Galveston

The Found Treasures of Beachcombing

Beachcomber art from High Island to the Brazos River makes for a fascinating display with intriguing back stories.

Save on Tickets to Galveston Food & Wine Fest, Kata Robata, and More

Today's Houston Press Voice Daily Deal is good for more than half-off (53 percent) a ticket to the Fourth Annual Galveston Island Food & Wine Festival on April 20. In addition to sampling delicious wine and food you can enjoy live music and shop artisan vendors at Saengerfest Park in Galveston. Amon ... More >>

Surely Galveston Can Do Better Than "Galveston"

Notwithstanding the recent Galveston-based Carnival cruise liner whose faulty engines landed its passengers in a world of hurt (and national headlines), the island is again throwing its arms open for the upcoming summer season. Last week the Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau announced th ... More >>

Evening Commute Will Be a Very Wet One

As predicted, the wet weather is on us and much of the area has gotten a good soaking, at least an inch-and-a-half by 2 p.m. this afternoon. The rain will continue throughout the afternoon as a warm front moves north through the area colliding with cooler, drier air to the north. The storm system h ... More >>

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot: Houston and Galveston Break All-Time Temperature Records, But It's Cool Right Now

It's funny how perception works when it comes to weather. In 2011, the combination of a brutal drought -- that continues, by the way, for most of the state and still threatens our area -- and record daily high temperatures made it seem like the hottest year, well, ever. But the truth is that cooler ... More >>

The "Mutiny On The Bounty" Ship May Be Coming To Galveston

A replica of the Bounty -- the ship that gave us the Mutiny -- may spend the winter at Galveston's Pier 21, ready to receive guests and tours. The ship, which has been used in such epics as the Mutiny remake, the Pirates of the Caribbean and SpongeBob SquarePants, according to impeccable Web resour ... More >>

Congratulations Galveston, You Are Only 96 Percent Honest

A few weeks back I told you about Honest Tea's "honesty experiment" where they planned to set up a few unmanned kiosks across the country offering their bottles of iced tea for with a jar asking for $1, with payment based on the honor system. Many of you were rightfully confused, asking where the "h ... More >>

''Galveston Artist Residency (GAR) Exhibition''

''Bodies Revealed''

Via Colori

Mardi Gras! Galveston

The Brews Brothers Bring Craft Beer to Galveston

Have you been to the Strand lately? Galveston's main pedestrian thoroughfare seems to have wilted somewhat despite the flurry of post-Ike rehabbing and renovation. The end of the Strand near Hendley Market is completely quiet these days. And at the opposite end, the Railroad Museum still stands sadl ... More >>

Openings & Closings: Pepper Jacks the Old Cabo Space and We Wrap Up May

Because sometimes around EOW, we like to take a little poetic license with things, here is the past week's restaurant news presented in some merry iambic pentameter: Though downtown's lost a Mexican rest'rant, Fear not because another soon will haunt The Cabo space with patio sublime: Pepper Jacks ... More >>

Galveston Pleasure Pier Opens Just in Time for Memorial Day

Be sure to check out our pictures of the Pleasure Pier and our Summer Guide story on its construction and history. You can barely tell that the Flagship was ever there. The past-its-prime hotel, which was destroyed in 2008 by Hurricane Ike, has been replaced by Landry's new Galveston Island Pleasur ... More >>

2012 Summer Guide

A new minor league baseball team, a new amusement park, the urban wilderness of Buffalo Bayou, food, concerts and plays — Houston, prepare to get your summer on.

HPD Officer Miles Dumas Flashed Bar Patrons, Beat Some Up, Cops Say

A Houston cop has been accused of flashing patrons of a Galveston bar and then getting in a tussle with some of them. Miles Stedman Dumas, 24, has been charged with indecent exposure and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and been relieved of duty pending an investigation, the Galveston County ... More >>

Sail To The Bahamas With Anthrax & Hatebreed On The Mayhem Cruise

What do younger people have against cruises? You can (sometimes) gamble, drink, eat all you want, and there is always tons of grim people watching to do. You don't have to drive anywhere, and if you want you can just hole yourself up in your cabin and not do a damned thing. Rocks Off has detailed ... More >>

Cover Story: In Search of Spring Break on Galveston Island

Earlier this year, Coed magazine cobbled together a listicle of America's ten trashiest Spring Break locales. Among the criteria: the number of liquor stores, tattoo parlors and Hooter's in a given town, and the number of visits from the Girls Gone Wild bus. (And it should be noted that "trashy" ... More >>

Galveston Tour of Sacred Places

Mardi Gras! Galveston Returns This Weekend

​Bead throwing, laser light shows, live music and massive parades. The second weekend of Mardi Gras! Galveston will kick off this Friday, February 17, with more entertainment than ever before. Not only is it the largest celebration of its kind in Texas, but it is also the third-largest in the nati ... More >>

A Wrong Turn

Once Galveston emergency personnel discovered the dead motorcyclist was "one of us," a Bellaire teenager's nightmare revved into overdrive.

Landry's Plans a New Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier

Photo courtesy of Landry'sClick here to see a high-res version of the proposed plans for the new Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier.​Longtime residents of the Houston metro area will no doubt remember the Flagship Hotel. Jutting out on a pier from Galveston Island's seawall, it was the on ... More >>

Tilman Fertitta's Galveston "Pleasure Pier" Will Be World-Class, Tilman Fertitta Says

Ye olde pleasure piere and shoppes​Fun magnate Tilman Fertitta unveiled his plans today for turning the old Flagship Hotel pier in Galveston into a -- wait for it -- a "world-class amusement park for all ages." Scheduled to open in May, the project will look (and cost) a whole lot like the Ke ... More >>

Galveston Restaurant Week

Haunted Harbor Tour

Galveston Island Witches' Ball

Oni-Con 2011

Gulf Coast Diving at the Poop Deck

"Where elite meet in bare feet," looking east off the deck.​I once overheard someone ask a Poop Deck (2928 Seawall) bartender whether the Galveston dive had any happy hour specials. The bartender, like every one I've seen in person at this place or pictured on its matchbooks, was dressed in a ... More >>

Brunch On The Island: Mosquito Café

Mosquito Café is housed in a large yet quaint, renovated, two-story, 158-year-old structure in Galveston's historic East end, a little bit off the beaten path if you're accustomed to The Strand and Seawall. For 12 years, the cafe has been serving fresh, eclectic food ranging from sandwiches, pasta ... More >>

Galveston, The Musical

AG Sues to Preserve Galveston's Fort Crockett

​Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed a suit on behalf of Texas's state historical officer, asking a judge to order the owners of Fort Crockett to fix the buildings and not demolish them. The state is asking for a temporary restraining order against Max Bowen Enterprises and Juan Hijo ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Times Snobbishness

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Spec’s Second Annual Brewmasters Craft Beer Festival

Lyle Monroe Bensley: Galveston Teen Vampire Joins Pantheon of Weird Seawall Criminals

GCSOLyle Bensley: He's a vampire​Man, what is it about the Seawall? There's just something about that place: nuts on the run from all over Texas wind up there because they just can't run any farther. If we can liken the state of Texas proper to a margarita, Seawall Boulevard is the bath-salt ... More >>

55 Pounds of Coke? Six Other Things Found on Galveston Beaches, Ranked from Worst to Best

Whales, gold rings, messages in bottle, coke​A jogger found 55 pounds of cocaine on the beach in Galveston this morning, a bigger haul than the 37 pounds someone else found there a year ago. In both cases, they turned it over to the cops instead of going all low-rent Breaking Bad. Of course, ... More >>

Shrimp n Stuff on the Island

Anamaris Cousins PriceFish tacos at Shrimp & Stuff​It's summer, and crazy-hot in the Houston area. What can you do to find a bit of relief? Hop on I-45 and head south to Galveston Island, walk along the Seawall, hit the historic homes or Moody Gardens, then stop for some seafood at Shrimp n St ... More >>

The Five Worst Tropical Weather Events in Houston History

The hurricane that hit Galveston in 1915 didn't have a name, but it left a mark.​Houston and Galveston, like any cities along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the U.S., are always vulnerable to tropical weather. The scariest of these events is most definitely the hurricane, with its fierce wind ... More >>

Comment of the Day

​Katharine Shilcutt listed her favorite patios for catching up with friends, leading commenter ostiones to suggest the Poop Deck in Galveston: Not Houston, but Galveston, and no food, but good strong drinks, the Poop Deck Club on Seawall Boulevard is mesmerizing at night, especially with a fu ... More >>

Disney Cruises Coming to Galveston (Instead of Bayport)

M-I-C -- See you real soon....​Good news if you're the type of person who enjoys a Disney cruise, and may God have mercy on your tortured soul if you do: Galveston is one of the new ports of call. Disney announced today that beginning in September 2012, a dozen seven-night cruises each year w ... More >>

A Houston Mardi Gras? Galveston Doesn't Sound Too Worried

This ain't Galveston. Or Houston.​We were out of town last week, so we missed the thrilling news that someone is planning a Houston Mardi Gras. KHOU reported that promoter Jeri Brooks says the event "would pay homage to New Orleans but evolve into something that celebrates Houston's diverse c ... More >>

Mardi Gras Arrests Down by 50 Percent, Cops Say

Keep that shirt down if you're in Galveston, young lady​Can you really have a Mardi Gras without a lot of arrests? Galveston is finding out. Galveston announced earlier this year that this year's 100th anniversary Mardi Gras would be "family friendly," with more security and an admission fee ... More >>

Comment of the Day: What Would Tilman Do?

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Mystic Krewe of Aquarius Fat Tuesday Parade

Flagship Hotel Debris Video: You Decide

Bill Hill, a surfer and real estate agent in Galveston, has been leading the call to arms over allegations that the crews tearing down the Flagship Hotel have been tossing debris into the Gulf. Now he's posted video. And, well, you can decide. Other videos are here. Landry's, which has hired a co ... More >>

Galveston Sets Most Important World Record of All Time

Galveston.comYou put your right foot into the Guinness Book of World Records​They said it couldn't be done. Well, they were probably actually saying it shouldn't be done, but Galveston went ahead and did it anyway. Their announced attempt to set the world record for most people doing a choreo ... More >>

Mardi Gras! Galveston

Galveston to Stun World With Record-Breaking "Hokey-Pokey" Umbrella Dance

Hopefully participants won't be singin' in the rain​If you've ever dreamed of being in the Guinness Book of World Records, or if you're a "Hokey Pokey" fanatic, or someone who loves to dance with a lot of people holding umbrellas -- you're in luck. And if you qualify under all three categorie ... More >>

Baby Sperm Whale Rescued, Could Be Killed (Updated)

Kill Willy, maybe​Vacationers on the West End of Galveston Island found a baby sperm whale this morning, and a rescue crew was called in. But unless a deep fog lifts, the baby might have to be killed. The Houston Chronicle reports that Allison Wilkins, 11, of Dallas, and her dad spotted the ... More >>

Foggy Freaking Weekend in Galveston

Opened in Galveston this weekend​You might have read that cruise ships were having trouble getting into and out of Galveston over the weekend. You probably didn't care much, unless you were one of the passengers. We can just add that we spent the weekend in Galveston, and it was Freaking Fog ... More >>