Joy Boone, pictured here in 2014, wants to bring her Houston Bicycle Museum back to life in 2022.

Longtime Houston bicycle shop owner and two-wheeled curator Joy Boone is now setting her sights on an ambitious goal of finding a permanent home for her short-lived Houston Bicycle Museum three years after it closed.

Boone, 85, owned and operated Houston's oldest bike shop for more than 50 years up until she closed the doors in 2019, the same year the bicycle museum she worked tirelessly to found also closed.

She opened the Houston Bicycle Museum in 2014 at 1313 Binz Street, a space leased by the Houston Holocaust Museum. At the time, renting was supposed to be a temporary measure. She set out to raise at least $1.5 million to start building a brand-new three-story building to house the museum, according to a Houston Chronicle report at the time. But the effort never gelled. For a few years, the museum drew onlookers from Houston and beyond, highlighting the history and evolution of the bicycle. 

Then, when the Houston Holocaust Museum embarked on a massive expansion project in 2019, they demolished the building that housed the bicycle museum to make way for more space. Ever since, the bicycles and other exhibit materials have sat in storage, Boone said. 

See some of the bicycles included in the Houston Bicycle Museum:

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Boone took a break from focusing on the museum at the beginning of the pandemic. But just last week, she kicked off a new effort to bring the Houston Bicycle Museum back to life—she's just not sure how yet. She wants to ensure the museum and its showcasing of vintage bicycles outlasts her tenure as curator.

Over the phone Monday, Boone put it plainly. 

"The goal for me right now in my world is to get the structure behind it, if I do keel over and die," Boone said, adding that she doesn't plan on that happening for another decade or two. "I want to see it stay after I go. I guess that's vanity."

Boone is starting from scratch, searching for staffers and volunteers to help craft a plan to move forward. The first order of business is a community meeting at 4 p.m. on June 9 at the Clayton Library in Museum Park, where she hopes those who want to help will attend and discuss ideas. 

June 9 4pm 5300 Caroline Clayton Library Houston Bicycle Museum meeting. Joy Boone is looking to jumpstart this and find a location for the bikes hopefully permanently. Met her at the Art Bike Parade and I would love to help market this. Please come out and help find a solution pic.twitter.com/1KphiL9A3l

Boone's immediate concern is getting the bikes out of storage and on display, however she can. She's currently looking for another space to lease in the Museum District while the museum is in transition. 

"It's sad for me to see the bicycles and that history not shown, sitting in the warehouse doing nothing," Boone said.

As for Boone's plans for a permanent building, she's leaving it open-ended. It could be new construction or an existing building. It could be occupied solely by the museum, or she might lease out space to help supplement the cost of running the museum. There are more things unknown than known at this juncture, but Boone hopes to have a more concrete vision after the June 9 community meeting.  

"I'm ready to start rolling up my sleeves," Boone said. "I need to have this nonprofit in the hands of someone who can keep it going."

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Jay R. Jordan writes about how we get around Houston, among other topics like the environment and hot takes on complimentary bread.