Ima Believer in Houston

Usually I look for charm or something special in an accommodation. In this case the something special was a hotel shuttle and free breakfast. The low price was certainly a huge incentive. The hotel was a Ramada Inn when I made the booking, within a couple of months it had become a Holiday Inn.

After getting our luggage a simple call to the hotel had the shuttle there to pick us up within a few minutes. It is only five minutes away and we passed our car rental location getting there.

We had gotten a very good rate of $69 when I originally booked and with Ramada it included free breakfast. Holiday Inn, however, did not honor that part though they did honor our rate. We got two corner rooms 301 and 331, which is pretty funny because they were at totally the opposite ends of the corridor.

The rooms themselves have the look of a recent renovation. The beds are queen with pretty burgundy coverlets and white blankets. The mattress was firm and very comfortable and the sheets were soft and smelled very clean. The pillows, however, were terrible, lumpy synthetic. It was too late to call housekeeping to see if they have feather/down available. We had a large flat screen TV with lots of channel choices and the remote had sleep mode which I really like. The entertainment was in a unit that also had three drawers to store things. There were two French Provencal chairs and a table with a coffee pot and two bottles of complimentary spring water. There is only one night-stand luckily it was my side of the bed. There was a small full length mirror and an iron and an ironing board. There was an alarm clock and a phone on my night stand.

The bathroom has a marble top with a blow dryer and the usual amenities. The floor shows signs of having been recently re-tiled.

The room is quite small but it is very pretty with some interesting pictures of antique maps on the wall. There is no closet per say but there is a bar with hangers and a luggage rack. It was very quiet in our room. There was a soda machine and an ice machine near the elevator.

There is free Wi-Fi available in the room and I assume in the whole building. There is an out door pool and hot tub and a small exercise room. There were also machines selling snacks in the corridor leading to the pool.

We decided to have breakfast here anyway. It was simple basic stuff, the buffet was not being offered. Service was excellent and everything was tasty if not particularly interesting. They even gave us to-go cups of coffee. We enjoyed the plasma TV on the wall with CNN, we could multi task eat and get news updates. USA Today is delivered to the room everyday.

Located in the very trendy Montrose section of Houston Backstreet Café is definitely one of the top twenty places I have ever eaten. Not only was the food exquisite the service was stellar. I called from our B&B to see if I needed reservations and was told that at this time of year, mid week it would not be necessary, and when we arrived it only took a couple of minutes to be seated, however, by the time we left, the place was packed.

Tony our waiter was absolutely perfect. He was funny, attentive and was able to answer any question that we posed to him. He made our dining experience even more perfect.

The menu is eclectic. There really is something for everyone. I started with a roasted pear stuffed with bleu cheese, dried fruit and nuts and served with greens. Joe had the Fried green tomato salad which was a nice mixed greens salad with bleu cheese and pecans and two slices of fried green tomatoes. Both of them were excellent. My pear was such a unique combination of flavors and textures, the dried fruit was dried cherries and it was a just a perfect palate pleaser.

What we passed on were seared scallops with asparagus and warm wheatberry salad, New England lobster pot pie, shrimp cheesecake and mile high vegetable torta just to mention a few of the starters. French onion soup, Gulf coast Filet gumbo, charred tomato and chicken tortilla soup and a whole slew of salad choices.

When it came to our main courses we cover the whole gamut. I ordered the angel hair pasta with shrimp, pinenuts, olives and sun dried and fresh grape tomatoes. It was packed with flavor and lots of very good sized shrimp. It was a very healthy sized serving but not huge.

Al ordered the steak frites, a ribeye steak cooked the way you like it with a cone of very thin sliced fries. The steak was covered with a mustard cream sauce and there was more for dipping the frites in. Al loved it.

Joe had the lamb chops, which were served with homemade lamb sausage, white beans and a stuffed red pepper. He loved the chops. However, for $27 there were only two and they are small and the sausage was too spicy for his liking but the white beans and pepper were very good.

We were full but having such a great time we decided to look at the dessert menu. Oh my... Needless to say we ordered dessert. Joe and I had the seasonal cobbler which was raspberry and served with mascarpone ice cream and Al had the dark chocolate cake with homemade chocolate ice cream and praline cookie. The desserts are to die for. The cobbler was perfect, the best I have had since France 5 years ago in Thann. The chocolate was dense and not overly sweet, in a word divine.

Parking is valet.

After taking the time to visit their web site I noticed that they recommend have a booking before arriving. We decided that we wanted to visit on Tuesday January 9 so on Friday December 15 I called and made a reservation for three for the 10am tour. At that time I was told to wear flat shoes and that cameras, bottled water, purses and backpacks would not be allowed inside the house. Lockers, however, are provided to hold your items while you tour.

Bayou Bend was the brain child of the three Hoggs, Will, Mike and their sister Ima. Yes all of us ask why anyone would name their child Ima Hogg. As it turns out her father named her for the heroine in his brother's poem that was named Ima which was short for Imogene. Her grandfather when he heard her name came rushing to protest but the christening had already taken place so in her own words "Ima I was to remain." James Hogg the father of Ima was the first native born governor of Texas and he purchased a property on which oil was found. It was discovered after his death but his children became immensely wealthy. With great wealth comes great civic responsibility and Ima became one of the great collectors of her time.

Bayou Bend was designed by architect John Staub in a style that became known as Latin Colonial. It is located on three bends of Buffalo Bend six miles outside Houston and on fourteen acres. Her friend Henry Dupont encouraged her to turn it into a house museum (he was the owner of Winterthur) It was owned by Ima until 1957 at which time she donated it to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She continued to live in the house until 1965.

Today what people come to see is her exceptional collection of decorative arts from as early as 1620, which all began with the purchase of a single chair. The tour began in the visitor center and our docent was Carol Crawford. Our tour had five people on it . The tour begins as we walk through the garden to the house, Ima’s favorite color was pink and this is reflected in her choice of garden flowers, azaleas, crepe myrtle, camellias, all pink.

Once inside the house we enter the Murphy room, the vignette here is a 17th-century tavern. Wonderful furniture, porcelains and a couple of paintings. We moved chronologically though time and through rooms viewing scenes that have been created to capture a moment in time. All the details of the room have been carefully orchestrated with great attention paid to every item. With the help of her friends Ima had a great eye for historic items.

We spent well over an hour in the house and at the end of the tour we were let loose on our own to tour the gardens. We spent another half hour there and considered it a morning well spent.

Harris and Carroll Masterson were great collectors of European decorative arts. After the death of Mr. Masterson in 1997 the collection came into the possession of The Museum of Fine Arts. It is the perfect foil to the American Decorative Arts Collection of Bayou Bend. The house was designed by John F. Staub, who was also the architect of Bayou Bend. Mr. Masterson named the house Rienzi after his grandfather Rienzi Johnston. The house is designed to resemble an English country home done in the Palladian style. Harris Masterson bought this piece of land from his good friend Ima Hogg because he liked the magnolia tree that was on the property, it is still here today though not looking quite as magnificent as it did 50 years ago. It is right across the Bayou from Bayou Bend.

You need to call ahead to reserve a tour here. We called several days in advance and paid at the time we called. Our tour time was 10:30am and we arrived about 15 minutes early. We were asked to tour the grounds while we were waiting for our tour time. This was no hardship as the grounds are lovely. In due time we were called in and our docent Dick was waiting for us in the former parlor. No photography is allowed inside and they have lockers where you leave your purse.

We began by getting a brief history of the house and the family and how it came to the Museum of Fine Arts. We then began in the Library which was Harris’ favorite room. I can see why he loved it, it has huge windows that overlook the backyard making it the lightest and brightest Library I have ever seen. What you will see here is beautiful furniture from England from the George III period, German Silver sconces, 2 small George Romney portrait and a Gainsborough landscape, just to mention a few of the treasures.
Next we go to the drawing room where there is an Angelica Kauffman portrait to one side of the fireplace and a George Romney on the other. On a table between the windows is a Sevres bust of Madam DuBerry.

Our third stop was the single guest room, which is done in the Italian Rocco style. We moved to the entrance way to admire the Benzoni sculpture and the octagonal skylight In the dining room we get to meet Harris and Carroll through their portraits and to admire the collection of hard paste Meissen in the breakfront.

The last stop in the original house is the breakfast room. Here we find another Angelica Kauffman portrait and twelve leather seated George II side chairs. In 1972 an annex was add and we enter the foyer of this addition at this point and are greet by a wonderful Wright of Derby portrait. I could go on and on about all the wonderful things that we saw but I want to leave something to the imagination.

Located in Sam Houston Park in downtown Houston The Heritage Society offers what they call "A Walk into Houston’s Past." Eight Houses from different periods or from different social classes have been brought together here in Sam Houston Park. Only one, the Kellum-Noble House is actually at its original location. The other seven have been brought here from other locations. If you are satisfied with just seeing the exteriors of the houses you can wander around the park on your own for free and just look at all of them. We, however, wanted to take one of the guided tours. We arrived at 12:15 to find out that the next tour was 1pm and that there wasn’t any food to be had onsite. We walked across the street to1 Allen and went to the food court. We were not able to make it back for 1pm, however, and figured we would get the 2pm tour. Wrong, the tour is 2:30 and if it hadn’t been for the fact that there were ten of us by the time the tour time rolled around, I don’t think there would have been a 2:30 tour. The docent Gail was none to happy to find out that there wasn’t anyone to give us the tour, she had just done the 1pm and obviously hadn’t planned to do the 2:30. It all worked out and she is a very good guide but it was touch and go for a few minutes.

There is a museum at the Heritage Society that is dedicated to preserving Houston’s history. It was closed, while they dismantled a recent exhibit. It was very disappointing. The tour starts at the museum, the cost is $6 for adults. We all paid up and followed Gail out into the courtyard. There we were introduced to the Statue of John Connally, former Governor of Texas whose main claim to fame is that he was wounded in the same motorcade in which President Kennedy was killed.

From here we moved on to a very rustic cabin from the 1820s called Old Place. It is a one-room cabin of the type that would have been constructed by the settlers to satisfy the requirements of the Mexican government that the land granted had to have improvements on it. In order to get a land grant not only did you have to improve the land you were supposed to learn to speak Spanish and become a Roman catholic. Most settlers disregarded the last two.

In order to do this tour you need to be able to walk and climb stairs, only one house Nichols, Rice Cherry House is handicap accessible to the first floor but not the second floor.

In total we visited four houses, which houses any tour visits depends on the docent and those on the tour. Gail asked if anyone had a special house they wanted to see.

Museum of Fine Arts Houston
1001 Bissonette St
Houston




Tracing its beginnings to an Art League to encourage art history and appreciation in the public school system in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston opened its door in 1924 becoming the first art museum in Texas. The core collection at that time was 25 paintings than had been donated along with several other pieces. In the 1930's Ima Hogg made significant donations to the collection and today it consists of more than 50,000 pieces, covering six continents and dating from antiquities to present.

The Museum of Fine Art includes Bayou Bend and Rienzi both of which display their works in a house setting. The Museum itself is in two buildings the Law and the Beck Buildings. They are connected by an underground tunnel that is itself a work of art. It changes color every eight minutes and is quite amazing to watch. We enter into the Law Building and then passed to the Beck Building. There are information desks in both buildings to help you with maps and any questions that you might have, no audio tour however. In the Beck Building you will find the very extensive gift store and also Café Express. You can spend the whole day in the Museum and never have to leave. Families are encouraged to visit and strollers are allowed in the galleries.

The collection is extensive and includes everything from Asian Art to modern photography. The Old Masters European Collection was not on display when we were there but if it had been there would have been a Rembrandt for Joe to enjoy. We did get to see the Impressionists however and they were fine enough to please even the most finicky connoisseur.

Menil Collection
1515 Sul Ross

Would that I could say that I enjoy modern art but I have to admit it leaves me cold. Given that, it is hard for me to say that I loved the Menil. I will admit that there were displays that kept my interest and the building itself is beautiful and interesting to walk around. It isn’t all modern art either there is Inuit art and objects from Oceania, Medieval and Byzantine treasure and of course the Picasso, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock among many others. There are a lot of Rothko’s too so if you are a fan this will be nirvana.

Rothko Chapel
1515 Sul Ross



I have to admit that on one or maybe even more than one level I just don’t get this. It is a room with large black canvases covering the wall. Is it quiet, well yes, is it chapel-like well not to me and I have trouble calling canvases painted plain black art but it is all in the eye of the beholder. You can sit here on benches that form a circle in the middle of the room and contemplate what ever you want to contemplate. I was bored in two minutes. However out side there is a very interesting sculpture and it too has seats around the reflecting pond where you can sit in quiet reflection .

Byzantine Chapel
4011 Yupon

This was a big disappointment to us. It is closed during the week in the winter so when we arrived the door was locked and we didn’t get to see anything but the exterior which frankly wasn’t worth the visit. So when planning a visit make surer to check for their opening hours.