I’ve been in Austin again for a few days for “business”. It’s really a cool place. Something about the combination of a big university and a state capitol makes for a great community. Also, it’s not a corporate town.

Santa Clarita, outside of which I live, is a corporate town. The “town center” is the mall. And I’m not kidding. The formal center of town is actually a lame mall, complete with Sears, Penneys and Robinsons-May.

But Austin’s center is the capitol and the university. Amazing. And there’s tons of cool independent small businesses. Not a Gap in sight.

I compiled a short list of other towns that seem non-corporate and independent in spirit.

Northampton, Massachusetts
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Madison, Wisconsin
Santa Cruz, California (?)
Berkeley, Caifornia
Burlington, Vermont
Missoula, Montana

And I’m open to other suggestions.