WEDNESDAY'S WANDERINGS: EAST AUSTIN

One of our favorite new areas to go exploring is old east Austin. We never used to go much of anywhere east of I-35, but not long ago The Bountiful Sprout added an Austin pick-up site for their members. It's located at Hops & Grains Brewery, which is housed in an old warehouse at the easternmost tip of 6th St. When we attended our first board meeting over there, John and I were shocked at all the interesting places we passed along the way. In fact, that very day there was some kind of art studio tour going on, and we saw lots of people walking or riding their bikes around to the various studios in the area, one of which was housed in the same warehouse as the brewery. It reminds me of two of my favorite areas in Houston -- Montrose and the Heights -- before they got all  "gentrified". The park where we went to see Ghostbusters: The Play was in that same general area, as was the French cafe I told you about a couple of days ago. Next on our agenda is to check out the cafe our daughter has been urging us to try, the Hillside Farmacy, which is just down the block from Blue Dahlia. Originally housing the Hillside Pharmacy, and still containing all its original cabinetry, it's now home to a fun cafe and grocery -- one which endeavors to use locally sourced ingredients and is said to serve a killer truffle mac & cheese, and some wonderful charcuterie.

I went a bit color-mad over these gorgeous mosaics, which were on the corner near the Blue Dahlia. I'm assuming they convey a bit of the history of this old neighborhood -- a history worth learning more about. Yep, I'm lovin' me some old east Austin.

Alas, the irony of all this is that these very shops and cafes that I'm so delighted with are indications that this neighborhood is already on that slippery slope towards gentrification, and those things that once held it together and made it such a tightly knit, economically and culturally diverse community (the very things that modern day developers are trying, but failing, to recreate in their "mixed-use communities") are quickly being eroded away. Here's a link I found, in case you are interested in knowing a bit about east Austin's history, and about the battle that is now going on to preserve its sense of place.

Ahhh, if only we could figure out how to have our cake, and eat it too...