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tower over you, with Houston’s skyline
towering over them in the background. It’s
a bizarre sight that’s made even more so by
the 40-foot statues of TheBeatles behind the
presidents. You snap a photo of your favorite
commander in chief, and move along.
After a Texas dinner last night and a
Mexican lunch today, you decide to split the
difference for tonight’s meal and hit up the
Tex-Mex institution
Ninfa’s onNavigation (
8
)
.
Ninfa’s opened in 1973 as a 10-seat taco shop
a ached to a tortilla factory ona quiet street
not far from downtown, and quickly grew
into one of the state’s most popular restau-
rants. It’s bigger now, but the atmosphere is
as homey andunpretentious as ever. Legend
says the fajita was invented here, and, a er
digging into hearty strips of steak grilled to
perfectionwithabacon, tomatoand jalapeño
topping, you’re a believer.
From one of Houston’s most iconic res-
taurants you head to one of its most iconic
performance spaces, the
Orange Show (
9
)
.
Built by a postman named Jeff McKissack,
this oddity is a gaudy, over-the-top outdoor
tribute to the orange, a fruit McKissack
thought so perfect he spent 24 years build-
ing a shrine to it. When he died in 1980, art
patron Marilyn Lubetkin saved the place
and turned it into an eclectic performance
space for groups like Los Skarnales, a local
Latino ska band you’ve caught in themiddle
of a set. You realize you’ve stumbled into a
sweet spot between Houston’s rural roots
and its urban sophistication: Here, in the
middle of this bizarre folk-art masterpiece,
are tamales alongside cupcakes, cowboy
boots alongside Converse sneakers, natives
alongside transplants. But those superficial
differences belie a common love for dancing.
And as you notice that you’re the only one
still parked in a chair, you rise up and join in.
Hemispheres
contributing writer
ADAMK.
RAYMOND
dreams of building an art car that
honors the banana.
98
APRIL 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
THREEPERFECTDAYS
H O U S TO N
A REAL BLAST
Getting ready for launch
(and lunch) at NASA’s
Johnson Space Center
Every year more than half
a million people make
the 35-minute trek from
Houston to NASA’s Johnson
Space Center. Only a handful,
though, get to experience the
exclusive, behind-the-scenes
Level 9 tour. Limited to 12
people a day, the tour allows
visitors a glimpse of what it’s
really like to be an astronaut.
In addition to the attractions
seen by all visitors, Level
9ers get to view the neutral
buoyancy lab, where astro-
nauts get low-gravity training
in the world’s largest indoor
swimming pool; the space
environment simulation
lab, an enormous vacuum
chamber used to test
full-scale flight hardware;
and the mission control
center, fromwhich human
space flight is monitored.
Potentially the biggest treat
of the Level 9 tour, though, is
the NASA cafeteria, where
savvy tour-goers might spot
astronauts like Alvin Drew
munching on a sandwich just
a few tables over. The pres-
ence of gravity may dampen
the effect slightly, but use
your imagination. And go
easy on the Tang jokes.
NASA/GETTY IMAGES (ASTRONAUT)
COLORFUL PRESENCE
Performance artist Tina
McPherson rehearses at
the Orange Show