Cullen Center Renewal & Rebranding: 1700 Smith @ 600 Jefferson

Up next for rebranding and renumbering: 

The 600 Jefferson Tower 

600 Jefferson facade with 500 Jefferson Cullen Center
Street name signage 

The Crowne Plaza Re-Rebranding Back

to The Whitehall is part & parcel of the 

Cullen Center rejuvination concept 

On the way to Part & Parcel at The Whitehall 

Part & Parcel sidewalk view of patio bar & restaurant 

The Whitehall with a strobe of psychedelic blue LED light 

Quite white indeed: The Whitehall, formerly Crowne Plaza Hotel

Mosbacher Monument and renamed Preston Street Bridge

Preston Street Bridge (also known as Preston Ave Bridge earlier in history) was renamed in 2016 to honor the late former US Secretary of Commerce and Texas oil man Robert A. Mosbacher Sr. Portraits in bronze bass-relief (frontal and profile) are installed on red brick pylons on the West end of the bridge, with a bit of biographic information. 

Preston Street prior to renaming in August 2015;
Franklin Street Post Office Building center back.

The plaque at the mid-point of the Bayou span was also replaced to reflect the name change. This bridge also features turquois pipe-sized rails on both sides, which were unaffected by the rechristening. 

New Name Plaque 

The only connection between the bridge and the politician appears to be commerce. As one of the earliest Buffalo Bayou crossing points, the original version of the Preston Ave bridge played a key role in local commerce by making the then small Town of Houston accessible from the West.  

Six of the "Seven Wonders" art installation at The Wortham Center
seen across Mosbacher Bridge looking East 

OLD BRIDGE NAME PLAQUE 
(1998)

EVEN OLDER BRIDGE NAME PLATE 

(1914)

Historic Preston Avenue Bridge marker
(on display at The Spaghetti Warehouse) 

Revention (not Invention) at Bayou Place

Following a change in corporate sponsorship, the performance venue at Bayou Center that had been known as the Verizon Wireless Theater is now Revention Music Center.  

Revention Music Center 

 520 Texas St, Houston, TX 77002

Live at Bayou Place 

Read press release here ("HOUSTON, Aug. 11, 2015 / PRNewswire -- Live Nation Entertainment and Revention today announced a new multi-year naming rights deal to the premier indoor music theater located in downtown Houston. The new venue name is Revention Music Center.")

BELOW: ARCHIVAL PIC OF BAYOU PLACE PERFORMANCE VENUE WHEN IT WAS KNOWN AS VERIZON WIRELESS THEATER  

El Big Bad Swordfish Restaurant - Third incarnation of Tex-Mex on corner of Prairie and Travis

419 Travis Street

Very nice two-level building with balcony seating 

in the heart of historic Houston

The new El Big Bad Signage partially conceals its predecessor: Pepperjack
The suspended swordfish did duty when the restaurant space was Cabo's and Pepperjack

El Big Bag sign on door prior to grand opening
with reflection of Lyric Centre Skycraper and Calpine Center in the glass,
which are located West of the two-story historic restaurant property

The New (old) Sam Houston Hotel after re-rebranding back to its original name (formerly Alden Hotel)

What until recently was Alden Hotel is now Sam Houston Hotel again, which is the original name that never disappeared from the side walls of the old red-brick building in the heart of Downtown Houston."The Sam" for short. And it's not just the hotel that's undergone a form of re-branding that also marks a return to the roots. 

The spruced-up modern look of the "new" Sam Houston Hotel (previously Alden)

There is a Sam Bar too, to toast the iconic founding father and take a sip in his honor.  

The Sam Bar with a couple of tables on the sidewalk

The red and black coloring scheme at the front entrance is nice, not to mention eye-catching, but the name sign on the corner is drab and neither inspiring (lot of buzz about Houston being inspired these days), nor evocative of times past. What would Sam think about the rectangular shingle with anything but historic lettering? 

Corner view of historic Sam Houston Hotel