<\/p>\n
The \u201cworld\u2019s largest cowboy boots\u201d outside North Star Mall in 2022. The giant boot sculpture is one of San Antonio\u2019s most recognizable landmarks.<\/p>\n
San Antonio Express-News file photo<\/p>\n
Crews led by artist Bob Wade, who designed the \u201cworld\u2019s largest cowboy boots\u201d are\u00a0shown installing the sculpture in 1979 outside North Star Mall. Mall ownership titled the sculpture \u201cThe Giant\u00a0Justins.\u201d<\/p>\n
COURTESY PHOTO\/Courtesy photo<\/p>\n
Western mural artist Stylle Read touches up the iconic giant boot sculpture outside North Star Mall in 2006.<\/p>\n
NICOLE FRUGE\/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS<\/p>\n
A nighttime view of \u201cThe Giant\u00a0Justins\u201d outside North Star Mall on Nov. 11, 2013.<\/p>\n
Edward A. Ornelas\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Nearly 47 years ago, one of San Antonio\u2019s most recognizable landmarks made its way to Texas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The giant cowboy boot sculpture outside North Star Mall has received worldwide attention since its 1979 creation. It\u2019s made a few roadside attraction lists and its true measurements have been the subject of some minor debate.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s San Antonio Explained takes a closer look at \u201cThe Giant Justins\u201d sculpture, the artist who created it and the bidding war that got the boots to the Alamo City.<\/p>\n
ALSO READ: San Antonio Explained: The history and enduring legacy of Tejano classic ‘Las Nubes’<\/a><\/p>\n Oversized art<\/p>\n Texas artist Bob \u201cDaddy-O\u201d Wade created the 40-foot-tall sculpture<\/a> in 1979 as part of a Washington, D.C. initiative called the Washington Project for the Arts. Wade\u2019s public art exhibit was titled \u201cStudy of Giant Cowboy Boots.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Organizers of the project reportedly reached out to Wade requesting he create something representative of his unique style. They paid him $7,000<\/a> to make his creation and found a vacant lot where he could begin erecting his work.<\/p>\n Wade, known for an uninhibited, offbeat style that often was depicted in oversized sculptures of Texas symbols, made the boots out of mostly donated materials, according to newspaper archives. Covered with urethane foam and painted to look like ostrich skin, the boots were molded onto a steel frame that could be disassembled and put back together.\u00a0<\/p>\n Besides the boots, one of the Austin-born artist\u2019s best-known works includes a 40-foot-long iguana that was once perched atop the Lone Star Cafe in New York and later adorned the rooftop of a veterinary hospital at the Fort Worth Zoo. Some of his other oversized public art include a 70-foot-tall saxophone in Houston and 10-foot-tall dancing frogs in Dallas.<\/p>\n Wade\u2019s \u201cGiant Cowboy Boots\u201d were on display in the nation\u2019s capital for about five months before the artwork went up for sale.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Reflecting on his eye-catching boot sculpture in a 2009 interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Wade called it a tribute to Texas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe called it a monument in a city of monuments,\u201d Wade said. \u201cThis particular one was a monument to the cowboy boot.\u201d<\/p>\n Trek to Texas<\/p>\n The Rouse Company, which owned North Star Mall, bought the boots for $20,000, following a bidding war with other Texas sites. The cost is roughly $80,000 in today\u2019s dollars.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The boots were dismantled and transported to San Antonio atop three flatbed 18-wheelers. The truck drivers reportedly had to take the back roads the last leg of their journey after getting stuck under a highway overpass, archives show.<\/p>\n The boots were assembled outside the mall, facing Loop 410 and near the area of the mall that later housed\u00a0Saks Fifth Avenue. The boots were officially unveiled on Jan. 16, 1980.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: San Antonio Explained: How murals become a part of local culture, history<\/a><\/p>\n Biggest boots<\/p>\n Mall ownership gave the boots \u201cThe Giant\u00a0Justins\u201d moniker, and for years the boots were touted as measuring 40 feet high and 30 feet from heel to toe, according to newspaper archives.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Though Guinness World Records officially named the sculpture the \u201clargest cowboy boots\u201d<\/a> in 2014, the boots don\u2019t quite measure up to the 40-foot billing.<\/p>\n Guinness, the widely recognized record-keeping authority, says the boots are 35 feet and 3 inches high, 33 feet from heel to toe and nine feet wide.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wade once quipped<\/a> that each boot is big enough to hold 300,000 gallons of beer.<\/p>\n