By the late 1980s, a full 35% of Downtown Houston had been given over to surface parking, with still more given to high-rise parking structures. Urban renewal and freeway construction had ravaged Downtown Houston, with the majority of its historic homes and businesses having been demolished under the policies of “slum clearance.” This 1982 photo by @landslides reveals the staggering degree to which parking had devoured Downtown Houston.

Much of what was cleared to make way for parking was in the Third Ward, home to the largest African-American population in Houston. Over 10,000 people were displaced in the Third Ward, the vast majority of whom were African American. The northern portion of the neighborhood was severed by the freeway, and is now within the freeway loop that defines downtown.

While Houston has reclaimed some of this surface parking, massive new civic projects and new market-rate housing construction has created severe gentrification in the area. Those who escaped the ravages of freeway construction and urban renewal are now being pushed out by rising housing costs.