It’s kinda hard to describe Austin, Texas’ The Cathedral of Junk and even harder evidently to capture what it’s all about in pictures. It’s off the beaten path if you are playing the tourist in Austin which is just as it should be. You have to want to go there. It’s a little bit of a drive South from downtown buried in a neighborhood that wouldn’t take you there unless you were a resident. It’s because it’s in this dude’s backyard!! Some artist just up and built it from junk, castaways, and it’s interactive. Check this video out.
So in the brilliant city slogan designed to attract tourist in droves, “Keep Austin Weird,” it doesn’t get much more weird than this. You climb in and out of the structure, 30 feet tall. Don’t worry it doesn’t obscure sight lines to see the capitol building as the city planners have that as a thing. Perhaps Texas legislators should hold a session or two here as it would perfectly match the madness they sometimes spend time on. I recall navigating the maze like corridors surrounded by junk that comes across as beautiful, each piece telling a story. You ascend to some type of crow’s nest pinnacle so you can see in all the neighbors’ back yards which I’m sure they appreciate. And a lot of CD’s, I recall a lot of CD’s.
It’s a place that reminds me of the Watts’ Towers, another featured good thing, testaments to creative minds following their creativity to create and build improbable quirky structures for the world to enjoy. For me, that comes across as hopeful, left behind sentinels to the human spirit and what it’s capable of. All good things.
ZandMe's 999 Good Things 