Corpus Christi Day & Night 7-07

[Boris]

Had time the night before todays hearing and just after my hearing today to take these pics. The morning pics were taken before 11:00 a.m. so not too many people on the streets. Also, still working on the night shots so they're a little blurring.




















































































































































































































































































Panos: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
















Adios

..................

[Pavlov]

People in Corpus Christi don't wake up until 11:00 AM? Awesome.

Nice tour. Thanks.

[br.reese]

nice

[hydrobond]

Wow, I had no idea Corpus Christi had such a skyline. Thanks for the tour.


I think I saw 2 people not wearing jeans.

[denveraztec]

Looks so clean and well kept. Are the beaches pretty clean?

[OfCourse]

I like how Frost Bank is lit up in green!

And those two towers are American Bank??? I always thought they were an Omni Hotel?

[ady26]

great job, I like the Frost Bank building!

[the Misanthropist]

Can someone please cut that grass? It's hurting my eyes.

Nice tour, though. I'd never seen Corpus Christi before.

[NIKKI]

Corpus is a beautiful town! I like the way their seawall descends into the bay and the mansions that straddle it. Thanks for the tour

[Cory]

What a rare see. Thanks for the photos.

[glowrock]

Yes, awesome job on the photos, Boris!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Buckeye Native 001]

Fascinating

[KevinFromTexas]

Sweet! I love Corpus Christi. One of my favorite cities in Texas. Nice pictures, Boris. Great job with the panos, and those night time pics are so inviting. I have a soft spot for the Corpus Christi/Port Aransas area. Been going down there with my folks since I was 2 years old. Hopfully I'll be back there next month. Can't wait. Been way too long since I've been, since 2004.

I wasn't expecting that big sign on Shoreline Plaza. Kind of overbearing.

And I've sat right there on that bench to the left many a time. Love that town.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Reesonov

People in Corpus Christi don't wake up until 11:00 AM? Awesome.

Nice tour. Thanks.

You have no idea. Corpus Christi and nearby Port Aransas are such lazy places. I always say people in Port Aransas would go around naked if it were legal. Port Aransas its across the bay on the barrier island of Padre Island, it's mostly a fishing town.

Originally Posted by OfCourse

I like how Frost Bank is lit up in green!

And those two towers are American Bank??? I always thought they were an Omni Hotel?

The two tall buildings in the middle are office buildings. Their official name is Shoreline Plaza. The tower on the left (south tower) is the tallest in the city at 411 feet with 28 floors, built in 1988. And the one on the right is the 2nd tallest at 375 feet with 22 floors built in 1988. Believe it or not, from 1988 to 2004 Corpus Christi had a taller building than Austin did before the Frost Bank Tower was built. Pretty awesome for a metro of only 400,000 and some change compared to Austin which is almost 4 times the size. The two towers to the left and right of Shoreline Plaza are the Omni Hotels, Omni Marina Hotel and Omni Bayfront Plaza. Both are 20 floors.

Originally Posted by denveraztec

Looks so clean and well kept. Are the beaches pretty clean?

Trash-wise the beaches are fairly clean. But you do have to deal with seasonal problems such as seaweed and jellyfish on th beach or in the water. My sister and her friend were just in Corpus about two weeks ago and headed into the water several times and were stung by jellyfish. None of the ones along the Texas coast are deadly, they just hurt. People who have been stung by them say it burns, sort of like a yellow jacket sting. Baking soda the best thing for it. I've never been stung, and I've been going down there for ages and swimming in the gulf.

[OfCourse]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

You have no idea. Corpus Christi and nearby Port Aransas are such lazy places.
...

Agreed. Ha.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by OfCourse

Agreed. Ha.

Yep, and I mean lazy as in laid back, not bad lazy.

Originally Posted by vertex

Culturally, it's always had a fantastic music presence, with so many musicians and acts either born-and-raised or getting their start in CC. This is the birthplace of Tejano, and the number of record labels and studios located there speaks volumes.

Absolutely. Corpus Christi produced Freddy Fender who played in the Texas Tornados. He wasn't born there, but he later moved there until is death last year. Drummer Chris Layton was born there. Now, Chris Layton played in many bands after he moved to Austin, The Arc Angels, Double Trouble with Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Storyville and at least two other bands.

Somewhere in downtown, I have not found it yet, but there's supposed to be a mural of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. I've looked for it and asked around but no one seems to know where it is, though one woman was a fan of them.

[PHX602]

The American Bank towers look so much taller than they really are. I guess because the lack of density surrounding them.

[vertex]

Great pics, nice to see mention of the town that I lived in for a spell while growing up (navy brat, my father was stationed at the CC Naval Air station).

Too bad you didn't get any pics of the South Texas Musuem of Art, just a short walking distance from that new arena. In my opinion, it's CC's architectural gem, a little white jewel box framed by the bay in the background. It was designed by Philip Johnson back in his 3rd-generation modernist days, before he came out of the post-modern closet.

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Believe it or not, from 1988 to 2004 Corpus Christi had a taller building than Austin did before the Frost Bank Tower was built. Pretty awesome for a metro of only 400,000 and some change compared to Austin which is almost 4 times the size. The two towers to the left and right of Shoreline Plaza are the Omni Hotels, Omni Marina Hotel and Omni Bayfront Plaza. Both are 20 floors.

CC has always been a strange mix; it's a very working-class town, with the Navy presence, the oil and natural gas refineries, the ship and oil-rig building, one of the busiest ports on earth, and the shrimping and fishing industry.

Yet it's also very touristy, with the miles of beaches and places like Rockport, Padre Island and Aransas Pass. And it's always been a playground for the rich; all you need to do is head down Ocean Drive to see that.

Culturally, it's always had a fantastic music presence, with so many musicians and acts either born-and-raised or getting their start in CC. This is the birthplace of Tejano, and the number of record labels and studios located there speaks volumes.

CC also had quite a number of corporate headquarters for a long time, but I understand most of them have moved. Larger ones like Whataburger, H.E.B., and Brown/Root all called Corpus Christi home until recently; HEB moved to San Antonio and Brown/Root was acquired by Halliburton. The Hq's, along with the oil and natural gas industry presence, might explain the number of banks downtown.

And in case you didn't know this already, CC and Austin were always neck-and-neck in terms of growth, until the early 80's when CC was hit very hard by the oil bust, and (as I understand it) took over a decade to recover. By then, Austin was well on its' way.

[starvinggryphon]

Originally Posted by vertex

Great pics, nice to see mention of the town that I lived in for a spell while growing up (navy brat, my father was stationed at the CC Naval Air station).

Too bad you didn't get any pics of the South Texas Musuem of Art, just a short walking distance from that new arena. In my opinion, it's CC's architectural gem, a little white jewel box framed by the bay in the background. It was designed by Philip Johnson back in his 3rd-generation modernist days, before he came out of the post-modern closet.




CC has always been a strange mix; it's a very working-class town, with the Navy presence, the oil and natural gas refineries, the ship and oil-rig building, one of the busiest ports on earth, and the shrimping and fishing industry.

Yet it's also very touristy, with the miles of beaches and places like Rockport, Padre Island and Aransas Pass. And it's always been a playground for the rich; all you need to do is head down Ocean Drive to see that.

Culturally, it's always had a fantastic music presence, with so many musicians and acts either born-and-raised or getting their start in CC. This is the birthplace of Tejano, and the number of record labels and studios located there speaks volumes.

CC also had quite a number of corporate headquarters for a long time, but I understand most of them have moved. Larger ones like Whataburger, H.E.B., and Brown/Root all called Corpus Christi home until recently; HEB moved to San Antonio and Brown/Root was acquired by Halliburton. The Hq's, along with the oil and natural gas industry presence, might explain the number of banks downtown.

And in case you didn't know this already, CC and Austin were always neck-and-neck in terms of growth, until the early 80's when CC was hit very hard by the oil bust, and (as I understand it) took over a decade to recover. By then, Austin was well on its' way.

Hey now, let's not get carried away! It has many influential record labels, but birthplace...........that's not true. Great town though, Cheers!

[vertex]

Well, are suggesting that San Antonio is the birthplace? The best live-music town for tex-mex, but it's not the birthplace.

Alice, Tx? First tex-mex recording studio, yes. Birthplace, no.

Most people agree that it's CC. German and Czech settlers arrived at the port in CC years before settling up north in the hill country. They worked on ranches and railroads alongside Mexican immigrants, and they brought Polka with them, the necessary ingredient for Tejano. The tradition pre-dates anything else in Texas by at least 10 years.