Trip 8 – Big Thicket – Day 2 – 26 August 2018

I had been in Houston in April, when I shot the Harris County courthouse with the Vespa as the steed of choice.  I had been regretting that the way I had done it resulted in what I call “ant pictures”, in which the subject is so small you can’t even make out what it is.  I had some ideas on how to do it better, and I also wanted to shoot some pix of downtown Houston that I did not have time for before, so I set out bright and early on Sunday morning to revisit my hometown.

This time I successfully managed to find Memorial Drive into Houston – it looks EXACTLY the same as it did 50 years ago – in fact the road surface even looks to be original.  It is uncanny…

Memorial Drive at 610

Upon arriving downtown…

Dancers on Building – Houston
San Jacinto headed toward the courthouse

Alternatives to ant pix…justice now done for the Vespa, this being the only courthouse shoot it gets to attend…

Harris County – Houston

View from the front of the Harris County courthouse
Taco stand opposite the courthouse!  Must be some prime real estate for a taco stand…

These two inscriptions were in the sidewalk across the street from the courthouse:

Goo-goo eyes ordinance, 1905 – Not guilty, your honor…

1910 courthouse occupying the entire block
Coming into town across the bayou

After reshooting the courthouse area, I set off to prowl around town.  Here’s what I found:

Headed out of town on Fannin
Mural
Majestic Metro stop
What can you say about that?
Now THAT’s a skylight!

Houston Bahai Center
No loitering!

I had some time to kill before a lunch date with old friend John (Jay) Nelson, so I decided to pay a visit to my alma mater, the University of Houston, which gave me my BA, but did little to inspire alumnus enthusiasm.  It was MUCH nicer than I had recollected…

Roy Cullen building
The U of H cougar mascot.
I sure hope Ezekiel Cullen was right about this…

Well, heading back into town, I stumbled into a veritable cornucopia of murals and street art, beginning with the law offices of Tim Hootman.

Around Pease Street, murals, murals, murals!

So I had lunch with John Nelson in town, negotiated the hellish ride (on the Vespa) out Westheimer to Spring Branch, then met my old friend James Horwitz (candidate for Judge in the upcoming election – VOTE HORWITZ!, you’ll be proud you did).  Tomorrow back on the open road…

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