b'W e l c o m e !F or both of you regular readers of The Coastal Bend Guide, what I am about tofound of a human being. For those who dont know about Kent, he is the greatest doyou knowis completely out of character for this editor. No, the follow- artist of his kind in the world, and a proud Coastal Bender. See page 40.ing spread does not feature a heavily-Photoshopped version of me gazingNot much has been published in recent years about the King Ranch, an anchor into the distance in deep contemplation, or smirking directly into the cam- of the history and development of South Texas, so its been given a go under the era, legs loosely crossed with the calm confidence that I know something you peo- Legends of the Coastal Bend series in this editionThe Kings & The Klebergs. ple dont. Not to worryyou will never find this mug intentionally published withinPrior subjects were Clara Driscoll, Farrah Fawcett, and Roy Miller, and like most of these pages. What I will do with this space that is different from what I usually dous, we started with a very loose, general idea of what the King Ranch is and how it with itthat is, to generally complain about Corpus Christis unmet potentialiscame to be. The biggest misconception that just about all of us seem to share is that that I will preview the content to follow in this edition, as it ended up as a decentthe ranch, that is, a cattle operation, is run by King or Kleberg family members on collection of enlightening stories about legendary Coastal Bend stand-outs. horses, cattle cutting Santa Gertrudis in the blazing South Texas sun. That was true HEB Grocery stores dominate life in South Texas, and not because they roundedup until 25 years ago, when the last Kleberg managing the ranch, left the ranch, but up their competitors and took them for a midnight shrimp-boat ride out of Connthese days, King Ranch, Inc., is an international agriculture, energy, real estate, and Brown Harbor, but because we let them. Thats right, neighbors, we voluntarilybranding conglomerate headquartered in a skyscraper on the west side of Hous-turned ourselves over to HEB, which runs as close to a supermarket monopoly inton, and not a hacienda in the Wild Horse Desert. See page 74.the Coastal Bend as in any region of our size in the country. It took a while, but in re- You will find a remarkable diversion in the Port Aransas section of this edition, cent years the rest of the world seems to have learned what we already knewthatwhere we regularly celebrate the huge wave of luxury property development on HEB is the most wonderful supermarket chain anywhereand no, we arent getting aMustang Islandand still do. But this time around, were telling the story of how dime for saying it. Well even prove it. See page 30. Port A bar and restaurant owner, Edwin Myers, saved Shortys Place, the oldest bar The Kent Ullberg monument that is most recognizable to most Corpus Christiansin town, by sawing it in half and moving it half a mile up the road. See page 128.is the 25-foot-tall bronze statue of Jesus Christ leading his disciples though theWorked in between are development updates on North Padre Island, the Harbor storm on the bow of a wooden boat, which stands in front of First United MethodistBridge, and the new VA Clinicand let me not forgetCanine Bliss! These are six Church, where Ocean Drive becomes Shoreline. The monument is an under-appre- specials spots in the Coastal Bend where your dogs can just be dogs, including one ciated icon of the Corpus Christi Bayfront, but both of you reading this have seen itthat we hate giving up to the public because it is so special, and so private, and so many times! If you know who Kent Ullberg is, you might be surprised to know thatsafe and perfectthat it is a Doggie Heaven on Earth. We really dont want to draw he created It is I, as he is known for his real-life, wildlife sculptures, and not thosecrowds to this most sacred spot, but your pooches will love you even more for tak-of human figures. In fact, his monument of Jesus is the only Ullberg we have evering them there. See page 68. See how we sacrifice for you!The Editor18THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'