Letters From Here

For the conceivable future, Muessig’s vision remains “conceptual” and is not likely to be implemented. The site at Buffalo Bayou and downtown is already undergoing a major transformation to increase walking and cycling access. Nonetheless, veloCity shines light on how much space the Space City actually has to work with, as well as the potential of cyclists to redefine the city. It begs the question of whether culture will influence infrastructure in Houston’s future, or vice versa. “I see my project as a vehicle to encourage individual initiative,” Muessig says.

His project takes the navigational potential of the bicycle as its starting point, underscoring that even without their own freeway, cyclists can transgress the urban grid and chart new courses across the city’s diagonals and blank spaces. If enough continue to do so, perhaps Muessig’s vision will one day come to pass in some form.

(via An Infrastructure for Cruisers, Racers, Mountain Bikers, Commuters, and BMX Tricksters: Peter Muessig’s veloCity | Offcite Blog)

A redditor called joelikesmusic reported that a friend of his had been checked into a weird, narrow dungeon-like theme room at the Hotel Zaza in Houston (it’s got lots of theme suites — I once stayed in their awesome space-themed one with my family, on the way to my honeymoon). When he complained, the front desk apparently told him that it was a mistake — no one was supposed to use that room.

The ZaZa’s management told the press that it was a “prison” themed room, and that there was no mystery, but intrepid redditors have been examining the pictures (especially the portrait of Jay Comeaux, a banking exec from the disgraced Stanford Banking Executive, and have been spinning out theories about secret societies and rituals in the comments.

However, one commenter called lejefferson makes a plausible case that the room is a sex-dungeon with a one-way voyeur’s mirror, used by rich weirdos:

 (via Is the “secret” room at Houston’s ZaZa a voyeuristic sex-dungeon for rich weirdos? - Boing Boing)

A recent batch of Unconsumption posts had Houston connections. It started with this one, followed by this and this. Great stuff!

unconsumption:

mollyblock:

In landmark art preservation news: 

It’s hard to miss the 70-foot-tall blue saxophone as you drive down Richmond Avenue [in Houston].

Its name is Smokesax, and it has been at that location on 6025 Richmond for the past 20 years. But Wednesday, the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, a local folk art organization [mentioned previously here], announced it is going to acquire the oversize horn, which is made out of car parts, oil field pipes and a surfboard, as well as an entire Volkswagen Beetle that forms the U-joint at its base.

The big brass was built by legendary Texas artist Bob Wade as a special installation for Billy Blues Bar & Grill. It was fully restored three years ago, and the current property owners, Kensinger Properties Ltd., said they wanted the Orange Show to ensure the piece would be preserved for future generations.

The saxophone will be removed from its current location at 10 a.m. on Feb. 28. The process to remove the massive piece will take a full day. Then, Smokesax will begin its 13-mile journey from Richmond Avenue to Munger Street. Artist Bob Wade will be overseeing the entire removal and transportation. Once at the Orange Show, it will be housed in the organization’s warehouse until an exact location has been chosen for permanent display.

(via Orange Show Center for Visionary Art to acquire Smokesax - Houston Business Journal)

Today, in things we love: Landmark sculpture made from a Volkswagen Bug and other upcycled items gets saved.  

More Unconsumption news from Houston to come … stay tuned! 

 (via A new theme park opens in Houston: Step inside MainStreet America, a $20 million playground - 2013-Jan-15 - CultureMap Houston)

mollyblock:

By tomorrow afternoon (well, actually, 12:35 p.m. Central tomorrow), if all goes according to plan (not my plan, mind you, but the property owner’s plan), the Ben Milam Hotel in downtown Houston will be reduced to a big pile of rubble. (Think dynamite + implosion.) The 10-story brick hotel opened in the 1920s to house travelers who visited Houston via Union Station (which sits across the street and now is a part of Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros’ home field). When the building goes down tomorrow, so will two of Houston’s few remaining ghost signs. I’m posting this photo as kind of a memorial to a piece of Houston history, I suppose. RIP, Ben Milam. (posted via Instagram at Inn at the Ballpark)

This has, of course, since happened. Sad.