Ann W. Richards, Congress Avenue Bridge

From the plaque:

Ann W. Richards
Congress Avenue Bridge
Ann Richards (1933-2006)
Mother, Grandmother, Teacher, Public Servant, Governor, Leader, Friend
The City of Austin dedicates this structure in memory of Ann Richards - a woman who always worked to bridge that which seperates us, and strived to bring people together for the good of our city, state and nation.
Her spirit will forever endure.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Night Wing

The Austin Chronicle describes the Night Wing Bat Sculpture as a "beautiful chunk of public art".  It is located in the small triangle across from the Austin American Statesman complex at the intersection of South Congress and Barton Springs Road.

From the plaque:

Nightwing

by Dale Whistler

The following donors gladly give the City of Austin this Great Bat, honoring Austin's most famous part-time residents, the Bats of the Congress Avenue Bridge:

Austin American Statesman

Austin Energy

Embassy Suites Hotel

Hyatt Regency Austin

Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas

The Downtown Trust

Additional support provided by

Archilume, Inc.

Black & Vernooy, Architects

Clean Cut Landscaping

June 1998

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Littlefield Building

This is the Littlefield Building at the northeast corner of Congress Avenue and 6th Street.

From DowntownAustin.com:

The Littlefield Building at the northeast corner of Sixth and Congress displays the Beaux Arts style of architecture favored at the time of its inception in 1910. It took two years to build and at the time of its completion, was undeniably the most opulent and modern structure in the nation. Originally conceived as an 8-story building, the rivalry between Major Littlefield and Emerson Scarbrough motivated Littlefield to enclose the rooftop garden and create a ninth floor. By doing this, he not only bested his Scarbrough rival by one story, he could also boast that he owned the tallest skyscraper between New Orleans and San Francisco. Today, the Littlefield Building offers elegant commerical space within minutes of the city's many restaurants, banks, dry cleaners, fitness facilities and art museums.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

If you'd like even more information, look here.
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Congress Avenue

With the ROT Rally parade getting ready to begin, the streets along Congress Avenue were being shut down. This photo was taken from the center of the intersection at Sixth Street and Congress Avenue, looking south.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Longhorns

Dixi and I headed downtown last night for the ROT Rally parade. While waiting for the fun to start we saw this guy riding his bike down Congress Avenue. Gotta love those handlebars!

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Capital Building

Another view of the State Capital Building.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Waterfalls at One Congress Plaza

These waterfalls are located at the One Congress Plaza building. The building has a 1 acre sunken plaza with shade trees and park benches.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Austin Guitar Town - Sixth String

Another guitar in the Austin Guitar Town installation. This one is called "Sixth String" and is located at 600 Congress in front of One American Center. This guitar was designed by Randy Rudman and signed by Reckless Kelly.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Another Piano?

I came across this piano sitting outside of the Old Bakery & Emporium. It wasn't part of the Play Me, I'm Yours installation so I found it interesting.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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The Old Bakery & Emporium

The Old Bakery & Emporium is located at 1006 Congress Avenue. It is a City of Austin Parks and Recreation Consignment Store featuring handicrafts and fine art created by local citizens age 50 and over.

The Old Bakery, a registered national landmark built by Swedish immigrant Charles Lundberg, had graced Congress Avenue since 1876. The building was used as a community bakery until 1936 and following that, for a wide variety of purposes, including a night club.

The old bakery was vacant, deteriorating and scheduled for demolition, when it was rescued through the combined efforts of the Austin Heritage Society, which purchased the structure in 1963, and the Junior League, which donated $12,500 for restoration work.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Austin Guitar Town - Twinkle Twinkle Lonestar

Here's another of the Austin Guitar Town installations. This one is by Amanda Dunbar and is located at 101 Congress Avenue.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Angelina Eberly

In 1842, six years after Texas won its independence from Mexico, the capitol of the young republic was an isolated village on the western frontier whose name had recently been changed from Waterloo to Austin. President Sam Houston thought Austin was an inappropriate location for the capitol of Texas, and campaigned to have it moved to a city he found more to his taste--Houston. When the citizens of Austin resisted his attempts to move the capitol, Houston sent a delegation of Texas Rangers to steal the government archives. They would have succeeded if it had not been for a fiery local innkeeper named Angelina Eberly, who heard the rangers loading their wagons in the middle of the night. She hurried down to the the corner of what is now Sixth and Congress and fired off the town cannon, missing the rangers but blowing a hole in the General Land Office building. The cannon fire roused the populace, who chased down the rangers and recovered the archives near Brushy Creek. Had it not been for Angelina’s impulsive gesture, Houston would now be the capitol of Texas. In a very real sense, Angelina Eberly was the savior of Austin.

The statue of Angelina Eberly firing off her cannon was erected at the very spot this historic event took place: Sixth and Congress in downtown Austin, TX.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Horse Drawn Carriage

You will see quite a few of these around the downtown area, especially on the weekends. We spotted this one at the corner of 5th and Congress.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Austin Guitar Town

This was part of a project called Austin Guitar Town. I have seen a couple of these around the downtown area but was never really aware of the meaning behind them until recently. I guess I just always assumed it was because Austin bill's itself as the Live Music Capital of the World. I'm not sure how many are left on display, but I do plan on finding more.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Street Pianos - Frost Bank Tower

I was very disappointed with this piano, as you can tell from the photo. I spoke with the lady at the Frost Bank Tower information desk who told me that they were planning to move it to another location, but she wasn't sure where exactly. She pointed me toward the parking garage, where I eventually found it. I had a tough time deciding if I should post the picture because it seemed to be such a disappointing way of ending the series, as this was my number 14, but in the end, I decided it needed to be seen and not left out.

I will check back and find out if, and where, it has been moved.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo

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Corner of 6th and Congress

Don't ask me why, but something about this building always makes me stare at it.

From Arguendo & Dixi's Daily Austin Photo