AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[lzppjb]

I think it was a pretty handsome little building before they changed it.

[hookem]

Now that I look at those historical pictures, they may have done the vertical additions in front of all the windows to "fix" the mismatches created by adding on. The windows weren't the same, the spacing wasn't the same, and the brick was obviously not a match. So the vertical top-to-bottom architectural features, while ugly, disguised the patchwork look and made it look like an intentional 4-story building. Probably for cheap, too.

Looking at the significant shades on only 1 side of even the original building, perhaps they were also necessary to reduce heat on the equipment inside.

[The ATX]

That was a just plain horribly done building expansion.

[KevinFromTexas]

It's funny you should mention that, one of my dad's first jobs was working for Pony Express. I don't know. My dad always looked for an excuse to go downtown. I don't think he was an unwitting urbanist or anything, but he mostly was interested in downtown because of the history.

[Tech House]

I wonder how many of us were influenced by our dads, in forming our appreciation of cityscapes. My dad grew up in a one-room farmhouse near Ojai, CA, during the depression. He was in awe of progress and of cities, and he was a real estate broker whose favorite activity was to cruise around looking at property. I would often ride with him and just soaked up his enthusiasm.

In the late 60s, Santa Barbara (my home town) got its first freeway interchange. It's still there, no changes; it's a sad little thing with only 2 ramps, where the 2-3 mile "freeway" going to UCSB T's into US 101. The first time we drove past it, my dad glanced back and looked almost horrified with awe, and he said, "Look back at that thing!" I'll never forget that moment, or the look on his face. It was like an immigrant seeing NYC for the first time. I wonder what he'd think he thinks of the new 5- and 6-level stacks we have in Texas.

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by Tech House

I wonder how many of us were influenced by our dads, in forming our appreciation of cityscapes. My dad grew up in a one-room farmhouse near Ojai, CA, during the depression. He was in awe of progress and of cities, and he was a real estate broker whose favorite activity was to cruise around looking at property. I would often ride with him and just soaked up his enthusiasm.

In the late 60s, Santa Barbara (my home town) got its first freeway interchange. It's still there, no changes; it's a sad little thing with only 2 ramps, where the 2-3 mile "freeway" going to UCSB T's into US 101. The first time we drove past it, my dad glanced back and looked almost horrified with awe, and he said, "Look back at that thing!" I'll never forget that moment, or the look on his face. It was like an immigrant seeing NYC for the first time. I wonder what he'd think he thinks of the new 5- and 6-level stacks we have in Texas.

Neither of my parents helped form my appreciation of skylines or cities. They are both the kind of people that yearn for the old Austin. But my dad doesn't get up in arms about how the skyline is changing. He just accepts it and moves on.

To be quite honest, I have no idea where it came from. Nobody I know cares about skylines or cityscapes or development. Nobody I know lives downtown. Nobody I knew growing up even spent time downtown. I guess it just started with seeing a cool night skyline shot of Austin with the river reflecting all the lights. I used the photo on my myspace profile. It must have been around 2003. It's the one with the gigantic full moon photoshopped in the sky.

I still prefer night skyline shots.

[lzppjb]

Ha. I think this was the one.

[The ATX]

It's amazing that SRV and Double Trouble are just now getting inducted into the Rock & Roll hall fame considering all of the lame (IMO, of course) non-rock & roll inductees.

http://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin.html

[wwmiv]

I really wish that all those buildings still lit their decorative lights at night...

[lzppjb]

Which ones don't?

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

Which ones don't?

Basically all of the old buildings leave their lights off most of the time.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

Which ones don't?

301 Congress doesn't anymore. It's actually had two different lighting designs through the years, but it's been dark for a while. As I remember, one of the lighting tubes on one of the setbacks caught on fire, and they haven't lit it since.

The San Jacinto Center used to have red neon lights outlining the pyramid on the roof, but they haven't done that in a while. I think they still have the flood lights up the sides of the building.

100 Congress is still lit every once in a while, but it isn't lit regularly.

[lzppjb]

For the life of me, I can't remember what the lights on 301 Congress looked like. They need to fix their problem and get it lit back up. LEDs can't cost that much to run.

I remember the SJC having red ball lights on the pyramid. I don't remember it ever outlining it. But could just be my fuzzy memory. Do you have any pics of that?

100 Congress has cool lights. While looking up pics, I saw one where they had the three bars red, white, and blue.

At least One Congress Plaza still lights up. I've always like those stairsteps. For some reason, when I see it lit up, I think of KXAN News. Ha!

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

100 Congress has cool lights. While looking up pics, I saw one where they had the three bars red, white, and blue.

I found a photo showing that.



http://www.tatteredtotaylored.com/20...1_archive.html

Do they still light up Capital Tower at night? I can't remember when I took this photo, but it's been a few years.

[KevinFromTexas]

I guess you could say art and construction runs in my family. My maternal grandfather was a master carpenter. He built houses in Austin in the 40s and 50s. They would move into one in a neighborhood while he was building there, then move onto the next project. I've been able to find some of his construction company ads through the Austin Public Library and American-Statesman. My maternal great-grandfather was a tool manager for the company that built Mansfield Dam. My uncle on my mom's side is also a carpenter. On my dad's side of the family, my grandfather started painting after they moved to the United States. He did mostly landscapes. Two of my aunts on both sides of the family also paint, as does my uncle on my dad's side of the family. Several of my cousins paint also. My dad could draw just about anything. He hand drew the plans for his "renderings" of improvements he made to the house, which were pretty extensive. I also have an uncle on my dad's side of the family who is a structural engineer.

Otherwise I didn't know anyone who cared at all about architecture, tall buildings or cities.

We did always go downtown as a family. We'd usually go to the Capitol, climb the stairs and wander the grounds. I loved the history of it and the architecture of course. In 1992 when they did the underground Capitol extension, we would go at night and walk around the site. They had pedestrian walkways built all the way around the construction pit so the public could see into it. They had 4 tower cranes and tons of machines. I think that really helped to get me interested in architecture. And then of course when it was done we explored the new section.

We also would park downtown and walk around. We used to walk the alleys at night even. I remember being freaked out once when we were walking the alley south of the One American Center, when my dad's friend looked into a dumpster for some boxes to help with his move. There was a homeless man sleeping in the dumpster. I remember being terrified at the thought that he might actually be dead. We would also go over to the train station and sit and watch trains.

I got into collecting postcards, magazines, calendars books. Anything I could find that had pictures or information about cities and buildings. I remember watching Married with Children and Family Matters and drooling over Chicago's skyline in the beginning of the show. And of course there were certain movies that caught my attention such as Ghostbusters. I was also always a statistics and fact geek, so naturally I started looking for building heights. I started looking up big buildings in the Guinness Book of World Records and in almanacs. I studied city maps and drew skylines. And of course I grew up playing with LEGO and Construx toys, so I built all kinds of buildings and stuff. And I also started taking pictures of buildings and cities, which then got me into photography. I also started riding my bicycle more so I could go downtown and ride around to take photos without having to do it in a car. So it also got me back into riding bicycles again.

Until I found SkyscraperPage, I'd never met anyone else who liked cities and architecture.

[JoninATX]

My interest in skyscrapers and cities took me back during my middle school days. The year was 1999 and started become even more interested back in 2001 when I first learned of Skyscraperpage.com. Not sure what interest me because as a kid I never went downtown. But ever since then I have been lurking on this site, but didn't join until 2009. Was a shy person back then. Also 2006 was the highlight of my interest, I worked for various construction companies and help did the early stages of laying down water and sewer lines back in 2007 for Seaholm.

[KevinFromTexas]

It would probably be a pain in the butt go looking for old photos of it, but I do have some old postcards that show the two different lighting designs. The original lighting design had flood lights on the setbacks lighting up the walls. It could have just been the postcard photos, but it looked almost yellowish like limestone. The other design was just simple white neon lights outlining the setbacks. I ogled those buildings back in the day when I first started to become interested in skyscrapers since they were the only hint of tall buildings we had at the time. 100 Congress is still one of my favorites in Austin with its copper colored glass and lofty sloped roof. I also remember 100 Congress being lit at Christmas time with a star at the top of the three triangles making it resemble a Christmas tree. They could really take advantage of that look now days since the building now uses LEDs. I know it can change colors. I remember during the Olympics it was lit red, white and blue. The One American Center was also lit with red and green lights on the setbacks at Christmas time. I really miss that. I wish the older buildings would do more lighting, at least bring back the old lights, and light the buildings for all the holidays/special occasions.

[JoninATX]

Wish I had some pictures to show ya'll what I did back then as a equipment operator, in which I had some great pictures of downtown Austin back in 2006/2007. But lost them. But as the years progress I seem less interested in what i liked. I still like skyscrapers and architecture but seem to have lost passion. Any of you guys sometimes feel that way?

[KevinFromTexas]

Sometimes, yes. I go through funks sometimes, maybe borderline depression maybe, where I lose interest. One thing is taking photos. It's just such a daunting task sometimes to go through and edit them and get them uploaded and posted. Still, whenever I get into it to make some progress on it, I'm reminded of why I enjoy it.

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Sometimes, yes. I go through funks sometimes, maybe borderline depression maybe, where I lose interest. One thing is taking photos. It's just such a daunting task sometimes to go through and edit them and get them uploaded and posted. Still, whenever I get into it to make some progress on it, I'm reminded of why I enjoy it.

Do you use recorded actions in photoshop when editing your photos? Can save a lot of time and won't be so tedious for you.