Stumbled into that old Instagram spot in Austin and it felt like a museum piece

I was in Austin last weekend grabbing tacos and walked past that mural on South Congress where everyone used to line up for photos back in like 2016. Nobody was there now, not a single person. It got me thinking about how fast those viral spots burn out. Has anyone else noticed their old favorite photo locations just sitting empty these days?

3 comments

3 Comments

brian_rivera591mo ago

Yeah wait, the Greetings From Austin mural is actually on South First, not South Congress. Easy mix up but I drive by it all the time and that homeless guy thing is spot on. Crazy how those places just fall off the map like that.

martin.felix26d ago

Man that hits hard. My crew did a bathroom reno in the Heights a couple years back and I'd always stop by that little graffiti wall near the coffee shop on my lunch breaks. Used to be people lined up taking selfies every damn day. I went back last spring to grab coffee and the whole wall was just faded and tagged over with nonsense. Not a single person taking a picture. Felt like showing up to a party that ended hours ago and the music's still playing but nobody's dancing. Instagram just moved on to the next thing, left that spot to rot. Kinda makes you wonder how many of these places are gonna be totally forgotten in another five years.

adams.spencer1mo ago

felt like a museum piece" is exactly it, man. My buddy Matt was obsessed with getting the perfect shot at the Greetings From Austin mural like four years ago. He dragged me there on a Tuesday and we waited 20 minutes for a turn. Now he lives back in town and told me he drove past it last month and there was just a homeless guy sleeping against the wall and nobody else around. Said it felt like finding an old arcade cabinet in someone's garage, just sitting there with no purpose. Instagram really did have a shelf life for those spots, they go from packed to ghost town faster than a dying mall.