First Thursday is an evening at the beginning of each month when local shops and restaurants in the SoCo (South Congress Avenue) area of Austin stay open late for customers. SoCo is a really neat area adorned with 1950s style neon signs and shops so I thought I’d swing past there after dark off the clock to shoot a few features. I drive through the area each day on the way to work, but it’s definitely a different perspective seeing it after dark.
![SoCo First Thursday Leland Smith, a local painter, works on a piece under a canopy as a drizzling rain mists the area during SoCo First Thursday on Thursday, July 1, 2010. "I gave it up for 20 years," Smith said of his work, but says he is painting again after the hiatus.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/jtbFirstThursday01.jpg)
![SoCo First Thursday A man browses the selection at a SoCo clothing shop during First Thursday on Thursday, July 1, 2010. Several SoCo shops stay open late for customers on the first Thursday of each month.](https://www.brosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/jtbFirstThursday02.jpg)
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