Brick and limestone storefronts on Congress Avenue below glass condo towers, and the Driskill Hotel that played San Antonio's Menger in Lonesome Dove.
What Downtown Austin looks like
Congress Avenue runs four lanes wide under a canopy of street trees, from the river straight north to the . The dome stays in view for the length of the avenue between the office towers on either side. The 's marquee projects out over the sidewalk partway up the block, one of the older buildings still standing among the newer towers.
Two and four storey limestone and cast stone storefronts run along the sidewalk between Sixth Street and Eleventh Street, arched windows and cornices on blocks like the Scarbrough Building at Sixth. Glass condo towers rise directly behind and beside them, and the Austonian among the tallest, their balconies stacked the full height of the glass.
A block east on Brazos Street, the keeps its Romanesque brick and limestone front from 1886, a columned portico stacked two storeys under white balustrades. The Hotel Provident and Heierman Building on Fifth Street near Congress keeps its own three storey brick front and arched windows from 1887. West on Ninth Street, the sits behind a wraparound porch with turned wood columns and stained glass, one of the few houses left downtown from that period.
Congress Avenue ends at the river on the . Expansion joints under the deck shelter a bat colony each summer, and the sidewalks along the water fill with people at dusk when the bats fly out. A Capital Metro rail platform sits under the office towers a few blocks north, its red ticket kiosk and fencing at street level.
Shot in Downtown Austin
Slacker used the archway on Congress Avenue at Fourth Street for one scene in 1990, and Death Proof sent its characters to the Texas Chili Parlor on Lavaca Street for a round of chartreuse shots. The Driskill Hotel on Brazos Street has stood in for two other hotels on screen, playing San Antonio's Menger in Lonesome Dove and New York's St. Regis in Miss Congeniality.
The Driskill Hotel
One hotel on Brazos Street, playing two others on screen a decade apart.
Lonesome Dove, 1989
The Driskill Hotel
Played the Menger Hotel, San Antonio, Texas, 1876
The miniseries used the Driskill to stand in for San Antonio's Menger Hotel, where the story's cattle drive begins. The production shot the hotel as itself rather than building a set, its own Romanesque brick front and porticos standing in for the other hotel. Street View
Miss Congeniality, 2000
Played the St. Regis restaurant, New York, New York, present day
Gracie and Eric are shown approaching a restaurant at the St. Regis Hotel in New York, but the scene inside was filmed at the Driskill Grill, the hotel's own restaurant off the lobby. The production used the Grill's own dining room rather than dressing a set to stand in for the New York hotel. Street View
What Downtown Austin can double for
LoDo in Denver, Colorado
LoDo's brick warehouse blocks sit directly beside modern glass condo towers at a similar cornice height to Congress Avenue's own historic storefronts. The scale of the arched windows and the two to four storey street wall are close matches. Tighter street level framing holds the comparison best. Denver's warehouses run larger and deeper than Austin's storefronts, and a wide shot reveals mountains rather than a capitol dome. Try searching brick warehouse storefronts now.
Capitol Mall in Sacramento, California
Capitol Mall runs as a wide, tree lined boulevard straight to the domed California State Capitol, the same axial framing Congress Avenue has looking north to the Texas Capitol. Sacramento's Capitol sits back behind a park rather than fronting directly onto the street, so a shot from several blocks back holds the illusion better than a close one. The mall itself runs wider and greener than a storefront street. Try searching tree lined avenue to capitol now.
