photo by: Contributed Photo/Mary Walthall

Artist Mary Walthall stands in front of the finished Love Garage near the University of Kansas campus.

Lawrence loves its local color, says artist Mary Walthall, and there’s one spot of color near the University of Kansas campus that’s all about love.

It’s the door of the “Love Garage” on the east side of Mississippi Street, near the stadium, which has gone through several changes through the years but has often sported bright red paint and “love” written in cursive.

It’s part graffiti tag, part mural, part photo backdrop. And Walthall and the property’s current owner recently gave it a makeover, with two new doors to replace the worn-out old one and an all-new design.

“We are a community that does love this town and all its little quirks,” Walthall said. “And people identify with that love.”

The property owner, Mike Heitmann, has had the garage for about four years, but he knows the “love” goes back much further than that.

“Many decades ago, someone painted ‘love’ on it, and since that time, just random people have come in and kind of repainted it and painted the word ‘love’ on it again,” he said.

How many decades ago? That depends on who you ask.

photo by: Contributed

A couple pose in front of the Love Garage in this photo submitted to the Journal-World in 2013.

The previous owners of the property, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Journal-World that they left the garage unused for years. The house it’s connected to is up the hill from Mississippi Street, and it was more convenient to park up there. It looked abandoned and accumulated graffiti, until one of the owners took a few cans of red spray paint and painted over all of it.

They don’t remember when that was, but they do remember that someone added the cursive “love” to the door in 2006, and after that, they didn’t have a graffiti problem anymore.

Heitmann said he recalls “love” graffiti on the door even before that: “To the best of my knowledge, it was like 40 years ago or something like that. I remember when I was in college, back in the late ’80s, it said ‘love’ on it.”

The previous owners said there may have been graffiti then, but it wasn’t the “love” that people who know the garage think of.

They remember two other versions of the design appearing after the original one from 2006: one that read “love more,” and a COVID-era variant that they referred to as “love at 6 feet,” with two “love”s on a white background and 6 feet of social distancing marked between them. They replaced the door before that one was painted, because it was in disrepair.

At least one time, “love” has also completely vanished from the door. The Journal-World reported in 2013 that the door had been painted over in blue and the words “Risk for Adventure” were spray-painted on it.

The previous owners didn’t paint the “love” designs themselves, and they would normally find out what was new on their door from other people who passed it on Mississippi Street.

photo by: Contributed

A couple pose in front of the Love Garage in this photo submitted to the Journal-World in 2013.

By the time Heitmann bought the property, “the doors and the whole garage were in pretty bad shape.” But he’s completely restored the garage over the past couple of years. “We poured a new roof on it, new hand railing, new steps,” he said. He also tuck-pointed the garage to stabilize it, and, of course, built new doors.

Heitmann said he still has the previous door in storage, but that it was “totally rotted out.”

After installing the new doors, Heitmann got in touch with Walthall, whom Heitmann’s partner knew, and said, “Hey, we want to put ‘love’ back on the garage.'”

At first, they just wanted the word “love,” Walthall said. She came up with several different designs, but for the last one, she thought, “Well, it’d be really cool if I added a skyline or did something a little bit different.” So she added the silhouettes of the Campanile, David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium and other KU buildings to the bottom of the door in blue.

The painting itself was finished last week. It didn’t take too long, just a couple of sessions. Walthall said the construction nearby on the stadium actually helped, because there were cones blocking parts of the street and she could set up a projector there to guide her work.

Walthall wanted to bring back the red of the first iteration of the door: “I really wanted to go back to the original red, because I feel like that’s the iconic color for that door,” she said. But she preferred a capital L over the lowercase one that previous designs used, and for an extra flourish she used a sunflower in place of the “o.”

photo by: Contributed Photo/Mary Walthall

Mary Walthall paints the new design for the Love Garage doors.

photo by: Contributed Photo/Mary Walthall

Mary Walthall paints the new design for the Love Garage doors.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

The “Love” on the new Love Garage features a sunflower in place of the “o.”

She says the new design is already getting attention, and she’s learned more about its history from people who loved it in the past.

“I’ve seen lots of friends that have posted pictures of it through the years,” Walthall said. “And now, as much as it’s taken off on social media, I’ve seen a lot of pictures and a lot of people have shared more about the history of it.”

She posted a time-lapse video of the painting process on her business’ social media, and wherever it’s been shared, people have been sharing their own memories of the door.

One person said they had a family tradition of taking photos there for Valentine’s Day cards. Another had made a custom-painted headboard for his wife that resembled the door. On a community Facebook group, people posted engagement photos and family pictures with all of the previous “love” variants.

“I’ve seen a few where they either did engagement pictures or their wedding pictures there, and then they’ve taken future pictures with their kids and their growing family, and that’s really cool,” Walthall said. “You know, their love, and then what becomes of that.”

The previous owners said that although the garage had been their property, it was really something that belonged more to the community. And Heitmann, as the current owner, wants to make sure that the tradition endures.

“I hope people recognize it and take photos in front of it, just because it’s a neat piece of history,” Heitmann said.

“We’re happy to carry on the tradition of the Love Garage,” he added, “and hope everyone enjoys it.”

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

The new Love Garage design is pictured on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, near the University of Kansas campus.