Hang Like a Bulldog
Boone Pickens no longer wears a tie. Herein lies a tale.
Reporting and commentary on Texas businesses and the trends and innovation happening in our state
Boone Pickens no longer wears a tie. Herein lies a tale.
A little-known financial institution could be the future of the war on poverty in Texas.
Investors are bullish about Houston’s AIM Management Company, whose mutual funds have been on target for two decades.
In the eighties Tilman Fertitta’s seafood restaurants earned him millions while his hard-nosed business tactics earned him enemies. But these days the Galveston native is winning new respect in his hometown by standing up to the most powerful family on the Island.
Now that both its building and its mission have been renovated, Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum is ready to win back the public and reestablish its eminence.
Whether playing for the luckless Houston Astros, running the world-champion New York Yankees, or confronting racism, Bob Watson has always stepped up to the plate.
The Texas Observer could be on its last legs (again).
In the youth-oriented world of Web page designers, calling someone young is really saying something—but these guys are young. Before any of them is old enough to drink, in fact, the cyberwunderkinder who run two-year-old Zero Factor Interactive (ZFI) have garnered an impressive roster of clients, including Who bassist John
Houston has every reason to be proud of the Alley Theatre: After fifty years in the business, it has national clout and a Tony award. Still, not everyone is pleased with its direction.
It started as a hippie sandwich shop in Austin. Now, more than two decades later, Schlotzsky’s is finally kicking the competition in the buns.
A Fort Worth filmmaker makes history on the Internet.
Sowing the seeds of the hemp craze.
In Texas the ultimate arbiter of good taste has always been Neiman Marcus, the Dallas-based department store that marks its ninetieth birthday next year.
If you’ve seen a Kiss concert, a truck and tractor pull, or Miss Saigon recently, you can thank Houston’s Pace Entertainment for the privilege—and for the price you paid.
HOUSTON FINANCIER (or, as he is often described in the Golden State media, “Texas tycoon”) Charles Hurwitz clearly got the better side of his recent agreement to swap 3,000 acres of ancient redwoods in Northern California for $380 million in federal and state funds plus other public forest acreage. In
To survive at a time of heady demand for craft brews, the mid-sized Spoetzel and Celis breweries have partnered with major corporations. Still, they’re keeping their local flavor.
After nearly fifty years of working Matagorda Bay, Vernon Bates could soon watch his business shut down for good—and so could the thousands of other shrimpers who make their living on the Gulf Coast.
Origin Systems founder Richard Garriott has sometimes lived his life like a computer game, but now that the multimedia industry is changing, he can’t play around anymore.
The Dallas Cowboys began the season struggling on the scoreboard, but they’ve continued to score big on the balance sheet. In a coup reminiscent of his deals with Pepsi and Nike, owner Jerry Jones has made an as-yet unannounced deal to designate Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation as the team’s official medical
Most businesses in the West Texas town of Alpine cater to locals, but one attracts Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Junior Brown, and other musical greats. It’s the modest building where Michael Stevens, luthier to the stars, produces electric guitars—fewer than two dozen a year, at $2,700 to $10,000 plus. “We
The drought drives cattle ranchers online.
An airline deal sets off an American revolution.
Breadth of a salesman.
The last tycoon.
How Seagram uncorked a national controversy by airing TV ads in Corpus Christi.
This spring, Texas’ leading white-bread maker was ordered to pay a fine of $10 million and settled a lawsuit for another $18 million. Why does the company have to cough up so much dough?
Reading the Arlington newspaper war.
In less than a decade, the upstart Houston diapermaker has come a long way, baby. But taking on the big boys has hardly been child’s play.
By pooh-poohing sentimentality and focusing on profits, Houston funeral home mogul Robert Waltrip is making a killing.
The Federal Express of the cattle business.
The surprising sound of the Internet.
Introducing El Rey, the Venezuelan chocolate that is wowing chefs everywhere, thanks to the efforts of a Texan with a taste for treats.
What do Monty Python, the Lion King, Ace Ventura, and Howie Mandel have in common? They’re all part of 7th Level’s strategy to marry show biz with the computer-game biz.
Marketing the Texas pecan like the California raisin seems to make good business sense. So why do small Texas growers think it’s a shell game?
An Addison snail breeder gets fresh with the world.
Texas was supposed to be horse racing’s salvation, a Thoroughbred–loving state with money to burn. So why can’t the sport get out of the gate?
Texas’ multimillionaire of the moment.
With its cut-rate knockoffs of Apple’s Macintosh line, Austin’s Power Computing hopes to surpass Compaq and Dell as Texas’ top clone shop.
This month at least two hundred Texans will converge on Hallettsville for the state championship of straight dominoes. The outcome is unpredictable, but one fact is not: Chances are that every player will tote a set of bones made by Waco-based Puremco, the only manufacturer of plastic dominoes outside mainland
Is it possible to have a low-fat chip that tastes good? After three years of top-secret tinkering, Frito-Lay thinks it has hit upon the ultimate snacker’s delight.
Five chic interior design stores in Fredericksburg are comforting, inspiring, and for the acquisitive, absolutely irresistible.
There’s black gold in the South American rain forest—lots of it. Can the oil companies get it out without ruining the jungle and the way of life of the Indians who live there? The perils of drilling in the heart of darkness.
Mary Kay Ash and Jinger Heath have made fortunes getting women to buy and sell their beauty products. But no lipstick or powder can conceal the ugliness between these Dallas cosmetics queens.
Boone Pickens and his protégé, David Batchelder, built Mesa Petroleum into an energy giant. Now Pickens’ empire is crumbling and his former aide is leading the charge against him.
A year after he was ousted from the Galveston clothing company he founded, Joe Flores is designing a way to out-hip his rivals.
The Compaq kid.
The prophet of ‘Doom.’
The celebrity realtor as realtor celebrity.
From invention to litigation, the breast implant has done more for Houston’s economy—and its psyche—than anything since oil.