Houston City Hall @ W5RAN

W5RAN featured my picture of the 1939 Art Deco Houston City Hall for a while today. But on the Internet, is there a "today," I mean, really, or for that matter, a tomorrow?? Perhaps it depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.

In search of Route 66 (journey's end)

From whence I came:

Carrizozo, New Mexico
Vaughn, New Mexico
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
Tucumcari, New Mexico
San Jon, New Mexico/Adrian, Texas/Vega, Texas
Amarillo, Texas
McLean, Texas
Shamrock, Texas


Shamrock

Besides the fact Old Route 66 goes right through the middle of Shamrock, Texas, the draw for me was the Tower Conoco Station/U Drop-Inn. There's a lot more information about it here, but it is a restored Art Deco service station built in 1936. It was later used as the inspiration for Ramone's body shop in Cars. I timed my arrival in town so I could get pictures of it in the sunlight and at night once the neon came on.








A recorded Texas Historic Landmark, Shamrock's water tower is supposed to be the tallest one in the state.









Good things come to those who wait:

Houston City Hall

In downtown Houston, the 1939, Art Deco City Hall buidling, designed by architect Joseph Finger:



Ceiling murals by artist Daniel MacMorris:


I thought this one looked familiar:
Houston Deco: Modernistic Architecture of the Texas Coast
The lawgivers grille, including Hammurabi and Thomas Jefferson:




More pics of City Hall

Gulf Coast Deco XII

Liberty County Courthouse, 1931 (Liberty)



Temple of Rest, Beth Israel Cemetery, 1935
(Houston's Fourth Ward*)



*Had a surreal experience as I tried to get a decent picture of the Temple of Rest. The Temple of Rest is a historic Houston landmark because it was designed by architect Joseph Finger, who is also buried there. The Beth Israel Cemetery is the first Jewish burial ground in Texas. It was established in 1844. So it is a very old part of Houston. The area's historic name is the Fourth Ward and it has a reputation, I think, for being a rough neighborhood at some point in its history. I happened to drive down an alley in the neighborhood pictured above, and drove past a gang a group of five or six young men who were sitting on the backdoor stoop of a house backed-up onto the alley. One of the young men either flashed the neighborhood sign or signaled to me he was "holding" as I drove slowly past him and his friends in that tight little alley. For a brief, terrifying moment I didn't know what to do. Do I wave? Do I acknowledge him at all? I figured it probably wouldn't be wise to flash him the sign back, seeing as I wasn't one of the gang members one of his pals. So I kept looking straight, straight ahead, with both hands planted firmly on the steering wheel.

Chambers County Courthouse, 1936 (Anahuac)



Goose Creek Federal Building and Post Office, 1937 (Baytown)



Eldorado Ballroom, 1939 (Houston)

The good old days.

1837 Branard St., 1939 (Houston)


First National Bank of Goose Creek, 1941 (Baytown)



Sixth Church of Christ, Scientist, 1941 (Houston)


According to Houston Deco, this place is endangered. There's also a picture of the cornerstone with the word "COLORED" engraved in it.

St. Joseph Catholic Church, Late Gothic Deco, 1958 (Baytown)



What has come before:

Gulf Coast Deco

Gulf Coast Deco II

Gulf Coast Deco III

Gulf Coast Deco IV

Gulf Coast Deco V

Gulf Coast Deco VI

Gulf Coast Deco VII

Gulf Coast Deco VIII

Gulf Coast Deco IX

Gulf Coast Deco X

Gulf Coast Deco XI

Vintage gas in Lufkin

These are a couple of old and older gas stations I've driven past numerous times in Lufkin. They are both fairly vintage, and it's nice to have things like this so close to home - a lot less driving!

I think this one must have been a Gulf:
I know for a fact this one is a Humble Oil, Art Deco, and built around 1930:

It is virtually identical to this one in Houston, which is Station No. 157: