dbigtex56

Moved thread to "Way Off Topic" for obvious reasons. Btw, how do they 'steel'? With a magnet?

If the 'Christian' homebuyer likes the idea of walking on the Bible, perhaps the 'patriotic' homebuyer could request that an American flag be used for carpet padding.

Anyone remember Allbritton's Cafeteria on Waugh (just south of the American General building)? It was a white stucco Streamline Moderne building, much like the Carnation milk plant next door. They had great traditional Texas foods - chicken fried steak with cream gravy, greens, jalapeno cornbread, cheese grits. The women who worked the steam table were appearently installed about the same time the place opened. As you made your way through the line they'd say: "Serve you." "Serve you." with absolutely no expression or inflection. They each must have uttered that phrase hundreds of thousands of times.

That ad for The Hand Center, where the guy says something about caring for you is as easy as caring for my little girl Sophie... Ya know, "cute" usually makes me puke; but gosh, what an adorable child! She giggles and coos and holds up her hand as if on cue. They really lucked out on that shot.

Well, your income is (I assume) verifiable and taxed accordingly. So is your property. The question remains - did our Founding Fathers intend to protect 'religious' groups who are otherwise indistinguishable from big businesses?

Isn't this the Shamrock developer's house? Link to Chronicle article

As a proponant of public transportation , I hesitate to share my experience with Park and Ride, but here goes. I spent the weekend with a friend in Galveston. Rather than getting a ride all the way to Houston, he dropped me off at the Clear Lake P&R. We had just missed a departing bus, so I had to wait an hour for the next one (OK, I know - my fault). The waiting area does not have soda machines or a drinking fountain, so I walked to the closest Kwik-E-Mart (about half a mile away) for a squishee. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sweat it out in time, and went to use the public bathroom. It was locked. There's a tower that overlooks the parking lot, presumably manned by a guard. Perhaps he could let me in. But no guard was to be found, so I spent the rest of my wait breaking into cars. (j/k, j/k!) I'd heard that the seats on P&R buses are comfortable, and they were. What I wasn't prepared for was the noise. Imagine a lower-pitched dentist's drill, amplified to rock concert volume. Yeah...it was that bad. The ride was bumpy to the point of making reading impossible. This went over big with my squishee-filled bladdar. Maybe this was a dud of a bus. Maybe the Gulf Freeway is bumpier than other routes. Maybe I ought to check the schedule - and time my bathroom visits - more carefully. And maybe thieves haven't yet targeted commuters' cars. Still, it would be nice to have an unlocked bathroom, a soda machine, a guard to protect riders and their property, and a smooth, quiet ride.

I think the Congress St. building is considerably older than the one in Magnolia Park. Notice the arches above the windows and door, the corbelled brick cornice, the stone sills - these are features found on 19th century buildings. Also, notice that there are rows of eight protrusions above and below the windows. I suspect that these are connected to cable 'ties', which were used to stablize all-brick structures (a cable connects the front and back walls, and has a turnbuckle in the middle to adjust the tension). If I had to take a guess, I'd say maybe 1880-85; possibly older. The Magnolia Park building has no corbels or arches, much simpler brickwork, and decorative concrete (not stone). I'd estimate that it was built in the early-to-mid 1920s. The Mission Revival details on the roofline point in that direction, as do the original windows shown in the picture with the early 50's Ford. Hope both of them fall into the right hands - well worth preserving.

In the words of Bette Davis: "What...a...dump!" What's unfortunate is that this building could be a real asset to the Main Street scene. However, it would take vision and plenty of $$$. I'd like to see the city give some financial incentives to people who restore old builidngs in the Main/Market Square area to their original appearance.

I think nmainguy deserves a round of applause for taking action. It's one thing to identify a problem, but to follow through is what really counts. We complain about city government, yet how many of us have given them a chance to respond? For example, a sidewalk remained uncompleted for months at the corner of Hawthorne and Montrose. I put in a call to the city, and the work was completed within a few days. Just last week, I reported a sign which had been knocked down by a car several months ago, and it was fixed within three days.

"Hey, diddle-diddle The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon!" So that's the reason for the hole in the ozone layer!

existing thread - merged topics.

Added poll - if there's enough interest, let's see if we can get the ball rolling! note: this is my first attempt at a poll, so if it doesn't work right, report it to a moderator!

Are you sure about that? The reason I ask is that I used to work for Houston Industries - actually, HL&P, which was wholly owned by HI. Our offices were at 611 Walker (the Electric Tower); I don't remember HI having a downtown presence. Pretty sure it was named for some energy company, though.

Marvin's been in the public eye for a l-o-n-g time. Ever see pictures of him from the early 50's? Big nose, no chin, no cheekbones... To his credit, he was always very upfront about his surgeries; he even did news segments on them. And you gotta admire how he sticks up for ordinary people whose problems are otherwise met with indifference.

Also noticed that there's a permit info posted on the Commerce Building (Travis Street side) for a place called Virginia Burgers.

There's a pizza place on Elgin at Brazos called Late Night Pie. Has anyone here tried them? Any good?

Montrose Diner closed late last week. This came as an unpleasant surprise to some of their employees, who had expected to get a paycheck on Friday. They didn't. Link to story

Funny you should mention that. Yesterday I saw empty brown paper bags and assorted trash strewn at a rail stop. They had stickers which identified whichever church donated these lunches. I threw them in the trash barrel which was all of two feet away. I like to help out.

Unfortunately, dealing with "the homeless" is made complicated because they're as diverse a group as "the suburbanites" or "the gays". Some are mentally ill, and cannot get the medical help they need. Some are repeat offenders and see no point in establishing themselves when they're resigned to a life spent in a revolving door prison system. Some have discovered the hard way that they were only a paycheck away from homelessness. Whichever the case, everyone has to be somewhere. If only... if only Houston had people of good will who cared about such things, people with the money and facilities to house the homeless. But jeez, that would require a place the size of a sports stadium! If only such an oasis of love was possible!

Darn tootin'. He also used to illegally post "for rent" signs on the ROW outside his property on Westheimer. It might be fun to sign up to speak at a Tuesday City Hall meeting and ask him to explain.

So, if we see someone wearing this shirt, we'll know.... RedScare, you're a marked man!

Or maybe a narwhal tusk?

Wow. The nerve of some people! How much you want to bet they they start screaming and crying about "government interference" when they're told to clean up their mess?