Saturday, August 18, 2007

This challenge is all about taking some time to appreciate some of the things Austin is known for. Given that I already did a challenge (2004) where I explored Austin's music and drinking establishments, I am choosing some of Austin's other notable characteristics, namely: weird art, landmarks, and taco purveyors.


The Challenge:

In 38 hours,
I will ride 38 miles a day and along the way:



visit and photograph 38 Austin Landmarks











find and capture 38 examples of Austin's "Weird" Public Art












      Visit and photograph the AustinGuitarTown's 35 10-foot guitar sculpures and 3 of the life-sized painted guitars






      Stop in to 38 restaurants famous for their tacos, and eat a taco at each one!








        Related posts:
        The write-up
        The final list of events
        Map of the challenge





          17 comments:

          Anonymous said...

          The "How are you?" guy by Daniel Johnson on the drag.

          Elsie's breakfast tacos on Burnet

          360 Bridge

          Anonymous said...

          tamale house #3
          enchanted forest
          big chicken on johanna st

          Anonymous said...

          Landmark: Radio towers in Westlake
          Art: 37.5th Street lights at Christmas Time
          Taco: Migas Breakfast Tacos at Marias

          Anonymous said...

          tacos at the convience store just south of Far West on North Hills next to the HEB. great verde sauce.
          sculpture - at house, maybe Harris blvd and W 30th St, west side of the street. you past it on a bike hash last summer.

          Anonymous said...

          Taco: taco village at 51st and 35. Beef taco on soft corn

          Landmark: Mount Barker, Brightleaf park

          Art: pemberton hights off Mopac (sign for mopac access). The house and yard is art

          Anonymous said...

          Mi Madre and or El Chilito both on Manor about a blcok apart. Whatever looks good to you.
          I'm a migas taco lover too but how many of them can you eat?

          art...a Great neon sign...a crescent moon being peeled out of a banana peel on the entry ofg a house at 29th and the corner of the Breed's parking lot

          landmark would be ToyJoy - corner of 29th and Guad

          Anonymous said...

          Hole in the Wall
          lost music landmarks:
          CSC- Liberty Lunch
          Ecomat/I heart video - Antones
          Threadgills - was Armadillo World Headquarters
          Showdown - was Rauls
          4th & Colorado - Club Foot

          UT Tower
          UT South mall George Washington view from behind

          Anonymous said...

          moomlight towers
          austin nature center
          umlauf
          botanical gardens
          sculpture falls
          twin falls
          campbell's hole

          Anonymous said...

          Austin State Cemetary

          Austin Motel

          weird art: statue of Liberty and map in front yard on east manor - I'll check

          Broken Spoke

          Cathedral of Junk:
          4422 Lareina Drive, Austin, TX

          Dart Bowl
          5700 Grover Ave.

          Ginny's Little Longhorn - 5434 Burnet

          KOOP Radio

          Anonymous said...

          Esther's Follies
          La La's Little Nugget

          Anonymous said...

          My favorites are:
          Polvos-spinach, egg and cheese
          Taco Deli- "Cowboy"

          Anonymous said...

          Changos for tacos

          Anonymous said...

          Mount Bonnell
          Laguna Gloria

          Anonymous said...

          We're home and thought of some more landmarks to add to our previous comments:

          We mentioned the Riverside Threadgills earlier as the former Armadillo Headquarters. We just found out that it is also the resting place of the Terminix bug (Austin's traveling landmark)

          Locations of the moonlight towers are listed here http://austin.about.com/library/weekly/aa110300b.htm

          French Legation Museum, 802 San Marcos St (7th and I35)

          Continental Club

          Wheatsville Coop

          Cheapo Discs - site of the original Whole Foods 10th & Lamar (the very first one)

          Peter Pan Miniature Golf - Barton Springs Rd

          Nau's Enfield Drugs - W. 12th at West Lynn

          Sphinx on texas yard art at 2400 east MLK

          Pink Flamingos -360 and Bee Caves (not sure if they are still there but there was battle over them years ago between the Weird Westlakers and the more pretentious ones - Pro-flamingos won)

          Hyde Park Bar and Grill fork with changing food

          Anonymous said...

          Oh and Janis Joplin used to sing at the original Threadgills on Lamar.

          Anonymous said...

          We listed the statue of Liberty yard art on manor earlier, but I found it in a Chronicle poll and it's on MLK along with the Sphinx:

          Best Yard Art: Ira Poole's Yard
          Chances are Ira Poole has probably had more people stop at his home wondering if he was selling cemetery memorials rather than asking for a tour of his mini-lawn museum. It's just too unbelievable that some guy would have: a 900 lb. concrete sphinx sitting on a raised slab of Texas, a replica of the Statue of Liberty, a fountain, a 3-dimensional granite map of the U.S. and Mexico, and another smaller map of Texas with a yellow rose bush growing, yes, in the "heart" of it. Stop and ask him for a tour. Or just drive by on your way to the airport as the final attraction for your houseguests.
          2400 E. Martin Luther King Blvd.

          Fried Catfish said...

          HEY! One of the best breakfast tacos I've ever eaten was at Live Oak Market on Manchaca (at 71).