I was born in Galveston, my grandfather was a big part of the mob there in the 60-90's, still have a lot of family that lives there, so of course I visit often - I will say this - Pharmy's are the worst there - everyone there is on pharmy's thanks to the pill mills in TX - It's now a very poor town, but back in the day, it was a very rich place, much more beautiful than it is now. If you ever go, MUST eat Queen's BBQ~ but the dirty water is from the gulf and Mississippi river mixing. There are times when the water is crystal blue/green, but not often, and it has been taken over by Mexicans on vacation because Fertitta made it into a crap tourist town by building the failure Pleasure Pier full of commercial crap.
I so wish I could go back and develop Galveston again, it has the structure and architecture, it just needs to be properly redeveloped again, it has the potential of being like Charleston SC, if someone with the vision can afford to make it happen. Tilman F wouldnt listen to me and made it a crap touristy place now with trashy people everywhere.