Frank Public Art wall

This space is part of the southern wall of the building that houses Frank - a gourmet hot dog and sausage restaurant in the warehouse district.

Here's what Frank says about the space:

"With the goal of promoting the local art scene, community and culture, Frank is inviting one artist per month to create within 48 hours their handcrafted art of choice – be it mural, street art or graffiti – on the massive brick canvas along Colorado Street." You can see the previous pieces of art that have graced the space at http://hotdogscoldbeer.com/austin/public-art/. 

If you look carefully at this month's piece, you'll see messages among the letters from people affected by cancer.

Lady Bird Lake turtle

Back door

Buford Tower

Buford Tower and Kitchens Memorial Chimes, located at West Cesar Chavez St. and Colorado St., was a fireman's practice tower from 1931 to 1978. After being decommissioned as a practice tower, the structure was restored and a carillon bell system was installed. It was moved to its current location and named after Captain James L. Buford, an Austin firefighter who drowned on June 17, 1972, while attempting to rescue two young men from Shoal Creek during heavy rains. 

Eye spy

Austin B-cycles

Austin B-cycles waiting to work.

Storm Trooper Chopper Jockeys

We met this space-age biker gang at Frank. A couple more of their kind joined them before the end of our meal. They lined all their helmets up along the shelf behind them, which was pretty sweet, because it was like we were all being guarded as we ate. I only wish we'd seen this crew on their motorcycles.

The world's tiniest oil field

A tiny oil field, part of a larger, patriotic display:

The house with the display is on MLK Blvd. I've passed by it for years - more than a decade at least - and I look at the Statue of Liberty every time.

Long Horn Meat Market

MLK Blvd. and Chestnut Ave. - Long Horn is a fourth-generation family-owned meat market in East Austin that still uses the sausage recipe the family acquired in the 1800s from German sausage makers at the World's Fair.

Carver library mural

Comal Food Store

3rd Street and Comal. The history that I can find on the building says it's been in continual use since it was built in the 1800s.

Santa Rita No. 1

 

 

Santa Rita No. 1 is the oil well that made The University of Texas rich. Currently located on the southern boundary of the UT campus along MLK Blvd., this well was originally placed on land owned by UT in West Texas and thought to be worthless. In fact, it was named Santa Rita after the Patroness of the Impossible. The patroness did her job, though, because in 1923, Santa Rita tapped into the first gusher in the Permian Basin in West Texas. The Permian Basin became one of the world's most productive oil regions and continues to produce to this day.

William B. Travis Building

A reconstruction of the east entry for William B. Travis Building, which stood at 405 W. 18th Street (and Guadalupe) since 1945, using the building's original bricks and limestone. The building was razed in 2012, and this entry was built as a monument to the original structure. It now stands alone on the sidewalk in front of the building's original site, with an empty lot behind it.

Nueces Street Tree

Harper Plumbing

Blanton arches

No Trespassing

Cat tail rail

Texas State History Museum

The eagle has landed

"Eagle II" - Cor-Ten steel sculpture by David Deming. This sculpture graces the front plaza of the John Henry Faulk Library, the central location of the Austin Public Library System, in downtown Austin.

Mailboxes on the down low

Differerent

Purple martin house

You is kind

Red steel steer

Stubb's ampitheater gate

Decay

Sock monkey nativity

Those of you familiar with the 37th Street Christmas Lights know that the holiday lights on that street used to be epic. For years, it's been a tradition for us to grab a hot chocolate and walk the block a week or so before Christmas, looking at all the cool, kitschy, and over-the-top displays the homeowners would put up. 

When we went this year, though, only a few houses had put up lights. It looked like any other block. I guess new homeowners have moved in, and the newbies don't embrace the old spirit of the block. Sad. 37th is over.

But around the corner, we did find at least one house that picked up the slack. The owner put up a deliciously confused babel of lights, featuring strings with everything from surfboards to stars of David. My favorite of his displays was a sock monkey nativity. Behold:

To scrub you clean?

Fog

Just be.