Move over San Francisco, New York and Miami. If you want to snap a slew of unique Instagram pics, head to Houston, Texas. Yes, really.
Spend a day wandering around Montrose, the posh hipster district of the Bayou City, and you'll know what we're talking about. Just west of downtown, you can pose with art, nature, stunning architecture, and endless colorful backdrops. Montrose has also been home to many icons, from short story writer O. Henry (remember Gift of The Magi?) in the late 1800s to Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1930s, and it is also where one of the country’s most thriving gay scenes flourished in the 1970s.
With its museums and galleries, award-winning restaurants, walkable streets and fountain-dotted parks, funky cafes, and antique stores, Montrose is nationally known as the most Instagrammable neighborhood in Houston. Get that camera charged and ready.
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Also known as the Montrose Paint Wall ever since the Biscuit store, which commissioned the mural, moved, the mural is the work of Houston artist Sébastien “MrD1987” Boileau, who painted it in 2014: “It was the beginning of Instagram,” he recalls. Tourists and locals alike love to pose in front of it because, as Boileau says, it’s simple, joyful, and “people can be front and center. The art is the background.”
Warhol made these silkscreen prints among his other celebrity portraits, including Marilyn Monroe and Elvis, and among ten or so other Mona Lisas. While the Menil Collection, one of Houston’s top fine art museums, prohibits photography in its galleries, work in the main hallway, including Double Mona Lisa, is fair game.
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Constructed in the 1960s by abstract expressionist Barnett Newman, Broken Obelisk is the most famous of the artist’s six sculptures and stands in a reflecting pool outside the Rothko Chapel. The chapel itself, a sanctuary featuring fourteen Mark Rothko paintings, is also very much worth a visit though photography is prohibited inside.
French graffiti artist Blek Le Rat's The Last Tango is a stunning black and white mural of ballet dancers locked in a dip. It covers a 46-foot-tall facade panel on the exterior of boutique art hotel La Colombe d’Or. This work is among 400 pieces of fine art on display throughout the hotel, many of which make for beautiful photo backdrops. While you are there, don’t forget to photograph the skyline view from the stunning rooftop pool deck.
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When an oil magnate and his wife gifted architect Eugene Werlin’s Mecom Fountain to the city in 1964, it was the largest fountain in Houston. Nearly 60 years later, it remains a familiar and beloved landmark in the 445-acre Hermann Park, a well-maintained urban park filled with joggers, bikers, art installations, pedal boats, and a stunning Japanese garden.
Montrose’s most Instagrammable restaurant and bar offers a slew of indoor and outdoor backdrops—fun, patterned wallpapers, neon art (including one striking piece shaped like the state of Texas), and Palm Beach-inspired décor. The Under The SeaBD cocktail is bright green: pineapple rum, kiwi syrup, lime juice, Blue Curacao, lemon CBD, eucalyptus tincture, and Topo Chico. For three more dollars, your bartender will throw in an extra CBD shot.
In the lobby of Houston’s funkiest boutique hotel, these Baroque-style throne-like chairs with the high zebra print backs and red velvet seats rest on a patterned rug beneath a sprawling crystal chandelier. The whimsical Hotel ZaZa has plenty of photo backdrops (think sprawling city views through the suite windows, rich velvets, and moody black and white photography), but the lobby gives off a Ken Fulk meets Tim Burton vibe.
Widely regarded as the best upscale sushi restaurant in Texas, Uchi has locations in Austin, Dallas, and Montrose, Houston. Good news for sushi and art lovers alike, as Uchi is as celebrated for its delicious and innovative Japanese fare as it is for its beautiful plating and décor. Sleekly designed walls and tables made of natural wood also provide sophisticated backgrounds.
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