Entry No. 23 — the Houston file — filed under: roadside oddity

Eclectic Menagerie Park

Since company chairman Jerry Rubenstein set a concrete hippo on the fence line in 1987, Texas Pipe & Supply's yard has grown into two dozen scrap-steel beasts — a 20-foot spider, King Kong on a crane boom, Snoopy in his Sopwith Camel, a giant fishing pole reeling in a Mazda Protege — welded from reclaimed industrial pipe chiefly by yard welder Ron Lee (with sculptor Mark Rankin), visible from the SH-288 frontage road at W. Bellfort.

The move: Drive it after dark when the yard floodlights catch the welded steel, pull onto the shoulder for a quick photo stop (it's a five-minute detour, not a destination), then keep going to dinner in the nearby Museum District.

📍 South Union, Houston
💸 Free
⚡ Up for anything
🌗 Outdoors

Where: W. Bellfort Ave at SH-288 South, Texas Pipe & Supply yard, Houston, TX 77051

Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.

#roadside oddity #scrap metal art #sculpture garden #drive-by #free #scrap-metal-sculpture

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: texashighways.com · htownhappens.com · Atlas Obscura · Roadside America

last checked: 2026-07-19