We started talking to some people on a bulletin board on Prodigy. (Remember Prodigy? the online service that Sears and IBM started that later got pummeled by AOL and Internet access from other ISPs? Well, they handed out free memberships for a while and it was my first foray online other than USENET access at jobs and through a friend with a machine in his house.) Anyway, we called this 'board' (it was really a subject we kept alive on a bigger board) Austin Arts and got to know a number of people (well, maybe eight or ten when all was said and done) in different parts of the country and we talked about Austin but lots of other things as well. One of the best writers and innovators of this adventure was a guy who lived on Ninth Street in a small apartment building. One of the things he wrote about was a large painting in the street just where Ninth plunges in a steep drop to Lamar. It eventually faded and then was completely obliterated by street repairs. But for a while it became a spirtual center for these people talking online, developing a virtual community. When, in fac,t we did some meeting face-to-face, we made what you might call a pilgrimage to the site.
Apparently someone's cat had been wiped out on this viciously steep piece of street, perhaps by a car throttling upward, hoping their 'get me through college without an oil change' clap trap vehicle would make the hill. Or maybe the thing happened with the car going down. But I always thought it was up because the painting would be readable going up.
Anyway, the painting contained what appeared to be the outline of a man and a cat. It contained these words: "DONNA R.I.P." and "YOU KILLED MY CAT AND DIDN'T EVEN STOP THANKS ASSHOLE." It lasted, white paint on tarred street, much longer than it should have. Because someone probably refreshed the lines occasionally.
It became such an icon that I had the idea to put the art on a T-Shirt for my buddies. (This was during the era when I would do silly things that cost a lot of money because I had too much money. It was fun, but I'm not like that any more. Usually.) Anyway, SuRu went to the site, sketched the art onto a pad and had a T-Shirt company render the T-Shirts. (Of course, they were black with white art. To look like the street.) She made the art of such a size that the word 'ASSHOLE' would be near the hems and could be conveniently tucked into your pants if you wanted to offend less while wearing it. Go visit your mother, for example, wearing the shirt. (Of course, the T-Shirt guys adjusted the size of the art to avoid this 'problem'!)
I have no idea what became of SuRu's original drawing. Maybe it's still in the files of a T-Shirt shop. (Now also forgotten.) However, some of the T-Shirts survive with, perhaps, the only evidence of this public art. Think of the cat as maybe eight or ten feet high.
only the T-Shirt remains....that
I know of
Also of interest:
At the bottom of this hill, on the southwest corner of Lamar and Ninth, there is a marble memorial in the sidewalk to a person. I think the person was biking when killed here. I'm not sure.
What I don't remember well enough to write about it:
The guy who introduced us to what we came to call 'The Donna' knew a little about the owner of the cat and a friend of his friend showed him an album cover (I think) with similar art by the guy. I think the cat owner/artist was named Tom. I think the story was that this guy died in a car wreck where he was thrown from the car and, um, run over by another car. Really. I think that was the story. But, like I said, I don't know enough about it to write about it although, yeah, I just did. Somewhere I might have files with the postings on this subject. But, of course, I don't know where. Everything is fleeting, you know. History disappearing as it is made.
Your job, if you accept it:
If you know more about this, write to me and I'll post your version of the story. Or not. This is a pretty good story and a pretty good catch of 'vanishing Austin culture' anyway. Even with my poor memory. And this all happened before I started eXtreme dog walking with digital camera in hand to capture Austin as it changes.