Samantha Brown's Places to Love

-I've returned to the destination that actually started "Places to Love."

I fell for its urban energy that inspires a tight-knit community everyone is invited to be a part of.

It's where food, always a hot topic of discussion, comes in so many languages, and a more historical conversation is just getting started.

It's where a singular mission to remain curious created a culture like nowhere on planet Earth.

I'm back in Houston, Texas.

[ Upbeat tune plays ] I'm Samantha Brown and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... [ Bird chirping ] -The rhythm of the waves.

The calming sounds of nature.

On the Southwest Florida coast, there are wide open beaches and hundreds of islands.

Sometimes doing nothing can mean everything.

Learn more at fortmyers-sanibel.com.

-We believe watching the world go by isn't enough.

That's why we climb... ...pedal... ...and journey beyond the beaten path, on storied rivers, with a goal to ensure that every mile traveled turns into another memory.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

-All the untamed beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest, experienced on a journey by rail.

Rocky Mountaineer, proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

AAA wants to help turn vacation dreams into reality.

Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LiveTV.

-Houston is such a surprising city, but I would say in the top five of surprises would be this mandir.

People do not expect that this is even in the United States... -Right, right.

-...let alone Houston.

-Mandir is actually the Hindu place of worship and the home of God, and the word "mandir" literally translates into "man" being "mind" and "dir" being "still."

So it's really where the mind becomes still.

And it's the first traditional Hindu mandir in North America.

-Was this built here?

Because I can't imagine people having this knowledge.

This architecture is so vastly different than what we know here in Western America.

So who do you hire... -Right.

[ Laughs ] -...to build this?

This isn't just your local contractor.

-Right, right.

So, there are craftsmen who have this skill in their family in India that go back thousands of generations, and they are the skilled artisans.

And then, the pieces are brought here and put together.

-On grounds that expand over 33 acres, this place of worship welcomes all to visit, offer devotion, and learn about Hinduism.

When you go inside, there's over 70 ceilings, and -- yes.

[ Laughs ] Each ceiling has a different motif.

And a lot of flowers are incorporated.

Well, the lotus is in a lot of those ceilings, and if you're familiar with the lotus, it actually grows in a muddy environment... -Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

-...but it is able to thrive and regerminate for thousands of years.

So it really is that story of keeping our own mind and body pure, regardless of the muddy surroundings around us.

So every piece of art and architecture really helps us spiritually and emotionally.

The mandir's open every day, and there is daily devotional activities that happen that people can come and attend.

But it's not just a place where you come and pray, but we learn about so many Hindu ideals and principles like peace and harmony, like unity, like selfless service.

[ Devotees chanting ] It's home away from home, and I don't have to go to India.

I can just literally come here.

It's right within our backyard, so that's our saving grace.

-I feel like Texas always gets a bad rap for being flat, but your sandwiches actually add some elevation to the state, right?

-Well... -You need, like, a topography map.

-God forbid anybody would walk out of here and still be hungry.

I would never sleep at night.

I'm Ziggy Gruber, and I'm third-generation deli man.

I have operated delicatessen stores in New York, Los Angeles, and here in Houston.

-How does a nice Jewish man like you from New York City... -Come to Houston, Texas?

-You know where I'm going with this, right?

-I know where you're going with this.

-Were you the first real delicatessen in Houston?

-No.

There were delicatessens before us... -Mm-hmm.

-...but I know that when we were opening up, people wanted something like us.

But I don't think they were expecting this quality.

-While I'm sitting here, I could so easily be in New York City right now.

I mean, this is a straight-up New York City delicatessen.

-If you look around my store, I'm in New York every single day, but I love Houston.

-Mm-hmm.

-When I came here, Houston was a fantastic city.

But in 20 years, it's not just become a fantastic city, it's become an awesome city.

-Um... how do I eat this?

-Well... -Is it supposed to be eaten as a sandwich?

-I love when a husband and wife comes in... -Yeah.

-...and they ask me, "How do I eat this like this?"

And I said, "Look, let me ask you a question.

Would you say your spouse has a big mouth at times?"

[ Both laugh ] And I said, "Well, it's very simple -- just open up your mouth and --" -You just have the unhinge your jaw.

-No.

Now, you can always tell if somebody is an aristocrat.

They kindly get their knife and fork and do that.

-Oh.

-It drives me crazy, but... -No, no, no I would never -- I would never do that.

But however you want to do it, as long as you enjoy... -Yeah.

-You know, we have a Yiddish expression -- "Ess gezunterheit" -- "Eat in good health."

That's what we want you to do.

That's a number one.

That's called Fiddler on the Roof of your Mouth.

-Oh, my god.

Can I share with you something that's very, very embarrassing?

-Sure.

-I've lived in New York City for over 30 years now.

I have never had a blintz.

-Oh, my God.

Cut into it.

-Cut it in half?

-Cut it in half.

Put a little -- -Oh.

-Little sour cream on there.

-Little sour cream, okay.

-Little bit.

Shouldn't be a total loss.

And then you can put a little strawberry or blueberry sauce on it.

-I'm going for it.

Ready?

-If you have most blintzes, you will find that they're a little on the heavier side.

-That is phenomenal.

You can taste every layer.

-Right.

And it's light.

-And it's light.

That's it.

It took me 25 years to get my blintzes the way they are.

-it's Jewish soul food.

-Soul food, yes.

-You go to a soul food restaurant, it's the same thing.

Everyone's just... -And what's great is, everybody comes in here.

It's all on the same field.

You're getting the same product.

No one's getting treated any better or any worse.

-Mm-hmm.

-And when they come here and they have the matzo ball soup or they have stuffed cabbage or a blintz, a big smile comes on their face.

And if I can do that, that's all worth it, for me.

-Houston has been associated for decades with the U.S. space program, and a major destination here is Space Center Houston, a massive complex that features more than 400 space artifacts, exhibits, and interactive experiences.

So -- No, no.

Up, up, down -- ah.

If I can parallel park a minivan, I can dock to the International Space Station.

Here, you can explore the exciting future and remarkable past of America's human spaceflight program.

And I'm taking a walk down memory lane with one of its pioneers.

-I am Dr. Anna Lee Fisher, a NASA astronaut for 36 years and 9 months.

I was very fortunate in 1978 to be selected in the first group of women ever selected for the U.S. Space Shuttle program.

And, in 1984, when I flew on a Space Shuttle Discovery, I became the first mother to fly in space.

As a result of that, we've showed that, yeah, you can have a baby, you can go into space.

Was it hard?

Yeah, it was very hard.

[ Both laugh ] -Those suits are massive, right?

-Yeah, doing runs in the water tank were always kind of intimidating because there's a whole team of people, and working in the suit is probably the -- the hardest thing.

-Working in this suit.

-In this suit is probably the hardest thing physically that we do as astronauts.

-At Space Center Houston, there are all kinds of spacecraft to imagine yourself as an astronaut, including a prototype for a new generation of exploration vehicles for the Moon or Mars.

You're in the space shuttle, and at liftoff... -Mm-hmm.

-Well, what are some of your tasks as a mission specialist?

-I was the flight engineer, so in the shuttle, my job was to make sure we stayed on the timeline, that we did all the actions that we had to do.

And then, I was the robotic-arm operator on our flight.

So my two crewmates were outside in their spacesuits, and I was operating the arm.

So it was a really exciting mission 'cause it's the first time anyone ever handled hardware that large.

-I would imagine, for the people who have had the absolute privilege and guts and smarts to be up in space, you see our Earth in a way that very few people on this world have.

That has to psychologically change you, even for the short time you were up in space.

-The Earth seems, like, so big when you're on it.

-Mm-hmm.

-But when you're looking at it from space into areas like the Middle East or China or North Korea, you know some of these places around the world where you're having problems and conflicts, so you really wish people would really get a chance to see that perspective and have it get embedded in you, maybe more of us will start having that feeling of belonging to our planet as opposed to our individual countries.

-Yeah, we're all astronauts on Spaceship Earth.

-Yeah.

-This is the neighborhood known as Freedmen's Town.

Already designated a National Historic Site, it recently became Houston's first Heritage District and for a very good reason.

-This community, Freedmen's Town, is the personification of what happened the day after Juneteenth.

You received your freedom, but people don't talk about what happened after slavery.

This entire community is quite literally the living laboratory of showing you "This is what happened next."

-Zion Escobar is the executive director of Houston's Freedman's Town Conservancy.

Its mission is to preserve the historic legacy of this neighborhood, a legacy that owes almost everything to one man.

-John Henry Jack Yates, who was born to enslaved parents in Virginia.

This is a very dedicated and passionate man who understands the value of family and of togetherness and solidarity.

And so he comes and shares that truth, that power, and that knowledge with the residents here and inspires them to purchase land, to build economic prosperity, saying, "This is your path towards true independence.

You are not free until you can sustain yourself.

You are not free until you can build a resilient community that lasts on and on, until your children are free."

-Freedmen's Town was once home to over 400 businesses.

40 structures were preserved, including the Bethel Baptist Church, founded by Jack Yates in 1891.

-So you have these little jewels and these gems that show you proof of the resilience and the determination of the community here, and the brick streets are one of those proof of life, right?

You know, there were African and Yoruba traditions inlaid in the patterns and the placement of the bricks.

And so you actually have this genetic knowledge -- right?

-- that's embedded within you that says, "Here is how we communicate, where to go to find safety."

-So you're saying that there are actually symbols in the streets that say, "You are in a safe place"?

-So there's directional cues as to where you can find safety and safe harbor.

And so that history and that storytelling, if someone hadn't told me that, I would see bricks, but I would not understand the content, because the history books don't tell you about what happened next.

-Yeah.

-So that's what -- that's the journey we're on.

And we have lots of proof all around us.

-Bethel Baptist wasn't Jack Yates' first church.

Only seven months after slavery ended in Texas, he founded Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, and it's been in the same spot in downtown Houston since 1875.

-I am Jacqueline Bostic-McElroy.

I'm the great-great-granddaughter of Jack Yates, the founding pastor of this church.

-And my name is Pastor Luke McElroy.

I am the husband of Jacqueline Bostic-McElroy, and there is no pressure -- no pressure whatsoever -- having been married to a direct descendant of Jack Yates.

Every detail of this church that our ancestors put into it has a story and a meaning.

-Yes, they came together as a community.

They hand-carved these pews that we're sitting on.

-Yes, these pews were built by ex slaves.

-Oh, my goodness.

-The very people that were freed in 1863, when this church was under construction, who had the craft and things that they built for their slave masters, they were gifted, in a way, to now use the same talents for themselves.

-I had no idea when I was running between the pews that, one day, the man that I married would be serving as the pastor.

God has a funny sense of humor.

-This, of course, is a place of God and where you teach the word of God but also where you are a community, where that started... -Yes.

-...and maybe where that's going now.

-Well, Antioch and the city of Houston grew up together.

We had and shared many experiences together, some good, some bad.

The Spanish flu was here, but Antioch vaccinated and took care of and -- and served as a refuge for sick people during those times.

Even today, we're in the middle of a pandemic -- the COVID-19 pandemic.

This church was able to educate the community, and we also provided vaccines and testing for the community.

And this was all in the midst of praising God that he has kept this church for this long.

-This church has been here through so many moments that have changed the way we live, the way we work together, the way we interact with each other, and continues to do that today.

-Mmm!

[Slurping] Ahh.

These are The Blood Brothers.

A few years ago, they opened one of the most respected and popular barbecue restaurants in this Texas city.

So much of your success is because you really are blood brothers.

The two of you are brothers, but then Quy is your best friend from high school.

-Yeah.

-So these are relationships forged not only being in a part of a family but being part of the extended family.

No one here wanted to have a restaurant.

-Not really.

-So why do you have a restaurant?

You are a very, very respected restaurant.

People love you.

-We used to just do pop-ups once or twice a month.

You know, the people were like, "We want to have your food more," like, not once a month, not at festivals.

You know, and it just kind of drove us.

We had built a good cult following.

-But once the Blood Brothers established their Texas barbecue bona fides, they felt comfortable with expanding the possibilities.

Ribs with Korean gochujang sauce, brisket on steamed buns.

Even side dishes like fried rice have unexpected twists.

And this is obviously a really traditional Chinese dish that you're bringing to the barbecue lexicon.

-Yeah.

-It's that we added a kimchi puree.

So now taking a Chinese dish and kind of adding a little Korean influence in there.

-Is that right?

Is there kimchi in this?

Oh, that's fantastic.

I'm sure there are the people who believe that, you know, a certain type of person should be cooking Texas barbecue and there should be a certain taste, and you just blew that out of the water.

Was there any sort of -- any hesitancy to do that?

-Well, early on, we didn't even think about doing any other flavors.

I wanted to nail the Texas trinity -- brisket, ribs, sausage.

You know, we didn't want to put in a niche, like, "Oh, these are the Asian guys doing Asian barbecue."

That wasn't what we were trying to do.

I wanted to show people that we could do barbecue.

-Mm-hmm.

You really describe your barbecue as Houston barbecue.

-Yeah.

-And that is the idea of international flavors coming in that no one really holds on to these traditions too much, right?

It's all about just inclusion and opening the flavors to really enjoy something new that you've had your entire lives.

-And I think 'cause we're Texan.

-Yeah.

-We're Texan.

We love our Texas barbecue just as much as we love the new stuff that we're doing now.

Now any customer can have both.

-In the east end of Houston, there's a brand-new bar with a very innovative mission.

It's called White Rhino.

- Did you see the man on the wall?

His candles burned not long ago -And you won't believe what's happening while you are enjoying a drink.

The idea of the bar is not just for people to gather in a really great historic neighborhood, it was also to contribute to the future of this neighborhood, which is all about sustainability.

-Absolutely.

The whole interior and exterior is painted with this paint called Airlite.

And when it receives sunlight, it filters the air, and so it acts like its own natural rainforest inside the building.

-What do you mean?

I'm sorry.

So the paint filters the air.

-That's right.

It's a mineral-based paint.

So it's breathing and living.

And so it takes in the CO2, any bacterias, and it produces out clean air with the sunlight.

-That's incredible.

-It's like a photosynthesis of a sort.

-Wow.

Oh, and that humidity Houston is known for is converted into heavily filtered drinking water.

-Yes, you can actually create water from humidity by creating condensation.

So it's the opposite of a dehumidifier.

And then, you're able to filter the water -- it goes through a large filtration process -- and then you dispense the water.

They produce about 4 gallons of water a day, depending on the humidity levels.

-Paint that's alive?

Air turned into drinking water?

You think that'd be enough.

-So, glass bottles.

That's the other thing.

They fill up the waste piles way too much.

-Heavy to take out, put in the trash, makes a lot of noise.

-So we have a bottle crusher that pulverizes the bottle back into its natural sand state.

You put a bottle in, push a button, and -- boom -- in less than a second, you've got a bucket of sand, and then we can use it here on our patio and recycle it there.

We can give it to a glass blower to repurpose into glass bottles again.

But you can also donate it during the times of a hurricane to put into sandbags.

We wanted to show people that you can take one little step at a time and make a difference in the world -And the ways that you have incorporated that in this bar, we don't even know when we sit down... -This is true.

-...but literally, this bar is saving the Earth.

-Plus, you're helping save the rhinos, this beloved animal, because we give back a portion of our proceeds to save the white rhinos in different areas.

And people are really enjoying feeling like they're coming to have fun but also giving back.

-The last time I was in town, I got to meet Kam Franklin, lead singer of the iconic Houston band The Suffers.

She has a voice that will move you.

-[ Singing indistinctly ] Taking over me -This visit, Kam had something special in mind, so she got me in touch with Brandi Miesia, who owns a skate shop called Daisies & Pancakes.

Brandi custom-makes roller skates from your shoes of choice.

Since I was 10, I have always wanted my own pair, and today's the day.

So, I sent Brandi a pair of sneakers that I love, and she actually customized them into skates.

This is the -- [ Laughing ] -They're so cute.

-Oh, my God!

-They're so cute.

-Oh, my gosh.

I'm so happy!

-Are they everything you hoped and dreamed they would be?

-Oh, my gosh.

You don't understand.

I wanted these so bad.

I wanted, like, the white-boot skate with the wheels, and my parents did not get them for me.

They were like, "No, you will rent."

-Well, that's the whole thing about Daisies & Pancakes and roller skating -- it's about to bring that childlike joy out of you, and so your smile is saying all of that.

-Absolutely.

I feel like my dad's gonna pick me up in an hour.

[ Laughter ] I'm returning to roller skating after a 38-year absence with the group Luminous Night Crawlers, founded by Mark A. Robins Jr. As a positive way to release stress, it is mental health on wheels.

-Everybody thinks, "Oh, my God.

Skating has come back."

It never went anywhere.

It's like when COVID happened and skating rinks closed down for quarantine, those people came outside.

And when they came outside of the rink, they started recording themselves, posting on TikTok, Instagram, and it just became popular.

But in reality, they were always here.

New skaters have come in and learned how to skate, and it's just opened the world to a lot of people about skating.

-I love it.

I love it.

- Hey, hey, hey, hey, let's go Hey, hey, hey, hey -Just remember, it's been 38 years.

[ Cheers and applause ] -I'm so grateful for literally everything that the city has given to me.

Everyone wants you to be here.

It's a very inclusive place.

There's something for everybody, whether it's arts, jobs, education, music, food -- food, food, food -- and I guess, today, roller skating.

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] -The reason I came to Houston, of course, is because I was selected to be an astronaut.

But I have found in the years since then that Houston is a wonderful place to live.

-Houston is a reflection of the world.

You have so many cultures here.

-I think the soul and the rhythm of this city is really, really founded upon its people and how, you know, we interact with each other.

-And also, everyone is very tolerant here, as well, with everyone's culture.

So this is, in my opinion, is what America should be.

And down here in Houston, it is.

-When we get to learn what was not taught, when we are invited to enter and appreciate sacred spaces, when we enjoy the food and passion of people who are out of this world, that is when we share a love of travel.

And that's why the city of Houston is a place to love.

-For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" was made possible by... -The rhythm of the waves.

The calming sounds of nature.

On the Southwest Florida coast, there are wide open beaches and hundreds of islands.

Sometimes doing nothing can mean everything.

Learn more at fortmyers-sanibel.com.

-We believe watching the world go by isn't enough.

That's why we climb... ...pedal... ...and journey beyond the beaten path, on storied rivers, with a goal to ensure that every mile traveled turns into another memory.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

-All the untamed beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest, experienced on a journey by rail.

Rocky Mountaineer, proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

AAA wants to help turn vacation dreams into reality.

Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LiveTV.