Corpus Christi Day & Night 7-07

[Boris]

Thx for all the comments. And thx for the interesting info Vertex and Kevin. I wish I knew about that museum you were taking about Vertex, I would have walked over there if I knew.

Adios

[vertex]

Boris, after going back and looking at the photos, I realized that you were in the area. The photos of the circular fountain, the Harbor Bridge and the Columbus ship replica means you were in the Bayfront park. The museum is in the same spot, but set back a ways at the water's edge, near the auditorium and convention center.

It might be harder to notice at night (they used to light it up), but in the daytime there's no way you can miss it.

[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.

[the Misanthropist]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

Great pics! I've always been intrigued by Corpus Christi ever since I saw a picture of that awesome tallest building in an encyclopedia in the library when I was about eight years old.

So you used to browse through encyclopedias when you were eight too. I guess that's how we ended up here.

Corpus Christi has an unmistakeble Gulf of Mexico flavor.

[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.

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah, I believe the first visitors to the area were the Spanish in 1519.

As for the music, yes, it is a major center of Tejano music. Just take a look at the list here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_...Corpus_Christi