In our Must do things around Greater Houston series, we take a look at Houston’s vast array of communities, neighborhoods, and destinations to give you five fun, tasty, surprising, and alluring reasons you should give everyone a visit.
Enriching Houston culture through art and design studios and galleries, restaurants and shops, public art installations and more, Arts District Houston is one of the city’s most treasured treasures.
At its heart is Sawyer Yards, a creative campus spanning over 55 acres of industrial warehouses housing local artists, manufacturers and businesses.
Visit to support local art, sample local food and drink, and see what kind of fun this pedestrianized area brings with our five ways to explore.
5 things to do in Houston’s arts district
- Develop a game plan at the ADHou Visitor Center – In 2021, Arts District Houston opened a Visitor Center at Winter Street Studios, where visitors can discover fun recommendations from local artists as well as maps of the area and a hiking guide. Take a selfie in front of the huge outdoor mural by Houston artist David Maldonado. The Reception Center is open to the public on Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment from Wednesday to Friday.
- Support local art, explore artist studios and more – The silos of Sawyer Yards is an iconic building housing workspaces for more than 100 artists, as well as retail businesses, galleries and offices for creative entrepreneurs and SITE Gallery, an alternative art space that is located inside its 34 rice silos. The Art Alley at Sawyer Yards is your one stop shop for awesome wall art, with 14 artists collaborating to create an 800-foot-long mural. And those who want more entertainment can head to the Station theater, an independent local theater focused on live improvisation and sketch comedy.
- Shop at the second Saturday Art Market and stop to witness a lineup of local events – Every second Saturday, the Sawyer Yards Market features an eclectic mix of vendors, artists, makers and creatives, located in Art Alley from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event takes place in parallel with Sawyer Yards Second Saturday, when the artists of Sawyer Yards open their workshops to the public from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Attention even more Events to come, live music and artistic previews at auctions and pop-up shops.
- Relax with local food and drink – The area around Houston’s Arts District is full of fantastic dining options, including a classic steakhouse and butcher’s shop B&B Butcher & Restaurant, modern Vietnamese cuisine and patio Xin chaofavorite fried chicken Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, titan taco Tacodeli, and delicious dumpling stain, Dumpling Haus. Thirsty? Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company, Holler Brewing Company, Urban South HTX, and Platypus Brewing are all on site or near the neighborhood, as is the charming Southern Cocktail Bar Julep; neighborhood meeting places Liberty Station, Henderson Heights, and Darkheart Tavern; and caffeine slingers Cafe Catalina and mobile cafe Jackson’s Brew Coffee Co.
- Stroll through beautiful Glenwood Cemetery – Believe it or not, some of Houston’s most spectacular gardens can be found in a graveyard, the 1871 Glenwood Cemetery to be exact. Located directly across from Sawyer Yards on the south side of Washington Ave, its pristine grounds twist and wind, filled with towering century-old oak trees, magnificent sculpture and architecture, and historic tombs. The cemetery is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (closed on public holidays).
