dbigtex56

Merged with existing thread.

Did you see An Inconvenient Truth? Yes; I thought not. Perhaps you should actually hear what the man has to say before judging his intellect.

I asked Ray Hill (and who better to ask?) what the name of the bar was across from the Chicken Coop. Without hesitation he said "It was the Midnight Sun, later called QT's." The Blue Water Diving School was still open at the location now occupied by Prive'. That's my recollection as well. The portion still standing (the Cat Doctor) was the dance floor - the bar portion was demolished to create what's currently the parking lot. I've seen no evidence that 910 Wesheimer was ever the Midnight Sun.

From the article: ""Parking appears free because its cost is widely dispersed in slightly higher prices for everything else," explains Shoup. "Because we buy and use cars without thinking about the cost of parking, we congest traffic, waste fuel, and pollute the air more than we would if we each paid for our own parking. Everyone parks free at everyone else's expense, and we all enjoy our free parking, but our cars are choking our cities." And that's why I should be given a pedestrian discount....seriously.

from The New York Times: In Surprise, Oilman Admits Iraq Kickbacks By ALAN FEUER Published: October 2, 2007 Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., the Texas oilman accused of cheating the United Nations oil-for-food program, pleaded guilty yesterday to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein

The most notable example is the properties owned by the Menil Foundation, which surround the museum. Don't know how long it took them to acquire all that property, and thankfully it wasn't done by developers. One of the largest blocks of land is Wilshire Village at W Alabama and Dunlavy. It's my understanding that people are lined up and drooling for that to go on the market.

Latest rumor - City Controller Annise Parker has bought a house on Westmoreland!

It's BIG. I concur with the rest of your remarks.

Is it possible that the Midnight Sun relocated to the 534 Westheimer address? I could have sworn that's where it was located when I moved here in '81. If that wasn't the Midnight Sun, then what was it? It existed; I've been in it (and that's nothing to brag about )

Leave Britney Alone! Seriously, I get the impression that the news media are hoping for a suicide. Sure beats reporting.

Reqpectfully disagree.

At a minimum, utilities shouldn't be allowed to install poles, guy wires, utility boxes, transformers, etc. where they interfere with sidewalks. Check out Taft south of Lovett; the telephone company's switching equipment (or whatever the hell the thing is) completely blocks the sidewalk! I've never seen another city where new sidewalks are laid to go around a guy wire, rather than making the responsible utility (an oxymoron in Texas) move its equipment.

Another thread regarding Tower Theater here.

Merged with existing threads

Speaking of nmainguy, hope he's OK - hasn't posted in 3+ weeks, which is unusual for him.

The Fourth Ward may have been known as Freeman's Town many years ago, but I'm with Subdude - the name wasn't revived into popular usage until 10-15 years ago.

...and the "Unsafe at Any Speed" Corvair in the driveway! Notice too that it's pre-zip code era ("Houston 27")

Michael's Outpost (1419 Richmond Ave.) has sing-alongs most nights. Straight-friendly gay bar.

Update: Centerpoint replaced the offending pole this morning. Wonder if they read this forum? It had been broken for months.

Toronto is where I fell in love with public transportation. They 'get it' like no American city I've seen. Glad to see they're continuing the tradition.

If you want to learn to talk like a pirate, you can always attend a semin-ARRR!

This weekend I took a long look at the buildings which will be demolished in preperation for Hines' new project on Main Street. There are architectural elements that I think are worthy of salvaging. The West Building has an Art Deco/Streamline metal doorway on Main Street that, if cleaned up a bit, would look great on another structure. The Montagu Hotel (Hotel Cotton) has four bronze (?) lion's heads, barely visible above the main doorway. The supporting chains for the canopy emerge from their mouths; kind of a weird image, but they're lovely. The building just south of the Montegu is clad in limestone and granite, which would make for great paving or even outdoor furniture (tables, benches, etc.) When the William Penn Hotel was demolished, I was disappointed that the ornate egg-and-dart copper details on the canopy were not preserved, but sold for scrap. Anyone else know of buildings scheduled for demolition which have elements that should be preserved?

Thanks for the great links. And yes, HEB was located on the west end of the building briefly in the mid to late 90's.

Here's my approach to public pissers: I quietly walk up behind the person, grab him by the shoulders, shake him violently and yell "EARTHQUAKE!" in his ear. Usually it disrupts his aim, and allows him to enjoy the scent of his own urine for the remainder of the day.

If you can find a picture of this plaza as it appeared soon after it was constructed, that would be great, too. I've seen 'real' vintage photos, but nothing online. Prior to its 1970s 'update' it was really quite attractive. Does anyone know what name (if any) this strip center had when built? The current facade was installed sometime in the mid 1980s.