Welcome Fans, Friends, and Visitors

Hi. Because of our comparatively great weather in Houston, this month is great to be outside on walking tours, wine tours, garden tours, and more. It is also a good month to go on tours to avoid long queues once the summer vacation from colleges and universities begin in May.

Weather in Houston

April, along with October, is generally one of the two best months to visit Houston. You can wear a short sleeve shirt or blouse and feel comfortable. The monthly average high temperature is 79 degrees Fahrenheit/26 degrees Centigrade. The monthly average low temperature is 61 degrees Fahrenheit/16 degrees Centigrade, and the mean is 70 degrees Fahrenheit/21 degrees Centigrade. The average rainfall is 3.46 inches/88 centimeters. It is the third driest month of the year after February and March.

Tours

Mention that you read about the tours below from the blog and you will receive a 10% discount.

Galveston Tours

We offer Galveston tours from 5 to 12 hours depending on how much do you want to see and experience. Would you like to include:

• A tour of one or two 1890s stone and brick mansions?
• A tour of one or more of five museums?
• Watching one to three films about The Great Storm, Jean Laffite, or Galveston as an immigration center?
• A wine tour?
• A brewery tour?
• A harbor boat ride to see dolphins and a wrecked cement ship?
• A stop at an old confectionery that makes its own ice cream, salt-water taffy, and chocolates?
• Only a driving tour throughout the city with three stops for souvenirs, looking at the Gulf with oil rigs, and lunch?

Garden Tours

You can decide how many gardens and hours that you want. We can take you to the following sites that are in the metropolitan area:

• Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens
• Gardens of Rienzi – Closed on Monday and Tuesday.
• Gardens of Bayou Bend – closed on Monday.
• Japanese Gardens
• John P. McGovern Centennial Gardens
• Houston Arboretum and Nature Center

If you want to venture further away, we can take you to beautiful gardens in Beaumont and Orange for the day. Bring cameras.

Walking Tours

Because of the heat and humidity, we do not offer outside walking tours from April through September. Originally in the early 2000s, we offered outdoor walking tours year-round, but we received multiple complaints from people about their stinging eyes from sweat, and their discomfort. We then limited the offering from October to April. By 2016, even April was now having temperatures in the 90s Fahrenheit/30s Centigrade so we cut back the outdoor tours by one more month.

However, we offer three walking tours of the underground tunnels and skybridges of downtown and three walking tours of the skywalks, tunnels, and hospitals of the Texas Medical Center (TMC). Each tour is generally 2.5 hours or 3.5 hours with a stop for lunch, additional tunnels, observation deck, an additional building, and or a museum. These are all in air-conditioning. You will be cool, calm, and collected. Which tours sound most appealing? If you want a shorter tour, we can reduce the length by deleting some of the buildings, observation deck, and or more. Just let us know how to customize it for you.

Wine Tours

We offer over one dozen options going to 5 geographic areas and including from one to four wineries and or wine tasting sites. The tours can last from three hours to about twelve hours. Texas has some great tasting wines. Texas is now the fifth largest wine producing state. These are all out of town and the tours make for good day trips. The bluebonnets are in bloom. Depending on which tour you select, you will be able to go out into the vineyards.

Monthly Special – Discounted by 17 to 54% Based on the Number of People

The monthly special for April is a 2.5-hour Haunted and Historical Walking tour in downtown Houston. This tour is from 7:30 to 10:00 PM. It is our only monthly special that is at nighttime. As the temperatures heat up into the 80s Fahrenheit/30s Centigrade, this is the last outdoor tour for the next five months, until October. It starts outside the abandoned, former Spaghetti Warehouse at 901 Commerce Street, Houston, Texas 77002. Parking is free after 6:00 PM at all city meters. You will see:

• The abandoned Spaghetti Warehouse – built in circa 1903. This had been a warehouse in its early years. This was said to be haunted.
• The abandoned Brewery Tap, AlJ, Magnolia Ballroom, and Kryptonite – built in 1912, the building was a speakeasy during the era of Prohibition when a bootlegger was killed here. It was inundated with water from Hurricane Harvey from August 25 to 29, 2017. This was said to be haunted.
• See the former sidewalk of Houston circa 1903, now in front of the basement of the former Spaghetti Warehouse before the city was raised about 10 feet/3 meters around 1914.
• See the remnants of a historic 1890s bridge before Houston was raised around 1914.
• The Donnellan Crypt – 4 people were buried in this historic vault between 1849 and 1867 some 30 feet/10 meters below where Houston is now located.
• La Carafe – the oldest bar in downtown Houston in the oldest building in downtown Houston dating to 1860. This is said to be haunted.
• Baker Building – the second oldest building in downtown Houston, dating to 1861.
• Market Square Park – it was redesigned in 2007. This was the site of the first four city halls of Houston from 1841 to 1939. It has 9/11 memorials to a local victim who was on UA Flight 93 and to the overall victims. A Greek restaurant, works of art, old photos and more are in the park.
• The last former one screen movie theater in Houston. It was named The Ritz and opened in 1926. It is now a rental facility.
• The original Sweeney’s Jewelry Store – built in 1889, it looks like a cave inside.
• The site of the former White House of Texas where Presidents Sam Houston and Mirabeau Lamar lived in the 1830s. The current building on the site was erected in 1909 and the first Houston building designed by a world-recognized architect, Daniel Burnham.
• The biggest mosque in Houston in what was the old Houston National Bank. It was erected in 1928. Hakeem Olajuwon bought the abandoned bank building in 1994 and it opened as a mosque in 2002.
• The site where the Allen family first landed and settled Houston in August 1836. This is the oldest part of developed Houston.
• And more depending on how fast everyone walks.

See you on a tour.

Sincerely,

Keith Rosen
Houston Historical Tours
P. O. Box 262404
Houston, Texas 77207-2404
(713) 392-0867
(713) 643-4086 Fax
houstonhistory@aol.com
www.houstonhistoricaltours.com

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