Houston Welcome Center At 1001 Avenida De Las Americas

[torvald]

whilst looking for street parking to return library books there was a sign that said "visitor center parking only". after visiting a few from smaller towns during mini roadtrips. i wanted to see what this one was like. i was pretty shocked at how upscale, luxurious and fancy it was.

no kidding and no sarcasm, i promise. their houston merchandise is consigned from local shops and they had plenty of brochures on some odd things i didn't know about until then. they had a vistor film in a little theatre and large scale rotating exhibits. the employees were friendly too. i am usually not so sappy about things, so i guess i was really surprised and impressed.

http://www.visithoustontexas.com/plan_a_visit.asp?PageID=289

http://www.visithoustontexas.com/our_visit...center_ipix.asp

as pro-houston as i am (verbally to folks), i was humbled that i didn't know about it. after checking it out, the library drop was just on the other side... hooray for small victories.

[editor]

You're right -- I've been there a few times, and they really do it well. It's one of the hidden gems of the city's tourist industry. The city should promote it more. At least put signs on the freeways directing people to it.

They used to sell VHS copies of the Power of Houston. I bought the last one, unless they've had more made.

[Houstonian in Iraq]

yeah, I stumbled upon it a week ago.

I had heard of it but never really bothered looking for.

I do wish they would put it in a more visible place or advertise it more

[Talbot]

I am surprised, that seems like it would be one of the first places that a tourist would look for when visiting to see the local attractions.

People may not hate the place as much if they advertised what we had a little better here.

[KimberlySayWhat]

I heard that the Houston visitor's center is the largest in the U.S. Don't know if it's true.