Theater District Master Plan

[2112]

Found this article and thought you would like it.

http://www.dancing-times.co.uk/DT200409/da...es200409-2.html

[midtown_resident]

That's a great article...thanks for sharing. It's always cool to see someone from the outside see our city as more than sprawl...

[ricco67]

For those that don't want to click off site. <scowls at 2112>

Houston Ballet

[2112]

That's a great article...thanks for sharing.

[Talbot]

Im glad to hear a compliment for the city for once.

[CincoRanch-HoustonResident]

I love out theater district. It is huge, but is it true that is is second in size only to New York.

[dbigtex56]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure they will...)

Houston's claim is that we have the second greatest number of seats in a designated theater district outside of NYC. This is not to say that other cities don't have as many (or more) seats in an equivalent area, or more theaters, or more performances, or greater attendance; it's just not designated as a Theater District.

[Sunstar]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure they will...)

Houston's claim is that we have the second greatest number of seats in a designated theater district outside of NYC. This is not to say that other cities don't have as many (or more) seats in an equivalent area, or more theaters, or more performances, or greater attendance; it's just not designated as a Theater District.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That pretty much sums it up. It's all just a bunch of spin. The thing is, we don't need to make such grandiose claims for our theater district to be taken seriously. I think it's pretty much accepted that Houston's resident theater, ballet, opera and symphony are among the finest around. And yet, everything must appear to be bigger in Texas...

[WestGrayGuy]

The Buffalo Bayou plan calls for the conversion of the massive Post Office downtown into another performance hall. The master plan is to expand the theatre district to the other side of the freeway.

Slight problem, convince the government to relocate.

Personally, I love our district and the Hobby center. Going to see Hair on Wedsnesday.

[CincoRanch-HoustonResident]

The Hobby Center is a really nice place. It is so clean, too. I always liked seeing plays in downtown Houston, especially during Christmas when my family goes in sees the Scrooge play.

[Subdude]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure they will...)

Houston's claim is that we have the second greatest number of seats in a designated theater district outside of NYC. This is not to say that other cities don't have as many (or more) seats in an equivalent area, or more theaters, or more performances, or greater attendance; it's just not designated as a Theater District.

The other qualification to that claim was that it be in a concentrated area, but "concentrated area" wasn't defined.

[Subdude]

The Buffalo Bayou plan calls for the conversion of the massive Post Office downtown into another performance hall.  The master plan is to expand the theatre district to the other side of the freeway.

Slight problem, convince the government to relocate.

Personally, I love our district and the Hobby center. Going to see Hair on Wedsnesday.

Maybe I was mistaken, but I thought the plan suggested using the post office land as festival grounds to hold the International Festival, etc. (and a darn good idea that was). Was there also a plan for another performance venue? I thought the Post Office was considering relocating the main facility anyway, but the main problem would be relocating the railroad tracks behind.

To me the Theater District capacity is fine, but it could use perhaps some better signage and more restaurants to hold it together better as a "district". It has some great intitutions, but it seems to lack some cohesiveness and urban feel.

[Subdude]

Theater District lights up the night

Electronic signs that sparked fight have been set up

By RON NISSIMOV

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

City officials recently put up three electronic billboards in the downtown Theater District, four years after City Council approved the installations.

ADVERTISEMENT

Two of the signs are outside Wortham Center, and the third is above the front doors of Jones Hall. The signs will not have video or moving text, and will display new images every eight seconds, said Dawn Ullrich, spokeswoman for the city's Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department.

The signs replace previous marquees of the same size that used manually placed letters.

"The signs allow us to use colors and photographs and put more information on the billboards," Ullrich said.

City Council approved the installation in 2000.

The signs then became entangled in controversy in 2001 when several organizations, including the Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, proposed amending the city's billboard ordinance to allow convention centers, performing arts facilities or sports and entertainment complexes to erect as many as six electronic billboards, each with a size limit of 1,925 square feet.

Several groups that had fought to reduce the number of billboards in Houston, including, Scenic Texas Inc., opposed the proposal.

At the time, Jordy Tollett, director of the Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department, proposed allowing large signs with video in the Theater District.

In May 2002, City Council approved a compromise that allowed smaller electronic signs in three areas: The Theater District, the Harris County complex at Reliant Park, and the East Side Sports and the Convention Complex District, which includes Minute Maid Park, the Toyota Center, the George R. Brown Convention Center and the adjacent convention center hotel.

As part of the compromise, council created a downtown scenic district ordinance that would phase out some existing billboards and signs and prevent the installation of new ones.

The city has no immediate plans to put up electronic billboards at the convention center or the hotel, Ullrich said. The other facilities have installed billboards, she said.

She said City Council in June agreed to pay Daktronics, Inc., $677,176 to install the three signs.

ron.nissimov@chron.com

Link

[Boris]

.........................

Here's a link for a view of full size shots of these and all other photos:

http://rgv.7.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=547

.............................

Edited December 23, 2006 by Boris

[Pumapayam]

You got some great angles high up looking down.

Especially in the bayou landscaping.

Thank you for sharing Boris.

[elecpharm]

Absolutely fantastic. I am out of the country at the moment so seeing these photos makes them that much more enjoyable. Houston is a fantastic city.

[texas911]

Nice. How were the Rockettes.

[Boris]

Thx.

The Rockettes were awesome. The Kids loved the show.

[texas911]

I tried to get tickets but they are sold out.

[The Great Hizzy!]

Good work, Boris!

[webdude]

Thank you for those pics, they are nice.

[Boris]

Thx for the comments.

Something has happened to this site. The photos are not being imaged fully and now it is not downloading all the images.

Anyone know what's going on? My post on other forums are still working normally.

Edited December 16, 2006 by Boris

[TheNiche]

Thx for the comments.

Something has happened to this site. The photos are not being imaged fully and now it is not downloading all the images.

Anyone know what's going on? My post on other forums are still working normally.

When I've posted a lot of photos in the past, I've had to do it ten at a time for the forum to accept my post, then go back and edit my thread to add more. Perhaps with the new version of the software you might need to redo the process or break up your post into several new ones.

[IronTiger]

Fairly urgent here: some relatives of mine (not me) are going to the Theater District to watch a play on Saturday. They're asking me if there's anyplace nearby (they don't want to walk half a mile) to grab lunch afterward.

 

I've only been downtown twice in my life, and never to that part of downtown (I'm happy to say that I was able to visit Macy's before it closed, and I have had a beer at a bar off Main Street). It seems like a lot of the cheaper places to eat are in the tunnels, which are closed.

 

Is there a place to go, or should they just give up and head elsewhere?

Edited August 9, 2013 by IronTiger

[Howard Huge]

Bayou Place

[Howard Huge]

Also, Market Square is a couple blocks away, Sambuca, Treebeards, Birraporattis, theres a lot, just google "restaurants near houston theatre district"

[IronTiger]

They were thinking something like around $20 for lunch for two.

[infinite_jim]

Treebeards is not open on saturday; there's Taco Fusion & Barnaby's off Market Sq. Pad Thai in the Ima Hogg bldg. Market Sq. Grill if you want pub grub.

[Slick Vik]

Franks pizza is honestly the best food around there

[102IAHexpress]

They were thinking something like around $20 for lunch for two.

 

I'm assuming they're watching Wicked at the Hobby Center? That's on the edge of downtown and there's a lot of light rail construction there on the weekends. Not very pedestrian friendly i'm afraid. Market square is more than a half mile away so probably not good if they don't want to walk far. Hard Rock café is best for your budget, distance and time limitations. The food is not great though, as good as TGI Fridays imo.