George Bush may be a typical Texan, but he was never a typical Austinite. In the popular image, Texans wear 10-gallon hats, drive pick-up trucks, and are only too happy to point out the exact location of the Mason-Dixon line. Their women are shoulder-padded, lip-glossed Sue Ellen clones for whom 80s power dressing never really went away. Austin is different, a diverse community of artists, musicians, low-budget guerrilla film makers, writers and twentysomething bohos. The state capital stands out like a vegetarian at a Texan barbecue.
Its attitude towards its old governor was best expressed in the post-election issue of the popular newsweekly, the Austin Chronicle. The front page was just a blank sheet of funereal black, the header picked out in a sombre grey.
Austin is full of people who will tell you they came for a week and decided to stay for good. The city has a young feel, in part due to the colossal University of Texas, the only campus in the world that has its own oil drill, and also because of its reputation as a low-rent slacker's paradise where the many cafés, bars, bookshops and clubs have elevated hanging out to an art form.
Local indie film director, Richard Linklater shot Dazed and Confused here, and committed Austin's own brand of laid-back cool to celluloid in his 1991 film Slacker, a cinema-verité style portrayal of Austin's deadbeat anti-yuppie subculture.
People don't come to here to spend time sightseeing and ticking off a list of must-sees, which are a little thin on the ground anyway. A quick run around the downtown area takes care of the more conventional tourist sights including the rosy granite Texas State Capitol which, in a typically Texan touch, stands 7ft taller than the one in Washington. The nearby Greek-revival governor's mansion is only a must for Dubya fans who hanker after the vicarious thrill of sitting at his old desk. On East 5th Street, the O Henry Museum celebrates the 19th-century short-story writer.
But music is what really matters in Austin. The city claims to be the Live Music Capital of the World, a moniker which is included on every piece of official city letterhead. In a town where local heroes such as Willie Nelson and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan are gods, Austin music never entirely forgets its Texan roots, but the hybrid of country twang, blues licks, folk and the odd psychedelic flourish has spawned unique musical mutations such as cowpunk and an alt-country cowboy style that is more cosmic than rhinestone.
Best venues
Antone's on 5th Street is a cornerstone of Austin's music heritage. Owner Clifford Antone has been hosting blues legends such as Muddy Waters and Fats Domino since 1973. With the Continental Club on South Congress, this is the place to catch homegrown musicians such as Joe Ely, Jimmie Vaughan, Alejandro Escovedo and Toni Price.
At night, the downtown area can seem like one long pub crawl with more than 50 clubs and music venues (more per capita than LA or New York) all clustered around 6th Street.
The 6th Street area is also home to Leslie, a much-loved local transvestite, as much a part of Austin as the Capitol itself. Treated by many as an unofficial city mascot, Leslie sashays down Congress Avenue often dressed in little more than a bra and thong and has even run for mayor. Many think he would make a better president than Dubya.
Cooler Austinites are to be found reclining on threadbare sofas in Lovejoys on Neches Street, sipping dirty martinis at Club Deville or experiencing live aural mayhem at Emo's or Stubbs on Red River Street.
The Warehouse District around 4th Street has witnessed a rash of cigar-and-martini bars to cater largely for out-of-towners who have relocated in droves to work in Austin's burgeoning hi-tech industry. The yuppified velvet-rope cocktail lounges and faux-Irish bars seem out of place in a town where not wearing shorts counts as formal dress.
Ruta Maya on 4th Street is a more typical Austin hangout. Photographs and paintings of the Zapatistas hang on the well-worn walls, and your cup of joe comes with a conscience, the coffee beans bought from cooperative farmers in the Mexican highlands of Chiapas. You can sample some hand-rolled Cuban Cohibas in the adjoining smokeshop or listen to live reggae bands while sipping a Ruta Maya beer imported from El Salvador.
But in case you think that Austin is all about lo-fi boho chic and bands such as local post-punk industrial darlings The Butthole Surfers, a visit to the Broken Spoke on South Lamar Boulevard should remind you that you are still in the state of Texas. While not quite the Grand 'Ole Opry, this is the place to listen to real "howdy partner" Texan country music and queue for ice-cold beer with cowboy-booted, vowel-strangling good ol' boys, known in Austin parlance as "Bubbas".
Where to eat
If LA is the home of the resting actor who waits tables between auditions, and Miami is where wannabe models take food orders with a surly smile, Austin is the city where your plate of artery-clogging Tex Mex will more than likely be served up by a jobbing musicians who may slip you a demo tape with the side order of tortillas. The vast range of restaurants, cafés and mom 'n' pop diners means that Austin's musician/waiter population can always depend on waiting tables to make the rent.
A popular breakfast stop is Las Manitas on Congress Avenue with its renowned migas, a mix of eggs scrambled with tortilla chips, onions, monterey jack, cilantro and the obligatory chillis.
Jovitas and El Mercado, both on South 1st Street, serve up Tex Mex enchiladas, burritos, tacos and guacamole in belt-straining portions best washed down with locally-brewed Celis beer or a glass of chilled horchata, a milky drink made from tiger nuts.
Austinites take their preferences for the local mesquite-smoked barbeque seriously. Everybody has a favourite barbeque joint, with Stubbs, Ruby's and the Saltlick cropping up on most lists.
Stubbs Bar-B-Q on Red River Street is famous for its sauce, which is sold all over the States. If you want to do your constitution serious damage, try an all-American, additive-packed tooth destroying dessert of Twinkies - a really sweet spongecake with an even-sweeter filling. Ruby's on West 29th Street is an after-hours meeting place for musicians, students and clubbers who come for the smoked ribs and hormone-free beef. Die-hard barbecue fans make the 20-mile journey out of town to the Saltlick, which can seat up to 800 hungry carnivores outside.
Threadgills restaurant, a former 1930s gas station, is serves downhome Southern cooking, but its fame rests on the fact that it was here that Janis Joplin started off as just a smalltown Texan girl with a guitar. One of the specials is the ubiquitous Texan chicken-fried steak - ground beef fried in a thick batter coating and served with creamy gravy, biscuits and greens.
Where to stay
The grand old dame of Austin hotels has to be The Driskill on the corner of 6th Street. Built in 1886 by cattle baron Jesse Driskill, the elegant lobby has played host to stars of Hollywood's golden age, stringy-haired musicians, Texan oil barons and politicians - local boy made good Lyndon Johnson had a suite here.
The unintentionally phallic neon sign for the Austin Motel on South Congress is an Austin landmark and one of the longest-running local jokes. No two rooms are alike, with some featuring murals of the Great Wall of China, Mount Fuji and Dutch tulip fields, which some people think are just on the tasteful side of kitsch.
Further along South Congress is the San Jose motel. Blending hacienda-style architecture with zen-like minimalism, it is a haven of calm and tranquility on this busy stretch of vintage clothing stores, cafés, gun shops and boutiques that leads right into the downtown area.
The practicals
British Airways (0845 7733377) flies Heathrow to Dallas with American Airways connection to Austin from £376.69 return inc tax. The Driskill Hotel, 604 Brazos St (tel: 001 512 451 5440) costs $165-$225 per night for a double room. Austin Motel, 1220 South Congress Avenue (tel: 001 512 441 1157, $46-$99 per night). San Jose Motel, 1316 South Congress (tel: 00 1 512 444 7322, $90 per night).
