As a little kid, you might not be able to comprehend the future, but you do still wonder what it'll be like. What kind of person will you be, will you have kids, where will you live, what things will you do and be interested in. One thing I always wondered was what Austin might look like. What would home look like. I always pictured and had hoped our skyline would grow. Once I really got into skyscrapers during the 90s, I started to wonder if that would actually ever happen since our skyline had been so modest for so long. Now though things seem to be working out for our skyline with three new tallest this past decade. And instead of picturing our skyline to imagine it, I picture it to show it. So the future is 2010.
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The dog park at Auditorium Shores - Austin's front yard.
The
Stevie Ray Vaughan statue on the shores of Lady Bird Lake commemorates one of Austin's favorite musicians. He played many concerts on the great lawn at Auditorium Shores. He died in 1990 in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin after a concert that included his brother Jimmie, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray. His funeral was 4 days later in Dallas. His brother Jimmie, his mother Martha Vaughan, and girlfriend were there, along with Stevie Wonder, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Nile Rogers. He was buried next to his father. This statue was built 4 years later along Austin's Hike & Bike Trail.
This goofy dog was out about 30 feet from the shore and was barking as he swam down the river.
This is why Austin is called the city of the violet crown. Famous American writer, William Sydney Porter (pen name, O. Henry), wrote a line in his story: "Tictocq: The Great French Detective, In Austin" which was published in 1894.
Quote:
The drawing-rooms of one of the most magnificent private residences in Austin are ablaze of lights. Carriages line the streets in front, and from gate to doorway is spread a velvet carpet, on which the delicate feet of the guests may tread. The occasion is the entrée into society of one of the fairest buds in the City of the Violet Crown.
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Another thought is that because Austin began to be called the Athens of the South, because of the University of Texas, that it was a reference to the same nickname for Athens, Greece. Around that time too, the Old Main at UT, which is now gone, used to be called the "The Parthenon of The University's Acropolis." It was completed 5 years before O. Henry wrote that phrase. O. Henry lived in Austin for a time while the Old Main was still under construction. He was fairly active in the community. The Old Main was demolished in 1935 to make way for the University of Texas Tower, which replaced the Old Main as the new one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry
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