Robert Baird

Lost and Found

Robert Baird  |  Mar 21, 2016

How to define progress? Ask longtime locals about the state of their hometown and the moaning starts: “Whole Foods is corrupt.” “Austin’s lost what made it cool.” “South Congress is too crazy.” “The traffic here is nuts.” “My ex-girlfriend used to bartend there.” “They’re not using locally sourced Tomatillos.” Here, the historic building on Red River Street just north of Waller Creek that once held impromptu jam sessions during many SXSW’s long past—and should be saved but is now ominously boarded up—stands in very stark contrast to the non-descript, mirror and steel Fairmont Hotel being built on Cesar Chavez Street.

COMMENTS
kursten's picture
Submitted by kursten on March 21, 2016 - 4:58pm

This happens everywhere. Greenwich Village, Silverlake, Brooklyn, San Francisco and Portland are all fine examples of once magical places that became popular and commercialized by the very people whose absence made those places cool in the first place. If you find a cool place, it is only a matter of time before some slimeball commoditizes the place and brings a flock of other slimeballs who will overpay to live in your once cool location.

nomaslarge's picture
Submitted by nomaslarge on March 22, 2016 - 1:33pm

From what I've seen the people doing the most complaining about slimeballs were last year's slimeballs. I moved to Williamsburg in '91. I was a first-wave slimeball. But a slimeball nonetheless.

DavidMajkATX's picture
Submitted by DavidMajkATX on March 23, 2016 - 11:10am

No question, Austin is growing ... very quickly. Having flown our Chicago coop to join the Austin Slimeballs (Flock of 2010), my wife and I already find ourselves nostalgic for the "old" Austin we knew when we first landed here.

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