City Destinations Keeping Austin Weird
By Sofia Treviño
Nestled in a South Austin backyard that is unlike the million-dollar homes nearby, sits Vince Hannemann’s towering stack of miscellanies for curious wanderers. Careful glances reveal everything from Cabbage Patch Kids to crutches to road signs, making for an assortment of never-ending, unexpected findings in the “Cathedral of Junk.”
“There’s nothing weird left anymore,” Hannemann said. “I’m the last of the Mohicans. When I first started this, people would say, ‘Oh, that’s so Austin.’ I didn’t know what the hell that meant.”
Feeling out of place among Austin’s ever-increasing housing values, Hannemann takes pride in his home being one of the few eccentricities left in the city. Other two locations, Pease Park and the Museum of Weird, also continue to be one of the few places that Keep Austin Weird.
As Austin continues to grow and become gentrified, people often say it’s feeling less like how Austin used to be the more wealthy people move in. According to FinanceBuzz, Austin ranked 10th as one of the metropolitan areas where house prices increased the most throughout a year.
These rising housing and living expenses might lead to long-time Austin residents feeling like the city is becoming more tech-savvy and home to outsiders. Some, like Hannemann, comment on not recognizing this new city that has rapidly evolved over time.
Even with rising housing costs though, some people and places continue to protect the city’s motto of Keeping Austin Weird. Between the city’s growth, locals can still find pockets of strangeness that bring comfort to Austin residents, along with tourists who can discover a piece of old Austin. Here is an introduction to three:
Cathedral of Junk
When he moved to Austin from Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1989, Hannemann began building the now-named Cathedral of Junk. Except, this was never really his intention. Hannemann grew up always into architecture, building backyard sculptures for fun. He doesn’t really have a reason, more so he lets his creative ideas take control.
Originally calling the backyard space littered with his sculptures YardSpace 11, Hannemann said he began to receive questions on what he was creating. His mom randomly called his giant bird’s nest of puzzles and wire the Cathedral of Junk, and the name stuck.
The artist said he felt the closest to the Austin community when in 2010, neighbors complained about the massive structure, but supporters came together to encourage him, leading him to get a building permit that allowed him to continue his art. He even worked with an engineer to sign off on the art’s structural soundness, making sure visitors would always be safe.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking,” Hannemann said. “I got incredibly lucky because the lawyers and the engineers and all these people came out of the woodwork to help me out.”
On top of some complaints from neighbors over the years, Hannemann said Austin’s rapid growth has made the city unrecognizable from when he first moved in.
“I couldn’t even imagine buying this house when I first moved here,” Hannemann said. “I’m just a poor starving artist. Now, I live on Millionaire’s Row over here. Now like half the neighborhood’s got Teslas, and we’ve got million-dollar houses. It’s pretty ridiculous.”
Though with these rising prices, his home is a little pocket of quirky Austin within the street, allowing him to continue creating and sharing his art.
If you go: Visits vary from day to day. With no set hours, you have to call and ask when you can visit, making it more intimate and personal.
Phone: (512) 299–7413
Pease Park
For those who prefer the outdoors, Austin’s 84-acre Pease Park offers space for playgrounds, running, sports or even just to sit and relax. The park typically has people from all sorts of backgrounds, from the University of Texas at Austin students to families and children.
Originally from New York, but having lived in Austin for eight years, Megan Press said she visits the park often with her son, who enjoys the playground areas.
“When I think Keep Austin weird, I feel pretty protective of that whole notion,” Press said. “We’re downtown and then you turn right, and you’re in this beautiful green space. That definitely keeps Austin nice and funky- people doing weird stuff and these sort of funky, alternative spaces for kids to explore.”
Her favorite spot, Press said, was the playground area, which has an observatory, a log building and a playscape.
“It’s not your typical plastic playground,” Press said. “There’s so many different things to try and explore — the neat spaces, native landscaping and the experience of interacting with lots of different Austinites.”
Along with these features, the park is home to kooky events like Eeyore’s Birthday Party and Squirrel Fest in April.
A day-long festival occurring in Austin since 1963, Eeyore’s Birthday Party this year lands on April 29, with live music, food and costumes. The celebration started off as a UT picnic but has now grown to hold thousands of attendees of modern hippies.
If you go: Open daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., 1100 Kingsbury St, Austin, TX 78703
Museum of Weird
Walk along 6th Street during the daytime without rolling crowds of intoxicated people, and you’ll find yourself feeling like you’re in the wrong place or like you’re not supposed to be there. Here lies the Museum of Weird, a third-story collection of all things freakish and quirky, with things ranging from wax figures of horror icons such as Dracula and Frankenstein, to models of shrunken heads and mummies.
The Austin-based business, whose name alone brings attraction, is the epitome of weirdness.
“It’s one of the few businesses that have stuck around,” manager Leighan Rodriguez said. “We’re going on for around 17 years now. There’s not so many Austinites running the businesses nowadays. I think it encapsulates the weirdness mainly because we’re home-based, and we’ve made it this far.”
If you go: Open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., 412 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701
