Happy 175th birthday, Austin! As our boom times continue, here's an ode to peaceful coexistence straight out of a Johnny Cash song.
Yes, Austin, Funk and Swank Can Coexist
An Austin ghost sign that has long served as an iconic landmark, and dates from the time a pack of Wrigley's gum cost you a nickel, is now forever hidden from view by a new Marriott.
Finally, Overtaken
More than a year before a corporate giant’s expansion plans doomed Las Manitas, I enjoyed my first breakfast there amid the late Saturday morning hub-bub and was greeted as warmly as a regular by Cynthia Perez, one of two sisters who’ve owned the Congress Avenue café for over 25 years. She took note of my... Continue Reading →
Movin’ On—Carefully
How do you move a neon sign? Especially one that's achieved icon status in Austin? As it turns out, very carefully. When the Night Hawk Frisco Shop moved from its original Austin location at Burnet Road and Koenig Lane to new digs a bit south on Burnet Road, of course its original neon had to... Continue Reading →
What Would Johnny Say?
Progress overtook a humble little bar on Austin's West 5th Street, but the bar is still intact.
What’s Vanishing Next?
At a much-loved Austin coffee shop on West 6th Street in Clarksville, a young man behind the counter handed me my biscotti, looking on in astonishment at my Vanishing Austin series. "All these places are gone??" he asked, seeming a bit dumbfounded. "No no no," I told him hastily. "This series of photographs is my... Continue Reading →
Is Your Austin Vanishing?
Soon a bland corporate hotel chain revered the world over for its predictability will stand in place of this textural, colorfully cheeky block of individuality, replacing the contrasts of angles and styles and skies that exist now along Congress and 2nd. A corporate logo stamped on countless buildings will take the place of the gaudy... Continue Reading →
Jann Alexander :: Pairings 