Cockrell Hill is just one square mile. Legendary blues guitarist, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, put it on the map.
"Stevie wrote 'first band performance' on the back of the photo," Cockrell Hill Mayor Luis Carrera said looking at photos in a book. "It's a biography of Stevie Ray Vaughan."
Vaughan's first stage performance was at the Hill Theater in Cockrell Hill. "It's right here at the corner," Carrera said. "Basically where I'm sitting."
The theater is no longer there, but now a new park bearing Vaughan's name is.
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"This property was special," Carrera said. "Nowhere else in Texas, anywhere else, can anyone claim that Stevie Ray Vaughan, the famous Stevie Ray Vaughan, played here."
His first gig was when he was 12 years old with his brother, Jimmie. The photo of the occasion is part of a mural timeline highlighting moments and places in Vaughan's life.
"You go anywhere in Dallas, you're gonna hear Stevie Ray playing on a jukebox," muralist Steve Hunter said as he painted. "This is a work in progress."
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Hunter said he first started listening to Vaughan's music when he moved to Texas.
"Well, I'm from Scotland originally, as you might have guessed. The accent is not Texas," Hunter said. "My favorite track of his is 'Riviera Paradise'. He doesn't say a word. It's a 9-minute solo, but the things he did with a guitar...it's incredible, it's beautiful. Nine minutes go by in about three seconds!"
The new park includes parking for food trucks and a stage to grow new talent.
"I believe that once people realize what the importance of the property is, that we're preserving history in a way, that people will come and enjoy it," Carrera said.
The grand opening of Stevie Ray Vaughan Park at 4332 W. Jefferson is from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 22. There will be music, food trucks, and arts and crafts.
