Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the World. One of the best parts about having that distinction is that even if you aren’t necessarily into the club scene, you can still hear live music at restaurants throughout the city. Whether you feel like hearing Cajun, blues, country, Latin or rock, you can almost always find a great meal enhanced by a great band playing.

Threadgill’s is legendary not only for their chicken fried steak and cheese grits, but for also being the place that gave Janis Joplin her start. With a newly refurbished north location, and their World Headquarters just south of the river, Threadgill’s features the best in bluegrass, country, and soul music, as well as hosting a delicious and rejuvenating Gospel Brunch. Steaks, seafood po-boys, and the best vegetable side-dish selection in town, this is the quintessential Austin food and music spot. 301 West Riverside Drive, Austin, Texas 78704 // 6416 North Lamar Blvd., Austin, Texas 78752

Artz’ Rib House is another gem of a music/food venue in Austin. As their name suggests, their specialty is smoked ribs, with country style pork, baby backs, or big beef ribs to choose from. They also make one of the better burgers in town, offer the Texas BBQ staples of brisket and sausage, and even have an inventive vegetable kabob on the menu. Their musical offerings are just as tasty, with an emphasis on western swing and a monthly Old Time Fiddlers Jam. Artz is located in the barton hills neighborhood at 2330 South Lamar, Austin, TX 78704

Quality Seafood is both a seafood market and a restaurant, serving some of the finest and freshest fish in town. Three days a week they feature music along with food and drink specials. Mondays they usually feature a hot jazz combo, and offer a great deal on succulent king crab legs, and on Wednesdays a folky blues duo entertains while the crowd feasts on peel and eat shrimp. A DJ holds forth on Thursdays, sometimes with live instrumental accompaniment, and the special rotates – recent Thursday food specials include spicy Texas crawfish and soft shell crab po-boys. 5621 Airport Blvd., Austin, TX 78751.

Las Palomas serves some of the finest Mexican food in the city, and features one of Austin’s best kept musical secrets. When they aren’t on tour with a major Texas country star, you can find the cream of Austin’s crop of pickers joining a gypsy jazz violinist for some jaw-dropping jazz every Wednesday night. Famed for their enchiladas “Tres Marias,” Las Palomas also offers ceviche, chicken mole, and other specialties. 3201 Bee Caves Road, Austin, TX 78746.

Having survived the ups and downs of Austin’s East Side, the Victory Grill is truly a piece of Austin history, but is just as vibrant today. Built in 1945, the club has hosted acts including B.B King, Ike and Tina Turner, and Billie Holiday, and today features Austin’s finest blues acts. With a rotating menu of down home cooking, the Victory Grill is a slice of Old Austin.

Ki works in Austin Texas with clients interested in Austin real estate. He keeps people up to date on his Austin real estate blog and has a free search of the Austin Texas MLS.

For decades, bumper stickers have adorned cars all over central Austin, proudly proclaiming "78704 – More Than just a Zip Code." The South Austin lifestyle originated there, but as Austin real estate prices rose, and fancy restaurants and shops re-energized South Congress, a migration of hip-ness began. Now, a new bumper sticker is gaining in popularity, reading "78745 – the new 78704."

This is the perfect area for a young couple to start off. The area is roughly bordered by Westgate Blvd. to the west, Ben White to the north, Slaughter to the south, and Congress to the east, and has the feel of an established, homey neighborhood. Mature trees, fabulous mid-century ranch houses, great starter properties, winding streets with charming names like Jinx and Redd, and a casual but upwardly mobile vibe are hallmarks of the area.

The commercial center of the region is the Westgate Center, on Ben White, featuring the foodie mecca, Central Market. A wonderful store that highlights organics and international foods, Central Market also has a great café that features live music four days a week. For takeaway, they have, a Chef’s case and salad bar, as well as prepared full-meals for two or four, sushi, sandwiches, and a soup bar. Their cooking school offers classes on topics such as grilling, dim sum, tapas, and many other creative subjects. They recently added a wine bar to emphasize their world-class wine section, and their on-site bakery is one of the few places in South Austin to get fresh, organic breads. Also located in the shopping center are Whole Earth Access, Beall’s, Yoga Yoga, and the Westgate 11 Cinema, as well as many other boutiques and cafes.

Garrison Park is a large, well-appointed park smack dab in the middle of "the four-five." Their playground has two playscapes – one geared towards toddlers, and one towards older kids, and they have swings for all sizes as well. With a toddler/wading pool in addition to a full size recreation and lap swimming pool, this is a popular destination in the summer. They have grill grates, picnic tables, a basketball court, and a decent sized parking lot, making this one of the cities finer parks.

While the quiet tree lined streets and bucolic feel are a big plus, one of the most attractive qualities of the 78745 neighborhood is its proximity to central Austin. Manchaca leads right to Lamar, with South First and South Congress being the other two main north/south arteries that lead straight to the heart of Austin's business center, and to the other vibrant neighborhood shops and restaurants. Ben White hooks right into Mopac and Loop 360, and I 35 is just a stone’s throw.

This neighborhood has all the qualities that make Austin such a cool place to live. With a great range of housing options and prices, a settled, mature neighborhood feel, and a great array of businesses and restaurants in close proximity, this is an up-and-coming area waiting to be discovered.

Escapeso Austin Texas real estate is a realty company in Austin. They provide web visitors a map search for Austin Homes along with updates on their blog about Austin real estate.

Some streets lead to wherever it is you want to go. Some lead to surprises both bad and good. Some streets are destinations in themselves, stretches of thoroughfare where the journey itself is all that matters.

South First Street between Riverside and St. Elmo’s is one of those streets, one of the last in Austin where , block after block, the old magic of the city that once attracted musicians, artists and other creative minds to move and settle down here, is still palpable, still crackling in the air.

Going south from Riverside, you pass shops and boutiques on the right, converted from 1930’s private homes, turned into artsy clothing and import stores. They sit across the street from the broad, green campus of the Texas State School for the Deaf. Further south, the Bouldin Creek Coffee house serves up its eclectic, health-hip food and drink to its neo-Bohemian clientele. Beyond that, Jovita’s, one of the city’s more venerable but less well-known music venues, beckons the eye with Joyce Dibona’s colorful, Aztec-theme artwork adorning the outside walls.

As you drive still further south, you pass more colorful buildings and businesses that crowd the four-lane street. Some are well-established and thriving, some look almost abandoned, decrepit even. All are obviously small operations, like the Resistencia Bookstore. At the corner of Oltorf and South First, one of the more eye-catching businesses houses what may be the perfect Austin enterprise for the times, Baby Green’s, a fast health food joint.

Continuing on, you pass one of the less visually appealing buildings, which however happens to be the home of the GHS Lounge, an old neighborhood drinking establishment with street cred to burn. Boot repair shops, used book stores, bicycle shops, art galleries and a nursery in a converted private home line the street as you head towards the intersection with Ben White. Before arriving there, you may notice the Summermoon Coffee house on the east side of the street, one of the coziest and most intimate of neighborhood coffee shops in the city. The surrounding neighborhoods of Barton Hills and Travis Heights are populated by people that have a steadfast devotion to their local businesses neighborhood businesses.

Next door is the SHAC, the Self Help and Advocacy Center which is run by the Austin Area Mental Health Consumers, an organization of people with a mental illness. This community center provides services and information to people suffering from mental illness and to the community at large. The mostly volunteer staff here has helped many people to find housing, jobs and renewed hope to re-integrate them selves into society.

Of course, along the way there has been a colorful liturgy of Mexican food restaurants: Aranda’s, Polvo’s, Little Mexico, Mexicana Panderia, Evita’s Botanitas. Even San Antonio would be hard pressed to present a street with so many colorful and deliciously promising establishments in a stretch of so few miles.

And all up and down this road which has somehow escaped the clear-cut style of development that brings condos and super-centers and grid-locked traffic, there is still the green of the Austin hills. From a long stretch of the street, if you’re heading north, you can see the towers downtown floating in the hazy distance. This is indeed Austin without the cookie-cutter architecture of anywhere USA. It’s local in character, content and color, a true reflection of the creativity and productivity of the people who live here.

It may only be a matter of time before this fine old street cedes to the pressure of development and big money, like so much of the rest of the town has. But for now, it’s still Austin the way it used to be, or nearly, ready for a road trip with no clear destination when the trip itself was all that mattered.

Ki lives in Austin as a realtor in the Austin real estate market. His site provides a free mortgage calculator along with a search of the Austin MLS