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Welcome to The Austin Chronicle's Eastside Guide, the latest installation in the Chronicle's series of city guides. For our purposes here, we define "Eastside" as the area nestled against three borders:

To the East, Airport Boulevard, a road destined to change as much as the area around it, as Austin launches a new air traffic facility miles south of its current location.

To the South, Town Lake, Austin's oasis, its sea of calm, insuring green space in a city busting at the seams with growth.

To the West, I-35, the scar of Austin which forever segmented the city into its currently perceived divisions.

These borders lend a glimpse into the turbulence and change faced (and yet to be faced) by the Eastside. Home to the majority of Austin's African-American and Hispanic residents, the Eastside has enjoyed rich culture, grand history, and, unfortunately, an undeserved reputation as the "rough" part of town. Burdened with the implications of labels like "inner-city," "minority district," "blighted zone," or the "wrong" side of the highway, the Eastside has survived despite exaggerated rumors of its demise.

So it breaks my heart that we don't have the room to tell all of the stories we learned in our journeys to Austin's Eastside. Due to space constraints, we have left behind our writings about churches and spiritual services, hair salons and barber shops, and auto repair services and shops. Some would argue that this is a significant chunk of what makes up the character of the Eastside. They would be right.

What we do have here is over 800 shops, restaurants, services, businesses, and points of interest that paint the picture of Eastside Austin, 1998. We hope to add to this colorful mural in the years ahead.

An army of interns, freelance writers, and editors took to the streets and compiled all info herein. Erica C. Barnett, Ada Calhoun, Kevin Fullerton, Jay Hardwig, Nicole Kleman, Allison Lince-Bentley, Bryan Mealer, Kate X Messer, Mary Sledd, Lisa Tozzi, and Virginia B. Wood wrote all of the initial blurbs. They were greatly assisted and supplemented by Belinda Celis, Vivian Curtis, Elaina Evans, Meiling Guentzel, Eli Kooris, Jennifer Gin Lee, Chris Linnen, and Mary Spect. The final fact-checking steps were handled by Lindsey Simon, Donna Lovong, Sarah Hepola, and the advertising assistants and proofreaders. Add to this Brian Barry's colorful maps and Kenny Braun's gorgeous photos. Credits would not be complete without thanks to Web director Karen Rheudasil.

We hope you enjoy this trip through Austin's Eastside.

-- Kate X Messer

Maps by geographic location: North Rosewood Area 1 Rosewood Area 2 5th/6th/7th Area 1 5th/6th/7th Area 2 South Southeast Area 1 Southeast Area 2

Descriptions by category: Arts & Entertainment Food Points of Interest Services Shopping Auto/Gas Spiritual Salons, etc.

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Eastside extras:

• The River City Flyer: East Austin and beyond by steam train.

• Austin Free-Net: Eastside locations and contact information.

• Eastside Media: An overview of alternative media serving communities east of the highway.

• For many more features relating to the Eastside, see the regular issue.