Gallery
Beloved Austin local Leslie Cochran
Cathedral of Junk
HOPE Outdoor gallery [14]
Maria's Taco Xpress restaurant
South Austin Museum of Popular Culture
Keep Austin Weird is the slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in Austin, Texas. It is intended to promote local businesses and is inspired by comments made by Red Wassenich in 2000 while giving a pledge to an Austin radio station KOOP Radio. [1] [2] He later began printing bumper stickers and operated the website keepaustinweird.com until his death in 2020 [3] and published Keep Austin Weird: A Guide to the Odd Side of Town. [4]
Despite a challenge from Wassenich, the slogan was later trademarked by Outhouse Designs and used to market T-shirts, hats, and mugs. [5] [6] [7] Other cities have since mimicked the nickname, including Portland in 2003, Louisville in 2005, [8] and Indianapolis in 2013. [9]
A 2010 book on the topic, Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas , [10] discusses the cultural evolution of the "Keep Austin Weird" movement as well as its commercialization and socio-political significance. [11] [12] The origins of Austin's unique culture have been claimed to be the product of unusually cheap housing prices following the end of a housing boom in the 1980s, combined with the location of the University of Texas at Austin in the city. [13]
The Austin Independent Business Alliance is among at least 85 community organizations affiliated with the American Independent Business Alliance, a national non-profit that supports and connects pro-local community-based organizations.
Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat and most populous city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 26th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the 11th-most populous city in the United States, the fourth-most populous city in the state after Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas, and the second-most populous state capital city after Phoenix, the capital of Arizona. It has been one of the fastest growing large cities in the United States since 2010. Downtown Austin and Downtown San Antonio are approximately 80 miles (129 km) apart, and both fall along the Interstate 35 corridor. This combined metropolitan region of San Antonio–Austin has approximately 5 million people. Austin is the southernmost state capital in the contiguous United States and is considered a Gamma + level global city as categorized by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
Richard L. Florida is an American urban studies theorist focusing on social and economic theory. He is a professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a Distinguished Fellow at NYU's School of Professional Studies.
Albert Leslie Cochran was an American homeless man, peace activist, cross-dresser, urban outdoorsman, and outspoken critic of police treatment of the homeless. Cochran was known in Austin as Leslie.
The creative class is the posit of American urban studies theorist Richard Florida for an ostensible socioeconomic class. Florida, a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, maintains that the creative class is a key driving force for economic development of post-industrial cities in the United States.
Chris Doyle is a multi-media artist who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1959. He is currently working and living in Brooklyn, New York, and Mexico City, Mexico. In his animation-based practice, he explores aspiration and progress, his main goal is to question “the foundation of a culture consumed by striving.” Through his work, he seeks to depict a world anxious in the shadow of a looming apocalypse, where environmental disaster and social inequities continue with increasing prevalence and complexity. To further drive his focus of restoration and conservation, his work often features industrial ruin, debris, and waste.
Music Millennium is an independent record store located in Portland, Oregon. It was opened by Don McLeod, his wife Laureen, and Dan and Patty Lissy in 1969. It is currently the largest and oldest record store in the Pacific Northwest.
Austin Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) is an organization of independent, locally owned firms in Austin, Texas and is composed of over 300 member businesses. It was started in 2001 by several local businesses and citizens as a way to help independent businesses compete successfully against corporate chains. The group is among at least 60 Independent Business Alliances around the country affiliated with the American Independent Business Alliance.
The Austin Museum of Popular Culture (AusPop) is a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting art and memorabilia that reflect Austin's eclectic contributions to popular culture worldwide.
Jamison Square is a city park in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District. It was the first park added to the neighborhood.
Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas is a non-fiction scholarly text by Joshua Long published in 2010 by University of Texas Press. The book uses the "Keep Austin Weird" movement as a central focus to discuss the social, cultural and economic changes occurring in Austin, Texas, at the beginning of the 21st century. Largely written from a human geography perspective, Weird City is intended to show the relationship between sense of place and urban economies, the environment, and the urban cultural landscape.
"Keep Portland Weird" is a popular slogan that appears on bumper stickers, signs, and public buildings throughout Portland, Oregon and its surrounding metro area. It originated from the "Keep Austin Weird" slogan and was originally intended to promote local businesses, though it has since evolved into an all-encompassing slogan that secondarily promotes individuality, expressionism, local art, as well as atypical lifestyle choices and leisure activities. The slogan frequently inspires articles and debate that attempt to quantify the exact level to which Portland is considered weird, unusual or eccentric. It has been called the unofficial motto of Portland, as well as the informal mantra of the city's residents.
Horse rings, remnants of a time when horses and horse-drawn vehicles provided the primary mode of transportation, can be found throughout Portland, Oregon. They were removed from curbs and sidewalks for safety purposes until the late 1970s, when one Portland resident complained about the rings disappearing. Today, the city of Portland helps to preserve the rings by requiring them to be replaced following sidewalk construction or repair.
Angkor I is an outdoor stainless steel sculpture by Lee Kelly, located at Millennium Plaza Park in Lake Oswego, Oregon, in the United States. The 1994 sculpture stands 14 feet (4.3 m) tall and weighs 1,000 pounds (450 kg), and was influenced by his visit to Southeast Asia one year prior. In 2010, Angkor I appeared in an exhibition of Kelly's work at the Portland Art Museum. In 2011, it was installed at Millennium Plaza Park on loan from the Portland-based Elizabeth Leach Gallery. The Arts Council of Lake Oswego began soliciting donations in 2013 in an attempt to keep the sculpture as part of the city's permanent public art collection, Gallery Without Walls. The fundraising campaign was successful; donations from more than 40 patrons, including major contributions from the Ford Family Foundation and the Oregon Arts Commission, made purchase of the sculpture possible. Angkor I has been called a "recognizable icon" and a "gateway" to the park's lake.
"Keep Louisville Weird" is a popular slogan adopted by the Louisville Independent Business Alliance (LIBA) that appears on bumper stickers as well as numerous signs and public buildings throughout Louisville, Kentucky and its surrounding metro area, especially in The Highlands district. A variation of the slogan, "Keep Highland Weird", is also used in the Highlands district. It originated from the "Keep Austin Weird" slogan and is intended to promote local businesses, though it has evolved into an all-encompassing slogan that secondarily promotes individuality, expressionism, local art, as well as atypical lifestyle choices and leisure activities. The slogan frequently inspires articles and debate that attempt to quantify the exact level to which Louisville is considered weird, unusual or eccentric.
The Egyptian Club, also known as Egyptian Room and referred to colloquially as E-Room, was a lesbian bar in the Richmond neighborhood of southeast Portland, Oregon, United States, operating from 1995 to 2010. Owner Kim Davis re-opened the venue as Weird Bar in October 2010, but the all-inclusive establishment closed within a year.
Blake Andrews is an American street photographer and blogger based in Eugene, Oregon. Andrews was a member of the In-Public street photography collective.
Weird Homes Tour is an event that takes place in several cities in the United States, allowing people to tour the houses of local artists, performers, and creatives. Partial proceeds of the event are donated to local community improvement efforts. The event has taken place in Austin, Houston, New Orleans, Detroit, and Portland. Due to COVID-19 the tour has gone virtual in several cities and moved to primarily online events.
We Don't Coast is a cultural movement and slogan adopted by Omaha and surrounding communities to observe unity, elevate hard work and acknowledge the region's Midwestern, noncoastal status.
Austin, Texas, reportedly confirmed its first cases on March 13, 2020, with the related onset of symptoms occurring as early as March 2, 2020. However, the disease may have reached the Austin area earlier. In an unconfirmed case, a 67 year old man in Bastrop, TX, traveled to Clovis, NM on December 21. He was hospitalized in Clovis on December 23, 2019, then transported via ambulance to Lubbock where he was placed on a ventilator. He declined rapidly and died on January 2, 2020. Though there was no testing available at the time, he exhibited classic symptoms of COVID-19. The first fatality associated with the disease was reported on March 27, 2020. As of January 21, 2021, the City of Austin has reported over 50,000 cases of COVID-19, with 573 deaths associated with the disease.