Enormous live oaks wow at Becks Prime in Houston
If you need a moment of Zen, or for gratitude and joy to lift your spirits, get yourself to Houston to visit…a hamburger place. Not just any hamburger place. At Becks Prime at 2615 Augusta Drive, near the intersection with Westheimer Road, you’ll find two absolutely enormous, tentacle-limbed live oaks behind the restaurant. Even if you know they’re back there, it’s a jolt to see them in their long-armed, horizontal glory. And if you come across them by surprise, as I did, you may just walk around these stunning trees exclaiming Wow! and taking dozens of photos while other diners noshing on hamburgers and fries indulgently smile at you.
Becks does these trees proud by serving up one of the best hamburgers I’ve ever tasted, cooked to order and grilled over mesquite wood coals. Get the fries too. Then settle in under the trees to enjoy them. No matter how hot it is outside, or how cold (haha, this is Houston), you have zero excuse to sit indoors and miss communing with these trees.
Becks has protected the trees — and obliged tree worshippers and outdoor lovers — with three large decks that float over the live oaks’ root zones. Water-permeable gravel paths and expanses of low-maintenance Asian jasmine instead of lawn (or paving!) mean there’s no need for mowing, weed-whacking, chemicals, and all the things giant live oaks would rather avoid.
Becks claims the trees are more than 400 years old, and I believe them. That means the seedlings were growing in the early 1600s, when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. When Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. When the Taj Mahal was built.
By the time Houston was founded in 1837, these trees had matured into 200-year-old specimens. Houston boomed and went bust multiple times over the next 200 years, and the trees kept on growing, eventually snaking their giant limbs across the ground like really big live oaks do. Meanwhile the city grew all around them — a city that famously eschews zoning laws for development. Hurricanes and flooding wreaked havoc on the city many times. Droughts came and went. Somehow the trees dodged all those bullets.
When Becks Prime purchased the property in 1988, according to The Buzz Magazines, “the tree limbs were all resting on the ground. [Becks] had a 210-ton crane come in and move the limbs up on the wooden stilts you see today. It was quite a delicate process. ‘They had a stethoscope, like from a doctor’s office,’ said Alice [Sarmiento, Becks Prime marketing manager]. ‘Someone was listening to the tree [with the stethoscope]….If they heard a crack they said, Stop!’”
According to an informational sign, the restaurant itself was built to float 18 inches above ground, so as not to disturb the tree roots. A drive-through lane, which meanders under the expansive tree canopy, is paved with hand-laid pavers rather than concrete or asphalt.
The trees are astonishing, and it’s even more amazing that they’ve thrived in the middle of a bustling city, with tall buildings and busy streets all around.
Becks has made it easy and accessible to enjoy them, and they should be commended for being such good stewards of the trees.
My daughter recently moved to Houston for an internship, so I’ll have even more reason to go back soon and commune with the Becks trees.
Next time maybe I’ll go in the evening, to see the light-wrapped grapevine balls hanging from the branches all lit up.
But a daytime visit is awfully good too, when you can relax under the trees’ light-filtering canopy.
Good food. A vibrant city. And magnificent trees. It’s time to go to Houston again.
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Digging Deeper
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All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Incredible trees. Your photos are inspiring. Thanks for sharing this amazing space.
It’s my pleasure, Sue. I’m just awed by these trees.
They’re fabulous. I wish we had them in Nashville…But, not if it means climate change!
They give you a reason to visit Texas, Gail. 🙂
I stay out of Houston at all costs….looks like I now have a reason to rethink that! Really, two of my favorite things…trees & a really good burger = win, win!
I think Houston is a wonderful city with so much culture to enjoy — great museums and restaurants, people from all over the world, and a friendly vibe. The exurbs may not be beautiful and there’s traffic, but get into the Museum District, visit the Rice University campus, Memorial Park, the shops in the Heights — there’s a lot to see. Plus these trees! 🙂
Just awesome Pam! What incredible living history, and thriving in an urban environment, amazing. They sure put things in perspective. Thanks for featuring these beautiful old trees.
My pleasure, Brenda!
Wow! Now I’m suffering from tree envy.
They are spectacular, aren’t they?
WOW is right!!! My heart skipped a beat when I saw the first photo! What magnificent trees and such a great story of respect and care that Beck’s Prime has for them. Thanks for letting us know about them.
I was so happy to find them, Melody, and glad I could share!
What a wonderful, uplifting, positive story…and such beautiful photography. If only there were many more Becks Prime in the world! Thankyou Pam.
Thanks for your comment, Suzanne, and yes!
What absolutely splendid trees! The owners have definitely gone over and above to protect these beauties. Not many would, sad to say. Thanks for sharing, Pam. The pics are lovely.
Thanks, Ginny. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Wow, so close to the first apartment my husband and I shared and we never visited this Becks Prime location—and we love them! Now we are in Austin, but you can bet next time we are in Houston we will be making a pilgrimage to visit these amazing trees. Thanks for the post!
Isn’t it funny how something amazing can be hiding around the corner and you might never know? I often wonder how many cool things I’ve missed and walked right by.
Best arbor ever! Kudos to Becks’ owners.
Yes indeed!
Goodness. Those trees are a sight to behold. Indeed bravo to Backs for their stewardship and for creating a spectacular and unique outdoor space. (serving good burgers is a bonus).
chavli
I agree – it’s all so good.
[…] I first blogged about these incredible trees last August. This time, in early February, I noticed ferns colonizing the trees’ snaking, horizontal limbs. I imagine they are cool-weather plants, showing up in winter and going dormant in summer. […]
My brother, who died in 2010, loved these trees. Every year on his birthday, his three daughters and their families and his widow go to Beck’s Prime and have dinner under the trees to celebrate him. My sister and I go when we are in Houston. The trees are majestic and magnificent.
That’s a lovely way to celebrate your brother and his love for these trees, Estco.
Once I introduced my wife to Beck Prime’s Oaks, this has become her sanctuary to revitalize her spirit while she has been battling illness. She had traveled on Westheimer hundreds of time but was totally surprised when I brought her to the restaurant for the first time a few months ago. It has quickly become her favorite to place eat and mediate.
Being among these trees is healing, I believe. They have a beautiful presence. I hope your wife continues to enjoy them for a long time to come.