“People loved the Keep Austin Weird house, but they didn’t want to live there”

Austin’s unofficial motto for the last decade has been “Keep Austin Weird”—a push-back against the forces that would make Austin indistinguishable from any other large and growing city. Joshua Long chronicles this struggle in his book, “Weird City.” He writes--

“Keep Austin Weird” has come to serve as an unofficial “civic motto” of the city of Austin. Publicized in numerous national newspapers, broadcasted on NPR, and televised in news reports and travel shows, “Keep Austin Weird” now serves as a form of boosterism and image promotion that arose from the grassroots, not the Chamber of Commerce or city governance. While many in Austin might be annoyed by the mainstreaming of weirdness, the weird image still pays homage to the city’s creativity, nonconformity, and individuality.

I thought his story on local realtor/artist, Aralyn Hughes, was a parable of the entire struggle—a story either tragic or comic depending on whether you sympathize with the struggle or you think its time Austin grew up. Hughes has long owned the “Keep Austin Weird” house, with the city’s unofficial slogan emblazoned in large letters on the outside, and which she described in the following write-up while trying to sell it:

This famous one-of-a-kind KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD HOUSE can be yours. You have to like COLOR, and I mean LOTS-O-COLOR: Purple Carpet, Gold/Red/Purple Walls, Red/Blue Kitchen. It’s definitely not Grandma’s house. To really appreciate this house you must have an open mind and a FUN personality. You have to see it to believe it! Perfect for an Artist, Musician, or any ‘Way Out There’ fun whimsical person.

Unable to sell it as quickly as she had hoped, she took the letters down from the exterior, and made some more changes amenable to potential buyers. As Long put it, “The response from potential buyers repeated itself over and over. Buyers were attracted to the quirkiness of the house, but couldn’t see themselves living there.” Hughes told Long:

You know, people loved the Keep Austin Weird house. They thought it was great, but they didn’t want to live there. I showed this house to several people, and after a few months of not being able to sell it—in this great market no less—I realized that I was going to have to change things if I wanted to sell it.

Feel free to say a loud “Amen” or a resigned “It figures” in response.