Houston news

Sculptures mark the birth canal of Houston - some new art will let you know where the stairs go down to Buffalo Bayou downtown.

His dream boats are guideposts. Runnels reasons that when you see a boat, you immediately ask, "Where's the water?"

His boat sculptures mark stairways and ramps down to the walkways along the bayou, which the MotherDogStudios artist considers the birth canal of Houston.

The latest entry point gives visitors access to the heart of Houston: Allen's Landing. It's where the founders landed in 1836 and declared Houston would be a great city.

The overlook is a great place to get a unique snapshot of today's city with turtles and waterfowl swimming below, humans sleeping under the overpass, the county jail looming across the water and the traffic on San Jacinto roaring past.

Downtown Houston can be a real ghost town - dubious reports of hauntings, but hey it's Halloween. At least there's a little history involved.

The Peaceful Pecan
509 Louisiana, shades Longhorn Cafe patio

History: The misshapen tree surrounded by buildings is thought to be about 75 years old and a descendant of the pecan grove that stood in the area bounded by Louisiana, Milam, Texas and Prairie. Sam Houston negotiated a treaty with Chief Bowles under the trees in 1836. President Mirabeau B. Lamar invalidated the treaty, and Bowles died in the Battle of Neches in 1839.

Watch for: Misty figure of an American Indian near the tree at midnight.

Open to public: 11 a.m. daily. But the latest the restaurant stays open is 9 p.m. on Fridays.

Official line: The manager says it's spooky at night when everyone is gone because it's a creaky old building and there are noises and flashing lights from the traffic, but she hasn't noticed any ghosts. The humans are gone by midnight unless there's a private party.

And finally, I know a couple of my readers will be interested to learn that the expansion of the light rail system is going ahead: Metro panel votes for light rail on all five planned lines