GPS City GuideAnn ArborThe Bookstore Mural

Stop 6 of 34 · Ann Arbor audio walking tour

The Bookstore Mural

downtown Ann Arbor · 1984 · Painted bookish faces mural

What you'll hear here: about a minute on what happened at The Bookstore Mural and around downtown Ann Arbor — the audio starts on its own when you walk into range.

Look up at the wall of painted faces Richard Wolk brought to this Ann Arbor corner in 1984. Commissioned by David's Books, it sprawls across the side of the building at 300 South State Street and is one of the city's most well-known pieces of public art. The mural is approximately 60 by 20 feet (18 by 6 m) and shows headshots that, at first glance, seem familiar: Woody Allen, Edgar Allan Poe, Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, and Anaïs Nin.

One of the most notable things about this work is that the subjects are not easily identifiable, and even the piece's name is not settled in stone. The long, painted faces have watched over a building that was built in 1901 and has housed David's Books, the Kenmore Restaurant, and Discount Records, where a young Iggy Pop worked before he moved to Chicago. The property has been managed by Oxford Company since 2000, and Potbelly Sandwich Works has occupied the building since 2003.

See how many of those long painted faces you can actually name, and guess why the title still isn't settled.

Where it is

Coordinates
42.2793, -83.741
Area
downtown Ann Arbor
Era
1984 · Painted bookish faces mural
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Three stops free. No account needed. The audio plays itself as you walk.