Going back in time; New mural pays tribute to the theater’s history
Published 10:24 am Thursday, July 14, 2016
- An old mural, painted on the side of the Historic Paramount Theatre, has recently been restored, bringing back an extra sense of history. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
After years of mere thoughts, ideas and a failed attempt, volunteer Jim Burroughs is happy to say a project to restore a mural on the side of Paramount Theatre is complete.
“It just stayed as a to-do project for many years,” Burroughs said.
Greg Wimmer, an artist based out of Rochester, completed work on the project two weeks ago.
He spent three days painting a revised version of the original mural, which appeared on the building when it first opened in September of 1929.
“It looks great,” Burroughs said. “Greg Wimmer does exquisite work.”
The mural is also a tribute to the history of the theater. The mural features two stars which say “Publix” inside of them. Publix was the company that originally owned Paramount Pictures and thereby Paramount Theater.
“[We added] it for historical purpose,” Burroughs said.
A mural grant, which matched donations received by the Paramount, helped make the restoration possible.
In these before and after images, the first shows the original mural, barely visible above the roof of Austin Parks, Recreation and Forestry. The below image is the newly restored mural. Top photo provided, bottom by Eric Johnson photodesk@austindailyherald.com
