IronTiger

Not really a sighting per se but on Burn Notice (USA) there was a character on an episode whose backstory was that he worked as a cop in Houston trying to catch child abductors.

I think that the Subway may close very, very soon. I was also a bit surprised that they didn't remove the ceiling tiles before they opened the electronics section. I may go this Sunday nonetheless.

Yeah, the I-10 ones are gone. In the Google Maps shot, the BW8 one remained even after the intersection was redone in the early 1990s, but met death in the second reconstruction in the 2000s. The wooden MKT bridges in the Heights were often subject to arson attempts, I heard.

I see! I was thinking that the MKT crossed them at grade. I don't have Google Earth 5 installed on my computer (because of slowness and a messed-up motherboard that ruins graphics) but if I looked again on the other computer with GE5, the 1978 shot would've shown it. According to Google Maps, the bridges that the MKT crossed are all still intact (but the ties have since been removed for the Heights Bike Trail, sadly)

Yes, but that's impossible. The train is seen going past an office building in an open area (what is "Park 10"?), a small railroad crossing, and then under a road underpass. Where would that be...?

BUMP! It's snowing in College Station again, and it's a lovely sight. Not enough to make snowmen, though.

I've been fascinated with the late MKT ever since I discovered an old ROW across from Memorial City Mall, but one thing that continues to confound me is MKT in the Heights: after it crosses Heights Blvd., it parallels 7th Street and cuts straight across 7th and Cortland, making two nasty railroad crossings at two ends of the intersection. While blurry aerial photos and the "property lines" on Google Maps confirm this (by the way, the house on the southwest side was built later) I just can't see this working out in 1990s Houston. (link) 1. Does anyone remember the strange/dangerous railroad crossings at Cortland and 7th? What were they like? 2. When exactly was the MKT abandoned/stripped? 3. Does anyone have any photos? I mean, the whole thing looks just so surreal to me. I mean, just looking at Arlington Road, it's an extremely suburban-type area, and a railroad barreling through there just less than 15 years ago is...odd.

Good point! About counterfeit/pirate goods, though: 1) Most counterfeits are blatantly obvious ("Du-Bang" BandAid knockoffs I remember) 2) Other counterfeits are a bit sneakier (Hengbad Sharpies) 3) Counterfeits are often en masse 4) Anyone advertising cheap DVDs are pirated or stolen. Pirate Chinese movies that are recorded in a movie theater are of hilariously poor quality. 5) If I find one of those pirate NES-on-a-chip type devices at a reasonable price: I'm totally buying it and tear it apart for a project that would allow me to run NES games on a portable system. True story: these things were sold in malls a little more than five years ago. I'm also leaning toward flea markets not too far away from the freeways.

I read an article in Waco about how the flea market (at least a few years ago) was good because it attracted many people in different wealth segments. What's the most reputable flea market (or in some cases, least unreputable flea market) in the area? For the shady ones, I have a serious feeling that most of the things stolen in the region (including College Station) end up there...

This spring break I was planning to go to Houston for a day or so. I don't know why, but I want to visit a good flea market in the area. An seemingly obvious choice would be Traders Village: it's big and just off of 290. Unfortunately, the reviews I've read indicates that it's mostly cheap imports. And for all intents and purposes, that's what flea markets at least partially consist of. But it was sorely lacking in antiques and vintage items (or so I heard). I kind of tend to gravitate toward video game related stuff and the occasional vintage item. Does anyone know of any relatively good flea markets in Houston?

It's probably just another smoggy morning in central Houston. Kidding. On two of the forums which I am a long runner in, I noticed I was becoming a cynical, bitter person. Is this a sign of things to come?

Well, I taped it and I could *in theory* put it on the Internet. But that's not exactly live streaming, now, is it?

Who was performing for half-time? A crusty 70s band that went out of style years ago?

I just found out (and confirmed) that The Galleria's original official name was "Galleria Post Oak".

Went there again yesterday. The back wall is new, it's unclear if they ripped out the wall totally or just redid it. The place is starting to resemble Target a bit. In particular, the electronics/book section is a total, total rip-off of how Target did it. Go there and you'll see what I mean. On the other hand, I do like it. It's more open now and larger. There's new game demo displays and the whole thing doesn't feel like a "pen" in the middle of the store.

Sure. But you have to keep in mind that the HAIF is much, much, more than architecture in Houston. The fact is the HAIF is more than a Houston architecture forum, it is about Houston as a whole, Houston's outer loop neighborhoods, Houston's suburbs and neighborhoods beyond Beltway 8, and far-flung cities that still rely on Houston as an anchor city for the region (College Station-Bryan!) Furthermore, I still stand by the fact that places like Sugar Land and Katy were once real, individual cities that "lost their soul". And to The Niche, Subdude, I define a suburb as being a small city that surrounds (or is surrounded by) a much larger city, but still has a "post office" name and semi-independent jurisdiction. In this way, places like Sugar Land, Katy, Cypress, and even places like West University Place are "suburbs" but places like Greenspoint, Sharpstown, etc. are not. A third category is places like The Woodlands, or in some cases, The Village of Tiki Island. Those are strange ones that aren't suburbs but get named as such "The Woodlands, TX".

Despite a few other certain certain topics I have made, this was NOT made to call anybody out and was really an honest question. But you are right, this will only lead to anger and posts designed to further destroy my reputation on HAIF. Maybe you should lock it before the regulars here tear it apart. I'd really appreciate that...

One of the things I've seen on HAIF is an animosity toward the suburbs (especially on the "How do we make Houston better" thread, despite the jest, I could see some dislike). Unfortunately, I can't really see where the hate is coming from. I can think of a few good reasons why inner-loopers may hate the suburbs and suburbanites: 1. Mostly rich white people. 2. Mostly McMansions. 3. Fine dining means (fill in chain restaurant) 4. They add traffic to the roads. 5. They think inner-loop Houston is crime-ridden and gross. Personally, I think that suburbs are suburbs and the inner city is the inner city. Each has advantages and disadvantages but one isn't necessarily superior to the others. A sixth reason I can think of the "suburb hate" is that the suburbs were once real cities, real Texan towns a short distance away that lost their soul. Katy and Sugar Land are the prime examples of this. Katy, for instance, is named after the M-K-T railroad, nicknamed the Katy. In olden times, the railroad would chug through town on its way to Houston. Of course, in the 1990s that started to change. Katy started to grow like a virus with lots of mass-produced homes and today Katy is no more than a faceless suburb of which I-10 runs through. The MKT is still there, of course, but only as an industrial spur cut off by UP in 1997(?), cutting off before even Katy's city limits. Sugar Land is a second example: it once was a blue-collar town that manufactured, well, sugar! But now it only has the corporate headquarters of Imperial Sugar. And finally, suburbs are good for Houston because they aren't sufficient enough to live on their own (The Woodlands is trying to avoid that) so they bring jobs and money into Houston. Conversely, look at Detroit, where the suburbs are doing far better than their inner-city counterpart. You see where I'm going?...

There is no way the Wal-Mart will be bigger than any other Wal-Mart Supercenter. By looking at aerial photos and guesstimating how far it expands too (remember a chunk of Albertson's was torn out), the size is comparable (if not smaller) than Bryan's. A typical Wal-Mart Supercenter is around 200000 square feet. The largest one currently is in New York: two floors with 260000 square feet!

1. Commuter rail to the suburbs and longer light rail lines. Cypress and Sugar Land have rails that they can use, but Katy is a bit harder. 2. Rebuild the railroad that used to parallel Westpark Tollway and Southwest Freeway. This would not only allow Katy-ians to go through commuter rail, it might also alleviate Houston's heavy rail traffic. 3. Another thing I noticed is how highways really destroy pedestrian traffic. The dark and cavernous highway overpasses of even the suburbs fall under this, and so is the narrow, rusty pedestrian bridges over I-10. This is one example. 4. A theme park! 5. A commuter rail between Galveston and Houston. 6. Additional retail: the Galleria is the only major "retail stronghold" in a city of Houston's size. That really should be different...maybe a giant "Mall of Texas" in another part of town. 7. Turning the abandoned MKT in Houston proper into a nice paved trail (Heights residents might protest if it was a light rail instead) 8. I would suggest canals, but Houston shouldn't try to look like a Woodlands knock-off (not that the Woodlands isn't knocking off everyone else)

Reliable sources tell me the electronics have been moved to the back (where the blankets used to be). Where this leaves the blankets I don't know. There are now AC units on the roof of the new part.

In regards to electronic cigarettes in a city-wide smoking ban, I would say that it's at the owner's discretion. If you're in a restaurant while smoking and they tell you to stop smoking, do it. However rude they may seem to be (or actually are), you won't win points by trying to justify it and you'll just bring yourself down to his level. On the other hand, if you're in a bar and they say electronic cigarette smoking is okay, then puff away! At least, that's my take on it.

The city is bankrupt?

There was a kiosk at the Galleria selling them, at least on my spring 2009 trip. It was near the "bridge" that separates Galleria II from Galleria IV, second floor, on the Galleria IV side. Please don't ask me how I remembered this.

A few lots away from Taco Bell on University Drive...the only extra lot in the area is on Church Street, which would be a miserable location for a new chain restaurant.