IronTiger

With the 290 redevelopment in full swing, there's schematics (online-linked, so they go slow) that not only show the expanded highway but all the buildings along it (that are likely to be removed). It's been immensely helpful in research--there had to be something like this for the Interstate 10 Katy Freeway expansion, are there any (left) online? Does anyone have copies? I mean, I could go on an archive.org binge, but that would be time-consuming and unknown if it would yield good results...

Even if it's not a newscast per se, I'm sure you'd probably enjoy the nostalgia value of this. I don't know if most people heard the last parts of it, though.

That's one reason I've always enjoyed Houston wherever I go. It's that's there's SO MUCH to see, even in the more run neighborhoods. Even when there's garden apartment complexes no more than two stories high and fast food restaurants, it just feels more denser and urban compared to a similar scene in College Station.

Wow, Subdude, you did come through with your promise! Google Earth shows a house there in 1978, then a single building in 1989, then a second building behind it by 1995 (must have closed by then). The most recent section (built in front) was added between '95 and '02.

I started a small playlist on YouTube of Houston-related stuff: there was a video of the MKT paralleling I-10, a Foley's commercial, and an Auchan commercial. I didn't do a whole lot with it, though, but the idea was to make a "Houston history" thing of sorts.

Another "what is this going up" post...I found this on Google Maps. (link) What is it?

SouthernRetail.blogspot.com had a post where someone posted a link to some Houston archive site that had some audio-less newscasts, including some footage of a 1970s era Randalls. Unfortunately, the post was removed (it was temporary) and it was taken down. The footage still exists, just forgot the site.

Are the HOV lanes even big enough (at least the ones on 290) to fit a freight truck through? They seem barely large enough for buses...

Not really. The ABC special about them having expired food was all faked, but they weren't particularly good anyway. Interestingly, they came in at the same time as H-E-B, which slipped in with their Pantry Foods prototype, both hawking low frills, discount-oriented grocery stores themselves. And guess who by present day who managed to turn their simple entry point into having a lion's share of the market, no pun intended?

When were they ever open on weekends? When I always went to Houston for weekend day trips, they were always closed.

Stop using that as a reason for light rail, because that line of reasoning is akin to saying "I'd rather accidentally drop a $50 bill rather than a $5 bill, I've lost money anyway". And those "cheap European trains" are more likely heavily subsidized. And yes, while monorails CAN turn 90°, they would have to slow down significantly, tending to defeat the "fast" part of the equation. With that, I'll bow out of this thread, as the radical pro-rail people among us will use this thread to shout down opposition to something ridiculous like this despite all evidence to the contrary.

Well, I didn't see "quiet" in any of the pros...and elevated trains are ugly. Two other "pros" I had a problem with was "Increase development on Westheimer" (how?) and "makes more profit than light rail" (I wasn't aware that light rail makes any profit at all).

Actually got a PM about this subject (Dave W), didn't get posted on the main thread for some reason. Here it is: I had no idea there was ever a Holiday Plus in Houston since I only get back for a visit about once every five years, but I've spent most of my adult life in Minneapolis so I can tell you about the company. Holiday Plus was owned by Erickson Petroleum Corp. which owns Holiday Stationstoreshttp://www.holidaystationstores.com/. Holiday Plus started out in the 60s as just Holiday, a big discount store with a full supermarket. By the mid 80s they were getting pounded by Target and Walmart so they took out the general merchandise, put in a full sporting goods department (along with the supermarket) and changed the name to Holiday Plus. My older son worked for them during this time. In the early 90s they separated the grocery and the sports into separate stores as Holiday Sports and Holiday Foods, and the Holiday Plus name went away. In 1996 Erickson/Holiday bought a large chunk of Gander Mountain, the Holiday Sports stores became Gander Mountain and Holiday Foods was sold off. Gander Mountain went private, and Holiday Stationstores is one of the two owners. If there are any longtime employees at the Gander Mountain in Houston, they might know more about it. Hope this helps.

Noticed Phobia will be moving after the end of the year. Wonder what's going to happen to Sparkle Sign Co and Gulf Pacific Rice...

Whither the tunnels underneath the building? Will they remain closed until the new complex opens?

...did the Target ever open as a Mervyn's? There was something on another site that suggested that, and come to think of it, I vaguely remember (or at least I think I remember) that Mervyn's was there.

A few weeks ago (Aug 30) there was a great sunset (there was an air quality warning that day--luckily I spent most of it in the tunnels) but my iPhone, as it turns out, is pretty lousy at capturing sunsets...

I'm not sure if the retail district is a good idea, it seems like a waste of taxpayer money. For one thing, it would need to attract people who live in downtown (not 9-to-5ers exclusively). As I have stated before, Target is a reasonable idea (perhaps connected with apartments and the tunnel system). Any attempt, historically in America in the last 50 years, to attract suburbanites back to downtown to shop has been more or less a failure.

Ohh, you can see the original brick. When did it receive its first repaint?

In looking for stuff on the late "hydroponic gardens" Fiesta and Auchan, I came across mention of "Holiday Plus", which I've heard about before but there's shockingly little about it online. It seems to have been mostly in and around Minneapolis but did have a location in Houston. Anyone know where/what it was? (the article mentions it was there in Houston in the early 1990s)

I'd like to see if they'll ticket bicyclists who go over 20 MPH (it's possible), since some bicyclists seem to think that the rules of the road don't apply to them.

I never knew the Denny's/La Quinta reference, until I realized that there was a distressing regularity between the adjacent locations of La Quinta and Denny's. A few years back, I stayed at the flagship(?) La Quinta in San Antonio, the replacement to the first location nearby, and guess what giant sign was there out the window, shining bright at night. And if you catch any of the demolition videos of the Plaza Hotel in College Station on YouTube, you'll find that there's a La Quinta and a Denny's there too (even though the La Quinta pre-dated the Denny's by over a decade).

It's behind a Denny's, which made me wonder if it was a La Quinta at one time. Address at 5820 Katy Freeway, seems a Hampton Inn & Suites is being built there instead. I also have a hotel directory that lists it in its Comfort Inn state, which is how I visited it in 2008. So yay, most of my questions were answered, but still just a tad bittersweet--you can't go home again.

I was surprised to find that the Comfort Inn I stayed at in Houston in spring 2008 (accelerating the romanticization of Houston even today, previous romanticization was for other cities) had been demolished sometime in between Google image updates, with the only mention of it being it was demolished in late 2011 (a Swamplot comment). It's being replaced with a larger, multi-story hotel (I don't know if Comfort Inn had one or two levels), but I have no idea what it is. What it is being replaced as, and what is the history of the older hotel? I doubt Comfort Inn was the original name of it...Google Earth images show the old hotel being there as early as the late 1970s. (Aside: It's sad that my happy memories of seeing Houston and Galveston back in 2005 are becoming more and more distant by each passing day.) (Aside 2: It should be noted that it although inexpensive, it wasn't a fleabag motel--though the trains were awfully noisy)

A lot of Christof's posts were removed by him later. And if I recall correctly, Spieler was a divisive figure on HAIF.