All my friends know the low rider

Texas lowrider cars and bikes cruise low and slow into Austin museum

The Bullock Texas State History Museum lowrider exhibit

Seven cars, five bikes, and other lowrider artifacts are going to be on display at the Bullock Museum.

Photo courtesy of the Bullock Texas State History Museum

A cool car is captivating in any culture, but lowriders form a cultural niche of their own. From Los Angeles to Laredo, these Mexican-American cultural touchstones aren't just entertaining either — they're fine works of art and sometimes even of engineering.

The Bullock Texas State History Museum is celebrating lowriders in the exhibit Carros y Cultura: Lowriding Legacies in Texas, opening May 11 and running through September 2, 2024. The exhibit is in both English and Spanish, and represents the culture in a number of media including seven cars, five bikes, other artifacts from music, fashion, and beyond. These hail from San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Laredo, Pecos, and other regions. There will also be some "interactive experiences."

Visitors to the exhibit can see a gold-plated ’63 Chevy Impala, a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme featuring a portrait of Mexican ranchera singer Vicente Fernández, and a 1972 Schwinn Fastback bicycle honoring Whataburger with gold-plated french fries.

The exhibit traces the art back to the early years after World War II in California, where Chicanos were altering cars to sit low to the ground and cruise around slowly, showing off the art and enjoying the ride.

The Smithsonian explains the reason for the reduced height: "Mexican Americans were purposefully altering their cars—Chevys, which were in surplus at the time and designed with an X on the bottom that made them easy to modify were especially popular—so that, unlike the “hot and fast” hot rods, their cars would be “low and slow.”

Laws emerged limiting how low cars could get, but these vehicles were already a symbol of the Chicano civil rights movement. Mechanics worked around the laws with hydraulic systems that could raise or lower the car as needed — hence the bouncing that became a staple in music videos.

Car styles, like any art, are cyclical, and a resurgence happened in the 70s — although the museum doesn't mention the 90s (thanks, gangsta rappers) — eventually evolving into the competition culture we recognize today.

“Immensely creative and endlessly kind, Texas lowriders standout among a larger car culture that is admired and imitated worldwide,” said Bullock senior curator Kathryn Siefker. “The Bullock Museum is honored to spotlight theTexas lowriding community and to share its rich legacy.”

The exhibit also centers lowriders in the other sense — the driver, not the car. This is especially interesting in distinguishing Texan culture from the Californian art it was born from, leaning on recorded interviews with people still upholding the community. There will also be in-person events including expert talks, activities for kids, and workshops for teens.

An event on July 7, as part of the H-E-B Free First Sundays series, will offer a full day of free museum admission, plus lowrider programming including an airbrushing workshop and hydraulics and coding demos.

More information about Carros y Cultura: Lowriding Legacies in Texas is available at thestoryoftexas.com.

cars arts mexican culture museums galleries

New

Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

museums galleries history texas