Hola. (That's pronounced "Oh-La.") Greetings from Austin, Texas, the only place in the world where hippies and rednecks come together in the same bar to drink the same beer and listen to the same music. Our town is known for our film scene, our music scene and, once every year in March, both at the exact same time. East coasters are always amazed at how spread out everything is, although oddly enough, through some bizarre time/space anomaly, you are always exactly fifteen minutes from where you need to be. It is a town most likened to a laid-back cross between San Francisco and Madison, Wisconsin.

And yet, we are probably one of the most misrepresented cities in one of the most misrepresented states in the union. And I'm not just talking about movies like Road Trip, which infer that by driving south on I-35 you would somehow have to drive past the capital to get to the University of Texas, which is located north of the Capital. Now, honestly, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands or anything, but just think to yourselves: How many of you think we ride horses down here as a viable form of transportation? How many of you think we have places to tie them up in the city or picture us wearing cowboy hats?

Sure, we say "y'all" and use the word "barbecue" as a noun instead of a verb and, yes, Dr. Pepper and Dairy Queen are a matter of state pride. But there are no cowboys left, and if there were they probably wouldn't be living down here. But that's not to say that everyone gets us wrong. A handful of movies have shown the world the real Austin, the Austin I know and love. So let's continue our series of virtual tours with my cinematic take on my home, here, deep in the heart of Texas.

Slacker
No tour of Austin would be complete without first beginning with Rick Linklater's personal journey through Austin. A much-beloved cult classic down here, Slacker wanders from character to character as we follow not a story but rather a series of chance meetings that take us from one side of town to the other. This is quite literally the best film to get the feel of Austin with. It's also a great trip down memory lane as it was filmed before the tech boom that changed the face of this city forever. Classic, now long-gone businesses along our famous drag and throughout town are visible from this cinematic time machine, and never before and never since has someone so boiled down what it means to be an Austinite. As a true vision of eclecticism, Slacker is packed with the weirdness we talk about when we say, "Keep Austin weird."

Office Space
The listless slacking of grunge that began the '90s soon gave way to what is now known as the "Go-Go '90s," during which a Y2K-fueled panic and this burgeoning invention called the Internet made computers something everyone needed to buy. And companies like Intel, AMD, Apple, Dell and software companies out the wazoo all set up shop just north of town. The resulting tech area was the perfect place for Austin resident Mike Judge to film his classic comedy about a guy fed up with his life as a cubicle rat. The field where the printer was destroyed has become something of a local geek shrine (you simply MUST destroy old computer gear there, or at least CLAIM that you once did) and the buildings stand testament to what was going to be the future of this town…before the tech boom bubble burst.

Dazed and Confused
Again with the Linklater! As Austin's most prolific filmmaker, Link is also the guy who does the most outdoor shooting here in town. In this, his classic and most widely beloved work, he takes us through the last day of school in 1976. In Austin. The biggest landmark here is definitely the Moon Tower, one of 17 still standing (and working) structures in town built in 1894 (you read that right – 18) to light the city. However, my favorite landmark is the appearance of Top Notch, a local burger joint right around the corner from my house that not only has great burgers, but my favorite fried chicken in the state.

Grindhouse
While Robert Rodriguez shot around town for his segment Planet Terror, few places are either easily recognizable or particularly touristy. But that's how he is with most of his films. Quite often, if you're paying attention, you'll catch a piece of downtown Austin meant to be some place in Mexico or some such. But Death Proof, on the other hand, was Quentin's love letter to Austin. He said so himself. The idea was to make a movie that incorporated his very favorite places in town into one long narrative. And it worked.

Check out the infamous Texas Chili Parlor in the first segment, or stick around to hit up my very favorite place in the world to get pancakes, The Omelettry, a classic Austin-style dive, The Omelettry serves breakfast food from opening until 5pm and has the best gingerbread pancakes in the world. You would have to be one hateful, puppy-kicking bastard to not appreciate the sheer joy these pancakes bring into the world. Quentin surely understood and set a portion of the second half of his film there. My wife and I, believe it or not, have the dubious distinction of being the very last customers to eat there before they turned the keys over to Quentin for three days. Ever since we've made sure we put it on our places-you-must-eat list for visiting out-of-towners.

C. Robert Cargill - - - Email Me

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