.................. Houston in Pics

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Buffalo Bayou at the Franklin, Smith, and Louisiana Triangle

Houston version of Lone Star

Backside of the bridge-mounted "Welcome to Houston" installation
at confluence of Smith Street and Louisiana at Franklin St.

Bayou Bridge - Chase Drive up Bank with northern tail of Downtown Skyline

Monday, March 28, 2016

1301 Fannin - White Office Building with horizontal slot windows

1301 Fannin Office Building (March 2016)

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Four holes in the roof - by design

THE ENRON LEGACY,

ARCHITECTURALLY SPEAKING

1500 Louisiana Office Tower - Now Chevron

Friday, March 18, 2016

Vintage Clocks and Clocktowers around Town

Main at Texas Post Clock

Clock tower on the edge of Market Square Park
(SE corner of Travis and Congress Street)

Vintage Seth Thomas clockworks inside the clock tower

History of City Hall Tower and Bell explained

Clocktower with functional Seth Thomas clock and bell

Tribute to the Friedmans

Friedman Clock Tower

Guess what this is? (Not a surrealist painting)

City Hall Clock

Campanile building on Montrose Blvd North of Richmond

Clocktower on the SW Fwy in Greenway Plaza area

Historic Sweeney Clock in Houston's Theater District

Sweeney Clock at the Hobby Center in the Theater District
(Jan 2013 photo)

Clocktower Building on Allen Parkway near Dunlavy

Clocktower Office Building with stand of palm trees - D'Amico and Allen Parkway

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Sirius sky vistas on the West Loop

Monday, March 7, 2016

Houston Skyline Appreciation from Eleanor Tinsley Park

Eleanor Tinsley Park is a wide open space on the banks of Buffalo Bayou that serves as an occasional flood-mitigation reservoir and as a recreation area all year round. The overlook adjoining the small parking lot accessible from the West-bound lane of Allen Parkway affords a grand view of the Houston Skyline, superior to others because the foreground is dominated by the greens of the grass and the trees on the lower bank of the bayou.

Special event at Eleanor Tinsley Park: Rodeo Run 2016

The skyscrapers in the distance tower over the verdant riparian treeline, rather than over roofs of low-slung structures. There will likely be joggers, cyclists, and dogs and kids frolicking on the grass, or groups of young people playing volleyball on the sand field. The area is large and popular. It is also suitable for picnics, but there are no restrooms, which is shocking for an urban park that regularly draws so many visitors.

The natural palette of colors depends on the time of the day and the time of the year. Sunsets make for good illumination of the skyline because the sun sets on the upstream side of the bayou and the rays come in low and golden late in the afternoon. (The Rosemont foot bridge is another great spot from which to behold the skyline, albeit farther to the West, with commensurate diminution of the Downtown skyscrapers from that vantage point).

During the cold season, the grass is not always green and the hue of the sky obviously also varies. But the vista is always scenic except right after a major flooding event, which brings down loads of trash from the ditches and storm sewers upstream, some of which will be deposited on trees, shrubs, and bayou-side grassland, such as the Eleanor Tinsley basin, that comes under water only temporarily.

Rodeo Run Finish at Tinsley Park

The park is named to honor a long-time City of Houston council member. A number of event also take place in Eleanor Tinsley Park, most famously the Free Press Summer Fest. Unlike events at Miller Outdoor Theater and Discovery Green, the music festival is not free, notwithstanding the appearance of that word in the name.

FPH (Free Press Houston) Poster at dripped nail shop
near its office on Lower Westheimer

Free Press is an artsy newspaper with its headquarters on Lower Westheimer in Montrose. It is probably fair to say that the annual Free Press music event constitutes a much richer contribution to the cultural scene than the paper itself. Houston's leading alternative newspaper is the weekly Houston Press, which is distributed through numerous metal boxes on sidewalks (can't call them vending boxes, for the paper is free) and through racks at innumerable restaurants and other venues.