Let's Talk About Fifth Ward

[RedScare]

dats da ghetto n me.

Hardly.

Try "cornrows" next time. Might gain you a tad more street cred.

[lockmat]

Hardly.

Try "cornrows" next time.

I forgive him. It's an often made mistake.

Might gain you a tad more street cred.

Word

[musicman]

Try "cornrows" next time. Might gain you a tad more street cred.

hit the streets and you hear both now. kinda like this

Edited February 11, 2008 by musicman

[VicMan]

nah whites can be poor too. break through those black stereotypes.

Also Whites can be dysfunctional. A Jacinto City crazed dysfunctional "family" murdered Buddy Musso, a mentally retarded man from New Jersey: http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murd...asso/index.html - The ringleader, Sue Basso, got the death sentence while her cronies got life sentences and other lengthy sentences.

Most of the poor Whites around here tend to be in rural periphery of the Houston area.

Anyhow, Jarvis Johnson is a city councilman so of course we can e-mail him and write letters. If he wants to build housing for low income families he should do so with the expectation that gentrification cannot be thwarted. The Houston way is to gentrify. It is better to build such housing so that the low income families can blend into a gentrified area.

[hbcu]

my dad works in Jacinto City....those whites took off years ago and its mostly mexican....the area was a blue collar neighborhood at one time

[VicMan]

my dad works in Jacinto City....those whites took off years ago and its mostly mexican....the area was a blue collar neighborhood at one time

Even in the late 1980s the elementary schools were mostly Hispanic.

* Jacinto City ES: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...986/school.aspx

* Whittier ES: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...614/school.aspx

[hbcu]

bottom line...whites and 5th ward won't mix....all we're doing is creating a stupid cycle where whites, blacks and hispanics switch spots in Houston for the next 50 years,,,

whites get in 5th ward, blacks forced to move further to the suburbs, whites there leave and move into the country, then hispanics come and blacks follow the whites...whites then realize they live eons away from the city or panic due to one incicent, they come back closer in and jack land values up which starts the cycle all over again...

when your now in places like New Caney, Katy, etc...we've gone too far

[TheNiche]

bottom line...whites and 5th ward won't mix....all we're doing is creating a stupid cycle where whites, blacks and hispanics switch spots in Houston for the next 50 years,,,

whites get in 5th ward, blacks forced to move further to the suburbs, whites there leave and move into the country, then hispanics come and blacks follow the whites...whites then realize they live eons away from the city or panic due to one incicent, they come back closer in and jack land values up which starts the cycle all over again...

when your now in places like New Caney, Katy, etc...we've gone too far

It is a cycle, and not one dominated so much by race, but by affluence and secondarily by ethnicity. A myriad of factors relating to the physical condition of neighborhoods, the proximity to employment, and neighborhood-level demographic trends determine what is and is not transitioning at any point in time.

And I say that ethnicity matters more than race because if you look at Hispanics, considered one race, they've broken out into distinct Mexican and Central American parts of town and have a sufficient critical mass in those areas to create communities that perpetuate their ethnicity. Inner city blacks have a kind of ethnicity that was already shifting, but with market forces scattering them to the suburbs, typically into integrated neighborhoods, not supported by retailers and community infrastructure that specifically caters to people from their background, I think that a lot of their ethnic identity is going to be diluted so that by the time we have another cycle, we're thinking in a completely different set of terms.

Btw, the affluent residents of suburbs aren't panicing about distance. It is this group that continues to justify construction of expensive homes in places on the far periphery of our metropolitan area, like you stated. But affluent folks aren't of one mind; they are segmented, with widely varied preferences.

[IronTiger]

The HAIF is mostly urban Houston, and everyone loves their section of town. Montrose, The Heights, Midtown, and even SW Houston (to an extent) have been loved (or at least defended). Now what about...the Fifth Ward? Wikipedia kind of spins it to have some "community spirit" hope (at least to Japhet), but the overriding feel to it is a grim, crime-filled land.

What do you think? Do you like (or live in) the Fifth Ward?

[TheNiche]

The HAIF is mostly urban Houston, and everyone loves their section of town. Montrose, The Heights, Midtown, and even SW Houston (to an extent) have been loved (or at least defended). Now what about...the Fifth Ward? Wikipedia kind of spins it to have some "community spirit" hope (at least to Japhet), but the overriding feel to it is a grim, crime-filled land.

What do you think? Do you like (or live in) the Fifth Ward?

The southern section (between I-10 and Buffalo Bayou) has a an interrupted present and a near-term future. The sections of it west of US 59 have a near-term future. Many of the sections north of I-10 and east of US 59 have an almost rural characteristic to them (but not in a good way) and will likely remain undesirable for the forseeable future.

The chief obstacles are poor quality and unattractiveness of the existing housing stock, lack of any political or monetary affluence, poor connectivity to downtown or other employment centers, low visibility (because nobody has to drive through it to get somewhere important), and fractured ownership of land often without clear title.

[kylejack]

A couple things I like in the Fifth Ward:

1. The bohemian Nance St. area (Last Concert Cafe, some art studios that will be featured in the upcoming Art Crawl, there's a new hot dog place I hear good things about)

2. The Emile Community Farm, which is part of The Last Organic Outpost http://www.lastorganicoutpost.com/ The guy who runs it is trying to create a Fifth Ward Farm Belt

Other than that I am pretty uninformed on stuff in the Fifth Ward and would like to learn more. It is, of course, a place with a lot of history that raised people like Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, and George Foreman

[AtticaFlinch]

Denver Harbor's a nice neighborhood.

[musicman]

there's a new hot dog place I hear good things about

family owned place where the children were taught to have manners. make sure and take a peek at the munsters autographed cast pic.

i did notice a new place at mckee at nance that is an open air pool hall/ice house place. might be a good place for a haif gathering when the weather cools.

[AtticaFlinch]

family owned place where the children were taught to have manners. make sure and take a peek at the munsters autographed cast pic.

i did notice a new place at mckee at nance that is an open air pool hall/ice house place. might be a good place for a haif gathering when the weather cools.

This is the second time this had been suggested. I sense the beginnings of a movement.

[LegacyTree]

Is that the place where it's "cool?"

[TheNiche]

Is that the place where it's "cool?"

Last Concert Cafe? Yes.

[LegacyTree]

Ok thanks, you've more or less confirmed a rumor I heard from some friends. We have a couple places like that in NOLA too. Always an interesting story how it comes about, but I'll refrain from spoiling everyone's fun.

Cheers~

[kylejack]

Ok thanks, you've more or less confirmed a rumor I heard from some friends. We have a couple places like that in NOLA too. Always an interesting story how it comes about, but I'll refrain from spoiling everyone's fun.

Cheers~

That can only last so long, though, especially since the Houston Press won't shut up about it.

[CHiPs]

Denver Harbor's a nice neighborhood.

Edited October 9, 2009 by CHiPs

[jfre81]

OK, so I've shown some of the prettier, trendier parts of Houston.

Let's try something new this time. Being that it's a new year and all.

Welcome to Fifth Ward, "The Nickel." I don't think I've ever seen this part of Houston in a SSP thread.

The historic Evergreen Negro Cemetery.

Some memories of the more recent past can be found around here too.

Always look up. Never look down. Unless a pigeon is flying overhead.

We know of streets like Montrose Boulevard and Westheimer and I've shown them a time or two, but Clinton Drive is the Main Street of industrial Houston.

The ride on the 27 crosstown bus took longer than I had wanted, and the sun was already on its way down, so I kept things north-south for the most part. So no picture of the former headquarters of KBR, or of the port. Besides, somebody would probably come out wondering why I'm taking pictures. Damn this terrorism mess.

Crossing Buffalo Bayou on Lockwood Drive.

Some new ordinance went into effect, I think as of New Year's Day, that banned giant inflatable things like the muscle guy atop Winston Fitness on South Shepherd at Richmond. I guess Ronald McDonald here gets an exemption?

We've crossed over into Second Ward and the East End now, where you can be delivered from evil...

...via FedEx.

Compared to the aroma downwind from the port on the other side of the bayou, the taco truck smelled downright good.

Ready or not...

...here it comes.

Here's an antique for you. They banned leaded gasoline a long time ago.

I should've cleaned my lens before heading out here, or maybe it accumulated during the walk. Oh well. Lends a distinctive look to this shoot.

Light started being highly unfriendly to me right about now. Anything looking west is blown out looking.

Hurricane preparedness is a year-round exercise.

Darkness falls as I go up Milby Street and then onto Jefferson and then Leeland toward downtown. Not much usable came out of this.

Anyway, thanks for viewing.

[LTAWACS]

Nice shots. Thanks for sharing.

[crunchtastic]

cool, you rode right through the middle of my hood. And even got a pic of the cat porch around the corner from me.

[AtticaFlinch]

cool, you rode right through the middle of my hood. And even got a pic of the cat porch around the corner from me.

Is that near Harrisburg and Lockwood? There's a house over there, behind the bodyshop, with a porch shared equally by cats and nutria rats.

[crunchtastic]

Is that near Harrisburg and Lockwood? There's a house over there, behind the bodyshop, with a porch shared equally by cats and nutria rats.

Nutria?? Sounds like dinner! No wonder Niche likes it over here.

The cat porch in the pic is going toward Polk, but I know the place you mean at the Harrisburg corner.

I'm just off Lockwood. Been driving past that Metro sign for a year, wondering when exactly 'soon' is.

[TheNiche]

Nutria?? Sounds like dinner! No wonder Niche likes it over here.

The cat porch in the pic is going toward Polk, but I know the place you mean at the Harrisburg corner.

I'm just off Lockwood. Been driving past that Metro sign for a year, wondering when exactly 'soon' is.

I hadn't seen any nutria in Eastwood. They tend to like water, but Eastwood is high and dry until east of Dumble. I have seen opossums and have heard reports of raccoons beating up on the local feline population. Seriously, though, if anybody is having problems with such creatures, please let me know. I'd be interested in some culinary experimentation.

[ricco67]

I hadn't seen any nutria in Eastwood. They tend to like water, but Eastwood is high and dry until east of Dumble. I have seen opossums and have heard reports of raccoons beating up on the local feline population. Seriously, though, if anybody is having problems with such creatures, please let me know. I'd be interested in some culinary experimentation.

I'd pay money to say that.

TV's newest show: "Urban cooking adventures, with TheNiche."

Piss off, Iron Chef.

[TheNiche]

I'd pay money to say that.

TV's newest show: "Urban cooking adventures, with TheNiche."

Piss off, Iron Chef.

Hmmm...a TV show that featured me stalking, hunting, trapping, cleaning, and cooking squirrels, nutria, opossums, raccoons, pigeons, doves, fish, gar, turtles, alligators, toads, ants, roaches, and grasshoppers in an urban setting. I could travel around the country and feature (and eat) local wildlife, effectively bringing back the notion of regional cuisine to a national culture that has had its regional specialties subverted by globalism. And maybe BryanS can show us how to build his 'improved' grass huts that he believes we'll all be living in before long.

Nah, not really my style. But an amusing concept.

I mostly just want to experiment with new ingredients because I think that we as a culture are too apt to overlooking potentially-scrumptious delights that have been hiding right under our noses.

[RustyB]

Another cool little adventure in pictures! Awesome!

Ironically, Sukos burger and Kozy Kitchen are on my list of places to try out this week...just waiting for that next paycheck!

[TheNiche]

Ironically, Sukos burger and Kozy Kitchen are on my list of places to try out this week...just waiting for that next paycheck!

Don't bother with Sukos Burger. I don't know how they stay in business, honestly.

[RustyB]

Don't bother with Sukos Burger. I don't know how they stay in business, honestly.

I kinda figured the name said it all. I guess that's why I want to go...just so I can Yelp about it...good or bad. Then again...I'm a po' bastid and a connoisseur of cheap food from questionable establishments. My favorite restaurant in the whole world (or my little world) is Kim Tai's. Even the Taco Keto stand makes my mouth water thinking about it.