Here’s how to live large in the “Live Music Capital of the World,” straight from the people who help make it the funky cultural melting pot that it is.
Freddie Steady KRC
Texas Music Hall of Fame inductee
“South Austin Popular Culture Center is the first place I suggest visitors check out. It has quite a large collection of posters, prints, and photographs that go back through the 1960s. It showcases our pop history, revealing how Austin came to be the point of destination it has become.”
Eve Monsees
Co-owner of Antone’s Record Shop
“Mount Bonnell is one of those places that feels [so removed even though] you’re in the middle of town. On a pretty day, it’s a wonderful place to escape the traffic and everything.”
Kareem Badr
Actor & Co-owner of Hideout Coffee House and Theatre
“Sweet Ritual is a vegan ice cream shop that’s just ridiculous. There are hilarious flavors [like Cinnamonkey Elephantastic], and they mess around with savory flavors, like mixing in basil. I usually get Cubano coffee. I’m a sucker for coffee.”
Hideout Coffee House and Theatre
Abel Kennedy
Co-owner of El Gallo Restaurant
“Cisco’s Restaurant Bakery is still down there on 6th Street – really good breakfast with homemade biscuits. They even have liquid butter in tubes on the table. That’s old-time Austin.”
Rachel Clemens
Founder of graphic design firm Creative Suitcase
“The place where everyone from hipsters to hippies goes to escape the heat is Barton Springs Pool. You feel like you’ve been transported back to a time when you can dip your toes in a nice cool swimming hole – until thong guy shows up, snaps you back to reality, and reminds you that you’re in Austin.”
Veronica Roberts
Curator of modern and contemporary art at the Blanton Museum of Art
“My new favorite restaurant is Launderette. Divine food, and I love the interior design – simple, not fussy. A lot of the furniture comes from Nannie Inez, a favorite store of mine in town.”
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