IronTiger

I would disagree with his comment on Sharpstown. First off, the development hasn't really happened yet. Officially, the name is still Sharpstown, JCPenney is still empty, and so on. After all, back when I actually paid to attention to retail developments, Summit Place Mall in Waterford, MI was this close to changing its name to "Festivals of Waterford" until the proposed enclosed waterpark did not happen and the deal collapsed soon after. It was Summit Place Mall when it closed last year. Case study #2 is Forest Fair Mall, which was to be Forest Fair Fashions, until The Mills bought it and renamed it Cincinnati Mills. Sharpstown really should be removed. If he wanted to keep a retail development, why not talk about CityCentre or Memorial City Mall? OK, beginning of 2000: TOWN & COUNTRY MALL: Three-story mall with JCPenney, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Dillard's but not popular and losing stores rapidly. MEMORIAL CITY MALL: Middle-of-the-road mall with Mervyn's, Foley's, Montgomery Ward, and Sears. Now CityCentre is a really cool urban development with fitness clubs and trendy sushi bars, while Memorial City Mall is one of Houston's premier upscale malls. Or he could've mentioned more transit: while MetroRail was good what about the "sinking" of US-59? The widening of I-10?

HIGH SCORE! I've been looking for an interior photo of Town & Country Mall for a LONG TIME. Thanks!

A 1978 aerial confirms there was outdoor mall north of Joske's. I also recall reading somewhere that Joske's opened in 1969. Sakowitz is closed, but what's there now?

The same article appeared in the local paper, The Eagle. Is The Heights really the center of criminal activity in Houston? I had a few other candidates in my mind for "centers of criminal activity" in Houston, but the Heights? Really??

I just wanted to get others' opinion on this: are Snuggies a shame to the human race? I vote yes. That and the Twilight book series.

I find it odd that nearly every highway has added at least four lanes (two in each direction) since 1978. Katy Freeway has the biggest "improvement" overall. Watch the ol' MKT right of way disappear! Also: The Woodlands had more trees than it does now. Easy to say when EVERYTHING was REAL woods.

If you're wondering about my first post here, the awkwardness appeared when two threads were merged.

To better orient themselves with the Hispanic neighborhood, Sharpstown Mall is renovating and renaming to PlazAmericas, featuring "huge children’s play area and an 83,000-square-foot mercado (marketplace) that will have multiple stages for live entertainment, a large family lounge and play area." http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2009/12/21/daily7.html

Add all three AppleTree groceries to the list, including the College Station one (torn down, now Spec's), Briarcrest (now Village Foods), and now 21 (some Mexican grocery).

I always try to keep an open mind but Parker celebrating the victory as a historical event for the LGBT community rubs off on me as kind of elitist, as in the "elitist minority" type groups. You know the type...Obama himself never rode on the fact that he was the first African-American president and how he's making history (others said so, though). Of course, I could be imagining it. Maybe it's just me. (I really don't want to start a flame war on this idea, but that's just what I think)

Well, in the last week, the crossbeams have been put in. The SW exit looks good. However, to complete the other retaining wall, Wellborn will have to be rerouted.

There's a structure in front of the Astrodome which I read was called the "Astrohall". It was torn down around 2004, based on aerials. What was it?

The facade where the vision center was is totally gone and some structures are being built in the back. Looks like it's the same height as regular Walmart. Anyway, with the time it takes for these things to go up, I have no doubt it will be open by April. I'malso a bit surprised that they didn't take out the wall to fully connect the parts of the building. I am going to make a schedule, we'll see if I am right: end of December: steel structure mostly complete end of January: structure complete but Subway closes end of february: roof in, facade work begins. end of march: facade done end of April: done

If you've played with the latest version of Google Earth, Houston's vintage aerial photography has been updated to include 1978. Although it's a bit low-res, there's lots of goodies I saw...you can see this railroad spur near 290 here, in addition, you can see LOTS of undeveloped areas (sorry, it was before Hanna-Barbera Land was built) where lots of homes exist nowadays. You can also check out Town & Country Village, where you can see that a section of outdoor mall existed north of Joske's (shocker!) It's fun to explore around 1978...check it out today and report what you find!

@Attica: Oh, are they the partycrashers? The "Obama is Satan people" is just a placeholder for the mean anti-Obama people. I was just bringing up a point against the collective mean anti-Bush people. See, when I hear the word "hate", any slanderous attacks, etc. against former President George W. Bush, I just dismiss them as crazy liberals who like to blow steam on the Internet. Similarly, when things done against President Barack H. Obama, I just dismiss them as crazy conservatives who like to blow steam on the Internet. Now, about the WMDs...did Bush really lie about them? Or did he just make an honest mistake? I fully believe the latter...he is only human, after all...unless you could prove me wrong.

@ Barracuda, Jeebus: I see. I won't break my promise and argue, but I will tell you that I did mention that there were to be no personal attacks on Bush in this forum starter. See, name-calling brings down the validity of arguments. Do you really take the "Obama is Satan"-type people seriously? No, because their attacks on the President destroys any validity of their arguments! It works both ways.

First off, I do wash my hands after using the toilet. Always. I worry when that type of setup is in restaurants. Yes, I despise air blowers too (some of them claim that it's more sanitary than paper towels...HA!) but there's the airblower at the First Colony Mall restrooms that's really awesome. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? If yes, than you too, have experienced it.

You kind of misquoted me, so I have no idea what comeback that was to. I think you are referring to my first post. I don't think its really fair to say that "most Americans did not want to go to war"...I'll know it when I see the data. Singling Bush out for starting the Iraqi war is a grotesquely unfair accusation in the grand scheme of things...every President started/contributed to a war. If indeed that is the point where Bush went wrong, I will no longer pursue the topic and assume that everyone who thought he was bad was just an opinionated pacifist. But that can't be the only thing. It just can't.

Geez...is the point of this that he's supposedly some right-wing nutjob or that all the "good guys" have the exact same attributes? Who is this Hotze guy anyway?

That is true: when Bush was elected, the Internet was known and semi-popular, but not nearly the thing it is today. Everyone's home computer (unless you were rich) ran at a pokey 56k. The "blame the administration" game is popular for all recent presidents (Obama and Clinton included), so I don't really know the validity of that. @others: I don't think I'm a fair representation of my generation. If we want to play statistics, we can't pick one person as the focus group. Seriously, I'm the only one in my school who knows anything about Houston. I could talk about Westheimer Road, the MKT, Northwest Mall, the HOV lane, the Fifth Ward, downtown, Rice Village, and Montrose, and almost no one will get what I'm saying. My economics teacher is one of the exceptions, I asked him something regarding Splashtown (if people really did do obscene things in the wave pool), yes they did, as he was a lifeguard there too.

Did it mention what those companies were? I have a feeling that many of Houston's companies are large but not really recognizable names...

Given that it's only an overpass and noticable things are not worth reporting, I'll only post if something truly new or groundbreaking happens.

Nope, I looked, but there wasn't anything I haven't learned before. And yes, Crunch, I have looked extensively on Google page after page on certain topics until all I got was nonsensical garbage. It's just what I'm interested in and that makes all the difference. That holds true for all of the things I do in life. And I don't believe in the "if it's not on Google, it doesn't exist".

Ha...that's actually kinda funny. +1 for you. But seriously, who wouldn't want to try Gatorade or Dr Pepper gum if they haven't? (and like the beverages, of course)

True. But I kind of wanted the "condensed" version, if you will, without the needless hate (as in, beyond anything normal). Actually, if I REALLY wanted to answer my own question, I could venture out into the rest of the Internet, and the Internet is a rather scary place filled with radicals (and the not the numerical kind) and other things. Eh, should I just call it a loss and request the thread to be locked?