Driving Around Downtown Austin, Texas in 4k Video

Filmed on Monday, February 9 2026, I drive around downtown Austin, TX to see what's going on. In 1835-36, Texans fought and won independence from Mexico and Texas became an independent country with it's own president, congress, and monetary system. In 1839, the Texas Congress formed a commission to seek a site for the new capital of the Republic of Texas. Mirabeau B. Lamar recommended the area on the North bank of the Colorado River (near present day Congress Avenue Bridge), noting the area's hills, waterways, and pleasant surroundings. The site was chosen and briefly incorporated under the name "Waterloo" but was quickly changed to Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the Republic's first Secretary of State and who is known as "The Father of Texas". Initially, the new capital thrived, but Lamar's political enemy, Sam Houston (the first and third president of Texas), fought bitterly against Lamar's decision to establish the capital in remote wilderness. In 1841, upon threats of Mexican troops invading Texas, Huston raided Austin to transfer all official documents to Houston for safe keeping in what was later known as "The Archive Warr". Houston failed in his attempt to obtain the documents, but the capital was eventually moved from Austin to Houston. Without being the seat of the government, Austin's population declined from 856 to only a few hundred throughout the early 1840s. In 1845, the Texas Congress reconvened and voted to keep Austin as the seat of government as well as to annex Texas into the United States. During the 1880s, Austin gained new prominence after the state capitol building was completed and claimed as the 7th largest building in the world. The University of Texas held its first classes in 1883. In 1884, one of the earliest recorded serial killers was active in Austin. Between 1884-1885, 8 people were murdered by a suspect known as "The Servant Girl Annihilator". At night, parts of Austin are lit by "artificial moonlight" from 165 foot "moonlight towers". The towers were built in the late 1800s and 15 of the 31 towers are still standing. Austin has a unique climate as they are located within the middle of a transitional zone between the dry desert of the Southwest and the lush, green, and humid Southeast. Austin has long hot summers, short mild winters, and warm to hot spring and fall seasons. The city has highly variable humidity levels and experiences periods of both very dry days and humid days. When winter weather does occasionally hit Austin, the results can be catastrophic. In February 2021, a winter storm dropped 6.4 inches of snowfall between the 14th and 15th which resulted in Austin Energy enacting rolling blackouts in order to avoid total grid collapse. The next day, Austin Water received numerous reports of pipe breaks, and the hourly water demand doubled. The resulting drop in water pressure caused the Austin area to enter into a boil-water advisory until February 23rd. In January 2023, Austin experienced a winter freeze which left 170,000 households and businesses without electricity or heat for several days. City Manager Spencer Cronk was fired by the Austin City Council for the city's response to the winter storm. Many tech companies have a presence in Austin, leading to the region's nickname "Silicon Hills". Tesla has its corporate headquarters in Austin inside their Texas Gigafactory, a vehicle assembly plant which employs over 20,000 people. "Keep Austin Weird" has been a local motto for years. Austin is known for a large number of residents who practice vocal environmentalist activism. According to the Nielsen Company, adults in Austin have the highest internet usage in all of Texas. Austin is the most active city on Reddit. "Old Austin" is a adage often used by longtime residents expressing displeasure at the city's rapidly changing culture, referring to a time when the city was smaller, with a considerably lower cost of living, and known for a lack of traffic and lack of hipsters. Austin's official slogan is "The Live Music Capital of the World", and the Austin music scene revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th street. The zip code encompassing Downtown Austin hosts the most alcohol-serving establishments in the US. Austin is the most populous city in the US without a major league sports team. They obtained a MLS team in 2021, but that doesn't count. Infamous podcast and radio show host Alex Jones broadcasts from Austin. Joe Rogan also broadcasts "The Joe Rogan Experience" from Austin, and owns a comedy club in Downtown Austin called "The Comedy Mothership", which has become a major hub for standup comedy. #drivingtour #austintexas #keepaustinweird