It was inevitable armadillos would end up dead center on the mural. For the past few years, Jim Franklin, through sheer passion, perseverance and his own peculiarities, had brought the lowly armadillo up into the Austin zeitgeist. He painted them, kept live ones as models and dressed up like one - but it all started when he put a joint in an armadillo’s mouth. No, not literally, artistically.

Created by Gilbert Shelton, Oat Willie was his comic book character with a rallying cry of “Onward thru the fog.” In 1968 Gilbert entered him as a write-in candidate for Texas Governor. Supporters of Oat Willie's campaign often met at a local head shop Underground City Hall aka Campaign Headquarters. Unfortunately, Oat Willie lost the race but won the hearts of Austin’s anti-establishment. Maybe Oat Willie even inspired Crazy Carl’s multiple runs for City Council and Kinky Friedman’s Governor campaigns which were soon to come.

Doug Brown and George Majewski bought the Underground City Hall and changed the name to Oat Willie's: Campaign Headquarters. There are still Oat Willie’s in Austin. Visit one today! Oatwillies.com

Spencer Perskin’s band sits at the head of the river of the entire Austin music scene. Shiva’s Headband played opening night at the Vulcan Gas Company AND the Armadillo World HQ. His band not only introduced the psychedelic scene to Austin he made these clubs a must-play venue for all touring bands. So everyone played Austin. Which gave Austin a front row seat to the biggest names in folk, rock, country and especially the blues. Like one of Spencer’s live 18 minute fiddle-forward acid fueled songs that swirled the audience into a frenzy the town became a musical petri dish out of which so many formidable bands formed. And thanks to The Vulcan, they had a place to play.

Of course Johnny is peeking out the window of the Vulcan Gas Company because it was here in 1968 he recorded his first album: The Progressive Blues Experiment. Because of this ground-shaking debut, his striking looks and virtuosity on the guitar, Johnny was quickly ‘discovered’ at the Fillmore East, signed to the biggest advance in music history and within a year was on stage at Woodstock (backed by Austin bassist Tommy Shannon). So, he had been to the mountaintop by the time he settled into regular gigs at the Vulcan in podunk Austin, TX.

With the Vulcan as the venue and Johnny as a draw, every blues icon of the day made it a point to stop and jam in Austin. Muddy, Hooker, BB, Albert. Howlin’, Mance and Freddie. What a scene. Mutual respect grew between these artists and the city of Austin in no small part because Johnny continued to produce new albums for many of these blues superstars. After the Vulcan closed, they played the Armadillo. After the Armadillo shuttered, they played Antone’s. And that was where another young white blues guitar player got to riff alongside the greats like Albert King. Stevie Ray Vaughan’s reinterpretation of the blues, and subsequent fame, only could have happened thanks to the foundational groove Johnny Winter laid down before him. Thanks Johnny.

Hey, Cupcake. Torchy’s. East Side Kings. Odd Duck. Via 313. Gourdoughs (above to the right). Oh, and Franklins BBQ. In a town where taking a restaurant concept from food truck, to brick-and-mortar, to nationwide franchise is a proven model it’s hard to imagine a time when selling food on the street would get you locked up. Actually arrested. So who do we have to thank for keeping Aaron Franklin out of the pokie and behind the pits? That distinction falls on the shoulders of UT law school student - Roland DeNoile - who saw a hungry niche of students a long walk from the Texas Union’s greasy cheeseburgers. They needed salvation. They needed Salvation Sandwiches.

After winning the Austin Chronicle’s Best Photographer category 10 years in a row, they just canceled it, because there was never a doubt Alan Pogue would keep on winning it. His documentation of the city's cultural and political life over the last 50 years is unmatched and unrelenting. He shot every iconic institution in town as it was becoming an iconic institution: The Drag, The Armadillo, Les Amis, Liberty Lunch, Esther’s Follies and every fool that sauntered through City Hall. So inevitable he was there, on campus, in the rain, shutter clicking to capture a random moment as it became magic.

Running a comic book character for Governor. Eeyore's Birthday. Setting the city free with a saxophone solo from the roof of your rental house at midnight. These big ideas don’t come from a six pack of Lone Star. You need imagination, endurance, the ability to suck clouds into your fingertips, and peyote. Lots of peyote. Weed, mescaline, LSD and drugstore amphetamines were prevalent in 1973 Austin. But if you had to pick one that put Austin on the hippie highway it would have to be psilocybin. Although no one picked just one.

For decades Austin provided musicians the grooviest paradise to play. Cheap rent, killer venues and a fervid audience kept the party rolling. But most importantly, Austin gave musicians space. They were thousands of miles from the nearest record company, living totally under the radar and playing all the time (on stage and off). This space allowed them the creative latitude to find their voice and not follow the formula. It happened again and again with Roky, Johnny, Doug, SRV and the biggest of them all, Willie. Austin gave Willie Nelson the space to transform from another Nashville songwriter to WILLIE! – one name superstar. And that transition happened in Austin with the recording of a single song.

Outside of Chicago you’d be hard pressed to find a town as supportive of the blues as Austin TX. From the Vulcan Gas Company to the Ritz to the Armadillo World Headquarters to Antone’s there was always a place for the biggest names in blues to perform. Jimmy and Lil’ Stevie Vaughan grew up in these clubs watching these icons play and then took what they learned to a myriad of bands they fronted over the years. Then the pieces clicked into place for Stevie, lightning struck, the clouds parted and the entire world got to see what had been cooking on the small stages of Austin, TX.

His bandmates Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton tell us what it was like to catch the biggest ride of them all.

Originally drawn by Gilbert Shelton, Oat Willie was his original comic book character. Oat Willie became the name and mascot of Austin’s first head shop where you could then buy the latest episode of the comic book. Oat Willie also adopted and made famous “Onward through the fog.

”There are still Oat Willie’s in Austin. Visit one today! Oatwillies.com

For 40 years Crazy Carl spun a flower in front of Esther’s Follies on 6^th Street. And if you could distill the special sauce of Austin into one wild man-boob making individual it would have to be Crazy Carl Hickerson. He lived across the street from the Beef and Pie studio. After many afternoons of watching him load buckets of fresh chrysanthemums and wheel his life partner Charlotte into the back of his decoupaged van we knew something special was happening.

We made a film about him: Crazy Carl and his Man-Boobs: An Austin Love Story. As we tell his story — from flower salesman to street performer to perennial candidate for city council – we tell the story of Austi.. It’s different than all the shorts on this site (this is a 50 minute documentary) but it’s the reason we started the mural project in the first place. Now before this gets too meta, let’s get on with the show and say thanks Carl, this is one more wild thing you set in motion.

Finished in 1887, the Butler Mansion utilized both Butler bricks and Marble Falls granite that had been shipped in at the same time for the State Capitol. The mansion's unique design featured rooms laid out only in unconventional geometric shapes, with two octagons and absolutely no rectangle or square spaces.It presided over the corner of 11^th and Guadeloupe until 1971 when Louis Marks of Houston bought it and demolished it for a parking lot. It was already gone when the mural was first being painted in 1973. 

This was the home of Michael and Mary Butler, founders of the Butler Brick Company. Butler Bricks were the building blocks of Austin. Warehouses, homes and hotels were all built with their innovative product. Made from the clay fields that formed on the banks of the Colorado River these bricks were used in UT’s Old Main Building, and over 300,000 are a part of the Texas State Capitol.

You can still find Butler bricks all over Austin and you can touch a piece of architectural history at the Zilker Botanical Garden. A window from the Butler Mansion sits amongst the local trees and wildflowers.