Perimeter285

Originally I had said, "Just FYI, the 'Richmond Road' referenced in this petition is not Richmond Avenue, it's the current Bissonnet Street." But looking more closely at the map, I was wrong. Richmond "Road" on the map is the current Richmond Avenue, although there was a separate Richmond Road that later became Bissonnet.

Many of the major thoroughfares west of Bellaire used to have letter names (e.g., Chimney Rock was Ave. D, Renwick was Ave. E, Hillcroft was Ave. F, etc.). And of course Bissonnet was called Richmond Road at this time because it was the road that led to Richmond.

A building very similar to that AIM proposal just opened in Atlanta called Symphony Tower:

THAT IS HILARIOUS! How awesome.

When area codes were first assigned, states with multiple area codes had codes with "1" as the center digit. States with only one area code had "0" as the middle digit. Since Texas had multiple area codes, Houston and Southeast Texas got one with a 1 in the middle: 713. It all stood to reason: states with multiple area codes were usually more populous and therefore fielded more phone calls. Since "0" took longer than "1" to dial on old rotary phones, then the states with the most phone calls got the area codes that took less time to dial.

Sharpstown's exchange back then was Preston (77). My phone number is still on that exchange. By the way, I also requested a 713 number on my cell phone when I moved to Houston so that I could have the in-town area code. Dorky, I know.

I find it amazing how quickly neighborhoods in Houston turn "rough." Granted, this is the largest city I've ever lived in, but everywhere else I've lived (Pensacola/Gainesville/Tallahassee, Florida - all cities of a couple hundred thousand) neighborhoods like Briarmeadow, Sharpstown, Riverside Terrace, and countless other Houston neighborhoods that "should" be nice really would still be nice. Wow, sorry for that run-on sentence. Either way, it blows my mind. I guess we can blame the rapid turnover of these neighborhoods on the abundance of flat, cheap land in the metro area; there's always a newer house to be had for not much more money. Or maybe it's the lack of zoning. Still, I think it is ridiculous the level to which people treat houses and neighborhoods in Houston as disposable. Some neighborhoods that people around here would never even consider would be running $500,000 in L.A. or D.C. these days. Count on us to be behind the curve though, right?

With all of this discussion about inner Southwest Houston, and particularly Sharpstown Center mall, I find it surprising that nobody has mentioned the actual Sharpstown neighborhood. I just happen to live in Sharpstown, Section One, the original subdivision from 1955 and the very first component of the overall Sharpstown master plan to be constructed. This neighborhood served as a model for most of the future growth of the Houston area. Few today may realize this, but Sharpstown was the first master planned community in Houston, if not the nation. The amount of media attention the development received when ground first broke is almost astounding. National media and dignitaries from Washington all converged on the pasture that would become Sharpstown. Dedication ceremonies were covered in newspapers across the country, including several write-ups in the New York Times. Houston's fledgling TV stations all devoted their day's programming to the opening of the development. Developers had built large-scale suburban subdivisions before, most famously at the many Levittowns in the northeast, but nobody had ever attempted a master-planned community like Sharpstown, which included schools, churches, shopping, parks, country clubs, etc. This neighborhood is obviously much richer in history than anyone wants to admit. Beyond being the first (or one of the first, at least) master plan community, there are other details that add to its history. The land was originally owned by a famous wildcatter (whose name fails me) whom the movie "Giant" was based upon. Construction of the infrastructure was overseen by the firm that would eventually become Kellogg, Brown and Root, which has been in the news regarding Iraq recently. The original Mercury 7 astronauts were offered homes in Sharpstown, which led to a scandal. Speaking of scandals, one of the most famous scandals in Texas government was centered around Sharpstown State Bank. The list of significant events in the history of Sharpstown goes on and on. Ironically, Houston has largely turned its back on this incredible neighborhood. Staring down one of its streets takes you right back to the 1950s. The style, uniqueness and character of the homes is something you never see in production housing today. Beyond that, the construction standards by which these homes were built is also hard to come by today: wood floors throughout, fully tiled bathrooms and kitchens, solid framing. They're great houses, and I should know. It's too bad that the developers allowed this neighborhood to cannibalize itself by building enormous apartment complexes on the periphery that quickly became slums. The fact remains, though, that this is a wonderful, cute, unique neighborhood that I could go on and on for hours about, but this post has to end sometime, right?