Brentwood

Even though the neighborhood is a relatively small physical area, Brentwood residents represent a diverse crowd of people, with all sorts of ages, races and backgrounds represented. The architecture may be older, but according to the 2000 census there's still only 17% of the population over the age of 65, with the bulk of the population being between 25 to 44 years of age.* Because of the slight promixity of Brentwood to the University of Texas, there are some students who live in the area, but no where near the amounts that live in neighborhoods closer to campus. Brentwood is also relatively close to areas like UT, computer industries like Dell and downtown, residents comprise a great mix of university professors, engineers, young professionals and even some politicians.

*Statistics taken from wikipedia.com

Brentwood neighborhood has no 6th Street or Bourban Street within its confines, but still offers plenty of things to do. Threadgill’s is on North Lamar, and is of course the famous restaurant where musicians like Janis Joplin got their start. The neighborhood also features Night Hawk Frisco Shop, Dan’s Hamburgers, Billy’s and Top Notch, famous for being in the movie Dazed and Confused. 

Two neighborhood bars stand out the most, the Poodle Dog Lounge and Brentwood Tavern, both located on Burnet Road. The Poodle Dog is known to be a dive bar, featuring lots of opportunities to people watch, meet locals and listen to country music. While the Brentwood Tavern caters to the casual crowd, featuring great food and local music, and located next to the Brentwood Farmer's Market.

While certainly not family friendly, Brentwood also boasts what some might consider to be Austin’s most infamous exotic dancing club: The Yellow Rose.

Studios can be anywhere from $450-$600, one bedroom apartments $500-$800 and 2 bedroom apartments from $675-$1100. Houses for rent in the Brentwood area tend toward $1200 - $1800 for one month's rent. Compared to many other areas in town, Brentwood rental prices tend to be a little lower than the city’s average. Unfortunately, like most of Austin, you have to jump on any great deals pretty quickly.

Brentwood doesn't feature those more well-known Austin landmarks, but still has great things to offer, as well as being pretty close to the famous Austin hotspots. Brentwood's definitely a deal in terms of rental prices and quality of life.

Most Brentwood residents work in Austin, and drive time to various Austin landmarks vary. Being located centrally in Austin, Brentwood is relatively convenient to The University of Texas and Downtown. Expect a trip to UT to take about 10 minutes by car and a ride downtown to take anywhere from 15 – 30 minutes, depending on the level of traffic.

The well-traveled streets in the neighborhood are Koenig Lane, North Loop, and Woodrow Avenue. Burnet Lane and Lamar Boulevard are the busiest with the potential of being quite crowded during peak times. Most main streets are a mix of residential and commercial, with Justin lane being mostly residential. The closest highway is the Mopac, which runs parallel to Interstate 35 but is closer to the Brentwood neighborhood. Although convenient, the Mopac can become quite congested during peak hours, as can Lamar Road. Several local bus routes service the area, more information can be found on the Capital Metro website.

Because this isn’t a large neighborhood, there isn’t a huge offering of rental units available, but great finds aren’t out of reach. The best resources for finding rental units are Craigslist and simply driving around the area to look for “For Rent” signs.

Talks of creating an off-leash dog park in Brentwood abound, but it doesn’t have one yet. There are still plenty of places to walk your pet, though. Compared to other, hilly sections of the city, Brentwood is relatively flat, and so strolls with your dog are nice and leisurely. Most streets sport sidewalks, and the ones that don’t are wide enough that there’s still enough room for both you and cars. Brentwood does offer its own park, Brentwood Park, located next to Brentwood Elementary, that features nine acres of tennis courts, a playscape, picnic tables, and a city swimming pool.  Whether or not pets are allowed in rental units will depend on each individual landlord, but there are certainly a number of dogs and cats that can be spotted enjoying the neighborhood around Brentwood. You can also rest easy knowing that if your pet gets ill, Brentwood has two nearby neighborhood vet offices.

While there isn’t exactly an entertainment district in Brentwood, the neighborhood is actually surprisingly full of interesting attractions and great restaurants, some around since the 1930s. As mentioned a few restaurants, like Threadgill's and Brentwood Tavern feature live music, which many locals go to see.

If you’re looking for more outdoorsy activities, you can always check out Brentwood Park, or travel to one of Austin’s many greenbelts. Shoal Creek Greenbelt is a short bike ride away, and Austin’s Lake Travis and Hill Country are short car drives away.

Brentwood neighborhood also features an arts festival once a year called the Violet Crown Festival, put on by the Violet Crown Community Works, an organization committed to inspiring creativity and community in the Brentwood Festival. The holidays are a great time to be in Brentwood, where the neighborhood hosts smaller community events and participates in lighting and holiday decor events.

North Lamar and Koenig roads both feature unique businesses as well as the basics. Probably the nicest area would be Brentwood park, as all other areas of the neighborhood are a mix of charming and ordinary.

There is an HEB just outside of Brentwood on Burnet Road and despite of its size, Brentwood offers some exotic food markets, such as Asahi Imports and The Bread Basket, carrying a more diverse selection of food options.

There’s only one large branch bank in Brentwood, other branches you’ll have to travel closer to the Mopac to find. ATM’s are also in short order here in the immediate neighborhood, but travel along the main roads and you can find some.

Brentwood also isn’t abundant in immediate gyms, offering only one in the neighborhood, Foundation Fitness, located on the edge at Burnet Road. Again, as with banks, you can find a nice smattering of local and national gyms the closer you get to the Mopac.

No post offices in the neighborhood, but you can find one farther south down Lamar Road.

If you need a dry cleaner, you are in luck, with Brentwood offering 4 different ones, three of which are located on Burnet and one in the center of the neighborhood.

Crestview Pharmacy is located in the middle of the neighborhood on Woodrow Avenue, to serve all your pharmalogical needs.

There are many school options to choose from in this neighborhood. A part of the Austin Independent School District, the major schools are McCallum High School, Brentwood Elementary School and the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. There are also a number of smaller, more private schools to choose from. Along with lots of schools, there are other major facilities located in Brentwood for both convenience and job opportunity. The Texas Department of Health, Texas Rehabilitation Commission, Texas Youth Commission, Texas Commission of the Blind, Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center and the Recording for the Blind are all located within Brentwood.

Many churches of different faiths to choose to reside in or near Brentwood neighborhood, such as Austin Bible Church, Crestview United Methodist Church, First Assembly of God, First Unitarian Universalist, and many more.