Shirley Erskin, a beloved personality on Sixth Street.
David Holman is among a small segment of people in the downtown Austin homeless community who have been weathering the COVID-19 storm together. I often see David at his regular spot on Sixth Street, where the shuttering of bars and businesses due to coronavirus lockdown restrictions turned this busy thoroughfare into a shell of its former self. On May 22, bars began reopening with 25 percent capacity, bringing a sudden burst of life back to Sixth Street.
David says he’s leaving Austin and heading to North Carolina to catch up with his daughter whom he hasn’t seen in 13 years. To pay his travel expenses, he’s just waiting on the arrival of his $1,200 coronavirus stimulus check.
Fifth Street, East Austin, Texas.
Sixth Street, Austin, Texas
The works of gifted artist Mjumbe (Benny Sorrells) may be seen via Art from the Streets (www.artfromthestreets.org), a free and open studio in Austin, Texas, that serves the homeless community.
Lee, Aug. 24, 2018, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas.
Marcus Wilson, a 19-year-old student at Austin Community College, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas.
Aug. 22, 2018, portrait of David Watkins on South Congress Avenue. David is living on the streets of Austin, Texas.
Daniel Berringer, near downtown Austin, Texas. I met Daniel on a Thursday evening on Seventh Street, just east of Interstate 35. We talked for a while, and Daniel filled in a few details of his life: As a younger man, he worked for a time as an assistant manager at a computer supply warehouse. Now homeless and subsistent on disability checks, he’s living on Austin’s streets. He’ll turn 61 on July 12 — or, as he prefers to see it, 16, with the numbers transposed.
Johnny Rivera, a longtime fixture on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas, sits outside Esther's Follies where he regularly helps shepherd traffic past the comedy club's signature sidewalk window.
Nowhere is the relationship between man (and woman) and machine more poignant than during the annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally, which brings thousands of motorcyclists to Austin.
Running Wolf with his dog, Spade.
Running Wolf with his dog, Spade.
Sideshow performer Juan G. Martinez, South Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas
Shirley, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas
Sixth Street, Austin, Texas
Will, at Sixth Street and Interstate 35 frontage road in Austin, Texas
Manson Alexander, downtown Austin, Texas, Seventh Street and Interstate 35 bridge
Robert, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas
Pedicab driver, Austin, Texas
Pedicab driver, Austin, Texas
Pedicab driver, Austin, Texas
Pedicab drivers, Austin, Texas
Richard, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas
Robert, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas
Johnny Hardwick, the voice of conspiracy theorist Dale Gribble on the cartoon comedy “King of the Hill.”
Trumpet player Dionisio Robinson
Trumpet player Dionisio Robinson
Johnny Hardwick, the voice of conspiracy theorist Dale Gribble on the cartoon comedy “King of the Hill.”
Soco Joe on Elizabeth Street
SÍGNY performs a sublime version of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” during the Pecan Street Festival in downtown Austin.
SoCo Joe, who is homeless, is a permanent, beloved fixture in the South Congress Avenue District in Austin, Texas. Two years ago, Joe was hit by a car and suffered extensive injuries, including a broken hip for which he underwent surgery. He ambles along with the help of a wheelchair that serves the dual purpose of carrying his possessions and providing balance as he walks.
I first met Joe in December 2016, on Annie Street just off South Congress Avenue (SoCo). As we were chatting, a neighbor spotted us and shouted out, “Joe, you’re a celebrity!”
As crowds of people walk past, a boy and his dog seem lost in their thoughts on New Year's Eve on South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas.
A street musician named Smoky reflects on his harmonica-playing career that has spanned 4 1/2 decades. Smoky played for crowds of people strolling South Congress Avenue on New Year's Eve 2016 in Austin, Texas.
Brian, a young homeless man living on the streets of downtown Austin, Texas, struggled to stay warm during a cold front that brought freezing temperatures to the capital city shortly before Christmas.
I met Caster, a homeless man living on the streets of downtown Austin, Texas, on a bitterly cold December afternoon near Congress Avenue and Seventh Street. Just a few days earlier, I had met Caster's dog, Daria, and Caster's wife, a woman named Cat.
I met Cat, a homeless woman living on the streets of downtown Austin, Texas, in mid-December. Cat's dog, Daria, sat quietly in Cat's lap, watching human and vehicular traffic pass by on Sixth Street as Cat and I talked.
Adam, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas
Edward, Sixth Street, Austin, Texas
Wendy Nghixulifwa, an international student at Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri, poses for a photo with Santa: cowboy Samuel Grey Horse. Santa and his trusty steed, Mula, posed for photo after photo on Dec. 22, 2016, just south of the Texas Capitol before heading downtown on Congress Avenue.
Santa Claus, a cowboy named Samuel Grey Horse, rides his beloved Mula down Congress Avenue in downtown Austin, Texas, on Dec. 22, 2016.
Sixth Street portrait: Shirley
Santa and Mula gallop away from the Paramount Theatre on Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas.
There were smiles and photo ops galore on Dec. 22, 2016, as Santa and Mula clip-clopped their way down Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas.
Santa and Mula reach the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge in downtown Austin during rush-hour traffic.
As traffic zips by, Santa and Mula pose for a classic Austin shot on the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge.
Their work of good cheer done for the day, Santa and Mula head for home.
In June 2016, near dusk, I came upon this worker at the corner of South Congress Avenue and Annie Street near downtown Austin. He took a few minutes away from his precision nail-gun work on what would soon be a new restaurant to strike this most regal pose — the stature of a hard-working man.
On many an evening on South Congress Avenue, tourists can hear the elegant trumpet notes played by Dionisio Robinson.
“I sing a melody with the trumpet to slide the notes,” Robinson says. “I'm not fighting with the instrument.”