An Austin newcomer's guide: What to read and watch

Once known as Waterloo, Austin is a college town, a tech town, a music town and, of course, a capital town.

Between the lines: There's no shortage of lovely nooks and neighborhoods, but finding a place that fits your budget is the trick.

🏠 Where to buy your first house: Try Wells Branch, Pflugerville or, nearer in, Southeast Austin.

📞 Who you gonna call: Sidewalk falling apart? Garbage wasn’t collected? If you're in Austin and need help with any non-emergencies, call 311.

🍿 What to watch: "Slacker," Richard Linklater's 1990 plotless, zeitgeist-capturing film about young bohemians.

• Of note: Cult classic "Office Space" was shot in ATX, as was our favorite TV show, "Friday Night Lights."

👏 Who to cheer: Head to a University of Texas women's volleyball game at Gregory Gym to root for some champion players.

📚 What to read: The "Path to Power," the first volume of Caro's magisterial Lyndon Baines Johnson biography, which tells you everything you need to know about the Hill Country.

• Billy Lee Brammer's "The Gay Place," an LBJ-inflected novel about politics set in Austin.

• Texas Monthly staff writer Skip Hollandsworth's "Midnight Assassin," a true crime story that reads like a historical novel.
• "Waterloo," a satire of slackers and politicos by Karen Olsson.
• Lawrence Wright's long New Yorker piece on our city's transformation.
• Anything taco journalist Mando Rayo writes.

🐂 Horns up: Our heroes are University of Texas football player Earl Campbell, the late blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughan, the pioneering politician Barbara Jordan and the amazing Gary Clark Jr.

• Listen to this Stevie Ray performance in Austin and you'll know what we're talking about.