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DON’T MISS IT!!! Capitol Tree Lighting, Holiday Sing-Along & Congress Ave Stroll: SAT 12/4 @ 6PM

Fred Schmidt | December 3, 2010 |

UPDATE:  This is last year’s post.  This year’s Holiday Stroll is on Saturday the 3rd!

Once again, KUT and the Downtown Austin Alliance will bring you the annual “Holiday Sing-Along and Downtown Stroll.”  It’s now become an annual tradition.  Last year an estimated 8,000 people attended.  This year, with the beautiful weather expected Saturday evening, maybe 10,000 or more?

It’s all happening Saturday, Dec. 4th.  KUT’s John Aielli will be on the south steps of the Capitol building leading Christmas carols beginning at 6PM.  That is immediately followed by the lighting of the Capitol Tree on 11th Street, at the head of lower Congress Ave.

Then everyone takes a leisurely stroll down “The Main Street of Texas”,  Congress Avenue where many businesses will be open late and have decked their halls and display windows in holiday style.  One sidewalk-adjacent travel lane on each side of Congress will be closed to vehicle traffic from 11th to 6th streets to accommodate the crowds.

Along the Avenue you’ll discover loads of wonderful live entertainment in office building courtyards and on street corners.  Refreshments, children’s activities, shopping, a Bicycle Zoo parade and more are also part of the merriment that will go on for a couple of hours.

There will even be a Santa’s Workshop.  And the jolly big fella himself will be found holding court in the lobby of One American Center at 6th and Congress.

As long as you’re in the area, also make a point of taking in a few blocks of Historic East 6th Street too (before the Saturday night revelers show up after 9pm).  East 6th looks lovely this time of year with holiday street decorations its entire length, the majestic Driskill Hotel all dressed out (don’t miss a peek inside), and many local businesses  are  showing their spirit.

What a fine night for a carriage ride around Downtown, too!  The horses usually line up in front of the Driskill.   (That’s a great photo-op, by the way.)

It is also requested that you share the spirit of the holidays by dropping off a jar of peanut butter at the downtown Christmas tree for Caritas to distribute to those in need.

This event is made possible by generous  sponsorships from Whole Earth Provision Company, Goodwill Industries, The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum , Ballet Austin, InStep, Louis Shanks Home Furnishings.

(Compiled from information from the Downtown Austin Alliance and KUT.  Capitol and caroler photos courtesy of the Austin American-Statesman.  Driskill lobby photo in HDR courtesy of Trey Ratcliff, www.stuckincustoms.com)

Filed Under: 6th Street Historic & Entertainment District, austin lifestyle, Congress Avenue District, downtown austin

Wednesday Bike Sharing Showcase At Austin City Hall

Jude Galligan | October 26, 2010 |

This Wednesday from 11-2pm, drop by city hall to see B-Cycle bike sharing concept in action.  Last month, we wrote that bike sharing could not only help solve many “last mile” transit problems, it would also become a superb recreational amenity for the entire city and its visitors.

What: B-cycle demo event for city officials and members of the public
Where
: 301 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701 (Lavaca Street)
When
: Demo runs from 11am-2pm; setup at 9:30am

From the Downtown Austin Alliance:

“Just as car-sharing systems provide a convenient way to use cars on a short-term rental basis, bicycle-sharing systems allow people to check out bikes to run errands and make other short trips.  Representatives of B-cycle, a national company that produces bicycles and other equipment for and works with cities to implement bicycle-sharing systems, will demonstrate their product at City Hall plaza from 11 am – 2 pm on Wednesday, October 27th. They will explain how bike sharing can decrease dependence on single-occupant vehicles, help improve mobility and support efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The public is invited to stop be and talk with B-cycle staff member and to take a short ride on one of their bikes.”

Filed Under: downtown austin

Downtown Austin’s PubCrawler

Nicole Sanseverino | October 13, 2010 |

The new PubCrawler of Austin is making rounds about the city and giving barhopping a whole new ring. “It’s a party on wheels,” owner Billy Lund said describing the PubCrawler. “A peddle-powered mobile bar?” rider Nate Nickerson ventured a guess. “Just a bar on wheels,” according to co-owner Robin Lund.

Founded in August, Austin’s first PubCrawler holds 10 pedalers, 16 people in all. It’s BYOK. Renters can bring their own keg and choose one of six predetermined routes, stopping at some of Austin’s most popular bars and music venues.

The foot-powered vehicle was invented in the Netherlands and goes up to 5 miles per hour. “It’s much easier sitting on the back row than it is pedaling… cause that’s a lot of hard work!” shares rider Shelli Nickerson. “It’s so safe because everyone really slows down to see you.”

Safety means more than just driving slow. With nearly 28,000 DUI crashes in Texas last year alone, PubCrawler’s designated driver takes the wheel, so barhoppers don’t have to.

“You don’t have to worry about where you’re going to park your car, who’s going to drive it home, who’s the designated driver. You get to forget about all that stuff and just have fun,” rider Nate Nickerson said.

While the PubCrawler can be fun, the city of Austin does enforce rules…. It prohibits glass bottles onboard the Crawler and outlaws drinking east of Lamar. “Every one wants to know how it’s legal as far as the drinking goes. We do have restrictions,” according to Lund.

Similar concepts have been popping up in cities across the country, such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Houston. Whether rented out for birthdays, bachelor parties, or just a night on the town, this mobile bar is putting the pub in public.

-Nicole

Filed Under: downtown austin Tagged With: Austin Beer Mobile, Pub Crawler

Major New Live Music Venue Coming to 6ixth Street

Fred Schmidt | October 3, 2010 |

In case you missed the news this past week, there is a significant new music venue slated to open New Year’s Eve on East 6th Street.  Here’s a link to the Austin360 story by Michael Corcoran. 

It’s called “The Stage” and is operated by a family out of Nashville with solid experience in producing quality live music venues there where they have four: The Stage on Broadway, Legends Corner, The Second Fiddle and Nashville Crossroads.

The Sanderson’s have been in Austin quite a bit over the past year checking out the scene and trying to find a fresh angle to success in our highly competitive market.  They finally settled on 508 E. 6th, the largest single-space building for something like this on the street and former home to Bourbon Rocks and Fat Tuesday.  (Maggie Mae’s is larger in overall square footage but it is chopped up into essentially four separate spaces on two levels.)

Longtime building owner Terry Boothe, who owns several properties on East 6th, had loads of offers from the typical fare of 25-cent-jello-shot bar operators.  But he held tight for over two years without a tenant in order to bring a quality live music operator back to 6ixth and thus help the District’s quest to upgrade the quality of visitor experiences to be found there.  The Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) and 6ixth Street Austin property/business owners association assisted in landing this deal.

Live music is supposed to be presented on pretty much the same schedule as the Nashville clubs: starting as early as 2:00 in the afternoon on Mondays-Thursdays and at 11:00am on Friday-Sunday.  That should provide a welcome flow of new work for Austin’s large and talented musician community. The Stage will reportedly also serve food too.

My only caveat is that I hope The Stage will program live music with distinctly Austin and Texas-centric flavor, not a heavy Nashville bent. If you take a look at the websites for the Nashville clubs, the offerings seem a tad “formulaic” — pretty much the same stuff done under four different names, not unlike the tight-jeans-and-cowboy-hat processed “country” music that Nashville itself often cranks out.  I hope the Sanderson’s and manager, Brandon Reineke, challenge themselves further in what they do in Austin.

While country is certainly one of our basic music food groups down here, the great country-flavored sounds coming out of Texas span so much greater breadth…quickly flowing into country rock, roots rock, folk, bluegrass, swing and so much more.  Even Willie regularly crosses into jazz and blues in his sets regardless of what type of club or festival he is playing.

Would you label Robert Earl Keen, Joe Ely, Jimmy Lafave, Ray Benson, Carolyn Wonderland, Marcia Ball as “country”?  Hardly.  Yet these are the sorts of all-star Austin acts that I hope will be regularly presented as headliners on the stage at The Stage — for a decent ticket price and full-priced drinks — to provide visitors to The Live Music Capital with a truly memorable show to savor when they head home.

However it shakes out, The Stage is clearly a welcome addition to the music offerings Downtown and on East 6th.  As a business owner just a few blocks west of the new venue I can attest that the area is streaming with people all day long these days, 7 days a week, looking for things to do and seeking that globally heralded Austin vibe and live music reputation.  Between the Convention Center, all the great Downtown hotels, and  our many new urban residents, business has never been better.

Now…if only we can lure Antone’s back to East 6th where that legendary venue began, then we’d really have some live music anchor tenants to brag about again!  Gotta work on that some more.  🙂

Filed Under: 6th Street Historic & Entertainment District, downtown austin, entertainment district

Food Fight on Sixth: Bratwurst VS. Oysters

Fred Schmidt | July 16, 2010 |

Over the past few weeks, an interesting “struggle” has been growing between Austinites on the issue of whether the Best Wurst sausage cart should have its sidewalk permit renewed to vend in front of Parkside Restauarant.  The scene is the southeast corner of East 6th Street at San Jacinto, the heart of the East 6th Historic & Entertainment District.

Best Wurst has been selling yummy treats from its cart there for 17 years and has grown quite a popular customer following.  The owner, Jon Notarthomas, is a hard-working Austin musician and entrepreneur.  He pays $450 per year for the vending permit and transacts tens of thousands of dollars in business from his cart.

Parkside is a lovely fine-cuisine restaurant that opened in the circa-1920 building where Dan McKlusky’s steakhouse previously existed.  Shawn Cirkiel, the chef, and his Austin family purchased their building, valued by TCAD at $1.6 million, and completely renovated the property when opening the restaurant a couple of years ago.

Sidewalk vending permits must be renewed every 3 years and it is now that time for Best Wurst.  Parkside is opposing the renewal.  There are many reasons involved but the basic one is simply “incompatibility”.  This restuarant is not happy with having another food vendor directly outside of its front door.  City officials are caught in the middle.

There are many opposing perspectives arising through discussions of this matter:

“Old/Iconic Austin” versus “New/Emerging Austin”.

Upscale dining versus inexpensive street food.

Property owner rights versus temporary permitted uses.

Large investments and big taxes on property+liquor+sales versus modest investments, small fees and sales tax only.

The sensibilities of Austin’s sidewalk vending permit process versus national best-practices for kiosk-style vending in public common areas.

The growing desire for East 6th to revitalize itself to make better 24/7 use of its century-old historic district presence versus maintaining its more recent four-decade reputation as “Dirty 6th” where young folks go to get shitfaced.

Phew.  That’s a lot to take in right there.

What do you think about all of this?

Loads of media coverage and other resources available if you’d like to absorb further before weighing in:  News story on the Austin American-Statesman’s Austin 360.  TV coverage on News 8, Fox News and KXAN.  Best Wurst’s website and its new Save The Wurst Facebook site with some 3,000 fans.  Parkside’s website.

Filed Under: 6th Street Historic & Entertainment District, austin history, austin lifestyle, austin news, austin restaurant reviews, downtown austin, entertainment district, history, life in austin, small business

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