park life

Game-changing new park with restaurant, kids spaces, tunnels and more breaks grounds in west Houston

Houston's push for more public green space has now grown to the west side. Camden Park, a new, 3.4-acre park in the Westchase District, has broken ground on Wilcrest Drive just north of Richmond Avenue, per an announcement.

Aimed at producing public green gathering spaces in one of Houston’s most park-deficient areas, the WiFi-enabled Camden Park will offer a 30,000 square-foot activity lawn with multi-purpose pavilion for free concerts and cultural performances, per press materials.

More features include an onsite restaurant open daily with indoor and outdoor seating, a children’s playground with rolling hills, play structures, water features, and a fenced dog park with turf-covered mounds, tunnels, and separate spaces for large and small dogs.

About that restaurant: Ginger Kale will be patterned after a similar concept in Hermann Park and will open daily from 7 am–7 pm for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Locals will enjoy a with a menu designed specifically just for them, per Westchase.

This new park from Westchase District will also boast an outdoor reading room with free books for young readers. Exercise stations, space for food trucks and farmers market vendors, and restrooms will add to the public gathering space experience. Speaking of green, a dozen Highrise live oak trees also will be relocated to the park from medians along Westheimer Road.

“This will be a destination park experience unlike any other in west Houston,” says Sherry Fox, vice president of communications for Westchase District, in a statement. “As a fully programmed setting, Camden Park will offer hundreds of year-round free events, all programmed by Westchase District, focused on fitness, education, arts and culture.”

Named in honor of the park’s primary donor, Camden Property Trust, the park purchased by the City of Houston in 2016 using open space money set aside by multi-family developers as required by the Parks & Open Space Ordinance, per press materials.

Some 21,000 residents and nearby employers are located within a 20-minute walk of Camden Park.

Rendering courtesy of Westchase District

An aerial view of Camden Park.

toy story

Houston Toy Museum will shutter in the Heights after 4 years

Luke Skywalker action figure Houston Toy Museum

Photos via Houston Toy Museum

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Childhood whimsy took a mortal blow this week as the Houston Toy Museum announced it would be closing its storefront on 19th Street at the end of August.

"The truth is, we fell in love with the idea of being in a space that already held so much history and nostalgia for so many," wrote founders Matt and Sara Broussard in an Instagram post on Wednesday, July 22. "So we dreamed big, took a leap, and in some ways bit off more than we could chew. Even so, we are deeply proud of what we have built and have no regrets!"

The couple cited rising rent prices as the primary reason for the closure. The Greater Houston Partnership reports that gross office rent prices in the second quarter of 2026 had jumped to $31/square foot, up from a $28/square foot a year ago. For a 4,932 square foot building like the Houston Toy Museum at 321 W. 19th, such increases can compound into an untenable amount.

The Broussards assured their fans and supporters that the Houston Toy Museum was not disappearing completely. They plan to continue hosting events around the city, including pop-ups and LEGO builds. Their Instagram post ended with a hopeful promise that they will find another storefront location sometime in the future.

When the Houston Toy Museum first opened in 2022, it quickly became a one-of-a-kind hub of pop culture in the city. Built from donated toys and the Broussards' large personal collection, it housed an impressive array of everything from century-old dolls to the immense G.I. Joe playset the U.S.S . Flagg (which is 7.5 feet long) to modern video game systems. The museum hosted film screenings, community talks, and more on the history and importance of play. It also sold a lot of toys in the gift shop.

All of those items are headed to storage, but the Broussards remained upbeat and thankful for the four years they were able to entertain and delight Houston.

"What started as a daydream became a space filled with joy, nostalgia, creativity, connection, and community," said the statement. "We watched families make memories here, saw people reconnect with pieces of their childhood, hosted incredible events, and felt an outpouring of support that we will never forget.We owe so much to you, our community. You showed up for us again and again, and we cannot thank you enough for believing in what we created. Heights residents, and beyond, you helped spread the word about our little museum. Many of you have been our biggest cheerleaders from day one and we are forever grateful for that."

museums houston toy museum closings the-heights