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Rotating 500-pound bunny head comes tumbling down: Sculpture saved for new home

"Please don't kill me I want to live," reads a sign painted on the side of jewelry store Fly High Little Bunny. But even a very earnest plea won't save the structure, which will soon to be torn down to make way for a new CVS at the corner of West Alabama and Shepherd.

Originally installed in October 1996, the sign survived natural disasters like Tropical Storm Allison and Hurricane Ike but couldn't overcome Houston's tumultuous real estate market.

Before that happens, the store's signature design element, a 500-pound, rotating, vampire bunny head, needed to be removed from the building's roof. Originally installed in October 1996, the sign survived natural disasters like Tropical Storm Alison and Hurricane Ike but couldn't overcome Houston's tumultuous real estate market.

Local metalworker Spencer J. Elliott created the sign and was on hand to supervise its removal. He says that he's trying to find a new home for it at a bar or other place where people will be able to visit it. No takers yet, but hopefully that changes soon.

This funky piece of street art deserves a better fate than crushing a metal shed and being loaded onto a trailer.

Update: Fly High owner Cody Reaves tells CultureMap he never had any intention of giving the sign away. He is actively searching for a new location where the sign will be proudly displayed.

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Beyonce Super Bowl

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”

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