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SPARK PARKS Spark the Imagination
Although Houston may be known for its many cultural and art museums, the handiwork of local artists can also be found in a not-so-usual location – school and neighborhood SPARK Parks, which grew from one woman’s inspiration.
Emancipation is a Park
During the summer between second and third grade, I fell hopelessly in love with cotton candy. That delicacy excelled as the most perfect experience in my then eight-year-old world. Watching it being made, then touching and finally tasting it was mesmerizing. The notion that a machine could spew out pink strands of sugar fascinated me. […]
Moody Park: From the Riots to the Future for the Northside Community
Moody Park stands four miles north of downtown in the heart of what Houstonians now call the Near Northside, an area that grew up in the 1890s, largely around the Southern Pacific rail yards. Development of the Irvington Addition, where Moody Park is located, started in the 1920s and continued into the 1930s. European immigrants, […]
Memorial Park: Nature’s 24 Hour Fitness
The first time I ever ran more than half a mile was during my freshman year at Dartmouth College when it seemed that half the campus was trying out for crew. I never made the team, but one of the things I took away from those weeks of training was a love of running. During […]
Square Dance — Houston Style
Many people do not realize that a cultural phenomenon has revolved around square dancing in Houston for almost seventy years. Square dance is a folk dance with four couples positioned in a square. Couples 1 and 3 are known as head couples, and couples 2 and 4 are known as side couples. A caller, who […]
The River Oaks Theater: Saved From the Wrecking Ball?
For over seventy years the River Oaks Theater has operated at 2009 West Gray in Houston’s affluent River Oaks community. Although the theater has changed over the years, it remains an integral part of Houston, the city’s culture and history, and of the movie industry in the second half of the twentieth century. The River […]
Postcards from Past Parks
Summer 1971: Driving from Quebec to Boston. Suzy and I slept in the Rambler last night on the side of a deserted road in the middle of Maine. No cars passed in the night, but a moose moseyed by early this morning. Today we made it to our first national park ever–Acadia, with its spectacular […]
8-F and Many More: Business and Civic Leadership in Houston
By Joe Pratt To click here to read the pdf of the full article.
Blue Bell: The Cream Rises to the Top
104 years, eight managers, and one family turned a down-home creamery in Brenham, Texas, into one of the most respected companies in the region and the country. The name Blue Bell has become synonymous with ice cream, and the little creamery in Brenham now sets the gold standard for ice cream production while retaining the […]
Sonny Look: A Humble Showman
I will never forget the first time I saw Sonny Look. My family went to Look’s Sir-Loin House to celebrate a special occasion in 1960, a time before eating out was common or Houston had become a national restaurant capitol. Not long after the hostess seated us, a man approached our table, a larger-than-life kind […]