Look UP

I've been in our City Hall a bunch of times, but I'm not sure I ever noticed just how dramatic it was to look up while standing in the lobby.

More City Hall art

This striking portrait is also part of the artwork at City Hall.

Chair light, chair bright

Linda checks out the fancy artwork it the city hall lobby after we went there to vote.

Our CIty Hall

It's theme day at City Daily Photo and the theme is "Municipal Building" so I shot a picture of Austin City Hall, near our condo building. The sculpture of a bird (largely from old tires?) might represent a grackle but none of those pests have a colorful head! The plaque did not reveal any details. (It said not to climb on the sculpture!) Click here to see what other city blogs presented on this theme.

That's some serious neon!

We went to vote at City Hal the other day and saw this tall animal made out of neon in the lobby.

Art at City Hall

Our city likes to hang the work of local artists in the lobby. We saw this piece when we went to vote on a recent afternoon.

Visions of Sweets

Some details from the City Hall Tree.

Gingerbread and Peppermint

The tree at City Hall has a tasty theme.

Sketchy Man

This artwork is on view in our City Hall where we went to vote in a local runoff election the other day.

New Art

This monumental art piece appeared outside City Hall the other day. Jackie captured it with our friend Steve pondering its intricacies.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Sand mandala completion on April 16. It was soon swept away. Art is ephemeral. Buddist Monks were in City Hall this month doing this project.

Gospel Marathon Morning

One more shot from the recent marathon -- this group, complete with a horn section, was rocking the gospel in front of City Hall near the start of the race.  Austin is called "The Live Music Capital of the World" for good reason.

City Hall Sculpture

This is on the southeast side of City Hall. A nearby sign explains: "This work relates to potential energy, water and shelter." It is a 2010 work by Philippe Klinefelter.

Get Curious but Don't Climb

This is in front of the Austin City Hall. I wasn't curious enough to scan the QR code or look at the WEB site. The small sign warns about climbing on the piece (which is, of course, what it invites doing for kids).

Austin's City Hall...Really!

Jackie was on Cesar Chavez the other day when she noticed this sign on our City Hall: "Maricopa County Courthouse." Some location filming must have been taking place! We never found out what. Does anyone know?

South From the W Residences

This is the view south from the W Residences. City Hall in foreground, South First (Drake) Bridge stretching across Lady Bird Lake, Auditorium Shores and Long Center in right corner.

Splitting the Skyline

City Hall's spike seems to pierce the completed Austonian in this iPhone picture I shot the other day. See a different angle here, pointing to the W.

City Hall Would Like to Point Out

Everyone in the neighborhood is eager for the W Hotel and Condos and ACL Studio to be finished. City Hall's seems to be pointing across Second Street at it. My friend Jackie took this picture. She calls the point on City Hall the armadillo tail. Hmmm. I never thought of that. You can get a better idea of the Second Street side of City Hall in this picture, taken when there was nothing but a sales office and a cleared lot where the W is today.

Note: Jackie, our faithful contributor, says she saw the point called the armadillo tail here. So there is a little more info on the City Hall building at that link.

Rally View

City Hall Plaza is the place where lots of rallies and concerts occur. This view, looking east across the plaza during the rally against hate on Saturday, shows buildings we are familiar with from other pictures. The Austonian and Ashton are nearer and dominate the view. The Frost Bank tower barely seems to poke up its head, but it looks tall from other angles as we know.The limestone blocks people are sitting on are both decoration and barriers for security.

Youngsters Against Hate

Linda and I participated in an anti-hate parade in our downtown neighborhood Saturday afternoon. The event was spurred by a savage attack on two gay men walking to the City Hall parking garage from a bar after a softball celebration. Over 1500 of us marched from the bar on 4th Street to the City Hall Plaza where we heard speeches from City Council members and the two victims, among others. This cute little girl, her brother and their dog were part of the march. One rumor going around town: surveillance tapes showed that a woman, heading home from Carnaval in heels and a feathered costume, jumped into the fray and helped defend the guys who were being beaten.