Today’s as good a day as any to highlight the work of YouTube user hcp051000, aka Senior Airman Pan, who has compiled an impressive array of videos documenting the performance of some of this city’s finer vertical conveyances.

What’s it like to ride in these Houston elevators, really? Now you can find out — and shop for your favorite — from behind the comfort of your own computer screen.

Here’s S.A. Pan’s ride in the colorful cab of a Dover elevator at the Kemah Boardwalk Inn Hotel:

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Next: a “huge and slow” KONE glass elevator at the Galleria:

Pan is a thoughtful tour guide. Here he notes how difficult it is to push the 3rd floor button in the Otis traction elevator at the Galleria Neiman Marcus. And he ends this work with a question worth pondering:

In the course of documenting this Montgomery elevator at the Macy’s on Sage in the Galleria, Pan offers an important piece of advice for others who might hope to follow in his footsteps:

Elevators are clearly a fascination for Pan, but he also displays a healthy urge to document other wonders of modern technology:

Judging from the comments some of his videos have accumulated, Pan’s efforts have gained a small but respectful following. He has a long way to go, however, before he can hope to match the renown of other elevator videographers — such as the 19-year-old Austinite who calls himself CaptainElevator42189. CaptainElevator42189 has assembled more than 352 videos in his YouTube account, and a number of his reconnaissance missions — such as this fascinating exploration of the Dover Hydraulic Elevator at “Women’s Dillard’s” in Highland Mall — have been viewed more than 10,000 times.

• hcp051000 Channel [YouTube]
• CaptainElevator42189’s Channel [YouTube]
• Otis elevator at Westin Oaks Hotel (Upstair floors only) [YouTube]