Does Austin have an aura of snootiness like Dallas? (Houston: transplants, home)

[TheHarvester]

Lakewooder, brilliant commentary on your location and Dallas in general! Thanks. Now you've made me quite curious about the city, as I had never explored the east side of town at all. I never had a tour guide, just a map. When I see a botanical garden on a map, I generally gravitate towards it because they tend to be located in nice areas, and I was right. But I missed virtually everything else you listed that you like about Dallas.

[Lakewooder]

Thanks - I have a thread going in the Dallas section you might want to scan:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...-lakewood.html

[ohhi]

having lived in both, no austin does not. the vibes you get from austin are a total 180 than from dallas. dallas (for the most part) is full of wannabes/fakers.

[fil]

Less snootiness than Atlanta although materialism is catching up everywhere you go these days.

Atlanta and Dallas have a large population of nouveau riche BMW Starbuck drinking fools.

Austin seems to be less pretenious and full of geniune people.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Thanks - I have a thread going in the Dallas section you might want to scan:

Great thread, thanks for the link! I see it's contiguous to the nice areas I was touring, which were just to the north and west of Lakewood (I guess...)

Do you have any links to boundaries outlining the neighborhoods/districts of that section of Dallas? Sites like Mapquest are poor substitutes for the perspective of locals and I'd be very interested in knowing more specifically what I should see, using the guidelines of maps and streets and neighborhoods and districts as people experience them, not as computers or satellites interpolate them. I'm on the side of the humans in the battle with the Machines.

[triple h]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

I generally agree with you, it's mostly a problem of over-crowding, traffic and growth, not Californians per se. However, my California friends who have visited me or moved here have often seemed impatient by comparison with locals, so I do think that the attitude is partly imported and not just a result of the faster-paced lifestyle that accompanies population and income growth.



I wish people had to go through a "Texas Friendly" boot camp for a week before being allowed to move here. I go out of my way to preserve the old ways, letting people cut into my lane, paying for something at a store when a person is a dollar short, random acts of kindness. It's a part of Austin that is being snuffed out by the urban crush.

I can't blame anyone, I'm not going to point a finger at Californians. After all, I'm a Californian and I'm a lot more friendly than many of the people who were BORN in Austin. I'm in full agreement with you, memo to the world: Welcome to Austin, please be friendly, patient, generous and SLOW DOWN. This isn't New York or LA.

It's interesting reading these posts, as i've noticed huge changes in Austin in the past ten years or so, as well. I lived here from 1995-1999 and LOVED everything about it. Moving here for college from small(er) town East Texas was eye opening in SO many ways...i even dropped out and took up photography full time for a while. I then left for 6 years and moved around a bit, finally rolling back into town in mid 2005 with the intention of slipping right back into the city, not to mention Barton Springs.

All i can say now (2 years later) is that i really miss my old haunts, many of which are torn down or closed down and replaced by "slick" shot bars or developing condos. I really miss the laid back attitude that made me fall in love with Austin (yes, the influx of Dallas/LA/NYC folks have impacted the general attitude of the city -- particularly the folks from Cali -- no disrespect) and I really miss the STRONG community feeling that permeated the city before and seems to be so diluted and scattered now. In addition, the ever-increasing cost of living is slowly pushing all of the creative folks that keep the city "weird" out. It seems the city has become too hip for it's own good. At least i still run into Leslie every once in a while.

Obviously this is just my opinion formed by my own experiences, but i actually plan on moving away (likely for good) within the next year. I'm looking at smaller, more affordable cities (with cooler weather!) and their own individual music and art scenes. Cities whose citizens still love their old buildings and historic businesses enough to KEEP them and appreciate a little less glam in their lives...much like Austin about 15-25 years ago. Having said all that, i definitely look forward to coming back and visiting my favorite local spots (not matter how long the wait is to get in) once i find and settle into my new, yet to be determined, hometown.

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

The real Dallas is not snooty...for example - Lakewood. It has plenty of rich people but they aren't afraid to send their kids to public school with kids from 'the wrong side of the track'. Go into any restaurant, bar, shop or any other establishment in Lakewood and probably the last question anyone will ask you is, "what do you do?"

The Park Cities and Northern Sub-urbs give Dallas a bad reputation. But remember, that isn't Dallas.

I agree; I think Dallas's reputation for snootiness is undeserved. I'd extend the snooty areas to Preston Hollow and areas a bit north of it too, though. That's hardly all of Dallas, though; that's just the very wealthy parts of it.

[artsyguy]

I want to defend DALLAS.

I'd say because Dallas is a more hyper city the people can be less friendly and interested in others. BUT sometimes you will find good people there.

Dallas is overall more fun and has more to do. Dallas is almost as liberal as AUSTIN!

[TexasGirl@Heart]

I have yet to meet an unfriendly person in Austin during the last 8-10 years of traveling there annually!
Several examples of out of the norm friendliness...

1. Dining at Kerbey Lane Cafe....waitress came over and sat down with us during a break and started chatting with me and my sister. Asking where we were from. That has happened numerous times. I always buy a package of their gingerbread pancake mix to take home. The last time I was there, I was undecided if I wanted pumpkin or gingerbread because I had never tried the pumpkin pancake mix. I decided on the gingerbread since I knew that I liked them. The waitress brought our check over along with both mixes. I told her that I had decided on just the gingerbread mix. She said "the pumpkin mix is on us! Try it and see what you think and don't forget to spread the word about the pumpkin pancakes!" I couldn't believe it! (noteworthy: the pumpkin ones are better than the gingerbread!)

2. Was at Chicken S**T Bingo (Ginny's Little Longhorn) having a great time when the waitress accidentally stepped on my toe delivering beers to customers. My fault--my foot was out in the aisle and it is a SMALL place. She apologized and I smiled and said "don't worry about it-it was my fault". She came over a few minutes later with a "fresh beer on the house" and apologized again!

NOW that is TEXAN HOSPITALITY and FRIENDLINESS at it's finest!

[Marisa_Ladd]

I don't think Austin is the least bit uppity -- I can't think of a single restaurant where you can't dine in jeans.

Great stories, TexanWannabe!