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There's Glory in the Old Girl,Yet FIRST Among PIERS GALVESTON COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM Galveston's Electric Park, 1906, a predecessor of the Pleasure Pier Galveston In the late 19th century, America became obsessed with pleasure piers — destinations brimming with amusement-park thrills, games of chance, tasty concessions and live entertainment. New York had Coney Island; California had the Santa Monica Pier. By the end of the 1940s, Galveston had the largest of them all: the appropriately named Pleasure Pier. Hurricanes had other plans, however, and after Carla crashed through in the '60s, the property became the Flagship Hotel, which was devastated by Ike in 2008. Enter Landry's. The renowned restaurant and hospitality group, headed by owner and CEO Tilman Fertitta, welcomed the opportunity to turn back time and redevelop the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier for a new generation. The $60 million project is filling the 1,130-foot pier, located on 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard, with 16 rides including the Texas Star Flyer, recognized as the highest ride in the state; midway games of chance and skill; souvenir and sweet shops; a live-entertainment stage; carny-food faves such as smoked turkey legs, hot dogs and cotton candy; and the first Texas location of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., a California-born concept (with obvious cinema ties) that promises 19 shrimp dishes on its diverse menu. The fun starts when the pier opens this month. Can't wait? Visit pleasure-pier.com now and follow the link to its Facebook page for the latest details. Sharon L. Taylor Step back in time with the 38th Annual Galveston Historic Homes Tour, presented by the Galveston Historical Foundation on the weekends of May 5 and 6, 12 and 13. Ten resplendent — and resilient — properties are open for public viewing, 10 am to 6 pm, with the purchase of a single ticket. These true survivors weave a fascinating tale of renovation, relocation and close calls with fire, storms and demolition. The ages of the homes range from the 1870 Louis and Margaret Wenzel Cottage to the 1916 abodes of Oscar and Laurence Hoecker and Louis and Anita Runge. Also included is the Charles F. Rhodes Co., Island City Cigar Factory, built in 1898. Tickets are $20; packages combining tour admission with the Sunset on the Sand Kickoff or the Linen and Lace Mother's Day Champagne Brunch and Fashion Show are also available. Your Historic Homes Tour ticket even grants you discounted $5 access to other local attractions: the 1892 Bishop's Palace, Texas Seaport Museum and the 1877 tall ship Elissa, the 1838 Michael B. Menard House and the Historic Harbor Tour and Dolphin Watch. Talk about a history buff's dream come true. Tickets 888.305.7627; galvestonhistory.org. Sharon L. Taylor COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MCCLAIN GALLERY, HOUSTON Galveston Arts Center — THE UPDATE Among the state's influential art spaces — as both the prognosticator of emerging talent and arbiter of important mid-career to senior grand masters — Galveston Arts Center reigns as an unrivaled power broker, thanks to the unerring eye of curator (and patron) extraordinaire Clint Willour and director Alexandra Irvine. With courage and conviction, this pair has overcome Ike's destruction by relocating temporarily to a charming historic Stand District space along Market Street and 25th, where they're plotting the restoration of their permanent home, the 1878 First National Bank Building at 22nd and Strand. That glorious Second Empire brick, wood and cast-iron structure, a pillar in the City of Galveston's National Historic Landmark District, was the first bank in Texas operating under the 1863 National Bank Act and the second chartered bank in the state. As one of the most prominent commercial institutions in 19th-century Texas, its officers were culled from the leading families of the bustling, prosperous port: Henry Rosenberg, George Ball, George Sealy, Morris Lasker and Mrs. R. Waverly Smith, who defied gender expectations to become the first female bank president in Galveston. The home of the Galveston Arts Center since 1968, the building is getting a $1.4 million, five-year redux that will preserve it for the next century. Phase I's fund-raising goal of $200,000 (half of which has been reached) has a timetable of six months and will put its staff back in the building while ensuring a minimal level of programming; a show of the late abstractionist Joe Glasco is planned for GAC's return engagement. (To contribute to further Texas contemporary art and preserve Galveston's architectural history, contact Alexandra Irvine, alex@galvestonartscenter.org.) As the originator, organizer and producer (for more than 20 years) of ArtWalk, which takes place at GAC and sprouts to neighboring Strand District spaces (next set for Saturday, June 2), the Center mounts must-see exhibitions every six weeks. On our radar for early this summer are Houston-based creators Karin Broker and H.J. Bott. Broker solos in "Wired, Nailed, Drawn and Printed," which highlights her virtuosity in many media, wide-ranging subject matter, intimate to epic scale and broad, challenging vision (through May 27). Next, the mighty H.J. Bott weighs in, returning to the stomping ground of his early Strand studio to mark the 40-year milestone of his obsessive, all-encompassing and pervasive geometric DoV principle — Displacement of Volume, that is (June 2 – July 8). 2501 Market St. Karin Broker's Fat Girl with Nest, at 25th, Galveston, 409.763.2403; contemporaryartgalveston.org. 2010, at Galveston Arts Center Catherine D. Anspon © GALVESTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY SURVIVOR Stories Josephine Drouet House, 1898 CANDACE DOBSON / ISLANDER BY CHOICE, LLC 2011 Galveston Island Beach Revue In the NET Zach Moser One of the most unique endeavors we've encountered conjoins fishing, conceptual art, Southeast Texas anthropology and coastal cuisine in an intriguing cultural gumbo known as Shrimp Boat Projects. Via this unorthodox but innovative undertaking, Galveston Bay's rich shrimping tradition is explored first-hand by artists, activists Fishing Vessel Discovery and founders Eric Leshinsky and Zach Moser, who improbably launched their undertaking — billed as an investigation of the labor of a landscape — in collaboration with the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston. Starting with an idea in the summer of 2010, the intrepid duo has progressed from countless man-hours restoring a faded fishing vessel (the rechristened Discovery) through the end of their first shrimping season in 2011. Now year two approaches, and the catalysts — Moser, who also co-founded the highly touted, CAMH-exhibited Workshop Houston on the Project Row Houses campus, and Leshinsky, whose firm GRAPH speaks to his interest in environmental research and design and his masters in architecture — are trawling once again the waters of Galveston Bay, seeking artists, writers and environmentalists to volunteer to work the nets and document one of the legendary industries that defines the Texas Gulf coast. The crew is also seeking customers to buy their catch when it comes to town. For the full saga (which is way more than a mere fish tale) of the Discovery, visit shrimpboatprojects.org. To participate in this summer's season (June 15 – September 15), e-mail eric@shrimpboatprojects.org by May 15. For details about placing a seafood order, e-mail info@shrimpboatprojects.org. Catherine D. Anspon Sea to See: YOUR GO-TO GUIDE TO GALVESTON. The San Luis Resort Go online to papercitymag.com to see our up-to-the-minute listings of where to stay, what to do, and where to eat and shop in Galveston.