Texas Doc Tour Presents: Austin Past and Present

Austin, Texas: It's not exactly New England here. We don't have the Liberty Bell or historical plaques on every block explaining how the Pilgrims invented the Internet in some old tavern. But we do have history! You just have to look a little harder to find it.

For instance, did you know that in Austin's oldest standing structure, the French Legation, some dude's pigs broke into the bedroom in 1841 and ate the papers and linen (!) of Alphonse Dubois de Saligny, the French chargé d'affaires, thereby severely threatening Franco-Texas relations? That must have been some nice linen!

And how about the fact that due to bickering over whether Austin or Houston should be the capital of the Republic of Texas, Austin's population declined to less than 200 by 1843? Take that, all you hippies whining about how nice and small Austin was in the 1970s.

And did you know that well over a century before bike messengers brought their special brand of strapped-and-packed bromanticism to Jo's coffee downtown, the 2nd Street area was already known as Guy Town?

Tonight, the Alamo Drafthouse and the Austin Film Society's Texas Documentary Tour present Karen Kocher's Austin Past and Present, a comprehensive documentary about the labored birth and fitful growth of our fair city. Bursting with anecdotes and drawing from old maps, photographs, illustrations, paintings and rare film footage, Kocher's doc reveals Austin's history in scintillating detail. Revolving governments, constant flooding, booms and busts, housing segregation and eventual gentrification, suburban development, the voracious growth of UT, and the rise of "the Live Music Capital of the World"--it's all here, lovingly and critically pieced together for your edification. After watching this film, you need never confusedly mumble buzzwords like "gentrification," "Republic of Texas" or "smart growth" again--you may proceed directly to know-it-all-ville.

Illustration courtesy of AustinPostCard.com.

AFS Presents: Austin Past and Present
Live Q &A with producer/director Karen Kocher following screening
Wednesday, June 13th
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown
7:00pm, $6 / $4 for AFS Members
[Tickets]
[Texas Documentary Tour]