Quite the lunch break

A look at the easily-accessed, burned-out 27th floor of the historic Chase Bankbuilding

The view upon entering the 27th floor . . .
Photo by Caroline Gallay
The window we crawled through to get outside — we assume it was broken open byfirefighters.
Photo by Caroline Gallay
The ledge made for some beautiful views, here of the Esperson Building acrossRusk Street
Photo by Caroline Gallay
The ledge was littered with charred bits of equipment.
Photo by Caroline Gallay
Steven and I walked the perimeter of the building on this little balcony with noproblem.
Photo by Caroline Gallay
Maybe during repairs they can add a little observation deck for the greatdowntown views.
Photo by Caroline Gallay

When my dear colleague Steven Thomson and I were heading back from lunch at the new downtown Ziggy's Grill, we walked straight past the entrance of the JPMorgan Chase Bank building recently damaged in a four-alarm fire.

Being that we weren't sure how the repairs were going and we wanted an excuse to be alone a little while longer (shhh) we decided to go in and check things out. I had called the bank building about a week prior, and was inexplicably instructed to contact the main office IN NEW YORK about the state of repairs in the historic building. When I suggested that since the woman I spoke to was in the lobby, she might have some knowledge of what was going on upstairs, she hung up.

Understandably I think, we bypassed the front desk (the entire ground floor was business-as-usual) and headed to the elevators.

"I think it was floor 27," I told Stevie, and we decided we'd go as close as we could and ask around. Amazingly enough, the elevator dropped us right off at the damaged floor.

The doors slowly separated and there was no doubt that we were in the right place. Charred walls, a fire-fighter-busted exterior window, hanging insulation, stray wires. There were no people in sight, just a few clipboards and one particularly nice camera, so we decided to snoop around a bit. We admittedly ignored the sign warning us of possible Ozone inhalation (fingers crossed!) and moved on to the shattered window.

With no cautionary note and certainly no cautionary tape, we decided to crawl through the window and take a look around outside. We walked the ledge completely around the exterior of the building, admiring the skyscape. We eventually returned to the elevators where things were as deserted seeming as we'd found them, although we thought we might have heard the murmuring of workers somewhere on the floor, and a single utility ladder indicated that someone, somewhere might be doing something productive.

The good news? The Chase building is fine, and we think they're fixing it.

The bad news? I hope no ~~vagrants~~ other enterprising reporters get the same idea we did. It's uh . . . maybe not the safest.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

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

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.”