Built southwest of downtown Houston, on the site of the present-day Texas Medical Center, the Shamrock Hotel was the largest hotel constructed during the 1940s in the United States. Its grand opening, held on St. Patrick’s Day in 1949, was one of the city’s largest and best-attended parties, attracting celebrity attendees and extensive media coverage. The hotel continued to host large-scale events to exuberant crowds of attendees, including this Independence Day celebration the same year. Parties at the Shamrock were “must-shoot” events for Valenta and other Houston photojournalists. The Shamrock was demolished in 1987.