A ramp arcs over the Hillcroft Transit Center, photos by Rose Kuo
A Stroll Along Hillcroft and 59
In this Hear Our Houston audio tour and contribution to Unexpected City, Raj Mankad, the editor of Cite and OffCite, takes us on a tour of the triangle-shaped area bounded by Highway 59, Hillcroft, and the Westpark tollway. First he braves the feeder road, pointing out a school next to a strip club next to an international bus station, before taking you deep into the ethnic mish-mash of Houston. Referencing a recent Houston Press article on “Little India” and his own experience, he shares an unlikely vision for a less ugly and more pedestrian-friendly city. Rose Kuo photographed the walk.
Click on the link below to listen to the tour:
Hillcroft and 59 Walking Tour
by Raj Mankad
The transit center floats cloud-like above a concrete prairie.
Southwest Freeway (Highway 59) feeder
Dollar Days packs the parking lot of Michael's International, a strip club.
A Gandhi district sign points to the stripclub.
Liberty High School
Terminal de Autobuses
Scoping out chaat and paan
An opened up paan
Hillcroft Office Park
Exterior of Shirdi Sai Jalaram Mandir
Interior of Shirdi Sai Jalaram Mandir
Westpark utility corridor
Westpark utility corrdior sunset
The proposed University Line light rail ends at Hillcroft transit center.
Plans for rail station at Hillcroft Transit Center. Click to open larger pdf.
View Hillcroft Walking Tour in a larger map
Sketch of Hillcroft and 59 by Raj Mankad
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Filed Under: Public Space, Sharpstown, tours, Transit, Walking
Anjana Menon writes:
09.23.11
11:33 pm
Such an interesting array of uses! Scandalizing too (Strip club next to a school, and a stone’s throw away from places of worship!?). Will be visiting Balaji Bhavan tomorrow before going shopping at Sari Sapne, so shall pay more attention than I usually do when I visit Hillcroft. The potential of pedestrian development too hinges on the development of a transit center. But how far away in the future is that? :)
Rose writes:
09.26.11
1:36 pm
Raj, what an inspiring walking tour! I’m so glad I had the opportunity to experience it with you, and now I can so vividly imagine all the sights and sounds that meander along the route as I listen to the recording. Thank you for sharing.
Raj Mankad writes:
09.29.11
10:29 am
Thanks Anjana. In India and Bangladesh, there’s a big movement to decriminalize sex work, the idea being that solidarity with the women and increasing opportunities for them to fashion a meaningful life is more important than forcing the oldest occupation deeper underground. It’s a complicated question. The proximity of the school and places of worship to the strip club is a little deceiving, because each site is so atomized. I’d like to see the Hillcroft/Gulfton/Sharpstown area remain a densely populated place with mixed uses that welcomes immigrants, many of them low-income, and at the same time for the city to invest in the public realm and to accommodate the many people who walk there. The new Neighborhood Centers Inc. is a big step in that direction. The University line that would connect the transit center won’t be breaking ground soon. METRO has to come up with the money, perhaps by taking back the money it gives over for highways. In the meantime, we can imagine the transit center as more than a staging and cleaning facility for the trains—it can be a thriving urban destination.
Thanks Rose for taking such great pictures that made me see the area anew!
Link « Literature and Culture writes:
01.23.12
10:07 pm
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