The Circuit of the Americas will be hosting the inaugural Hankook 24H COTA USA upcoming November 10-11-12. As this awesome track is situated in Austin, it is time to dive in some additional information about this city!
- Austin is one of the sunniest cities in America, getting on average about 300 clear days a year.
- Austin is one of the safest major cities in the U.S.
- Austin is the only city in the world known to still operate a system of Moonlight towers, lighting structures from the 19th century.
- Breakfast taco is the food that defines Austin.
- The Austin 5th and Lamar Whole Foods isn’t your average grocery store. It has a wine bar, various restaurants throughout, a clothing area, a chocolate fountain, and more.
- Austin celebrates weird stuff. There’s Eeyore’s Birthday, the Gorilla Run, and Reggae Fest (formerly Marley Fest).
- Austin actually grew during the Great Depression. During this time, the city’s population increased 66 percent and University of Texas’ enrollment nearly doubled.
- Zagat’s blog named Austin one of the top 10 cities in the U.S. for food trailers. They. Are. Everywhere.
- South Austin is home to one of the most unique cathedrals around: The Cathedral of Junk, made entirely out of various clocks, beer signs, knickknacks, doodads, gadgets, and whatnots.
- The greater Austin area contains 10 extinct volcanoes. They used to be violent underwater volcanoes called “explosion craters” by geologists.
- In more recent years, Austin has been ranked the No. 1 city in the U.S. for dogs and dog owners by the Pets at Home website.
- Austin is the largest U.S. City without stock in a professional sports team—even though it’s home to one of the state’s largest sports auditoriums. That’s because most people only bleed orange here.
- Austin ranks first in Texas for its number of artists and musicians per capita.
- The highest point in Austin is Mount Bonnell at 785 feet.
- Austin has no state or local corporate or personal income taxes.
- Austin really is the Live Music Capital of the World. The slogan became official in 1991 when it was discovered that ATX had more live music venues per capita than anywhere else. There are more than 1,900 bands and performing artists in the city, and nearly 200 live music venues around town.
- Everyone knows to celebrate when the UT Tower is lit up, indicating a UT win. In something. It’s lit up a lot. #WINNING