Aug 5, 2009

In a city whose motto is “Keep Austin Weird,” there is perhaps nothing weirder than the Cathedral of Junk. A labor of love by Vince Hanneman that he has constructed in his backyard for the last twenty years, the Cathedral of Junk is, as the name implies, a monument to garbage. Standing about thirty feet tall and comprised of a network of rooms, stairs,

Aug 4, 2009

I normally don’t recommend going to a movie theater while on vacation, but most movie theaters are not the Alamo Drafthouse. A staple of life for most Austinians, the Alamo Drafthouse offers a unique film-going experience that has led to it frequently being named the best movie theater in the country. A regular showing will introduce you to some of its

Jul 27, 2009

It’s a tricky thing getting your bearings in a new city, and if I’d had any idea a month ago, when I got here, what a handy trick it would be to map things out with a guided tour of the city, I’d have jumped in the tour van long ago. This weekend I caught a ride around town with Austin Overtures, a service that offers a 90-minute guided tour of Austin and

Jul 24, 2009

I did not expect to find such an exemplary hiking trail just a couple of miles from downtown. Zilker Park is Austin’s equivalent of Central Park, a haven of nature in the midst of the metropolis and not a bad getaway from the bustle, though there’s a great deal of the bustle you’ll have to fight through to get there, especially on the weekends, when

Jun 17, 2009

I was made aware of the phrase, “Keep Austin Weird,” before I came down here for the summer and was given to understand it is an unofficial motto of the city, a call for its denizens to support the myriad of eccentric local businesses rather than give in to the sterility of corporate standardization. The experience that brought the phrase home for me was The