East Riverside Drive
East Riverside Drive is located south of the Colorado River and southeast of Downtown Austin. This lively community is characterized by the juxtaposition of the old and the new. Over recent years, the community of East Riverside has experienced an exponential amount of growth and development. Luxury apartment buildings have popped up, and the area is teeming with trendy shops and restaurants. With a high number of working-class families residing in the area, this rapid expansion creates challenges to offer affordability and equity for the existing residents of the community.
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East Riverside Drive se encuentra al sur del río Colorado y sureste del centro de Austin. Esta animada comunidad se caracteriza por la combinación de lo antiguo y lo nuevo. En los últimos años, la comunidad de East Riverside ha experimentado una cantidad exponencial de crecimiento y desarrollo. Han aparecido edificios de apartamentos de lujo y la zona está repleta de tiendas y restaurantes de moda. Con una gran cantidad de familias de clase trabajadora que residen en el área, esta rápida expansión crea desafíos para ofrecer asequibilidad y equidad para los residentes existentes de la comunidad.
(Source: Friends of Riverside ATX)
History
The corridor along East Riverside Drive is on the traditional lands of the Tonkowa and Comanche peoples.
Until the mid-20th century, the East Riverside-Oltorf area remained primarily rural. In the 1970s, the City of Austin partnered with the University of Texas to build off-campus housing for students between East Riverside and Lakeshore Drive.
Aerial View of Town Lake, May 20,1968 (Source: Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Photo by Neal Douglass)
Following the closure of Bergstrom Air Force Base in 1993, the demographics of the neighborhood began to change. In the 1990s, the East Riverside-Oltorf neighborhood became one of Austin's most popular sites for immigrant households, primarily from Mexico, Latin America, and Asian countries.
Caminos Legacy Mural created by Caminos Students, 2017 (Source: austintexas.gov)
Life on the Corridor
We need your help to complete this segment of the website! Tell us about your life on the corridor and share your stories. Once we’ve collected interviews, stories, and photos, this page will be populated by people actually living along the East Riverside Corridor.
Share your story now!