June 5, 20187 yr I live here. AMA. We recently had some nice water in Galveston during Memorial day it got everyone in the state riled up. A friend in Dallas asked me if I had ever seen it like that lol. I've only lived in Galveston, other than about 7 years in Austin so I've seen all kinds of different water conditions. Mullet (sharks), seaweed (dead fish smell), red tide (red eyes), big waves (fun hurricane surf), no waves (bacteria) and everything between. A couple of years ago they did the sand replenishment from the East end to 61st street, prior to that they did 61st street going West to the end of the seawall. It's kind of nice to have more beach but temporarily changed all the good surf spots. 61st is best on a high, incoming tide. PP is best on a lower, outgoing tide or crazy current/wind conditions. 37th still isn't working. MOD Coffee shop is great, food and coffee is good. The view is better. I eat Mexican food alot - Taquilos is awesome. For a more authentic experience go to Gorditas. For breakfast go to Bronco Burrito. For seafood I like Millers. For BBQ I like Smooth Tony's or Queens. Star Drug store and Sunflower Bakery have good sandwiches. I used to like Stuttgarden for german beers and food but their food somehow started sucking recently. It was never as good as Scholz Garten. Friday and Saturday night start at Float then go to Yagas if you want to go out. Buckshot Saloon is cool too sometimes, but the construction right out side has kept it kind of empty. Old farts should go to Galveston Brewery. Brick House is a decent sports bar. O Mallys or Island Pier club for little dive bars. Avoid pleasure pier like the plague.
June 5, 20187 yr 22 hours ago, staboner said: galveston is a gem black pearl is great Pho Tai at 37th and Broadway is some of best pho you can get. FOB vietnamese for reals Also these places are awesome. Pho 20 sounds cool if you pronounce Pho wrong but that place sucks compared to Pho Tai.
June 5, 20187 yr Yes, my neighbor drives his golf cart up there to get away from his wife. Float has a good burger and a few other things. If you already have the STDs, go ahead and chill in their pool.
June 5, 20187 yr Grew up going to Galveston. My folks actually had undeveloped beachfront property at Pirate’s Beach but, thanks to Alicia, the State claimed it for dunes. Now we spend a long weekend there each April. We always get a beachfront house through VRBO or one of the local rental places like Wolverton (saves a few $). Gaido’s has my favorite fried shrimp in the world, but I prefer skipping the upscale Gaido’s and going to the more casual Nick’s. Same kitchen, same shrimp, and I can sit outside. Others have already covered The Spot, but next door to it is a complex of bars/grills (I think that The Spot is a part of it). I like rum, so I like going to the Rum Shack. Touristy, but fun. Mario’s Pizza West Beach is good. Their chicken fettucine alfredo pizza is our favorite white pizza. Shrimp and Stuff’s food truck at the Jamaica Beach car wash makes surprisingly good poboys. Speaking of poboys, the fried oyster poboy at the West End Marina’s Sandbar is my favorite hands-down. The oysters are like butter. A great place to have lunch and watch the charters come in / hear how the fishing was that morning.
June 5, 20187 yr lived there for about 18 months...Pho Tai and Maceo's where my lunch jam. PT has top notch bun and pho, and the owner's daughter is a hot little minx. Thursday are spaghetti and meatballs at Maceo's, and along with half a muff (toasted) you won't find a better lunch anywhere. Mods coffee is great brew as noted above. Gumbo Diner, Sunflower (oysters eggs benedict for the win) or Mosquito Cafe for breakfast. Eat Cetera is a damn good sandwich/salad/soup place on 25th. Brews Brothers has by far...BY FAR...the best hamburger on the island, and it's not up for debate. no one has yet to mention Cajun Greek or BLVD for seafood...fuck is wrong with y'all?
June 9, 20187 yr I'm doing my first of about 6-7 one-dayers this Wednesday. Bringing about 4 Coors 24 ozers and sitting on the beach, writing. Proally down by access 10-13 or so. Can't wait.
June 9, 20187 yr On 6/5/2018 at 2:23 PM, Kyrie Eleison said: Brews Brothers has by far...BY FAR...the best hamburger on the island, and it's not up for debate. I concur. The Spot it more family friendly though. Brews Brothers can get kind of a motorcycle gang feel some times.
June 9, 20187 yr I lived in Galveston briefly when I first got out of the Navy. The Victorian was brand new then. I'm old.
June 9, 20187 yr my family used to own some units in the Victorian in the 80s. used to love the swimming pool there when i was a kid. no clue what its like now
June 9, 20187 yr The blue water is back for the weekend. Good trout fishing.Well, were you part of the dawn patrol this morning? How’d you do?
June 9, 20187 yr 2 hours ago, staboner said: my family used to own some units in the Victorian in the 80s. used to love the swimming pool there when i was a kid. no clue what its like now One of the guys who was part of our drinking crew was selling units there and could get us a place to party/take chicks to. Was a lot of fun. We played tennis on their courts quite a bit too. Seems like they had a racquetball court as well but the memory is a bit fuzzy on that.
June 10, 20187 yr 50 minutes ago, DoobieWah said: Eater Houston's picks. 22 Essential Galveston Restaurants Leons BBQ is worth a visit
June 12, 20187 yr Goin' Thursday, not Wednesday. Bringing a computer, my writing projects, my big beach umbrella, and about 4 Coors tall boys. I do my best writing buzzed on the seabreeze. Probably going to be about Beach Access 10ish (notice 13 is closed this year for some reason). Then meet my daughter for(translation: buy her) dinner at Benno's afterwards (going with Old Faithful, I'll be going back about 3-4 times at least this summer, so I can branch out). Holla if you're around Thursday, but I'll be writing and meditating (closed-eye buzzing). This is what "semi-retirement's" all-fucking-about.
June 12, 20187 yr My young kids really loved the Pleasure Pier. Granted we are Landry's card people, so we did the Rainforest cafe too and did the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for lunch one day (ducks the flying swords of surly), but it was fun. I enjoyed the roller coaster Iron Shark, fwiw. I tell people I went or am going to Gavleston and you get 1 of 2 reactions . Either, someone who has been recently and says cool have fun or someone who hasn't been in many years and remembers the dirty needles in the hard-packed dirt/sand and the bums and undesirables strolling up and down the seawall who look at you horrified you'd take your wife and kids to such a place.
June 12, 20187 yr Did a day trip this past Friday and stopped by the Original Mexican Café. Shrimp quesadilla plate with a couple Modelo Especials was solid.
June 12, 20187 yr 2 hours ago, gsoda3 said: are there any good butchers or fishmongers in galveston? nope...no fishmongers in Galveston. not one. sorry.
June 12, 20187 yr 42 minutes ago, Kyrie Eleison said: nope...no fishmongers in Galveston. not one. sorry. Guess you’ve never shopped the panel van near the dumpster behind the Kroger. Rookies.
June 12, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, Jomac0928 said: Did a day trip this past Friday and stopped by the Original Mexican Café. Shrimp quesadilla plate with a couple Modelo Especials was solid. Subscribed-always go to the Original when in Galveston. Never been disappointed.
June 13, 20187 yr Who would you recommend?Katie’s, Sampson & Son’s, Allex’s are all pretty solid. But theres a shit ton of markets at the piers. Just bring your ice chest and shop each one for what you want and see who has the best product for the best price that particular day.
June 13, 20187 yr Mosquito Cafe for breakfast/lunch Number 13 is a good steakhouse Leon's for decent bbq Shrimp & Stuff for very casual fried seafood I'm a big fan of Cajun Greek as well BLVD seafood may be best spot on island imo Olympia Grill good if in Strand Little Daddy's Gumbo Bar Jimmy's on the Pier for basically view and drinks Porch Cafe Got to hit La King's Confectionary if you have kids and watch their eyes explode
June 14, 20187 yr Nice day on West Beach.... First of two Tall Boys goin' down, some writin' and funnin'. (yeah, I fixed that one spoke that popped out!) BEAUTIFUL day here. LIght wind, temps about 90 or so. Ahhhhh......
June 14, 20187 yr On 6/13/2018 at 9:56 AM, ScottishHorn said: Cajun Greek Totally forgot about this one. It's sort of a hole in the wall but good and reasonably priced. The original Shrimp 'n Stuff is better but there's one down near the Strand now too.
June 14, 20187 yr On 6/5/2018 at 8:44 AM, Sidney Sherman said: 61st is best on a high, incoming tide. PP is best on a lower, outgoing tide or crazy current/wind conditions. 37th still isn't working. If you surf and you call it the Pleasure Pier, you're doing it wrong. It's the Flagship. I bet you say "Ladybird Lake" Realistically speaking, Galveston does get some clear water days... all depends on currents. I remember paddling out on some spring days, sitting up on my board and seeing my feet below in the water. Rare but happens. My problem with Galveston is the cost of hotel rooms. Typically you overpay for total turds. That said, I'll second Benno's.
June 15, 20187 yr Dinner @Benno's. Fried seafood platter. Best on the entire island, don't EVEN try to convince me otherwise.
June 15, 20187 yr Hey PhD, what are you writing about? i like be Galveston. Have 2 small kids, live im Seabrook, and we go probably every other weekend to the beech or moody Gardens or something. Would go more often if I didn’t work. We’ll be staying at a rental past 8 mile late July. Micheal’s pizza is our go to when we stay.
June 15, 20187 yr I took a few tall boys out to the railroad bridge yesterday. Didn’t catch anything but a buzz. Nice afternoon.
June 15, 20187 yr 8 hours ago, UT_OB1 said: Hey PhD, what are you writing about? i like be Galveston. Have 2 small kids, live im Seabrook, and we go probably every other weekend to the beech or moody Gardens or something. Would go more often if I didn’t work. We’ll be staying at a rental past 8 mile late July. Micheal’s pizza is our go to when we stay. Hey PhD, this guy wants to edit your writing. How about giving him a job? j/k. drunk posting is best posting.
June 15, 20187 yr 8 hours ago, UT_OB1 said: Hey PhD, what are you writing about? i like be Galveston. Have 2 small kids, live im Seabrook, and we go probably every other weekend to the beech or moody Gardens or something. Would go more often if I didn’t work. We’ll be staying at a rental past 8 mile late July. Micheal’s pizza is our go to when we stay. Great! Returning to music (making another thread for that, look for it today) and literary writing, two things that have taken a back seat to child rearing (and I'll be happy to discuss the why's and why not's of all that another time/place). Anyway, my writing is two main things right now: 1) movie scripts & 2) non-fictional novelettes/short stories based on cultural historical events... working right now on several bildiungsroman type ideas. Mostly stuff I've wanted to tackle for the past 20 years but took a back seat to "bread-earning" stuff and raising the kids. More another time? Catching the buzz I did off of the tall boys, man I was writing like a motherfucker, knocked out about 20 pages in an hour, then my daughter dropped by (she lives in Tx City) and we had the dinner at Benno's. So I had to put it down, but man I do REALLY well in just the right conditions, the best/easiest writing for me. I mean, who the fuck can't relax and get creative while staring out at the Gulf with a light sea breeze? Yesterday was perfect, mostly because the wind was light, about 5-7 mph. Sometimes as you know it can get breezy down there, but it was really nice. Next trip will probably be the cusp of July, figuring on going to Cajun Greek... maybe. Daughter says there's some fish&chips place opened up by her (in Tx City so if it's good I might try that, otherwise some other seafood place. But I will be back at Benno's at least 2-3 times more this summer. Why? Because I'm not down there enough to be back 15-16 times!
June 15, 20187 yr You picked a great day to be at the beach, those are my favorites, just to sit and say nothing, with no interruption.
June 15, 20187 yr 47 minutes ago, Dewey said: You picked a great day to be at the beach, those are my favorites, just to sit and say nothing, with no interruption. Yep, always go down there Tue, Wed, or Thur. I was at Access 12, and there were a fair number of people there at noon, but by 2 I had the place almost to myself. Awesomeness. The only thing about that beach is that often it's narrow (depending on the tides) and often a little damp (there's not a wide strip of "dry, soft" sand). But no shits given, it's fine and I can get lost. Did a lot of bodysurfing, yeah the waves weren't huge, but good enough for a 10 second ride.
June 15, 20187 yr 4 hours ago, BottleRocket said: ... something something about a 10 second ride with your mom last night. ... something something about "Ha! The joke's on you! She died last month! Har heh har har!"
June 24, 20187 yr That’s a small baby shark...image was taken to look big. Just look at baby teeth and size of hook and line.
June 29, 20187 yr Did my second summer installment yesterday (Thurs). It was nice, about 91°. Pretty good SE wind whipping through though. The tatooed hipster and the 2 girls with him (no pics, you don't want them) brought one of those retractable shade things (like parents throw down to watch their little angels play baseball etc.). The thing almost took off for Houston. They tried to fix it and the wind bent/broke it. I was going to go over and suggest pointing a corner directly into the breeze so the pressure would better flow through the framing and keep it intact, but 1) the girls were not good looking at all (one had a big tentlike shirt on, that should tell you enough), and 2) I was buzzed and writing. Selfishness rules when I'm on my beach punching my laptop keys. It was a marvellous day (no pics, the beach, Gulf, and sky are still there and look like you'd think they would).
June 29, 20187 yr Do you know why girls don't drink beer on the beach?.... they get sand in their Schlitz. ba-doom-ding ... Seriously though, How is your laptop not getting destroyed by all of that windblown salt air and sand? One hotel not being mentioned is the Harbor House at Pier 21. I stayed there last week and the rooms are very nice and the location provides quick access to all the restaurants near the Strand.
June 29, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, phdhorn said: Did my second summer installment yesterday (Thurs). It was nice, about 91°. Pretty good SE wind whipping through though. The tatooed hipster and the 2 girls with him (no pics, you don't want them) brought one of those retractable shade things (like parents throw down to watch their little angels play baseball etc.). The thing almost took off for Houston. They tried to fix it and the wind bent/broke it. I was going to go over and suggest pointing a corner directly into the breeze so the pressure would better flow through the framing and keep it intact, but 1) the girls were not good looking at all (one had a big tentlike shirt on, that should tell you enough), and 2) I was buzzed and writing. Selfishness rules when I'm on my beach punching my laptop keys. It was a marvellous day (no pics, the beach, Gulf, and sky are still there and look like you'd think they would). phd, you are one interesting dude. Why not just move there to Jamaica beach, or there about? Bother has been living there for last five years. They love it.
June 29, 20187 yr Despite living in Houston for 8 years now, I'm still a Galveston novice. We usually just take 61st straight over to the seawall and set up shop right there. Now I feel like I'm doing it wrong. Learn me a little bit on the beaches. First post of this thread has a good suggestion. We're usually just looking for a nice, uncrowded place for my wife and I to sip beers and our kids to run around and build sand castles and stuff.
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