Best Austin Gone-by Mosaic

Hatgil & Frary's Panorama, KTBC Fox 7 Building

See how the beacon of blue emanates from atop the lean red-and-white broadcast tower. Note the notes of blue and red along one odd, random line along the UT Tower, or the strange, askew triangle that caps the Capitol entrance, or how the Capitol dome looks more like the Florence Cathedral than the home of the Texas Lege. It's jazzy. It's angular. It reeks of its era – capital-M Modernist – in the best way possible. It's so Saul Bass, we almost expect it to spring to life in a credit sequence of a Sixties Austin spy film. It's Panorama, a lovely li'l jewel almost hidden from sight in the outdoor part of the entrance to Fox 7's lobby. (Yes, you can go see it at any time.) Artists Michael Frary and Paul Hatgil were commissioned to create the 8'x10' mosaic on behalf of Lady Bird Johnson, then-owner of KTBC and the building in 1955. The box lights, the planters … We swear, if someone tears it down, we are going to just scream. It's a gift from an Austin of days gone by. When Austin was a very Gay Place. God bless Lady Bird. God bless Texas.

Fox 7
119 E. 10th, 512/476-7777
www.myfoxaustin.com