The Becks Prime Augusta Live Oaks
Approximate location.
Most restaurants buy land for the parking. The owners of this Becks Prime bought theirs in 1988, by a local news account, mainly for the trees. Two live oaks stand behind the building on Augusta Drive, each reported at about 70 feet tall, and the Heritage Society, Houston's history museum, estimates the oak it names at 400 to 500 years old. Another account has them sprouting around the 1620s. Neither figure comes with a ring count or a girth, so read both as estimates. Even the low end has these oaks standing well before Houston was founded in 1836. What makes them worth the detour is what the restaurant did around them. Their lower limbs had sunk until they rested on the ground, so a 210-ton crane lifted them back up onto wooden stilts, which still hold them today. The building is said to float 18 inches above the soil to keep its weight off the roots, and the drive-through lane that runs under the canopy is laid in pavers set by hand. The sources do not agree on the count. The Heritage Society speaks of one oak, the local report of two colossal ones. Stand on the patio and count for yourself. These are a business's grounds, not a park, so come while the restaurant is open. Our pin marks the address rather than the trunks.
long green catkins hang just as the old leaves drop and the new ones come insmall dark acorns on long stalks
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Becks Prime, 2615 Augusta Dr, Houston, TX 77057 (behind the restaurant)You can recognise them by the limbs propped up on wooden stilts, with the drive-through lane running under the canopy. They stand behind the Becks Prime restaurant at 2615 Augusta Drive.
Visible from the patio and the drive-through lane of a counter-service restaurant, listed as open daily from 11am to 10pm in 2026. These are a business's grounds rather than a park, so come during opening hours.
Car or bus along the Westheimer Rd corridor near the Galleria; no rail; walk time not verified
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.