CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The USS Lexington museum gets around 300,000 visitors a year.
Naturally, after visiting the museum, many of those visitors go out and explore what else North Beach has to offer.
“I don’t see us being open for 30 years without the aquarium and the Lex,” said Pete Feydo, the general manager of Blackbeard’s On the Beach.
Blackbeard’s is located down the street from the Lexington, and opened the same year. Feydo said the traffic the Lexington brings helps during busy and quiet seasons.
“The amount of tourism it generates really helps us out in the summer months,” he said. “As far as the off-season, we get a lot of their staff in for lunch, a lot of the volunteers.”
Of course, what trip to Corpus Christi would be complete without bringing home some souvenirs. Just steps away from the Lexington’s entrance is Palace Beachwear & Gifts. The store is recognizable by its shark entrance, which draws in tourists.
“The size of our store and the shark, the Lexington definitely helps us out with that,” said Samuel Galbraith, who works at the store.
Galbraith said a lot of the customers he speaks to say they come from the Lexington.
“Honestly, like 90 percent of the time,” he said. “If they’re not from here, they come to see the beach, they see the Lexington, they think it’s nice, it’s honestly pretty cool.”
Galbraith is from Corpus Christi, and he enjoys meeting people from all over.
“A lot of people like to come in and check out our store,” he said. “It’s nice, we get a lot of tourists here, and I like to talk to people, where they’re from and stuff like that.”
