Always a sucker for historic hotels, I couldn't resist a peak inside The Driskill while visiting Austin, Texas recently. Pre-dating the nearby Texas State Capital building by couple of years, the Driskell Hotel opened its doors in 1886 to much fanfare, and has survived many reversals of fortune to operate today as one of the finest luxury hotels in the state - and apparently a Hyatt! The lobby is wonderfully grand, all marble and stained glass, and the bar - pure Texas, with stars, bull horns, and cow-hide upholstery.
The hotel straddles 7th and 6th Streets, the latter being Austin's answer to Beale Street in Memphis, or the French Quarter in New Orleans. Being the Live Music Capitol of the World, the party atmosphere is amped up by live music flowing from nearly doorway. (True story: I was in a club one night, where there was a band playing and people dancing, and I had to take a phone call. I went outside so I could hear better, but it was louder on the street than inside!)
With 189 guestrooms - I'll have to arrange to see one the next time I'm there - and 18,000 square feet of meeting space, I'm guessing it's *the* place to get married in Austin. A deejay friend who lives there is very familiar with the space, and related a story about a bride tossing her bouquet from one of the balconies to the street below - traffic obligingly stopped by the local constabulary.
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