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Texas Matters: How Austin Turned Cool Into Currency

Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. Tech giants like Google and Amazon continue to expand there.  It’s hard to say what’s rising faster the rents or the commute times.

However one could say Austin is a victim of its own success.  But other cities would love to have some of that Austin success come their way.

But Austin wasn't designed or planned to be the center of tech innovation and the trend setter of new media, new music, new foods and new newness. So how did Austin become a destination city for the young, talented and ambitious? Before Austin got successfully weird it was small and overlooked. 

And can Austin continue to be the center of American cool?

Texas writer Joe Nick Patoski writes about the strange trip that Austin took.  His book is "Austin to ATX – The Hippies, Pickers, Slackers and Geeks who Transformed the Capital of Texas."

David Martin Davies can be reached at dmdavies@tpr.org and on Twitter at @DavidMartinDavi