The allegedly business-friendly, freedom-minded inclinations of the Texan government fall apart pretty fast when you take stock of our state's alcohol regulations, a bizarrely complex assortment of laws dating back to Prohibition and informed by, no joke, the 1930s public policy research of a eugenicist think tank. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbRQftxfKh8 We got a nice ...
Blog
Commentary, analysis, and quick thoughts on almost everything in town.
See the City’s Silent Streets as Austinites Stay Home
Downtown resident Andrei Matei got some attention in the news last week for his candid photos of a bizarrely empty Austin, as the city effectively shuts down to prevent the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak -- and just in time for our new shelter-in-place orders, which took effect in Travis and Williamson Counties last night, Matei has released a new batch of snapshots ...
Preservation Austin’s 2020 Homes Tour Gives Downtown Living Its Due
As tireless advocates for the joys of urban life, we believe everyone in Austin has the right to live downtown. That's why we support dense development and the growth of diverse housing types beyond single-family homes -- it makes that life far more accessible to a wider population. That's also why we're so excited to see Preservation Austin's upcoming 2020 Homes Tour embrace ...
Is Rainey Street Better Without Cars?
Have you experienced the car-free version of Rainey Street? If not, you've got about a month left to check out the City of Austin pilot program closing the street to all motor vehicle traffic from 9 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays between December 5, 2019 and March 8, 2020. It's part of a larger effort to address the mobility and safety issues in this ...
Seeking Love and Liberty at Austin’s 1970s Clothing-Optional Apartments
It’s said that some early Christian baptisms were performed in the nude, signifying the restoration of the subject’s soul to its state of innocence at birth. To be naked without shame is to live free from original sin, at least in the biblical sense — and in the Austin of the 1970s, a legendary decade of hippie and outlaw amalgamation now considered responsible for much of the ...
