Insiders Guide
The 411 on the secrets of H-Town
The LGBT community tends to love the arts, food and all the cultural events Houston has to offer, there is something to be said for enjoying the road less traveled. So, take a page out of the locals’ book and check out these far from ordinary ways to enjoy the Bayou City.
Art Car Museum
It’s hard to imagine anything more artistic on four wheels than what’s housed at the Art Car Museum. Often called the Garage Mahal, here you will find car creations that have to be seen to be believed. 140 Heights Blvd., Houston
Beer Can House
In 1968, John Milkovisch began what is now known as the Beer Can House. Once an upholsterer for the Southern Pacific Railroad, Milkovisch inlaid thousands of marbles, rocks, and metal pieces into concrete and redwood to create magical landscaping features. The biggest “Wow!” piece is the more than 50,000 cans adorning the siding of his house. 222 Malone Street, Houston
The Big Bubble
This attraction truly is hidden. There’s a red button hidden on the Preston Street Bridge that when pressed creates a big bubble in the bayou. Part art installation, part environmental feature, when the button is pressed, the water bubbles and churns, keeping the bayou from staying stagnant. 510 Preston St, Houston
David Adickes Studio
David Adickes’ work is literally larger than life with 43 gigantic busts of each American President he created for a museum. The cool part is that his workshop in Houston is open to the public. While not a formal “destination” per se, stopping by will afford you a peak at huge sculptures of the Beatles, former President Bush and maybe even Adickes himself at work. 2401 Nance St, Houston
Destination Mound Town (Hermann Park Train Tunnel)
Now this is something completely different. Houston artist Trenton Doyle Hancock has created a fantastical world on walls of the Hermann Park Railroad train. It’s calledDestination Mound Town and is filled with a group of mythical half-animal, half-plant characters. As you ride the train through the tunnel, you are treated to a day in the life of the Mounds from when the creatures first wake up to when they go to sleep at night. 6100 Hermann Park Dr., Houston
Eclectic Menagerie Park
The Eclectic Menagerie Park is a collection of 26 massive sculptures created by Ron Lee. He manufactures the over-sized versions of animals and a few machines using the company’s leftover pipes and equipment as materials. The creations reside outside of the pipe company and include a daddy long legs spider, a King Kong hanging from a crane and a crow-man made of metal. 2330 Holmes Road, Houston
Field of Vision
Sitting just around the corner from Project Row Houses this sculpture garden is a quarter-block long and was created by Houston-native Bert L. Long, Jr. The installation includes forty eyes atop forty pedestals, hence the name – Field of Vision. Bastrop & Elgin Streets, Houston
Glenwood Cemetery
There’s something intensely serene and wistful about a stroll through the cemetery. And if you believe in life beyond this one, Glenwood is a great place for star sightings of the afterworld kind with a number of illustrious guests, including politicians, wildly successful men of oil, and the famed aviator, engineer, and director Howard Hughes. 2525 Washington Ave.
James Turrell Skyspace
Seventy-third in the series, Turrell’s Twilight Epiphany is an experiential art installation located on Rice University’s campus. The structure offers a square opening to the sky, framed by LED lights that complement the natural light and allow for a reflective interaction with the natural world. Sometimes accompanied by music, the experience can be quite a show.
National Museum of Funeral History
This morbid museum has the tagline, “every day above ground is a good one.” If all things afterlife is your thing, then you will likely love the National Museum of Funeral History. The museum features a 1921 RockFalls hearse, fantasy coffins, Civil War embalming, 1900s casket factory and funeral artifacts. 415 Barren Springs Dr.
The Orange Show
You aren’t going to see this anywhere else. Made of found objects, including wagon wheels, mannequins and tractor seats as well as brick, concrete and steel, the 3,000-square-foot Orange Show Monument was built by a former Houston postman as an homage to his beloved orange. 2401 Munger St.
Waugh Bridge Bat Colony
Austin isn’t the only Texas city with a massive bat colony. Between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive, you can catch a show of the dark and winged kind on Montrose’s Waugh Bridge. The northeast bank of the bayou and the platform southeast of the bridge are the best spot to catch a view of this amazing sight of about a quarter-million Mexican free-tailed bats.
