Curbed Cup Final 4 Recap: it all comes down to the city core

The second week of Austin’s inaugural Curbed Cup focused on the northern central city, as all of the neighborhoods in the Final Four are well within the core. They’re also all north of the river; maybe South Austin really is, as some say, like a whole different city.

There was also an element of surprise at work. The face-off between eternally under-construction Downtown and the recently hot but still hip North Loop neighborhood resulted in a tie. That necessitated a lightning-round tiebreaker, a nail-biter in which Downtown ultimately prevailed.

In the other matchup, third-seated East César Chavez handily took down sixth-ranked Clarksville, the venerated Old West Austin neighborhood bordering Downtown.

In an uncanny twist, next week two neighborhoods that are literally neighbors, with I-35 being their common border/barrier will vie for the top spot and the Cup (which is not actually a physical object, but a prestigious title nonetheless).

Downtown and East César Chavez will face each other in the final challenge, which starts Wednesday, Dec. 28. So there’s plenty of time to get out the vote.