Space Center Houston is the official visitors� center of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Here one will find many interactive exhibits, a shuttle simulator, and presentations about the history of NASA's manned space flight program.
The Theater District is a 17-block area in the center of downtown Houston that is home to the Bayou Place entertainment complex, restaurants, movies, plazas, and parks. Bayou Place is a large multilevel building containing full-service restaurants, bars, live music, billiards, and art house films. The Houston Verizon Wireless Theater stages live concerts, stage plays, and stand-up comedy; and the Angelika Film Center presents the latest in art and foreign and independent films.
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Houston has 337 parks including Hermann Park, which is home to the Houston Zoo and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Terry Hershey Park, Lake Houston Park, Memorial Park, Tranquility Park, Sesquicentennial Park, Discovery Green and Sam Houston Park which contains restored and reconstructed homes which were originally built between 1823 and 1905.
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The city also has over 200 additional green spaces�totaling over 19,600 acres that are managed by the city�including the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. The Houston Civic Center was replaced by the George R. Brown Convention Center�one of the nation's largest�and the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, home of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and Society for the Performing Arts. The Sam Houston Coliseum and Music Hall have been replaced by the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.
Other tourist attractions include the Galleria, Texas's largest shopping mall, Old Market Square, the Downtown Aquarium, SplashTown and Sam Houston Race Park. The San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site where the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution was fought is located on the Houston Ship channel east of the city; the park is also the location of the museum battleship USS Texas.
