A construction photo showing the entrance to the theater, which is next to BoConcept in the 2ND Street District. Photo credit: Violet Crown
Violet Crown Cinema, a small theatre specializing in documentaries, art, indie and international films, will open its doors in downtown Austin’s 2nd Street District on Friday.
The theatre features four screens, with 50 seats or fewer in each screening room. A lobby bar and patio will serve heavy appetizers to the general public (no movie ticket required). A full menu is available here. Tickets are $9 for a matinee, $11 weekdays and $13 weekends, and customers may reserve seats online.
For more information, visit the theater’s website.
Art Week Austin closes out the month-long “Play Me, I’m Yours” piano installation on Sunday, Photo credit: Johnny Walker
Today marks the start of Art Week Austin, a series of featured events that encourage discussion, exploration and the celebration of Austin’s creative community put on by Art Alliance Austin.
Produced by Art Alliance Austin, Art Week focuses on the cross-discipline collaboration between arts organizations in Austin. Notable events this year include AMOA’s triennial New Art in Austin: 15 to watch, Texas Biennial, ON SITE/New Work, Fusebox Festival, the Umlauf Garden Party, 2011 Hybrid Arts Summit and “Play Me, I’m Yours.”
Art Week Austin kicks off tonight at Seaholm Power Plant with Pecha Kucha Night Austin. The local piano installation “Play Me I’m Yours” ends this weekend, with a performance by the Golden Hornet Project happening at the Pfluger Bridge on Lady Bird Lake this Saturday at 4pm and an encore performance on Sunday night at all pianos at 7 p.m.
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Photos by Casey Dunn
The Austonian is featured in The Austin Chronicle for its three dining destinations that showcase downtown Austin’s finest. Executive Chef David Bull and his partners in the La Corsha Restaurant Group hired the best of the best of Austin’s cooks, mixologists, sommeliers and servers to create a team that would run Congress, Bar Congress and Second Bar + Kitchen. Read the full article here.
Congress recently received a five-star review from Austin American-Statesman restaurant critic Mike Sutter, making the restaurant the highest-rated dining spot in the city.
For Earth Day the three establishments have joined Austin Give 5. Five percent of today’s purchases will benefit five Austin nonprofit organizations. More information is available at the Austin Give 5 website.
The Fusebox Festival, an annual contemporary art and performance festival, is taking place April 20th – May 1st in various venues throughout downtown Austin. Each year, the festival champions innovative works of art across a variety of different mediums, serving as a catalyst for new ideas, new artistic models and approaches to help the community engage with the issues and questions that define contemporary life.
This year’s festival features a lineup focusing on creating avenues of conversation, education, collaboration and innovation by presenting contemporary works and programs that challenge, re-invent and encourage forward thinking.
Art Alliance Austin is partnering with the producers of Fusebox Festival to produce a series of Late Night events at Seaholm Power Plant. Late Night at Seaholm will feature eclectic performances and installations, conversations and hand-crafted libations in conjunction with Fusebox Festival.
In the bustling 2nd Street District, historical treasures remain carefully preserved above and below ground. At The Austonian, Austin’s premier luxury residence, a historic landmark has been integrated into the building, allowing visitors to experience Austin’s past while enjoying its more contemporary amenities. Further down the stretch of 2nd Street that’s also known as Willie Nelson Boulevard, a general store stands tucked in a corner, surrounded by a retail and office building that helps to anchor the mixed-use district.
The base of The Austonian high-rise condos features the 100-year-old façade of the Brown-Dumas Blacksmith Shop. At the turn of the 20th century, the shop was an integral part of Austin’s thriving commercial core, where dirt streets and horse and buggies dominated the scene. Built circa 1905, it was the largest building on the block at that time. The original plan was to integrate the historic structure into The Austonian, but when the Brown-Dumas building collapsed in a wind storm in 2006, the plan changed to a reconstruction of the façade at the original site. Today, the restored façade – which is home to frozen yogurt shop BerryAustin2Go – is the only remaining façade of its era near this important intersection of Congress Avenue and 2nd Street (originally known as Live Oak Street). In early 2011, the façade was awarded a historic landmark designation from the City of Austin. An associated tax exemption was not requested or granted to the property.
As for other historic sites along the street, Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, on the southwest corner of 2nd and Guadalupe, is located in the Schneider Brothers Building, which was built in 1873 and housed one of the first general stores in town. The Schneiders were German immigrants and one of Austin’s most prominent families at the turn of the century. Their business expanded to the NW corner of the intersection, where a second store was built over a limestone basement the family had constructed for storage (and, it is believed, in anticipation of brewing beer). La Condesa was literally built around these subterranean vaults, which are available for private dining, hence the restaurant’s distinctive elevated bar.
Austin historic preservation expert Emily Little, FAIA participated in aspects of all of the aforementioned projects. Emily is an architect with Clayton&Little Architects. Other local projects that she has worked on include the Hotel St. Cecilia and The Byrne-Reed House (home of Humanities Texas).
Last week The Austonian luxury condos won a “Best Commercial Real Estate” award in the Mixed Use category from the Austin Business Journal. Here are a few components of the mixed-use design:
1) Density and green building. The Austonian provides luxury living for 166 families on less than two-thirds of an acre. This supports energy conservation – less water for lawns, a reduced number of car trips per resident per day, and more efficient cooling via chilled water from a central plant. The Austonian has received a four-star rating from Austin Energy Green Building, which is comparable to a LEED Gold rating.
2) The creation of a vertical neighborhood. Within The Austonian, there are over 40,000 square feet of amenities where residents can entertain guests and relax. Facilities include a green roof terrace with outdoor kitchens and a pool, a 10th-floor pet park, a 56th-floor fitness center with 360-degree views, and the 55th-floor Austonian Club, which can host parties up to 300.
3) Creating a 24/7 downtown neighborhood. While The Austonian serves as a mixed-use community within the building, it also connects to the surrounding neighborhood, adding residents – a critical need – to downtown Austin. Grocery stores, dry cleaners, and places to eat, shop and hang out are within a few minutes’ walk of The Austonian.
More information about The Austonian luxury condos in downtown Austin is available at www.theaustonian.com.
Photo: The view from The Austonian Club (55th floor), Credit: Thomas McConnell
The Austin Parks Foundation “Movies in the Park” series begins this Wednesday (April 13) with a screening of Spy Kids and continues on three additional Wednesday evenings in April and May in downtown Austin’s Republic Square Park.
“Movies in the Park” is free and open to the public; kids and dogs (on leash) are welcome. Shows begin at dusk, but there will be an Imagination Playground for kids and additional pre-show entertainment each week. People are encouraged to bring picnics and blankets. Food vendors and public restrooms will be on site. Additional movies (all rated PG) and dates for the series are below.
Wednesday, April 27: Casablanca Wednesday, May 11: The Hudsucker Proxy Wednesday, May 25: Napoleon Dynamite
It’s no question that Austin is a shining star in regards to hip and flourishing cities. Topping dozens of lists over the past year, the capitol city has been praised for its fitness and employment opportunities and was recently named “Funniest City.”
Lately, talk about Austin has returned to food. Several local chefs have been awarded national recognitions (including Barley Swine’s Bryce Gilmore and Uchi’s Tyson Cole) and The Austonian’s restaurant Congress recently received Austin’s first five-star rating from Statesman critic Mike Sutter.
The Houston Chronicle recently reviewed several of the Austin dining scene’s brightest stars, including Second Bar + Kitchen at The Austonian. Read the full article here.
Throughout the month of April, Yoga Yoga is offering free, outdoor yoga classes at Republic Square Park in downtown Austin every Wednesday at noon. All ages and skill levels are welcome. Participants are asked to bring water and a yoga mat if they have one; a few mats will be available.
Republic Square Park is a historic square in downtown Austin. Daniel Woodroffe, the chief landscape architect for The Austonian, designed the recent renovation of Republic Square Park. The renovation included creating a raised seating area for the public that protects the park’s historic Auction Oaks.
Today the Austin Business Journal (ABJ) recognized The Austonian with a “Best Commercial Real Estate” award in the mixed use category. The Central Texas real estate awards event was held today at a luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas.
The ABJ award is the third award that The Austonian has received in recognition of the project. In late 2010 and early 2011, the mixed-use residential building won a statewide “Best of” award from Texas Construction and a national “Best of the Best” award from Engineering-News Record. Both previous awards were given in recognition of excellence in design and construction.
The tallest building in Austin and West of the Mississippi, The Austonian condo tower stands on one-third of a city block on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin. The environmentally-sustainable building has received a Four-Star Rating from Austin Energy Green Building.
Also, congratulations to Clayton Little Architects for their win the Best Rehabilitation category for the Byrne-Reed House, headquarters for Humanities Texas.
Read Austin Business Journal Best Commercial Real Estate Awards coverage here.
