City Guide: Austin, Texas by My Jerusalem

Austin can be an overwhelming place with it’s many music venues, bands, bbq’s, and local must-see attractions. That’s why we asked the members of My Jerusalem to put together a list of their favorite things to see, do and eat so your fun times can roll.  My Jerusalem just got off a European tour with Edward Sharpe and the Avett Brothers, so you know they got some good tunes, one of which you can check out just below.

My Jerusalem – Sweet Chariot

I know what your thinking. You hear Austin and you think, SXSW woohoo! Austin has free booze and music on every corner. You’re not entirely wrong but SXSW isn’t really a clear picture of what Austin is like. The rest of the year it’s a pretty relaxed city, though we do actually have bands playing in the airport year-round for some reason. But Austin is a wonderful freethinking creative oasis in the middle of a big, scary Red State.

Somewhere in the last few years, Austin has become a foodie dreamland. You can find amazing food from cheap Mexican, Amazing BBQ, Fine Dining, to one of a million food trucks scattered throughout the city. If you want BBQ, you can bypass the touristy joints like Salt Lick and County Line and head straight for Franklin BBQ. This is the best BBQ ever. The only problem is, everyone else agrees. They open at 11am and close when they are sold out, which is by 1pm. But I guarantee you’ll be hard pressed to find better brisket anywhere. Our favorite food trucks to hit up are Chilantro for their Korean Tacos and Kimchi Fries and East Side King for their Pork Buns. Both are open late for the bar crowd. And If you’re craving Mexican the next morning, hit up Cisco’s on East 6th for Migas that come with tortillas and biscuits (along with some crazy liquid butter concoction in a mustard dispenser). For all of our taco fixes we usually hit up El Chilito or Torchys if we feel more experimental. Both have great outdoor seating.

There’s lots of stuff to kill daylight hours around town. If you come here during the warmer months the best way most of us stay cool is by hitting up Barton Springs. It’s a group of natural springs that flow off from Edwards Aquifer and costs like $3 to go swimming. It can also provide some pretty good people watching. It’s also hard to walk more than 3 blocks and not hit a coffee shop. I usually do my “office hours” most days from Dolce Vita which is located in my ‘hood. It’s pretty chill and less ironic than most. They also have homemade gelato to help you cool down in the summer. Thunderbird is always a good choice too, especially since it’s located around the corner from our rehearsal place.

We also have some great shopping here. Located on the touristy South Congress is Uncommon Objects. This place owns. You could kill some serious time in here (and lose some serious money). Where else can you purchase both a pocketwatch and a prosthetic leg in one place? Its like something out of a Terry Gilliam movie. I also have a cowboy boot fetish, which means I stop at Allens Boots a few buildings away afterwards and drool at the expensive footwear.

A couple of us like to spend a lot of our days in movie theaters, so luckily Austin is home to the best theaters around, the Alamo Drafthouse, which shows tons of indie and mainstream films all while serving booze and food at your seat. They also host a lot of special showings where some of the actors or directors on the film will come and speak. There’s also theme nights where they’ll show things like TX Chainsaw Massacre out at the house it was actually filmed in or Jaws out on the lake.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre House

Once it hits nighttime more options open up. Most people hear about Sixth St as being tons of bars and crazy, but it’s pretty much amateur hour. Another tourist trap. Unless your lookin to get into a fight or Roofied I’d steer clear. Most of us and our friends head to the east side if we want to go out. There are a ton of great places that ride the fence between divebar and cocktail lounge. Most nights out lately include a stop at The Liberty and The Yellow Jacket Social Club. If you do end up downtown and don’t mind paying for the best cocktails in town, I’d hit up Bar Congress which has the best bartender or mixologist or whatever the hell you want to call him. Adam Bryan makes his own bitters and jellies and puts more effort into making a single beverage than I’ve ever seen anyone else do. He deserves a reality show.

Adam Bryan

The main thing everyone associates with Austin, is the music scene. Full disclosure, none of us in My Jerusalem are actually from Austin, or TX really for that matter (except Kevin). We all just kinda ended up here. Seems most folks do. So I don’t have any strong connection with the city’s music history, though I do love Willie Nelson. There are a lot of great bands here, though we may be biased since we’re friends with some of em. There are the more obvious ones like Spoon, White Denim, Okkervil River, Explosions in the Sky and Shearwater. And some of the more “below the radar/up and coming” artists like Dana Falconberry, Sleep∞Over, Frank Smith, and Ume. Definitely a lot of inspiration to be found in these parts. Probably more than most shows we go see (or play) take place at either The Mohawk or the soon to be moving/defunct Emos. We are also home to one of the coolest music shops around, Switched On. They sell, rent, and repair lots of vintage synths, keyboards, drum machines and cool toys. It’s a breath of fresh air amidst the Guitar Centers.

This city is constantly changing and always growing. A lot of folks seemed to be adverse to it, but I fall in love with this place more and more every day.

-thanks to My Jerusalem for the amazing city guide, now go visit the band!