On the corner of 21st Street and The Drag, a single wall rises above the rubble. Austin local Rhi Spicer can’t help but notice it every time she walks home to 21st Street Co-op. As she passes, she gazes up at the mural on the wall, which poses a simple question: “Hi, How Are You?”
The mural now stands alone, but it was once part of a local record store called Sound Exchange, which commissioned Austin artist Daniel Johnston to paint it in 1993. Though the original building has since been demolished, community efforts have kept the 32-year-old mural standing, establishing the piece as a symbol of Austin’s cultural identity.
“Having art, and having ways that people express (themselves) throughout redevelopment is really important,” Spicer said. “So it’s special that there’s still some (murals) around West Campus, and I wish that there were more.”
The Drag has been a hub for Austin art, music and culture for decades. Commercial, legal and structural changes to Austin have impacted the artistic scene of The Drag, but the culture has persevered. Beloved pieces of Austin’s past remain, leaving a mosaic that honors the street’s roots and the students who call Austin home.
Music, murals and markets
For some alumni and long-time Austinites, The Drag’s “Hi, How Are You?” mural symbolizes a changing Austin, where classic buildings are demolished and local businesses are outpriced by larger corporations. Though Sound Exchange closed its doors in 2003, its legacy lives on through the image on its side, which has presented generations of UT students with the opportunity to engage with art authentic to Austin’s values. For Spicer, the mural is more than paint on a wall — it represents Austin’s history and relationship with art.
“I’m glad that, even though they tore (the) building down, they kept the mural, because art should be preserved, and (this) is no exception.” Spicer said.
But this isn’t the only space connecting modern students to the artistic history of The Drag.
Just a few blocks north of Johnston’s mural sits the “Austintatious” mural on 23rd Street. Painted by UT students in 1974 to celebrate what makes Austin special, the piece is one of the city’s oldest remaining murals.
The modern “Austintatious” overlooks hundreds of students daily as they make their way into West Campus. In decades past, however, “Austintatious” watched as students attended the 23rd Street Renaissance Market, where local artists sold handmade jewelry, trinkets and clothing nearly every day after its establishment in 1969.
Slowly, the market lost popularity as Austin’s changing atmosphere prompted students to move farther from campus and shifted tourism from The Drag to downtown. The COVID-19 pandemic scattered the remaining vendors in 2020, and the Renaissance Market has since fizzled out.
However, markets on The Drag aren’t a thing of the past.
Every Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., dozens of local vendors set up stands outside vintage clothing stores Pavement and Leopard Lounge for the Guad Vintage Market. For vendor Kamdin Montagne, the market is a place to enjoy The Drag’s unique community and share the items she loves curating.
“All the clothes that I’m selling are the things that I love, that I’m creating from my own taste,” Montagne said. “All the other vendors are doing that too, so everything is very unique.”
On top of music, street art and markets, The Drag also has a long history with motion pictures and theaters.
One block past “Austintatious,” a scroll of film unreels above 24th Street, showing 12 still images captured from influential movies. Painted in 1979 to highlight the history of motion pictures, the “Varsity Mural” was named after the building it initially decorated: the Varsity Theater.
Once perched on the corner of Guadalupe and 24th Street, the Varsity opened with a showing of “The Texas Rangers” in 1936 and quickly became a hotspot for UT students and film lovers. The once-acclaimed theater closed in 1990, as rent rose and visitors waned.
Tower Records soon moved into the space, and from 1990 to 2004, the corporate record store was a contentious sign of changing times. UT mechanical engineering alumnus Eric Chang remembers how the Varsity’s replacement by a corporate company aggravated some Austinites, who chose to buy their records at Sound Exchange instead.
After closing in 2004, Tower Records was replaced by a handful of stores until a CVS Pharmacy took over in 2021. UT radio-television-film alumna and The Austin Chronicle’s editor-in-chief, Kimberley Jones, said the loss of nearby theaters reduces students’ access to formative art.
“While it’s helpful to have toothpaste readily available to you (at CVS), it’s not going to be super helpful in your development of who you’re going to be as a person and what kind of art is going to move you,” Jones said.
The mural and the Varsity marquee still decorate the CVS, reminding passersby of the building’s cinematic history. But the Varsity Theatre wasn’t the only cinema to come and go on The Drag.
Located on the second floor of Dobie Mall, the Dobie Theater opened its doors in 1973. To support art close to home, Dobie hosted extended screenings for films from Texas-based filmmakers like Richard Linklater and S. R. Bindler. The theater closed in August 2010 and is now owned by the office space company Regus. Jones was sad to see it go.
“Dobie filled a void there,” Jones said. “When that went away, UT students had to go a lot farther to see those kinds of movies.”
What remains and what’s to come
Many spaces of culture have come and gone on The Drag, but Hole in the Wall is one location that remains standing.
General Manager Clayton England described the Hole in the Wall as a “genesis” for live music in Austin. Situated just off Dean Keaton and Guadalupe streets, the Hole was first established as a sports bar in 1974. One year later, the bar built a stage for singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith, whose performances drew crowds before the Hole was known for its music. The venue is one of the oldest continuously-operating venues in Austin, now celebrating 51 years in business.
“(The Hole in the Wall) really has this long-lasting impact,” England said. “It has a representation of its history that speaks for itself, as far as how it represents Austin, and I’m very grateful to be a part of that.”
Over time, the Hole has built a tight community where long-time staff and visitors can meet to revisit a taste of “old Austin.”
“It really is one of the last places in Austin that’s still an every-person’s bar and community space,” England said. “When you walk into that front room, and the bar is worn down in a cozy way, and staff are friendly, it’s nostalgic … of what Austin has always represented and what people have loved, without being (exploitatively) capitalized as a brand.”
With the shift from physical media to digital streaming, Jones said today’s students have less incentive to explore bookstores, record shops or indie theaters.
Even as The Drag’s cultural fabric changes, its legacy endures in the music, murals and markets that remain. For Jones, the culture of the Drag helped shape her identity. Yet, as the city changes, Jones wonders how The Drag will continue to impact the students who visit it.
“Those places certainly contributed to the person that I became,” Jones said. “I hope that there are new places that are serving the same function … (because) it felt pretty magical to me at the time.”
