Austin Is Cool!

Shopping

There’s such a variety of shopping choices in Austin now! Everything from hip re-fabbed clothes to Saks 5 th Avenue. But if you come to Austin to shop, you want to find stuff you can’t find anywhere else, and that’s why you want to make sure to hit these two unique shopping districts in Austin:

2nd street District MAP ! This is the newest shopping area in Austin, and I bet if you are visiting friends in Austin, there’s a chance they haven’t even been yet!

These shops are soooo Austin, some of them (like Eliza Page at 229 2 nd Street) even have live music some evenings. Another place “Legs Diamond” is named after a notorious gangster. A lot of these new places can only be found in Austin, but people come from all over to shop. A shirt from Shiki was recently featured on the cover of “Oprah” magazine. All very cool.

Here’s a list of the shops in this area:

Clothes
Eliza Page	229 West 2nd Street
Estilo	234 West 2nd Street
Gomi	233 West 2nd Street
Lucky Soles	202 Colorado Street
Milk and Honey Day Spa	204 Colorado Street
Shiki	225 West 2nd Street
Shorelines Gallery	221 West 2nd Street
Restaurants
CRU Wine Bar	238 West 2nd Street
Jo's Hot Coffee	242 West 2nd Street
Paciugo	241 West 2nd Street
Segovia	100 Colorado Street
Sushi Sake	206 Colorado Street
Taverna	258 West 2nd Street
Which Wich?	259 West 3rd Street
Furniture and Home Stuff
Design Within Reach	200 West 2nd Street
IF + Design	208 Colorado Street
Loft	416 Cesar Chavez
Mercury Design Studio	209 West 2nd Street
The Home Retreat	249 West 2nd Street

SoCo MAP ! (A.K.A. South Congress. Just down the street and across the river from the Capital. I guess the connection with Soho in NYC is obvious. However, if South and Houston intersected here, we would say HU STON, not HOW STON. I never got used to that.) There have always been funky, cool, eclectic clothing stores on South Congress Avenue in Austin. More fun stores open all the time, and on the first Thursday of every month, the stores stay open past 10pm. The entire stretch of shops and restaurants are one big party! There are so many great clothing stores and restaurants, but here are a few of my favorite:

Clothes
New Bohemia (1606 S. Congress, Austin) This is the grand-daddy of cool shops on South Congress. It was there before people in North Austin new that South Austin was cool. Vintage shopping at its finest.
Lucy in Disguise ( 1506 S. Congress, Austin) has amazing costumes and masks to rent or purchase.
Unike Boutique ( 3100 S. Congress, Austin) has jewelry and gifts all made locally.
Secret Oktober (1905 S. First, Austin) for your corsets and punk accessories. (Okay, I haven’t bought anything here, but I always go in!)
Mi Casa Gallery (1700-A S. Congress, Austin) is your connection to the border when it comes to furniture and interior accessories.
Vanilla Girl Designs (2209 S. First, Austin) Specializes in really cool mosaic tilework for tabletops, artwork, frames, and homes. Cool clothes, too.

SoCo is home to lots of restaurants—everything from hamburgers to utterly amazing Italian. Two of the Mexican restaurants have been there for years, and they will always be my favorite:

Restaurants
El Sol y La Luna (1224 S. Congress, Austin) Fantastic breakfasts ! Great patio. Yummy food all around.
Guero’s Taco Bar ( 1412 S. Congress, Austin) Great place to spot celebrities while enjoying unbelievable margaritas. Great Mexican food. My vegetarian friends like it, too.