I know the quality of the food is good. I wish Dallas had a Kerbey Lane. Miss that a lot.

This. I love the shit out of Kerbey Lane. There are also several 24-hour coffee houses too. For badass food, also make sure you hit up the food trailers, especially on East 6th. They're the best. In Austin, food trailers = gourmet.

Let me know when you're in town. We can totally hang out.

PS: Nice tunes. :)

yes, fuck east Riverside unless you are going to a show at Emo's East or the Beauty Ballroom.

Emo's gets +1 for stocking Strongbow.

Hey Wahrk what was that cafe we went to?

  On 5/29/2012 at 11:56 PM, sneaksta303 said:

Hey Wahrk what was that cafe we went to?

That was Cherrywood Coffeehouse. I know Polly who does the booking there. It's a pretty chill little place. We ended up having SoundCloud Global Meetup Day there.

edit: I never went in there but would drive past it a lot on my delivery routes on the east side.

The 38th 1/2 st neighborhoods were decent for a while. Cool houses up in there.

  On 5/30/2012 at 12:16 AM, wahrk said:

  On 5/29/2012 at 11:56 PM, sneaksta303 said:

Hey Wahrk what was that cafe we went to?

 

That was Cherrywood Coffeehouse. I know Polly who does the booking there. It's a pretty chill little place. We ended up having SoundCloud Global Meetup Day there.

Yeah they had a nice craft beer selection. Good food too if I remember. What was that place by switched on we went to? That was a nice little place as well.

  On 5/31/2012 at 6:20 AM, sneaksta303 said:

Yeah they had a nice craft beer selection. Good food too if I remember. What was that place by switched on we went to? That was a nice little place as well.

Blue Dahlia

Hey Wall Bird! As a Austin resident as well I'll echo what Atop and Bubba said. I'm actually about to move myself and I too rent full-time.

I too will beg you to avoid Riverside, especially after living there myself. In fact, steer clear of the houses and town homes between there and Oltorf East of I-35. Just stay north of the river actually. I've known so many people who've been robbed or had cars broken into or hit while parked in lower East Austin.

First thing that came to mind, since your musicians, was East Austin. My friend rents a small house off of Manor (in a neighborhood quite close to Cherrywood Coffeehouse actually) and his band rehearses in the evening and night fairly loud without hesitation. It seems a lot of musicians who are looking for houses for decent rent also gravitate toward far South (Slaughter Lane) or around 183. I like South Austin too, knowing people living around St. Edwards and off of south Lamar as well. Lot cheaper than Hyde Park or anything really central (Clarksville, even Travis Heights which is getting quite pricey). That and the douche factor (trust babies and yuppies) is quite high when you start looking more and more central simply because it's so expensive. East Austin is a hipster haven but that's not an issue imo, it's a arguable plus. I'd avoid West Campus at all costs. I had a friend who rented a house there but it's since turned into a student condo.

  On 5/18/2012 at 8:33 AM, Atop said:

North Loop/Hyde Park area in North Austin around 45th street to 54th on the west side of hwy I35.

Now to throw a wrench in my recommendations I'll mention I live in an area not really mentioned: west of Mopac and East of 360 near Spicewood Springs Rd and Far West. Now east of Mopac and you're in the Allandale and Shoal Creek neighborhoods just north of Hyde Park, which I recommend. My area is probably not ideal because it's a bit detached from other likely artists and I'm not sure if it'd be easy to rehearse in those neighborhoods. In fact there's a lot of old people...and Asian grad students who commute to UT...and the entire Orthodox Jewish community of Austin. In fact, I love the area personally but I'm looking at having potentially "settling down" with kids and stuff and in that sense it's perfect for my wife and I (and the cat and dog) while still being fairly central and not too suburban nor too expensive.

As for leasing, I always deal with apartments or directly rent from landlords who are often flexible. Usually the deposit is the first month's rent. For example I'm eyeing a house with lease beginning July 1st but discussing a mid-July start with the owner. I'm sure you'll find something. Hell, even though I know a few helpful realtors I find places on craigslist all the time!

Good luck!

Ok, you guys. I'm here. Now what?

keep it weird.

Noted.

So who are the bands in town to watch? Good places to check out.

I already went to Switched On, which was fantastic. The Alamo Drafthouse has a movie program which makes me weep tears of joy, so I'll be hitting that up soon.

Anyone wanna do a meet up?