Texas
Gabriel Luna's weekend guide to Austin, Texas
Entertainment 360Since attending the 2016 US Grand Prix, Austin’s own Gabriel Luna is a huge F1 fan. Ahead of the 2024 race, the actor shares his Bat City picks, from live music to breakfast tacos.
Austin, Texas, is known for its barbecue, cowboy culture, breakfast tacos, rollicking music scene and its defiant slogan: “Keep Austin Weird.”
The SpeciaList
Gabriel Luna is an actor who was born and raised in Austin, and studied at the city’s St Edward’s University. He rose to prominence with his role as Ghost Rider in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, before appearing as the villainous Rev-9 in Terminator: Dark Fate. Luna currently portrays Tommy Miller in the critically acclaimed HBO series The Last Of Us opposite Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
Actor Gabriel Luna fell in love with the sport when he was invited to the 2016 United States Grand Prix. “Just the speed, the sounds, meeting all of the drivers. It was really exciting,” says Luna.
After striking up a friendship with the Haas F1 team, Luna has since attended races in Budapest, Monza and Montreal. He’s also returned to his home city of Austin, where he was born, raised and attended university, to watch the United States Grand Prix live on three more occasions.
“I just fell in love with the sport. I’ve seen it grow exponentially year after year,” says Luna, who credits the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive for bringing more US attention to the sport. While Miami and Las Vegas now host their own races, Luna believes that Austin’s distinctive free-wheeling spirit and party atmosphere make it the best place to watch Formula One in the US.
“Having the race in Austin is a great way to show off the city,” he says. “It’s a truly beautiful part of the country. But also the city is built on music, food and enjoying life. We attract a lot of bon vivants who just want to live a good life and they can get that in Austin.”
Here are Luna’s favourite ways to experience his hometown.
Alamy1. Best way to experience everyday life: Barton Springs Pool
Located within Austin’s bustling Zilker Metropolitan Park is the scenic Barton Springs Pool, where for just a small fee, visitors can relax on the grass and jump into its water all year-round. For Luna, this three-acre pool fed by underground springs is the “centre of culture and life” in Austin. “You get to see Austin’s youth, its old-timers, its hippies doing their yoga, people playing guitar. Everyone is just jumping into the water, which is perpetually 68 degrees.”
When Luna is home in the summer months, he loves relaxing by the water, jumping in, drying off and jumping back in – on repeat. “You can just lay out on the hill on the far side of Barton Springs and see the whole city. It’s the heart of the town.”
Alamy2. Best cultural experience: Emma S Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center
While Austin is renowned for its food, booze and music scenes, it also has a bevy of fantastic museums. Luna’s favourite is the Emma S Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, located in Rainey Street Historic District right by Lady Bird Lake. “It’s in this beautiful building, which itself is a work of art,” says Luna, whose parents were both of Mexican descent. “But it also has a theatre, a gallery and their rotating exhibits celebrate Mexican American arts and heritage.”
Luna also points visitors to The Blanton Museum of Art at the Austin chapter of the University of Texas, which has more than 21,000 works of modern and contemporary art from Europe, the United States and Latin America. It’s also home to renowned American artist Ellsworth Kelly‘s immersive art building Austin; famed for its natural depiction of light and colour.
Alamy3. Best for live music: Broken Spoke
Austin, which bills itself as the “live music capital of the world“, has a wildly diverse music scene rivalling those of Nashville, Memphis and even New Orleans. “Culturally in Austin, it’s all about the music. You just have to get out there, catch a band and listen to the music,” says Luna.
Insider tip
Austin – aka Bat City – is home to around 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats, who roost under the Congress Avenue Bridge. Between early March and late October, people gather at the bridge an hour before sundown to watch the bats swarm away for the night’s prowl.
Luna’s bat watching tip: head to The Four Seasons. “The Four Seasons on [Lake Austin] is always beautiful. But you also get a great view of the bats when they come out from under the bridge on South Congress. You can just sit on the back lawn and watch them fly off.”
The actor and sometimes musician loves Broken Spoke, an old-school spot that’s been serving beer and chicken-fried steak and hosting bands since 1964. “It’s protected by the National Registry and is an incredible little honky-tonk bar that can’t be touched,” says Luna. “The community gathered together to acquire enough signatures to stop it from being purchased.”
Another venue Luna calls his “personal headquarters” is Antone’s; one of Austin’s most iconic blues venues. Antone’s, now found on Fifth Street, might have moved locations a few times since the original location opened in 1975, but that hasn’t stopped the likes of Ray Charles, James Brown, Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan from playing its stages. “It’s really home for me when I’m back in Austin.”
For even more live music, Luna also suggests The Continental Club and the juke joint C-Boy’s Heart & Soul, both found on Congress Street; one of downtown Austin’s premier shopping and entertainment districts.
Erin Holsonback4. Best place for breakfast tacos: Juan in a Million
Luna can’t help but get nostalgic when asked about breakfast tacos; a Tex-Mex dish of scrambled eggs, cheeses, veg and meat wrapped in a tortilla that’s become known as an Austin specialty. He laments a number of places which have closed, in particular Maria’s Taco Express on South Lamar Boulevard, which shut its doors in September 2020. Luna also insists that the best breakfast tacos in Austin are at his grandmother’s house, which he ate every morning for 12 years before school.
Rather than badgering her for them, Luna heads to Juan in A Million in East Austin. “It’s a great Mexican restaurant that has fantastic breakfast tacos,” he says. Juan in a Million’s menu features a full array of breakfast taco choices, from chorizo (sausage) to migas-style (with soft scrambled eggs and crispy fried tortilla strips). If you’re in the north of the city, Luna suggests Tierra Linda Taqueria, a wonderful no-frills eatery located in a gas station serving huge orders.
Alamy5. Best for BBQ: Franklin Barbecue
The great state of Texas is barbecue country, and Austin takes the craft very seriously. For great central Texas-style barbecue, Luna says visitors can never go wrong at Austin cult favourite Franklin Barbecue; a turquoise-and-white roadside stop on 11th Street instantly recognisable by its massive queue. Founded in 2009 by Aaron Franklin, the spot was named the best barbecue in the country by Bon Appétit in 2011. “Aaron is a legend who has created an incredible legacy for himself,” says Luna. “I’ve lived in Los Angeles since 2011 and I always get his [barbecued beef] brisket shipped out for my Super Bowl parties.”
Luna also recommends Black’s Barbecue, founded in 1932 and located in Lockhart; a 30-minute drive from Austin. But he quickly adds that Terry Black’s BBQ is also worth a visit; explaining that the two restaurants have been engulfed in a family rivalry since the latter was opened by twin brothers Mike and Mark when they didn’t approve of their Uncle Kent’s cooking techniques at Black’s. “They’re both great,” says Luna. “The brisket in particular at Black’s is fantastic.”
Ultimately, Luna says, “There’s lots of great barbecue across Austin. At a certain point it’s a little but like splitting hairs because so much of it tastes so good.”
Courtesy of Magnolia Café6. Best casual and fancy bites: Magnolia Café, Uchi and more
When to visit
South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin is a massive nine-day festival celebrating culture, film, music and technology that brings the city to chaotic fever pitch each March. Luna believes the best time of the year to visit Austin is a few weeks afterwards: “The weather is getting great. Everyone is getting back to normal.” He also suggests asking around for where the next party is. “The party doesn’t end when the bars close. There’s a lot going on in town. You just need to ask around, find the right people, and you’ll find some really cool stuff.”
One Austin dish that Luna thinks is underrated is a good bowl of queso; a creamy dip made of melted cheese. “People do it in a really artful way,” he says. “Then you just get some tortilla chips and dip them in there. It’s like a fondue.” Luna calls Magnolia Café – a vintage Tex Mex-influenced diner on Congress Street – the best place to eat queso in Austin, as they mix in avocado, beef, salsa, pico de gallo, black beans and jalapeño to create their own signature take on the dish. “It’s the perfect thing to eat after a long night of drinking and when you’re really drunk,” he says.
Noah Chang7. Best bar: Whisler’s
Austin’s Sixth Street is renowned for its long stretch of bars, which Luna says you can stumble between with ease: “They all have different personalities. You can pop into The Jackalope [a dive] or Maggie Mae’s [massive event space]”.
Nowadays Luna prefers a more laid-back vibe, which is what you get when you head farther east on Sixth Street to his favourite watering hole: Whisler‘s. “It’s got a really cool little secret Mezcal bar,” he says. “You go up this little spiral staircase and there’s a very small room and a tiny bar. They have a fine collection of mezcals up there.” The nearby White Horse honky-tonk plays great country music, and Luna also suggests the Uptown Sports Club for a classy yet still casual ambience.
BBC Travel’s The SpeciaList is a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.
After getting through Clemson in the opening round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, the fifth-seeded Texas Longhorns now play the No. 4 seed and Big 12 champion Arizona State Sun Devils. Arizona State and Texas will meet in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Peach Bowl as part of the CFP quarterfinal round.
The Peach Bowl kicks off at 1 p.m. ET on New Year’s Day, the first of three quarterfinal games on the holiday.
The Sun Devils earned a first-round bye as the last of the four highest-ranked conference champions. Texas missed out on a bye due to a heartbreaking overtime loss to Georgia in the SEC championship game. The Longhorns cruised past Clemson, the ACC champion, in the first round with a 38-24 win on Dec. 21.
Although Arizona State received the bye and higher seed in the CFP field, Texas comes in as the favorite, higher-ranked team throughout the regular season. Texas finished ranked No. 3 in the CFP standings, while ASU was ranked No. 12. In the AP poll, Texas is ranked No. 4 and ASU is ranked No. 10.
This year marks the Sun Devils’ first CFP appearance. The Longhorns make their second appearance after they made the field last year before falling to Washington in the semifinals.
Now, Texas and Arizona state will battle in Atlanta to advance to this year’s semifinal. The winner will head to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl game.
Here’s what it costs to watch Texas and Arizona State in person at the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day:
As of Tuesday, the get-in price for the 2025 Peach Bowl and College Football Playoff quarterfinal between Texas and Arizona State is pretty affordable. The cheapest pair of seats on GameTime are $19 each in section 327, row 20 which is in the upper section behind the end zone. SeatGeek has seats in the upper corner for $23 each while TicketMaster has seats in the upper corner near the sideline for $25.
To sit in the lower level, TicketMaster has seats available for $40 each in section 102, row 47 which is behind the end zone. GameTime has similar seats available in section 101, row 51 for $42 apiece. Club-level seats, which provide access to all-inclusive food and drinks, start at $189 a seat on TicketMaster.
To have a premium seating experience at the Peach Bowl, you’ll need a club-level ticket which provide access to the handful of clubs on the sidelines at Mercedes-Benz stadium.
If you’re an Arizona State fan, you can sit in the second row behind the Sun Devils’ bench at the 50-yard line for $447 a seat, which you can find on SeatGeek. Tickets drop down to $249 each a section over, in section 111, row 3 on GameTime.
For Texas fans, seats can be found in the club-level toward the front of the opposite sideline for $399 each in section 127, row 2, which is behind the Longhorns’ bench at the 40-yard line. Texas fans can sit in the front row behind the sideline for $581. Those seats are all found on SeatGeek.
The quarterfinal round has arrived for the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, and the nation will finally get a look at one of the biggest Cinderella stories of all time — the Arizona State Sun Devils.
The Sun Devils were picked to finish last in their first season in the 16-team Big 12 by the media. They were projected to win 4.5 games by the oddsmakers.
And at the beginning of the 2024 season, the Las Vegas oddsmakers had ASU +10,000 to win the Big 12 Conference. That’s 100 to 1 odds. If you had wagered $100 on the Sun Devils to win the Big 12 in August, you would have walked away with $10,000.
How improbable has Arizona State’s run to the Peach Bowl been? According to Vegas Insider, the Sun Devils winning the Big 12 is the sixth-greatest upset in betting history, just behind the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004 (+12,000).
The oddsmakers continue to doubt the Sun Devils, listing them as 12.5-point underdogs to the Texas Longhorns in the 2025 Peach Bowl.
Arizona State is used to being in this position, and running back Cam Skattebo has unwavering confidence in the Sun Devils’ ability to compete at the highest level.
“They continue to keep saying that people are going to try to stop me.. There’s nobody out there that can stop me,” Skattebo said on Monday. “We played in 13 games, and I’ve been the target on each one, so I’m not too worried. We’re going to play our game and play ball and see what happens there.”
Here are details on how to watch No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas on New Year’s Day.
Arizona State vs. Texas TV channel, live stream
The oddsmakers have Texas as 12.5 to 13.5-point favorites. Here are the latest betting odds, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
Who: No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas in the Peach Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal
Spread: Arizona State +12.5 (-112)
Kickoff Time: Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 11 a.m. MST
Our Prediction: Arizona State 24, Texas 21
TV Channel: ABC, ESPN
Live Stream: Stream Arizona State-Texas live on fuboTV (Start your free trial)
Live Updates, Highlights: Follow the game on Arizona State On SI for live updates, in-game analysis and big-play highlights throughout Wednesday’s matchup
More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis
Texas
Texas returns to Atlanta less than a month after losing SEC title game to face Arizona State in CFP
ATLANTA — The Texas Longhorns were in Atlanta less than a month ago, playing for a championship.
That one didn’t go as planned.
Now, the Longhorns get an A-T-L do-over when they face Arizona State at the Peach Bowl in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game on New Year’s Day.
Fifth-seeded Texas (12-2) insists it has gotten over the disappointment of losing an overtime thriller to Georgia on Dec. 7, a result that denied the Longhorns a title in their debut season as a member of the SEC.
“Of course we’re going to kind of feel that a little bit, but we kind of want to move on and just get ready for Arizona State,” Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said. “They’re a good football team and we kind of don’t want to think about that (Georgia) game all over again.”
The Longhorns showed no signs of a hangover when they held off Clemson in the opening round of the expanded 12-team playoff.
If they can knock off Arizona State — Texas is a two-touchdown favorite — it will be back to their home state for a semifinal game against either Oregon or Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
Texas wide receiver Silas Bolden (11) runs against Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker (11) during the first half of the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Atlanta. Credit: AP/John Bazemore
Fourth-seeded Arizona State (11-2) has been one of the nation’s most surprising teams.
The Sun Devils went 3-9 a year ago in Kenny Dillingham’s first season as head coach. Making the move from the disintegrating Pac-12 to the 16-team Big 12, Arizona State was picked to finish dead last this season.
Instead, it was tied with three other teams for the top spot during the regular season and claimed the title all to itself in the Big 12 championship game, rolling past Iowa State.
This is a chance for Arizona State to prove to everyone that its stunning season was no fluke.
Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) celebrates alongside the mascot after the team’s win against Iowa State in the Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game, in Arlington, Texas, Saturday Dec. 7, 2024. Credit: AP/Julio Cortez
“We’re going to face one of the best teams in the country, if not the best team in the country,” Dillingham said Tuesday on the eve of the game. “It’s a really tall task for our guys. But by the same token, if you’re a competitor, you want to compete versus the very best in the best environments.”
Ewers vs. Leavitt
Quinn Ewers has a stellar resume as the Texas quarterback.
Sam Leavitt is out to prove he’s the better man.
The Arizona State QB has been a major reason for his team’s unexpected success. He’s eager for a head-to-head showdown with Ewers, who has passed for 2,867 yards and 26 touchdowns this season.
Leavitt has put up similar numbers, with 2,663 yards and 24 TDs.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity,” he said. “People keep counting me out since Day 1, and I’m going to go prove why I’m the better quarterback.”
Skattebo’s big stage
Cam Skattebo is Arizona State’s biggest star, a bowling ball of a running back who has become one of the rare players in FBS history to put up more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage.
He doesn’t lack for confidence, either, calling himself the best runner in all of college football.
The Peach Bowl provides a prime opportunity to back up his bravado, especially against a defense that has struggled with missed tackles.
“I feel like I’m the best,” Skattebo said. “I’m excited to play those guys because I’m going to present to them something new that they haven’t seen before. I’m excited, and hopefully they’re ready to play some football.”
Exes from Texas
The Longhorns will see plenty of familiar faces when they look across the line.
A half-dozen players on Arizona State’s overhauled roster used to play at Texas. They all ended up in Tempe through the transfer portal.
The list of ex-Longhorns players also includes receivers Jake Smith and Troy Omeire, defensive back Xavion Alford, defensive ends J’Mond Tapp and Prince Dorbah, and defensive tackle Zac Swanson.
“All those guys, obviously, they’ll be extra fired up to play the Longhorns,” Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe said. “Anytime you leave a school and you know some people, it’s always fun to play those guys.”
Dillingham said the Texas transfers have made a huge impact on the Arizona State program.
“We know what we’re getting when we’re getting a guy from that program, and that’s a guy who has worked really hard, competed and been pushed,” the Sun Devils coach said. ”Those are the things that we like to bring in.”
Turning it over
Turnovers usually play a key role in big games. It will be interesting to see how that works out in the Peach Bowl.
Arizona State has coughed up the ball only eight times, tied for the second-fewest turnovers in the FBS. Texas, on the other hand, has forced a nation-leading 29 turnovers.
Dillingham said it will be important to keep the pocket clean around Leavitt.
“It all starts with pass rush,” he said. “They get pass rush, they get tipped balls. Their defensive line gets in throwing windows.”
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian praised Skattebo and the rest of the Sun Devils for losing only three fumbles all year, to go along with five interceptions.
“You just don’t not fumble the ball. You work at not fumbling the ball,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve done a great job of controlling football games by not turning it over.”
Suspended star
Arizona State will have to play the first half without star defensive back Shamari Simmons, who is suspended for the first two quarters after being ejected for targeting in the Big 12 championship game.
“Shamari is a leader on our team,” Alford said. “It’s very unfortunate that he’s not going to be with us in the first half in the game, but he’ll still be there as a leader and as a teammate on the sidelines and things of that nature.”
Redshirt freshman Montana Warren will take Simmons’ spot in the lineup during the first half.
“God always has a plan, and I just feel like his plan right now is just basically showing who Montana Warren is to the world,” Simmons said. “He’s going to be a great defensive back for Arizona State for a long time coming.”
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