debmartin

will this replace the hermann prof bldg. across the street from the hospital?

when traveling through other major cities in the us and canada i use the subway to get around - i can always count on tunnels for shopping and meals, often 7 days a week and until late at night. since we do not have a subway system our tunnels are primarily utilized by 9-5'ers - i was one myself in the late 70's and followed the masses underground daily. those who rode in on the bus wore gym shoes and brought shoes for working - those who drove in wore work shoes and brought gym shoes to wear around at lunch while walking around in the tunnels. the tunnels catered to downtown workers, with merchants such as cleaners, shoe repair, banks, card/gift shops, bakery/coffee shops and of course eateries. believe it or not we had street people even "back then" which made the tunnels a great alternative to being up above. the fact that they connected building to building meant you could consolidate some aspects of business and pleasure. the fact that they closed after lunch was unfortunate because there were always errands that could have been handled after work, and many would have been happy to make dinner arrangements downtown. with the new rail prospects, street level retail will expand but i do not perceive any threat to the tunnels. in many ways they both aim at different audiences, and there's plenty of people heading downtown. debmartin

"I saw a shopping area called Hilland Village I keep riding and there was lots of on street shopping and on street resturants it was very nice. After a while I saw the downtown skyline. It was all amazing! I never new that, that area of Houston exzisted. Why is it keeped such a secret?" (quote, citykid09) highland village was updated but has been around for a long time. its kind of a well kept secret for "upscale" shopping but is totally decked out at christmas with holiday decorations and looks lovely. i cannot recall anytime that highland village was even remotely assoicated with the motrose area - they represent two totally different poles of houston society. debmartin