The Curbed Cup winner is ... East César Chavez!

After weeks of friendly competition (and strangely few upsets), on Austin neighborhood stands above all the rest—at least when it comes to winning the Curbed Cup 2016.

That neighborhood? East César Chavez, the historic, eclectic, and active (artistically, politically, civically, generally) area just east of and directly across from its closest rival, Downtown, on the IH-35 corridor.

In terms of seeding, we feel a bit guilty about being so prescient about this, the first Austin Curbed Cup. In the first round, first-ranked Downtown took down No. 8 seed Bee Cave, while winner East César Chavez (ranked second) picked off seventh ranked Bouldin Creek.

The only real upset was when sixth-ranked Clarksville beat East Riverside-Oltorf in the first round, but there was excitement to be had in the face-off between eternally under-construction Downtown and the recently hot but still hip North Loop neighborhood in the second round also offered some excitement. The closing of the vote at its scheduled time saw the two in a tie. That necessitated a lightning-round tiebreaker, a nail-biter in which Downtown ultimately prevailed.

In the end, though, it was No. 2 ranked East César Chavez that turned on the pride, turned out the vote, and turned up to nab the exceptional (and imaginary) cup. Well done, friends.