SF v Austin Way of Life
Many San Franciscans seem to believe that one of the things that makes San Francisco so much better than Austin is that there are so many things going on all of the time. This amazing DJ here, that incredible artist there. The thing is, I feel like I have the same complete over saturation of cool events in Austin and so through a series of conversations I teased out the difference.
To make sweeping generalizations, San Francisco seems to foster small, tightly knit groups of friends who have insane numbers of choices to make about which events featuring high profile artists to attend. In Austin I have a huge community of people, and while there aren’t as many big names in the events here, I am overwhelmed by the number of opportunities to spend creative and social time with my large group friends.
While in SF I met a lot of people who had trouble making friends there despite the number of people packed into the city. One had, I believe, the best theory: that everything is so full that it creates an extremely competitive environment. You have to complete for all of the basic resources like parking, apartments, and jobs. You have to work hard just to be able to afford to live. This then leads to competition for people’s time and friendship as well. People are less likely to invest until they know someone is a “sure thing”.
In Austin it’s a lot easier to survive, and it’s still a small town here at the center of the city. The growth, instead of being dense, is primarily sprawling out into the suburbs and filled with people that never enter the city and certainly don’t compete for time and attention. I still walk though this place like it’s my living room and will happily drop onto the sofa to chat with anyone who walks past.
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