The West side of downtown is exploding with development. I can’t keep up anymore!

[jread]

https://m.imgur.com/a/HUqxF

[paul78701]

Adding on. I took this photo yesterday. It felt like I was in NYC...for a mintue anyway.

https://imgur.com/c1NbOUN

[We vs us]

As someone who's newish to Austin, our photo thread has been really useful to see just how far and how quickly the city has come.

So much of what I think of DT isn't even 20 years old. A lot of it isn't even 10.

[abigdeal]

It's particularly amazing what's happened to the west side. I'm sure most of us spent most of our time in Austin thinking of downtown as just Congress Avenue and 1-2 blocks in each direction. Things have changed so much in such short order.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by abigdeal

It's particularly amazing what's happened to the west side. I'm sure most of us spent most of our time in Austin thinking of downtown as just Congress Avenue and 1-2 blocks in each direction. Things have changed so much in such short order.

Yeah, for a long time, Austin's skyline was basically a straight line along Congress Ave. from the Capitol Building to 1st St, and the east to west spread was from the BoA to the Chase tower, not very wide. Because Congress was uphill from 35, it looked somewhat taller and impressive when passing through from the north or south but going from east to west, once you crested the hill, nothing but trees pretty much. One thing that changed, the Capitol Building really stood out at the time.

[MMOnsii]

Haven't been here since the Genral. But I have been here since 1998. I remember how slow downtown was when it wasn't a Fri or Sat night. Now you can go on any given day and there is plenty of foot traffic. I wonder if the West side will start getting some high end retail store like a Neimun Marcus or something. I know tourists like that. lol

[leonashbrook]

When I arrived in Austin in August of 1969 only beer was sold in bars, which bars closed at midnight except Saturday night, then 1am. There were no stores of any kind opened 7/24. You could drive to almost any location within inside the city limits within 5 minutes or so. The population back then was some 200,000. I really like this new Austin, but then I am buffered from the traffic, living in Hyde Park.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by MMOnsii

Haven't been here since the Genral. But I have been here since 1998. I remember how slow downtown was when it wasn't a Fri or Sat night. Now you can go on any given day and there is plenty of foot traffic. I wonder if the West side will start getting some high end retail store like a Neimun Marcus or something. I know tourists like that. lol

I've lived in Austin since '82 when I was born (except for a 4 year stint in NYC) a few years back.

Austin is a *markedly* different city. When I was in college Thursday/Friday/Saturday were the only nights anyone was ever downtown, and Thursday would just be two districts (warehouse and 6th). Dinner was not a thing you really ate downtown unless it was at a mega-chain development. Red River was the "cool" part of town for the kids.

When we left for NYC in 2012 there were 3-4 "nice" local places to eat and maybe two good cocktail spots (East Side Lounge and Peche, Midnight Cowboy had just opened as well). When we came back downtown was always busy, tons of places to eat.. 2nd street went from a semi-failed entertainment district to a hopping place and there are world class local restaurants and cocktail bars all over the city.

It's been an amazing transformation over the last few years all around, and once the West side really fully opens up (Independent, and the two kids going up next to each other on 2nd) I think it's going to hit a whole other gear.