Austin · USA

Overview

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When Mirabeau B. Lamar, president-elect of the Texas Republic, set out to hunt buffalo in the fall of 1838, he returned home with a much greater catch: a home for the new state capital. Lamar fell in love with a tiny settlement surrounded by rolling hills and fed by cool springs. Within a year, the government arrived, and Austin was on its way to becoming a city.

In recent years the entertainment industry has discovered this big city with a small-town atmosphere, and it's not uncommon to see film crews blocking off an oak-lined street. Billing itself as the "live music capital of the world," Austin has been on the national music map since 1984 when Austin City Limits, a showcase for bands taped at the University of Texas campus, began airing nationwide. The city cemented its music reputation by hosting the annual South by Southwest conference, which draws bands and record company executives from around the world every March.

High-tech industries have also migrated to the Austin area, making it Texas's answer to Silicon Valley. But, for all the changes that have occurred in the capital city, Austin is still very much a town whose roots are buried in the past -- a past the city is proud to preserve and show off to visitors.