If your mental image of Texas is all cowboy hats and
country western music, the city of Austin will make
you paint a new picture. Austin is a progressive city,
both politicaly and socially. No matter what your
beliefs are, you're welcome in Austin.
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Home to the famed South by Southwest Music Festival,
Austin is the heart of the Texas music scene. Country,
blues, rock, hip-hop, reggae, jazz and any other type
of music can be found playing in Austin nightclubs any
night of the week.
Austin's entertainment district is located in and
around East 6th St. and stretches seven blocks from
Congress Ave. to Interstate 35 and includes parts of
5th and 7th Streets.
The scene here is young and hip and extremely wild.
Bars range from from dives to dress-code-required
establishments and offer entertainment ranging from
live old-time music to house DJs spinning the latest
in techno. If you're not in a music mood, there are
cafes offering poetry and performance theater.
Sixth Street has an anything-can-happen feel - whether
it is a chance rendezvous with an attractive stranger
or a bloody fist-fight in a drunken haze. This is
partly due to the many drink specials that can be
found at 6th Street establishments. It is not uncommon
to find happy hour specials offering pitchers for five
dollars and drinks for under two bucks.
For those who survive a full night out on 6th Street,
there are plenty of all-night eateries that cater to
the partying masses. At 2 AM in Austin, the streets
are so jammed with people leaving bars and getting
food that traffic is usually stopped.
But why worry about driving anyway? Austin has a
fantastic network of pedicabs and rickshaws to take
you where you need to go, which is probably back to
the room to sleep it off.
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