Austin is a blue bubble in a red state, with its vibrant artistic community and friendly gay scene

BY ALEXANDER CHO

Want to know when I was convinced to move to Austin? I was traveling around the country looking at graduate programs, and, after a full day of meetings and interviews at the University of Texas, a group of students and I walked up the street to the Spider House Patio Bar and Café (www.spiderhousecafe.com).

The sun was just about to set, and here we were, sitting on antique garden furniture on a large, eclectic outdoor patio, huge pecan trees overhead, with pints of Shiner Bock (a Texas beer) in hand. The place was buzzing with a crazy assortment of Austin hipsters and students: Geometric forearm tattoos, artfully shaggy hair, funky glasses, moustaches, and DIY cutoff denim shorts were everywhere. Then, all of a sudden a thousand large multicolored Christmas lights that I hadn’t noticed lit up, stringing the patio and trellis. Behind us, a huge antique carnival letter “A” full of random light bulbs turned on; water kept circulating through the antique bathtub fountain—complete with shower, and peeing boy statue—sitting in the middle of the patio. The music was good, the weather was balmy, people were in a great mood, and whether you were there to socialize, study, or just pass the time, everything seemed right.

You’ve probably heard a lot about Austin—how it’s not like the “rest” of Texas, how it has an amazing live music scene, how it’s a blue dot in the middle of a red state. It’s pretty much true. What you don’t hear is that its Texas-ness still shines through: People are friendly, concerned with proper decorum, individualistic. People wear cowboy hats, boots, and drive big F-150s (but probably not those people at the Spider House), and a few people have the Texas drawl (but not most). This, along with a certain Texan chic-ness (people I talk to mention that it’s more expensive to live here than in Dallas), and a certain small-town character even as the skyline stretches upward, makes for a very interesting combination.

For the traveler, Austin is an easy city to visit and navigate. People will actively engage out-of-towners, whether you’re at a hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint, a vegan macrobiotic institute, or a gay bar. Most things to see and do are centrally located, either in the middle of Downtown or just south, on the trendy stretch known as South Congress. The nightlife is astounding for a mid-sized city, and the gay community is friendly and welcoming.

The city swells at two times during the year with more out-of-towners than you can count: in the fall, for the epic outdoor music festival Austin City Limits (www.aclfestival.com; this year included Björk, The Killers, Bob Dylan, MIA, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, and 100 more), and in the spring for the music and film industry conference South by Southwest (www.sxsw.com), with just about everyone in the media world in attendance. In other cities, you might want to avoid big events like this; in Austin, the city thrives—the energy level of the city gets ratcheted up even higher, and basically becomes one big party.

The Specifics

Downtown and South Austin are divided by the (other) Colorado River, and with man-made Lady Bird Lake (recently renamed in honor of Central Texas’ beloved former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson). Most of the city’s nightlife is in the middle of Downtown; iconic Austin shopping and dining is south of the lake on South Congress. Accommodations Downtown include most major chains; on the high-end is the Four Seasons (www.fourseasons .com/austin). Other central options include the Hilton (www.hilton.com), and the Omni (www.omnihotels.com). Both are walking distance from clubs, bars, and restaurants. On South Congress, you’ll find small, independent, funky lodgings: the place for out-of-town trendsters to stay is the Hotel San Jose (www.sanjosehotel.com), with bungalows redone in a mod-Tex style. Down the street is the Austin Motel (austinmotel.com), which is eclectic, funky, and cheap.

On South Congress, visitors should eat at Austin icons Home Slice for the best pizza in town, in a funky setting (www.homeslicepizza.com), or across the street at Güero’s Taco Bar (www.guerostacobar.com) for some great Tex-Mex and a Mexican martini (basically, a margarita with an olive and no ice) or a Texas bloody Mary (made with Tito’s vodka, brewed right here in town). On the upscale end, South Congress Café (www.southcongresscafe.com) is an intimate restaurant with a bright, airy dining room, good wine list, and well-presented modern-Texan cuisine; downtown, check out high-end Cajun cooking at Gumbo’s (www.gumbosaustin.com) in the historic Brown building. Visitors on celebrity-sanctioned macrobiotic diets should head over to South Lamar and check out Casa De Luz (www.casadeluz.com), a vegan holistic institute with a dining room that serves a macrobiotic buffet at each meal. (Beforehand, be sure to get hungry with an affordable community yoga class). Further down South Lamar is one of Austin’s favorite indulgences, Uchi, a high-end sushi restaurant housed in a minimalist, renovated bungalow (www.uchiaustin.com).

The twin epicenters of Austin’s gay nightlife are Rain (www.rainon4th.com), and Oil Can Harry’s (decidedly not a country-Western bar; www.oilcanharrys.com), recently named by Out magazine one of the top 50 gay bars in the world. They’re just a door down from each other, and the Austin gay scene migrates back and forth throughout the night. Every bar in Austin has a large outdoor patio for flirting away in the balmy weather, and these two are no exception, frequently packed to capacity. Up the street is the Rainbow Cattle Company (www.rainbowcattleco.com), Austin’s gay country-western palace which host a popular lesbian hip-hop night on Thursday.

Since downtown is so densely packed with bars, Austin gays spread out to mixed crowds. A popular is-he-or-isn’t-he hipster Thursday night run starts at Whisky Bar (303 W. 5th), with one-dollar well drinks until midnight, then ends up on the other side of Downtown at the Side Bar (www.thesidebaraustin.com) to commune and flirt on the gravel patio.

The ultimate gay Austin experience, however, comes twice a year on huge man-made Lake Travis, 20 minutes outside of town: First Splash, on Memorial Day weekend, and Last Splash, on Labor Day weekend. Hundreds of gays bring out their boats—and rent floating beer barges!—and convene at the gay end of Hippie Hollow, Texas’ only legal nude beach. It’s a beer and vodka-fueled, house-music-pumping, Lycra-stretching scene of decadence. People get in and out of the water, scramble up the shore, and hop from boat to boat, sunglasses on and plastic cups in hand. You don’t have to have a boat or know someone with one to join in on the fun—parking at the Hippie Hollow ranger station costs $10 (see www.hippiehollow.com for directions and info), and you can make your way down the well-groomed path all the way to the end, and then some, to find the parties. Don’t worry—the naked men will point you in the right direction.

Inside Tips from Gay Austinites

NAME: Curran

AGE: 30

FAVORITE PLACE TO GRAB A BITE: The Taj Palace Indian Restaurant (www.tajpalaceaustin.com). Their naan is fresh baked and they have tons of vegetarian options.

ONE THING EVERY OUT-OF-TOWNER SHOULD DO IN AUSTIN: Spend a night drinking and checking out the live shows on Red River.

FAVORITE BAR/LOUNGE: Barflys (5420 Airport Blvd.); A great neighborhood dive bar with cheap drinks and an eclectic crowd.

IF I RANDOMLY HAD A DAY OFF, I WOULD: Take a day trip to the Hill Country for some hiking and lake swimming.

NAME: Kevin

AGE: 27

FAVORITE PLACE TO GRAB A BITE: El Chilito (2209 Manor Dr.) serves the best breakfast tacos in town.

ONE THING EVERY OUT-OF-TOWNER SHOULD DO IN AUSTIN: All of my out-of-town friends agree that Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery (4909 Airport Blvd.) is a godsend. What other bakery turns on an orange “HOT” light when the donuts are fresh?

FAVORITE BAR/LOUNGE: There are great places to go that are not along 6th Street or in the Warehouse District. Check out Barflys (5420 Airport Blvd).

IF I RANDOMLY HAD A DAY OFF, I WOULD: Rent kayaks and canoes at Lady Bird Lake, where there are plenty of trails to explore.

NAME: Bill

AGE: 35

FAVORITE PLACE TO GRAB A BITE: Shady Grove (www.theshadygrove.com). Fantastic “Shady Thang” margaritas, incredible tortilla fried catfish all served under live oaks…who would have thought eating at a trailer park could be so fun?

ONE THING EVERY OUT-OF-TOWNER SHOULD DO IN AUSTIN: Climb to the top of Mt. Bonnell and catch 360 views of the city and the hill country.

FAVORITE BAR/LOUNGE: Tie: Oil Cans and Rain. They’re my favorite because they have great staff and there’s something happening at one or both every night of the week.

IF I RANDOMLY HAD A DAY OFF, I WOULD: Sleep late, walk down to Mozart’s on Lake Austin (www.mozartscoffee.com) for some coffee, grab the dog and head out to do some boating and swimming on Lake Travis.