Heights Tours

Carter & Cooley Delicatessen is housed in a building that was once a drug store.Houston Heights was found in 1892 (1896 – 1918), Independence Heights was found in 1910 (1915 – 1929), Woodland Heights subdivision (1907 – Present), Sawyer Heights, Memorial Heights, Washington Heights, Stone Heights, Stude, Brooke Smith, Norhill, and Norhill North Subdivisions

Most people do not realize that several different Heights exist. They have wonderful and diverse architecture with many Victorian and Craftsmen homes, tall trees, several houses of worship, and rich histories.

All driving tours normally begin and end at the Visitors Center in downtown Houston. However, we can customize a tour and start and finish elsewhere. We can be flexible in mixing and matching different options on the Heights Tours. For example, if you want to delete one stop on a 3, 4, or 5-hour tour to add the Art Car Museum, we can swap them. Keep in mind, the Art Car Museum opens at 11:00 AM, is closed on Monday and Tuesday, and is closed for about 1 month in total each year while old installations are taken down and new ones are installed. The Art Car Museum is also not close to most of the other sites so we may have to reduce the amount of time that we spend at another site to allow for more transit time.

Our Heights tours have evolved over the years. At one time, a Telephone Museum and an Ink Spots Museum existed in the Houston Heights. The Telephone Museum relocated to Bellaire. The Ink Spots Museum folded. Historic local family owned clothing department stores with names such as Harold’s in the Heights and Kaplan’s Ben-Hur no longer exist. A couple of old fraternal German lodges, Sons of Hermann and the Edelweiss, were bulldozed for new shopping centers and the old German beer garden Garden in the Heights from the 1880s was bulldozed for a multi-level parking garage. Artist David Adickes had his studio in Sawyer Heights along with over forty 2-story busts of the heads of the presidents and 4-story tall statues of The Beatles. They have been moved or destroyed. If you went on this tour many years ago and it looks different, so does the Heights.

All tours are narrated.

Most stops are for 20 minutes with 40 minutes for the combination Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery, and Flores Spice Shop.

For groups of 15 or more people, some time adjustments need to be made; for example, one needs to double the amount of time at Houston Dairymaids and the Yale Street Grill. Thus, some other site(s) must be deleted.

Agendas for 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8-Hour Tours for Tourists

A.  Agenda for a 2.5-Hour Walking Tour of the heights, Heights Tour, 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM - Multiple Stops

This tour starts by the Carter & Cooley Company Delicatessen at 375 West 19th Street, Houston, Texas 77008. This is at the northeast intersection with Ashland Street. This tour can cover between 10 and 20 blocks in and around the old downtown area of the Heights. It ranges from 18th Street to 22nd Street and from Lawrence Street to Heights Boulevard. Because a walking tour only moves as fast as the slowest person and we will be exploring inside various buildings and taking one or more restroom and or refreshment breaks as the tourist(s) desire(s), it is a mystery how much we will walk. Lots of interesting hole in the wall shops exist to explore.

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B. Agenda for a 3-Hour Heights Tour, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM - 1 or 2 Stops

10:00 – 10:15 AM – Introductions and use the bathrooms – 15 minutes.

10:15 AM – 12:10 PM – Drive from the Visitors Center (VC) in downtown to tour Memorial Heights, Washington Heights, Houston Heights, Independence Heights, and Stone Heights. See Buffalo Bayou before entering Memorial Heights and White Oak Bayou before entering Houston Heights. See the area where the old natatorium was located.

In Houston Heights, we go by Donovan Park, beautiful Victorian homes and large oak trees, public art, gazebos, monuments, memorials, and the Paul Carr Jogging Trail all in the huge esplanade, a bed and breakfast, All Saints Catholic Church as well as many other houses of worship, the former 1914 to 1918 Houston Heights City Hall, Milroy Park, the oldest Houston Public Library branch from 1926, the oldest Houston Independent School District High School, John Reagan High School from 1926, a house where Bonnie and Clyde allegedly hid, an International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) lodge, the haunted John Reagan Masonic lodge, Marmion Park, Opera in the Heights (OH), Hamilton Middle School, the old downtown 19th Street with several restaurants, cafes, antique, resale, and curio shops, the sites of the former Harold in the Heights Department Store and Kaplan’s Ben-Hur Department Store, the area where the pedophilia, rapist, torturer, and serial and mass murderer Dean Corll (1939 – 1973) lived and Helms Elementary School where he could entice some of his victims, and a popular bakery.

In Independence Heights, we see Booker T. Washington High School, lots of churches, and several abandoned and dilapidated structures.

In Stone Heights, we drive by Texas’s largest farmers market – The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery (one of Houston’s most famous Mexican bakeries), the Flores Spice Company, and one or two historic cemeteries.

If you like, we will divert to go into Garden Oaks to stop and buy pies from one of Houston’s most famous and popular pie stores since 1967: The Flying Saucer Pie Company. The Flying Saucer Pie Company is closed on Sunday and Monday.

We will have 1 or 2 stops for bathroom breaks and to eat and shop at:

  1. Yale Street Grill for malts, milkshakes, soft drinks, or coffee.
  2. The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery, and the Flores Spice Company.

12:10 – 12:40 PM – Tour Woodland Heights and drive through Sawyer Heights. 30 minutes.

12:40 – 1:00 PM – Drive back to the Visitors Center. 20 minutes.

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C.  Agenda for a 4-Hour Heights Tour, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM - 2 or 3 Stops

9:00 – 9:15 AM – Introductions and use the bathrooms – 15 minutes.

9:15 AM – 12:10 PM – Drive from the Visitors Center (VC) in downtown to tour Memorial Heights, Washington Heights, Houston Heights, Independence Heights, and Stone Heights. See Buffalo Bayou before entering Memorial Heights and White Oak Bayou before entering Houston Heights. See the area where the old natatorium was located. 

In Washington Heights, you see the former Heights State Bank that Bonnie and Clyde may have robbed and we drive by the Art Car Museum.

In Houston Heights, we go by Donovan Park, beautiful Victorian homes and large oak trees, public art, gazebos, monuments, memorials, and the Paul Carr Jogging Trail all in the huge esplanade, a bed and breakfast, All Saints Catholic Church as well as many other houses of worship, the former 1914 to 1918 Houston Heights City Hall, Milroy Park, the oldest Houston Public Library branch from 1926, the oldest Houston Independent School District High School, John Reagan High School from 1926, a house where Bonnie and Clyde allegedly hid, an International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) lodge, the haunted John Reagan Masonic lodge, Marmion Park, Opera in the Heights (OH), Hamilton Middle School, the old downtown 19th Street with several restaurants, cafes, antique, resale, and curio shops, the sites of the former Harold in the Heights Department Store and Kaplan’s Ben-Hur Department Store, the area where the pedophilia, rapist, torturer, and serial and mass murderer Dean Corll (1939 – 1973) lived and Helms Elementary School where he could entice some of his victims, and a popular bakery.

In Independence Heights, we see Booker T. Washington High School, lots of churches, and several abandoned and dilapidated structures.

In Stone Heights, we drive by Texas’s largest farmers market – The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery (one of Houston’s most famous Mexican bakeries), the Flores Spice Company, and one or two historic cemeteries.

If you like, we will divert to go into Garden Oaks to stop and buy pies from one of Houston’s most famous and popular pie stores since 1967: The Flying Saucer Pie Company. The Flying Saucer Pie Company is closed on Sunday and Monday.

We will have 2 or 3 stops for bathroom breaks and to eat and shop at:

  1. Yale Street Grill for malts, milkshakes, soft drinks, or coffee.
  2. The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery, and the Flores Spice Company.
  3. Houston Dairymaids: Houston Cheese Shop for cheese or Penzeys Spices. Houston Dairymaids is closed on Monday.

12:10 – 12:40 PM – Tour Woodland Heights and drive through Sawyer Heights. 30 minutes.

12:40 – 1:00 PM – Drive back to the Visitors Center. 20 minutes.

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D.  Agenda for a 5-Hour Heights Tour, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM - 3 or 4 Stops

9:00 – 9:15 AM – Introductions and use the bathrooms – 15 minutes.

9:15 AM – 1:10 PM – Drive from the Visitors Center (VC) in downtown to tour Memorial Heights, Washington Heights, Houston Heights, Independence Heights, and Stone Heights. See Buffalo Bayou before entering Memorial Heights and White Oak Bayou before entering Houston Heights. See the area where the old natatorium was located.

In Washington Heights, you see the former Heights State Bank that Bonnie and Clyde may have robbed and we drive by the Art Car Museum.

In Houston Heights, we go by Donovan Park, beautiful Victorian homes and large oak trees, public art, gazebos, monuments, memorials, and the Paul Carr Jogging Trail all in the huge esplanade, a bed and breakfast, All Saints Catholic Church as well as many other houses of worship, the former 1914 to 1918 Houston Heights City Hall, Milroy Park, the oldest Houston Public Library branch from 1926, the oldest Houston Independent School District High School, John Reagan High School from 1926, a house where Bonnie and Clyde allegedly hid, an International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) lodge, the haunted John Reagan Masonic lodge, Marmion Park, Opera in the Heights (OH), Hamilton Middle School, the old downtown 19th Street with several restaurants, cafes, antique, resale, and curio shops, the sites of the former Harold in the Heights Department Store and Kaplan’s Ben-Hur Department Store, the area where the pedophilia, rapist, torturer, and serial and mass murderer Dean Corll (1939 – 1973) lived and Helms Elementary School where he could entice some of his victims, and a popular bakery.

In Independence Heights, we see Booker T. Washington High School, lots of churches, and several abandoned and dilapidated structures.

In Stone Heights, we drive by Texas’s largest farmers market – The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery (one of Houston’s most famous Mexican bakeries), the Flores Spice Company, and one or two historic cemeteries.

If you like, we will divert to go into Garden Oaks to stop and buy pies from one of Houston’s most famous and popular pie stores since 1967: The Flying Saucer Pie Company. The Flying Saucer Pie Company is closed on Sunday and Monday.

We will have 2 or 3 stops for bathroom breaks and to eat and shop at:

  1. Penzeys Spices or Oddities and Curiosities. This latter business is unique in Houston.
  2. The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery, and the Flores Spice Company.
  3. Houston Dairymaids: Houston Cheese Shop for cheese. Houston Dairymaids is closed on Monday.

Additionally, we will stop for approximately 1 hour to eat lunch at the restaurant of your choice on 19th Street, the former main downtown street. You can also shop in several resale and antique shops that are located there.

1:10 – 1:40 PM – Tour Woodland Heights and drive through Sawyer Heights. 30 minutes.
1:40 – 2:00 PM – Drive back to the Visitors Center. 20 minutes.

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E.  Agenda for a 6-Hour Heights Tour, 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM - 5 or 6 Stops

9:00 – 9:15 AM – Introductions and use the bathrooms – 15 minutes.
9:15 AM – 2:10 PM – Drive from the Visitors Center (VC) in downtown to tour Memorial Heights, Washington Heights, Houston Heights, Independence Heights, and Stone Heights. See Buffalo Bayou before entering Memorial Heights and White Oak Bayou before entering Houston Heights. See the area where the old natatorium was located.

In Washington Heights, you see the former Heights State Bank that Bonnie and Clyde may have robbed and we drive by the Art Car Museum.

In Houston Heights, we go by Donovan Park, beautiful Victorian homes and large oak trees, public art, gazebos, monuments, memorials, and the Paul Carr Jogging Trail all in the huge esplanade, a bed and breakfast, All Saints Catholic Church as well as many other houses of worship, the former 1914 to 1918 Houston Heights City Hall, Milroy Park, the oldest Houston Public Library branch from 1926, the oldest Houston Independent School District High School, John Reagan High School from 1926, a house where Bonnie and Clyde allegedly hid, an International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) lodge, the haunted John Reagan Masonic lodge, Marmion Park, Opera in the Heights (OH), Hamilton Middle School, the old downtown 19th Street with several restaurants, cafes, antique, resale, and curio shops, the sites of the former Harold in the Heights Department Store and Kaplan’s Ben-Hur Department Store, the area where the pedophilia, rapist, torturer, and serial and mass murderer Dean Corll (1939 – 1973) lived and Helms Elementary School where he could entice some of his victims, and a popular bakery.

In Independence Heights, we see Booker T. Washington High School, lots of churches, and several abandoned and dilapidated structures.

In Stone Heights, we drive by Texas’s largest farmers market – The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery (one of Houston’s most famous Mexican bakeries), the Flores Spice Company, and one or two historic cemeteries.

If you like, we will divert to go into Garden Oaks to stop and buy pies from one of Houston’s most famous and popular pie stores since 1967: The Flying Saucer Pie Company. The Flying Saucer Pie Company is closed on Sunday and Monday.

We will have 3 or 4 stops for bathroom breaks and to eat and shop at:

    1. Penzeys Spices or Oddities and Curiosities. This latter business is unique in Houston.
    2. The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery, and the Flores Spice Company.
    3. Houston Dairymaids: Houston Cheese Shop for cheese. Houston Dairymaids is closed on Monday.
    4. Joshua’s Native Plants & Garden Antiques or Buchanan’s Native Plants.

Additionally, we will stop for approximately 1 hour to eat lunch at the restaurant of your choice on 19th Street, the former main downtown street. You can also shop in several resale and antique shops that are located there.

2:10 – 2:40 PM – Tour Woodland Heights and drive through Sawyer Heights. 30 minutes.
2:40 – 3:00 PM – Drive back to the Visitors Center. 20 minutes.

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F.  Agenda for a 7-Hour Heights Tour, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM - 7 or 8 Stops

9:00 – 9:15 AM – Introductions and use the bathrooms – 15 minutes.

9:15 AM – 3:10 PM – Drive from the Visitors Center (VC) in downtown to tour Memorial Heights, Washington Heights, Houston Heights, Independence Heights, and Stone Heights. See Buffalo Bayou before entering Memorial Heights and White Oak Bayou before entering Houston Heights. See the area where the old natatorium was located.

In Washington Heights, you see the former Heights State Bank that Bonnie and Clyde may have robbed and we drive by the Art Car Museum.

In Houston Heights, we go by Donovan Park, beautiful Victorian homes and large oak trees, public art, gazebos, monuments, memorials, and the Paul Carr Jogging Trail all in the huge esplanade, a bed and breakfast, All Saints Catholic Church as well as many other houses of worship, the former 1914 to 1918 Houston Heights City Hall, Milroy Park, the oldest Houston Public Library branch from 1926, the oldest Houston Independent School District High School, John Reagan High School from 1926, a house where Bonnie and Clyde allegedly hid, an International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) lodge, the haunted John Reagan Masonic lodge, Marmion Park, Opera in the Heights (OH), Hamilton Middle School, the old downtown 19th Street with several restaurants, cafes, antique, resale, and curio shops, the sites of the former Harold in the Heights Department Store and Kaplan’s Ben-Hur Department Store, the area where the pedophilia, rapist, torturer, and serial and mass murderer Dean Corll (1939 – 1973) lived and Helms Elementary School where he could entice some of his victims, and a popular bakery.

In Independence Heights, we see Booker T. Washington High School, lots of churches, and several abandoned and dilapidated structures.

In Stone Heights, we drive by Texas’s largest farmers market – The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery (one of Houston’s most famous Mexican bakeries), the Flores Spice Company, and one or two historic cemeteries.

If you like, we will divert to go into Garden Oaks to stop and buy pies from one of Houston’s most famous and popular pie stores since 1967: The Flying Saucer Pie Company. The Flying Saucer Pie Company is closed on Sunday and Monday.

We will have 6 or 7 stops for bathroom breaks and to eat and shop at:

  1. Penzeys Spices or Oddities and Curiosities. This latter business is unique in Houston.
  2. The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery, and the Flores Spice Company.
  3. Houston Dairymaids: Houston Cheese Shop for cheese. Houston Dairymaids is closed on Monday.
  4. Joshua’s Native Plants & Garden Antiques or Buchanan’s Native Plants.
  5. HITS (Children Theater) or Opera in the Heights (OH).
  6. The Art Car Museum. The Art Car Museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Additionally, we will stop for approximately 1 hour to eat lunch at the restaurant of your choice on 19th Street, the former main downtown street. You can also shop in several resale and antique shops that are located there.

3:10 – 3:40 PM – Tour Woodland Heights and drive through Sawyer Heights. 30 minutes.
3:40 – 4:00 PM – Drive back to the Visitors Center. 20 minutes.

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G.  Agenda for an 8-Hour Heights Tour, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM - 9 or 10 Stops

9:00 – 9:15 AM – Introductions and use the bathrooms – 15 minutes.
9:15 AM – 4:10 PM – Drive from the Visitors Center (VC) in downtown to tour Memorial Heights, Washington Heights, Houston Heights, Independence Heights, and Stone Heights.  See Buffalo Bayou before entering Memorial Heights and White Oak Bayou before entering Houston Heights.  See the area where the old natatorium was located. 

In Washington Heights, you see the former Heights State Bank that Bonnie and Clyde may have robbed and we drive by the Art Car Museum. 

In Houston Heights, we go by Donovan Park, beautiful Victorian homes and large oak trees, public art, gazebos, monuments, memorials, and the Paul Carr Jogging Trail all in the huge esplanade, a bed and breakfast, All Saints Catholic Church as well as many other houses of worship, the former 1914 to 1918 Houston Heights City Hall, Milroy Park, the oldest Houston Public Library branch from 1926, the oldest Houston Independent School District High School, John Reagan High School from 1926, a house where Bonnie and Clyde allegedly hid, an International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) lodge, the haunted John Reagan Masonic lodge, Marmion Park, Opera in the Heights (OH), Hamilton Middle School, the old downtown 19th Street with several restaurants, cafes, antique, resale, and curio shops, the sites of the former Harold in the Heights Department Store and Kaplan’s Ben-Hur Department Store, the area where the pedophilia, rapist, torturer, and serial and mass murderer Dean Corll (1939 – 1973) lived and Helms Elementary School where he could entice some of his victims, and a popular bakery. 

In Independence Heights, we see Booker T. Washington High School, lots of churches, and several abandoned and dilapidated structures. 

In Stone Heights, we drive by Texas’s largest farmers market – The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery (one of Houston’s most famous Mexican bakeries), the Flores Spice Company, and one or two historic cemeteries.

If you lik, we will divert to go into Garden Oaks to stop and buy pies from one of Houston’s most famous and popular pie stores since 1967:  The Flying Saucer Pie Company.  The Flying Saucer Pie Company is closed on Sunday and Monday.

We will have 8 or 9 stops for bathroom breaks and to eat and shop at:

  1. Penzeys Spices or Oddities and Curiosities.  This latter business is unique in Houston.
  2. The Farmers Market/Canino’s Food Produce, El Bolillo Bakery, and the Flores Spice Company. 
  3. Houston Dairymaids:  Houston Cheese Shop for cheese.  Houston Dairymaids is closed on Monday.
  4. Joshua’s Native Plants & Garden Antiques or Buchanan’s Native Plants.
  5. HITS (Children Theater) or Opera in the Heights (OH).
  6. The Art Car Museum.  The Art Car Museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday.
  7. The Noble Lady Spa & Salon or The Houston Theosophical Society.
  8. Tour the 11th Street art galleries or coffee and snack stop or Heights Funeral Home.

Additionally, we will stop for approximately 1 hour to eat lunch at the restaurant of your choice on 19th Street, the former main downtown street.  You can also shop in several resale and antique shops that are located there.
4:10 – 4:40 PM – Tour Woodland Heights and drive through Sawyer Heights.  30 minutes.

4:40 – 5:00 PM – Drive back to the Visitors Center.  20 minutes.

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Houston Heights Public Library - Built in 1926, this is the oldest branch in the Houston Public Library system.Walden's Coffee HouseRockerfeller Hall