Sunday, September 09, 2007

Hidden Downtown Houston Treasures

My daughter and I decided to go to one of the many fall events downtown. We received this great mailer with a whole calendar of downtown activities for September, October and November. So today we went to Heritage Family Day at The Heritage Society. If you've never been to see the old homes near Allen Parkway, on the edge of downtown, you should. They are such an interesting part of our city's history.

My plan was to do a tour of the old homes but we got there it started to rain. So all we saw was the oldest of the houses, The Old Place, before going into the museum. Inside they had activities going on like crafts for the kids and performances. Some kids were doing typical dances like el baile del viejito and ballet folklorico. The MECA mariachis were also there and they performed. It was really nice.

All in all, by the time we were done watching the shows and doing crafts it was too late to do any more home tours. I was kind of disappointed but at least I got their brochure so I can plan a trip back. We walked around some of the old homes and I read the descriptions to Magenta, on our way back to the car.

Half way back to our car (I parked kind of far) we stopped and had a drink at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had an iced tea and Magenta had a Shirley Temple. It was a fun day and one we'll have to repeat. There are a lot of other activities on the downtown calendar that I'd like to do.

Before we went into the Hard Rock Cafe we stopped by the Angelika theatre and I found out the cafe there has been closed for a couple of years. I was disappointed to hear that. Being an inner city dweller, I always worry about our downtown businesses. The security guard assured me that the theatre itself is doing really well. I was glad to hear that, but sad to hear the cafe closed. The food was really good. I need to make it a point to give more Houston businesses my business, other than when I'm downtown during the week.

No comments: