in side out
I drove back in to Texas recently after having worked a year in Los Angeles.
I went to grad school here and I adore Austin. The live music scene is unbeatable, the people are engaging, the food is delicious, the city is green in more ways than one, and I could go on and on. If I had to pick its most appealing characteristic though, it would have to be its Mexican Martinis. A close second would be the fact that people here take seriously the business of being a spot of blue in a sea of red. Consequently, there is a real effort to acknowledge and celebrate diversity. Much of it is that the city is focused around its rather large university, and despite the TX suffix the city bears, Austinites have some of the most liberal mindsets I have encountered in the US. Cheers so far!
Now a word on my CA license plates. I took my car in to be washed the other day. The owner of the car wash referred to my cocker spaniel as a “valley dog” more than once. A little later in the conversation he said (referring to the wildfires, I assumed): “Bet you are glad you aren’t in California now, huh?” Okay a little weird but whatever! That’s till I hung out with friends who kind of got me up to speed.
They said people from California are coming in and buying property in Austin with “cold hard cash”. Compare the price of a small house in a nice area in Austin (let’s say 400 grand) to the same in Los Angeles (not sure on this one but they seemed to be closer to double that?) and you can see why there might be a migratory trend. Austin really is a lovely city and I commend anyone for wanting to move here. The issue is that the prices Austinites are ready to pay for houses are often easily beaten out by the Californians, and there is some begrudging related to it.
I also heard some more whining about how “La La” some bars in downtown Austin now are. There’s a place called QUA which apparently has sharks swimming around in a spectacular sunken tank in the club. PETA was distinctly unhappy with it, and Austin isn’t thrilled with the 300 dollar price tag on reservation of a booth in the bar. If you knew the Austin vibe, you would see how it might irk the average person. People here tend to be pretty snotty about their unpretentiouness, right.
The California deal did not resonate with me either. But to pin the shark attack – so to speak – squarely on it seemed a bit extreme, yes? I see the anti-California sentiment in Austin as similar to the reaction to outsourcing. Have you noticed how businesses make a point to say ‘Made in America’ whenever they possibly can off-late? The fact that people who aren’t “insiders” are taking away jobs/homes is unbearable to most. Just a hint of economic competition between groups is enough to get the discrimination index soaring. And yet, in this age of unstoppable intermingling of cultures – globalization if you like – there is not much choice left. We need to accept it graciously, embrace it even. That applies to how people from Austin think of those from California as well. Time to cut loose the xenophobia.
An apt little song from Austin’s very own Steve Earle!
