This was the administration building for the Hughes Tool Company at the Hughes plant on Polk Avenue in Houston, Texas, 1922. The building was constructed during the winter of 1917-1918. Hughes' office was on the lower right-side of the building.
Typed onto a piece of paper attached to the image: "Howard Hughes (second from left) surrounded by newspapermen in Los Angeles and telling them about his Round-The-World flight. 8/1/38. (Press Association)."
Howard Hughes' 400,000 pound Flying Boat flying 70 feet above the water for one-mile during taxi tests over the Los Angeles Harbor with Hughes at the controls. Hughes had scheduled taxi tests only for the 219-foot long ship, but it "felt so good" on the second taxi test run at 95 miles per hour that he took it off the water on the third and final run, which is shown in the photo.