Stuff To Do For Free in Houston

[editor]

The GHCVB has a web page listing about a dozen things you can do for free in Houston here: http://www.visithoustontexas.com/media/ghcvb-press-kit/houston-for-free

But most of what's on that list is covered in any Texas tourbook. Does anyone have any other things they like to do in Houston that are free? Things that maybe are often overlooked?

[ricco67]

I say just follow HAIF suggestions for going to various parks and enjoying your own neighborhoods. You'd be surprised how many people don't venture to far away from their own block for a little free entertainment...like dog parks.

[Highway6]

For weekday visitors.. The Chase observation deck is free.

[ricco67]

For weekday visitors.. The Chase observation deck is free.

I know thursdays are free night for the MFAH. Might head over to the Weather Museum tomorrow...I forgot all about that place.

[dbigtex56]

Not exactly free - but if you want to make new friends, open a pack of Kools at a bus stop.

[TheNiche]

Domy Books does a lot of free films, including many obscure relics. They haven't had as many shows this year as last year, however.

[Porchman]

Waugh Street Bridge bats.

http://community-2.webtv.net/masternaturalist/THEWAUGHBATMONITOR/

[Texasepies]

The Port of Houston Authority operates a free public tour of the Houston Ship Channel and the Turning Basin Terminal aboard the M/V Sam Houston. The trip departs from the Sam Houston Pavilion and takes 90 minutes. Passengers can see international cargo vessels, docking facilities, heavy port equipment and see where Buffalo, Braes and Sims bayou meet the channel. The tour is free, but reservations are required.

http://www.portofhou...hou/samhou.html

[samagon]

this probably deserves its own thread, but it's free, and it's this weekend!

http://www.shell.com/home/content/ecomarathon/americas/

Shell eco marathon, yesterday through Sunday at disco green.

Not quite the same kind of race as when Champ Car came in, but it's free and it should be interesting.

There should be an upcoming Houston events forum section for stuff like this

[dbigtex56]

May I suggest the Clayton Library?

We all come from families - and the further back you look, the more fascinating we become.

Everyone's family history matters - and we have one of the best (free!) resources in the country to explore your unique heritage.

The Clayton library can provide answers to those Who am I? and Where did I come from? questions.

[Highway6]

The "No Shuttle For You" thread made me curious about how many visitors some of our top tourist attractions get.

Space Center Houston gets 750,000 a yr according to their Bring the Shuttle home literature.

San Jacinto Monument gets 250,000 a yr according to their Wiki page.

Battleship Texas gets a meager 70,000 a yr according to this Chron article discussing the merits of moving it to Galveston.

Houston Zoo - 1 million per year.

Houston Natural Science Museum - 2 million per year.

Houston Museum of Fine Arts - 2.5 million per year.

Some other tourist attractions by comparison -

Eiffel Tower, the most visited paid monument in the world had over 6.5 million visitors in 2006.

Empire State Building - 3.8 million per yr

St. Louis Arch - 1 million per yr.

6th Floor museum in Dallas - 2 million per year.

San Diego Zoo - 3 million per year

NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art - 5 million

USS Intrepid Museum - NYC - 900,000 per year.

I've bolded the items I think are the most telling.

First off.. most every big city has a zoo and a museum or 2.. so while most aren't really special (aren't "tourist attractions" and the reason to come to a city) and I would include ours in that description,( We don't have the Guggenheim ) but I still thinks ours hold their own and perform very admirably.

St Louis, the 18th largest MSA, and hardly a tourist mecca, with their biggest tourist attraction beats ours. Dallas, with perhaps their biggest tourist attraction, trounces us. Why.. because both of them are centrally located. Our HMNS and HMFA, good museums, but just museums, trounce our 3 biggest "tourist attractions" combined because they are centrally located.

Our tourist attractions suffer from geography. SJ monument.. obviously we can't do anything about.

Battleship Texas - Why is a WWII battleship associated with the Texas Independence in the first place? How many more hundreds of thousands of visitors per year would it have been getting had they taken it as far up stream as possible to base it - DT or East End off Navigation.

As for SCH - since they are the welcome center for JSC, they can't move. But there's no reason they couldn't open a satellite museum. Even had SCH been awarded the Shuttle and that doubled their yearly visitors - that would put them at 1.5 million per yr. That is still 25% less than our HMNS. I would think a satellite museum staring the Shuttle in the middle of Herman Park would have instantly become Houston's top visitor's attraction getting 2-3 million per year.

SCH's failure to think outside the box cost them a golden opportunity.

[TheNiche]

Battleship Texas - Why is a WWII battleship associated with the Texas Independence in the first place? How many more hundreds of thousands of visitors per year would it have been getting had they taken it as far up stream as possible to base it - DT or East End off Navigation.

The battleship Texas is about 570' long, 100' wide, and draws a 29-foot draft. It'd run aground upstream of the Turning Basin. It is precisely as wide as the gap under the railroad swingbridge just upstream of the Turning Basin. Just upstream of that is a bend too sharp for it to be able to turn without running aground. And just beyond that, the battleship is too tall to make it upstream of the Wayside bridge.

Your best-case scenario would be to harbor the vessel at or near the Turning Basin. It'd barely fit along the stretch of waterfront where the M/V Sam Houston is currently docked (although it may pose a hazard to upstream barge navigation, being sited there). Myself however, I think that exposure to port industry and the opportunity to visit the San Jacinto Monument and Battlefield all at once, makes the entire tourist experience that much more compelling and memorable. Each attraction helps the other gain notoreity. And if someone thinks the refineries are stinky or unsightly, well ____'em.

[livincinco]

Cactus Music - tons of free in-store band performances and St. Arnolds is usually there to serve free beer.

[Highway6]

Well.. like I said, as far upstream as possible. I think if it had been located anywhere inside 610 it would be drawing significantly more visitors and locals. I'm not saying the joint experience isnt fine and dandy.. but most visitors must not agree considering for every 3.5 people visiting the SJ monument, only 1 is also visiting Battleship Texas. 70k a yr just seems really pathetic.

[TheNiche]

Well.. like I said, as far upstream as possible. I think if it had been located anywhere inside 610 it would be drawing significantly more visitors and locals. I'm not saying the joint experience isnt fine and dandy.. but most visitors must not agree considering for every 3.5 people visiting the SJ monument, only 1 is also visiting Battleship Texas. 70k a yr just seems really pathetic.

A drive down SH 225 is interesting and passes quickly. There's lots of eye candy and something skyward is usually on fire. If there are smells, they are difficult to identify or associate with anything you would smell on a regular basis, and therefore strange but not usually off-putting except to environmentalist puppies (whom as their host, you have a moral obligation to submit to olfactory torture by driving this route, whether you have a destination in mind or not).

Contrast that with the feasible Inner Loop wharves. A drive down Navigation kinda sucks. And a drive down Clinton Drive is nasty-smelling; and I don't know about you, but I can identify the smell of sewage. Then you get to the port terminal at the point along the Ship Channel where there's the least ship traffic to look at, no ferry, and no tall vantage point. An alternative might be close to Brady's Landing, but their food sucks. Besides, how many visitors tour the upstream part of the Port of Houston on the M/V Sam Houston?

Honestly, I think that the nature of a battleship is driving the visitation figures. Unguided tourists can only see so much, yet there are only so many guided tours and those cost more. (Also, big hunks of corroded steel are not as kid-friendly in the eyes of school administrators.) Take the secondary attraction away from the primary attraction, and both will be hurt by it; but the secondary attraction will be hurt a great deal more.

[sevfiv]

I'm going to sign up for the Port of Houston boat tour - I never knew they offered one

And yeah, sometimes the Navigation drive smells poopy but 225 is always Sharpies!

[ricco67]

I'm going to sign up for the Port of Houston boat tour - I never knew they offered one

And yeah, sometimes the Navigation drive smells poopy but 225 is always Sharpies!

Sharpies? absolutely awesome.

I took the tour a few years ago, and it's actually quite a bit of fun. either that, or my definition of "fun" needs adjusting.

[marmer]

I'm going to sign up for the Port of Houston boat tour - I never knew they offered one

And yeah, sometimes the Navigation drive smells poopy but 225 is always Sharpies!

The boat tour is definitely worthwhile. IIRC, after 9/11 they started prohibiting photography on the boat tour. But if you think giant ships and container handling gear are interesting, you will love it. I agree with ricco67, either it's a lot of fun or my definition of fun needs adjusting. I suspect the other members of my immediate family would say it's the latter. ;-)

[20thStDad]

The "No Shuttle For You" thread made me curious about how many visitors some of our top tourist attractions get.

Space Center Houston gets 750,000 a yr according to their Bring the Shuttle home literature.

San Jacinto Monument gets 250,000 a yr according to their Wiki page.

Battleship Texas gets a meager 70,000 a yr according to this Chron article discussing the merits of moving it to Galveston.

Houston Zoo - 1 million per year.

Houston Natural Science Museum - 2 million per year.

Houston Museum of Fine Arts - 2.5 million per year.

Some other tourist attractions by comparison -

Eiffel Tower, the most visited paid monument in the world had over 6.5 million visitors in 2006.

Empire State Building - 3.8 million per yr

St. Louis Arch - 1 million per yr.

6th Floor museum in Dallas - 2 million per year.

San Diego Zoo - 3 million per year

NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art - 5 million

USS Intrepid Museum - NYC - 900,000 per year.

I've bolded the items I think are the most telling.

First off.. most every big city has a zoo and a museum or 2.. so while most aren't really special (aren't "tourist attractions" and the reason to come to a city) and I would include ours in that description,( We don't have the Guggenheim ) but I still thinks ours hold their own and perform very admirably.

St Louis, the 18th largest MSA, and hardly a tourist mecca, with their biggest tourist attraction beats ours. Dallas, with perhaps their biggest tourist attraction, trounces us. Why.. because both of them are centrally located. Our HMNS and HMFA, good museums, but just museums, trounce our 3 biggest "tourist attractions" combined because they are centrally located.

Our tourist attractions suffer from geography. SJ monument.. obviously we can't do anything about.

Battleship Texas - Why is a WWII battleship associated with the Texas Independence in the first place? How many more hundreds of thousands of visitors per year would it have been getting had they taken it as far up stream as possible to base it - DT or East End off Navigation.

As for SCH - since they are the welcome center for JSC, they can't move. But there's no reason they couldn't open a satellite museum. Even had SCH been awarded the Shuttle and that doubled their yearly visitors - that would put them at 1.5 million per yr. That is still 25% less than our HMNS. I would think a satellite museum staring the Shuttle in the middle of Herman Park would have instantly become Houston's top visitor's attraction getting 2-3 million per year.

SCH's failure to think outside the box cost them a golden opportunity.

I wouldn't lump our zoo into a tourism discussion, it's just not that great. 1 million "visitors", but no one is coming from outside a few hour drive (east TX small towns I mean) to see it. Those are local people. There are a lot who go multiple times per year. Same for the natural science museum. And both get lots of field trips from area schools, that might make up 5-10% of their total numbers. The San Diego zoo is world famous for being awesome.

[Highway6]

I wouldn't lump our zoo into a tourism discussion, it's just not that great. 1 million "visitors", but no one is coming from outside a few hour drive (east TX small towns I mean) to see it. Those are local people. There are a lot who go multiple times per year. Same for the natural science museum. And both get lots of field trips from area schools, that might make up 5-10% of their total numbers. The San Diego zoo is world famous for being awesome.

I know.. i specifically said that.

My point in including them was to show that due to a central location, our generic zoo and museum gets significantly more visitors that our "tourist attractions"

"..most every big city has a zoo and a museum or 2.. so while most aren't really special (aren't "tourist attractions" and the reason to come to a city) and I would include ours in that description.."

That being said.. I was pleasantly surprised by our Zoo and museum visitation numbers...I was expecting one of the most popular museums in the most popular tourist city in the US to average way more than 2x the visitors of our MFAH...

[RedScare]

I wouldn't lump our zoo into a tourism discussion, it's just not that great. 1 million "visitors", but no one is coming from outside a few hour drive (east TX small towns I mean) to see it. Those are local people. There are a lot who go multiple times per year. Same for the natural science museum. And both get lots of field trips from area schools, that might make up 5-10% of their total numbers. The San Diego zoo is world famous for being awesome.

Shh...don't tell these people.

http://www.wrsol.com/usatravelguide/2009/02/top10zoosinamerica/

http://www.unitedstatestouristattractions.com/content/top_zoos_in_the_united_states.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/09/11-great-american-zoos-ph_n_709165.html#s135713&title=Houston_Zoo

[TheNiche]

I know.. i specifically said that.

My point in including them was to show that due to a central location, our generic zoo and museum gets significantly more visitors that our "tourist attractions"

HCAD gets a lot of visitors, too, even though the location sucks. I expect that you will want to include it as a data point.

[20thStDad]

Shh...don't tell these people.

http://www.wrsol.com...0zoosinamerica/

http://www.unitedsta...ted_states.html

http://www.huffingto...tle=Houston_Zoo

Those first 2 links remind me of that crock "Who's Who" stuff where every idiot who pays the fee is recognized as special. Huffington post, I refuse to click on any of that garbage.

Have you been? Aside from a few habitats, it's depressing. Smallest cages/habitats I have ever seen at a zoo, and the animals all look appropriately depressed about that. It's fun for the kids, and I see they've been renovating, but it's too small a space to do justice to how many animals they cram in there.

[ricco67]

Those first 2 links remind me of that crock "Who's Who" stuff where every idiot who pays the fee is recognized as special. Huffington post, I refuse to click on any of that garbage.

Have you been? Aside from a few habitats, it's depressing. Smallest cages/habitats I have ever seen at a zoo, and the animals all look appropriately depressed about that. It's fun for the kids, and I see they've been renovating, but it's too small a space to do justice to how many animals they cram in there.

You don't remember the Houston Zoo of the past. THAT was depressing.

Overall, I'm against Zoo's and Circuseseseseseseseses. Why do I go? Because I had a daughter that wanted to go and it made her happy. Sometimes you have to suck it up and put your own moral baggage away and make kids happy.

Today's zoo is quite impressive, but I do wonder if it is able to expand any more and take up more park space. Lord knows they can't get into the medical center. Of course, that would make a bunch of easy meals for the tigers.

[Highway6]

HCAD gets a lot of visitors, too, even though the location sucks. I expect that you will want to include it as a data point.

A ) HCAD is halfway between the 2 loops, 8 miles outside of town.. relative to the 3 "tourist attractions" previously mentioned, I would easily consider it centrally located so as a data point, it could only help.

B ) I'm glad I'm not one of your out of town guests if HCAD is where you take them for a good time. Should I consider my local Fiesta and BoA as data points in this discussion as well ?

[Highway6]

Those first 2 links remind me of that crock "Who's Who" stuff where every idiot who pays the fee is recognized as special. Huffington post, I refuse to click on any of that garbage.

Have you been? Aside from a few habitats, it's depressing. Smallest cages/habitats I have ever seen at a zoo, and the animals all look appropriately depressed about that. It's fun for the kids, and I see they've been renovating, but it's too small a space to do justice to how many animals they cram in there.

You're being very obstinate, amigo. Please find an article showing how poorly rated the Houston Zoo should be .. otherwise you really aren't contributing here.

My wife wanted a Zoo pass for her last birthday.. we've been 4-5x since last summer.. I think it's great.

[TheNiche]

A ) HCAD is halfway between the 2 loops, 8 miles outside of town.. relative to the 3 "tourist attractions" previously mentioned, I would easily consider it centrally located so as a data point, it could only help.

The "town" encompasses HCAD, just as the "town" encompasses MFAH, Space Center Houston, and the San Jacinto Monument. Only MFAH is centrally located however, and worse still, the drive up to HCAD is pitifully boring. Or did you not account for that visual stimulation warps space and time?

B ) I'm glad I'm not one of your out of town guests if HCAD is where you take them for a good time. Should I consider my local Fiesta and BoA as data points in this discussion as well ?

I didn't suggest HCAD because I thought that it would make a good datapoint. I suggested it because if you're already willing to compare an apple to an orange, I thought that perhaps you might also want to compare to a banana.

Why are you hating on bananas, anyway?

[Highway6]

The "town" encompasses HCAD, just as the "town" encompasses MFAH, Space Center Houston, and the San Jacinto Monument. Only MFAH is centrally located however, and worse still, the drive up to HCAD is pitifully boring. Or did you not account for that visual stimulation warps space and time?

I didn't suggest HCAD because I thought that it would make a good datapoint. I suggested it because if you're already willing to compare an apple to an orange, I thought that perhaps you might also want to compare to a banana.

Why are you hating on bananas, anyway?

JSC and SCH may barely be within the Houston city limits of your "town", but SJM certainly isn't.. your boundaries are arbitrary. Why stop there.. the "state" encompasses Big Bend ... so visitors to Texas, staying in Houston, should have no problem visiting Big Bend, i guess.

Your fruit classification system is disturbing. Tourist attraction: a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities. In this case.. SCH, SJM, MFAH, Zoo.. they're all fruit. The only difference between your apples and oranges is the distance from the population center of your "town".... which happens to be the exact difference I'm trying to highlight as one reason for crappy visitor counts. But HCAD... That's offering up Haggis or something.

Note to self: If Niche ever offers to make you a Fruit Salad, just walk away.

[TheNiche]

JSC and SCH may barely be within the Houston city limits of your "town", but SJM certainly isn't.. your boundaries are arbitrary. Why stop there.. the "state" encompasses Big Bend ... so visitors to Texas, staying in Houston, should have no problem visiting Big Bend, i guess.

Your fruit classification system is disturbing. Tourist attraction: a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities. In this case.. SCH, SJM, MFAH, Zoo.. they're all fruit. The only difference between your apples and oranges is the distance from the population center of your "town".... which happens to be the exact difference I'm trying to highlight as one reason for crappy visitor counts. But HCAD... That's offering up Haggis or something.

Note to self: If Niche ever offers to make you a Fruit Salad, just walk away.

My point was that your boundaries were arbitrary. And that is a comment that relates to both your definitions of geography and your categories of tourist-related attraction. Consequently, your argument is sloppy and invites me to suggest HCAD as something that you might consider, given your flawed logical framework.

[Highway6]

My point was that your boundaries were arbitrary. And that is a comment that relates to both your definitions of geography and your categories of tourist-related attraction. Consequently, your argument is sloppy and invites me to suggest HCAD as something that you might consider, given your flawed logical framework.

I never set boundaries. Look, i don't see why it's so unreasonable to consider that the farther away a tourist attraction is away from the nearest mass of people, transportation services, accommodations, etc, the more likely it is that visitor counts are going to suffer both from locals and out-of-towners.

You though, are bringing in drive views, smells, and non-POIs as your counter.

Like I said.. I'm staying the heck away from your fruit salad.