Credit: ImagesFromTexas.com

There are so many incredible things about our city that sometimes it’s hard to keep track. We’ve made it easy for you. Here’s an essential list of authentic Austin favorites from A-Z. [Read more…]

One of Sam Olivo’s favorite stops is the Capitol, where he can always find a few folks to serenade.

To know Sam is to love Sam. You know that guy who rides his horse in downtown Austin? That’s Sam Olivo, the 6th Street Cowboy.

If you saw Olivo riding on a horse alongside someone else at the recent Texas Book Festival, that someone else was me. He was kind enough to let me tag along on a peaceful jaunt down Congress Avenue, as he told me his story and sang a few songs.

Our journey had us trotting through downtown Austin, and culminated with an intensely personal Native American ceremony at a sweat lodge. Along the way, Olivo told me about his second shot at life, why he rides his animals downtown and what his mission in life is now.

Olivo’s story is an important one. It’s the story of a man with an old world mentality, living in a city growing at a breakneck pace and struggling to maintain its identity. Olivo refuses to change, in a city that’s constantly changing. [Read more…]

When my husband and I started The Austinot in our living room at the end of 2011, we had no idea what it would become. The last thing I expected is that I’d be celebrating 1,000 articles after three and a half years, written by an extraordinary collection of volunteer Austinites who caught our vision.

Our vision took time to develop. Like I said, I had no idea what The Austinot would become. Despite our online marketing background, The Austinot started out as more of a personal hobby blog. We published silly articles we never would now, like this one. Even the name of our blog was chosen on a whim, using an online name generator called Wordoid. Yes, Austinot is a play on “astronaut” because we’re exploring the city. But then, why didn’t we spell it Austinaut? (Answer: because [Read more…]

When you see a gentlemen biking through Austin in a beige colored g-string and you don’t do a double take, is when you know you’re a true Austinite. In Austin, we see some crazy things: dogs being pushed in baby strollers, hipster beards for days, festivals for everything and endless tacos. So many tacos….

In the spirit of “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” check out these posts from Twitter and Instagram, all of which sum up Austin beautifully.

[Read more…]

Photo taken by Christopher Sherman during our interview on the Saturday of SXSW Interactive 2015

It’s a sleepy Saturday morning during South by Southwest and the city of Austin is not fully awake yet. The sun is minutes away from making its debut when I meet Christopher Sherman, of Over Austin fame, just south of the river next to the Zach Theatre. We have a perfect vantage point to do a little flying and capture beautiful panoramas of the downtown Austin skyline. [Read more…]