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Purpledevil

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Everything posted by Purpledevil

  1. @TimoricThere was once a place on Richmond Avenue that was called the Trail Dust Steakhouse. They'd cut off your tie and nail it to the wall if you wore one inside.
  2. Given what I remember of the café and waterfalls, I'd be pretty certain it was all demo'ed when management renovated the mall in the late 80's. That's when the ficus and all of the cool sculptures were removed from the corridors, and my favorite water feature in front of Montgomery Ward's met its demise. It used to fill up with water on one end, dump the water when full, and raise up on the other end striking a brass pipe that let out the most beautiful gong. The walled up area near the skylights would be too high to conceal the stairs. The skylights were there from the beginning, and cascaded sunlight down onto the center court and subsequent café area. Ah, yes. The days when Greenspoint was still classy. What predated Target at Memorial City Mall was Montgomery Ward's. It was an old dookie brown colored building that simply screamed 1970. Indeed, it too had a second floor. Sat right across the mall corridor from the recruitment offices for the Armed Forces, and oh yeah, the best Whataburger that Memorial has ever known.
  3. The mall itself was only 1 level, Tiger. There once was a second floor in the center court, which was originally a café. Each of the department stores had a second floor, i.e. Lord & Taylor, Montgomery Ward's, J.C. Penney's, Joske's, Foley's, and Sears. Sears & Joske's closed off their second floors off first. As of today, there isn't a second floor open to the public anywhere within the entirety of Greenspoint.
  4. Well, if it ultimately turns into a bar, the old church will surely make for some fantastic photo opportunities of lightning strikes.
  5. That's only half of the story. Where's the picture of the mob, running at the white people, yielding sticks and screaming pure vile & hatred, which incited this lunatic to hop in his car and do the unthinkable? But that's not what "reporters" are paid for these days, is it? There's only one way for a foreign power to ever take out the United States, and that is to divide it and conquer it. This, dear sir, is the dividing. The conquering is forthcoming.
  6. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=hzAu%2fyON&id=1BFA6E503748054DBF6A2D7A6B2631E9D26FE008&thid=OIP.hzAu_yONJ_TPPDufh8j81QEyDM&q=picture+of+hostage+about+to+be+beheaded&simid=608020435672892823&selectedIndex=26 No place for hate? Look across the ocean. Plenty of it over there.
  7. It was off of Mesa Drive. They used two out of service sidings to house the cars for several years. This was around the time they restored the M-K-T and Southern Pacific cabeese. I don't recall a turntable there, cloud. Only turntable that I vividly recollect in East End is the one at the Milby St. shops at York and Milby. This is the video of the museum equipment being moved onto the Canal St. spur. The spur doesn't see a lot of activity, as you will see below.
  8. A nice one, too. http://www.kingswayrc.com/gcst/ They have a restored M-K-T passenger car, caboose (MKT 6), SP caboose (4696), a couple of old switchers (one of which is an old HB&T unit), and a helium tank car. Weird, weird looking car to say the least. Last I saw these pieces of equipment, they were being stored off of Navigation, just west of Sampson/York, on an old rail spur. I believe the museum is moving, but have heard nothing recently concerning its venue change.
  9. I gotta say, s3mh, I couldn't agree with you more. Now, if I could just get those stupid commercials of him and his family doing the "blooper takes" off of my TV screen, I'd be ever so grateful. I like Dikembe Mutombo, I really do. But even his C&D commercial really grated my nerves. His own "no, no, no" tagline with the finger waggle, and the dolts that make those commercials couldn't even get the timing right on it. Guess you won't be seeing the monster truck tearing up the roads around Durham anymore, either. Bless you for posting this, s3. You honestly made my day.
  10. The donut shop, I'm almost certain, was a Mrs. Baker's. Interesting story, from an old radio nerd, our Contemporary Hit Radio 104 KRBE facility wouldn't exist today had it not been for Edith Baker and her donut shops. She indeed only served glazed and jelly filled for the most of its existence. My mother worked at her location on Canal many, many years ago.
  11. Well sure there's money to be made. There's a sucker born every minute, stuu, and I'm sure you'll find your fair share. I'm just here to provide the reality of the situation that is Independence Heights. By all means, if you find enough dopes to rope, go right on ahead. But for those of you who DO get suckered into the hyperbole, don't say that the purpledevil didn't warn you. Not everyone has the cajones to live in this area, Good luck...and make sure to keep it loaded and within reach.
  12. Sorry, mkultra, but you have forgotten an incarnation of the building. Before Zone d'Erotica it was a head shop named the Houston 420. The 420 is what replaced Luke's, after sitting dormant for several years.
  13. Hey look, now we have a general idea of what it will look like sans Pierce Elevated. Man, give me a jackhammer. I'll take it down myself after seeing this pic. Sooooo much better.
  14. Poor cat! I know that pack of dogs...or at least one just like it. You called it correctly, s3mh. The couple of blocks north of Booker T. has plenty of work going on, and there is a smattering of new construction in the neighborhood, here and there. Nowhere near the levels of Sunset Heights though, and it won't be either. You believe there will be a 5-10 year delay? I'm 49, and don't believe I'll see Studewood cleaned up in my lifetime. That's just the reality of it. People can speculate all they want, about it being ready to turn the corner. Drive up here around 11pm or after, and anyone can see firsthand that I am not exaggerating on the current elements running the streets in the least bit. It's quite all right with me, though. I grew up in Sunset Heights back in the 70s & 80s, right down the street from the Peppermint Lounge. This feels like home, much more so than Camden Park ever did. I guess after all these years there's still a little riff-raff left in me, as well. The cherry on top is that my taxes on this house are next to nothing annually. Just over $1,000 last year, and barely. I couldn't even imagine living in a place where someone else can control the property I own, and tell me what I can and can't do with it. I can assure you, an HOA would hate me instantly. The most we have here is a civic club, and that's nothing more than a handful of people with nothing better to do than to gossip with one another over a glass of punch and a couple of cookies on a Thursday night. I know I'm coming off as all doom and gloom, and trust me, I'd love to see this gentrification of Studewood come to pass, Yale Village & Pecan Shadows turned into a pile of rubble, and the Gulf station and strip center across from Barkwood replaced with something that doesn't draw the hooligans out of the woodwork, but it's not happening as some would have you to believe. If it was, there'd be developers up here doing exactly what they did to my grandmother back in the 90's for her house on 26th. Hounding me consistently about selling out.
  15. I had completely forgotten about this thread, but stuu, you sure are right. Late last year, after my wife passed away, I sold our home in Camden Park and moved back to our first owned house here in Parkway. There isn't a single individual in here, including you good sir, capable of pulling the wool over this poster's eyes. I'm living in the thick of it, and the reality is, anyone that buys up these new developments in Studewood had better have tough skin, and a wife and kids that aren't squeamish. You're going to have an entire area north of Crosstimbers as your neighboring community and what's currently going on up here will really make your hairs curl, if you're not accustomed to it. Apparently, the crack dealers, meth heads, and street walkers that once graced the areas around Booker T. have suddenly found their way up here between Parker and Barbecue Inn. You ought to just see the Town Inn and the adjacent Chevron station at Rosamond and 45 at night these days. The hookers line up so you can even compare the merchandise. How about the dope deals in the McDonald's parking lot? Would you like fries with that? Ask Carla about her Family Dollar being robbed almost weekly. Want to see Texas style gambling? Visit the 20+ "patrons" loitering around Parker Food Mart shooting dice, swilling 40's, and throwing punches and empty beer bottles at each other. If you want even bang for your buck, post yourself up in the Shell parking lot at Parker & North Freeway after dark. The traffic between it and the Symphony Inn is bumper to bumper, and it isn't just the cars I'm talking about. Grab a beer (and a sidearm for your own safety), then come on up and enjoy the show. Where we lived at Antoine and Vets Memorial can't hold a candle to the sheer amount of action down here. Independence Heights certainly is on the move...about a mile to three miles northward. There isn't a developer, builder, or realtor alive that will ever tell a potential Independence Heights area buyer that, but I certainly will. It sure as hell isn't the rosy picture some people are trying to make it out to be, and it definitely isn't the same quiet little pocket neighborhood my wife and I moved out of in 1999. I haven't even mentioned what is all is going down between North Main and Airline, directly to the east of Booker T., but Lord knows, that'd take up an entire page in and of itself. $350k, huh? Really? Because mine just appraised at $83k, and if you're going to buy in Studewood and be that up close and personal with all of the festivities, ya might as well just set up shop right in the heart of it and save a couple hundred thousand. You can even be my next door neighbor, as that one's up for sale right now. Asking price: $78,500. But, hey, it's not all bad. Yale is brand new, with 4 lanes up here now, and the #40 will take you clear to Hobby Airport without a transfer, for all the transportation fans around here. Good luck with those new purchases, gentlemen.
  16. So...the Carter was better off before the renovation? That's an interesting viewpoint. I don't agree with it, but I certainly respect it. I look at the two buildings now, compare them to what they were prior to the redo, and find them to be to the betterment of the entire block. That's just one man's opinion, and admittedly I'm biased. Could be worse, I guess. It could've had its beautiful stone wall ripped off and replaced by a more modern wall of glass.
  17. Thanks Crockpot, I had no idea and apparently missed the prior discussion.
  18. Ah, that's because you're a youngster, Tiger. When III opened, it was the "luxurious" wing. Galleria I & II were nothing special, other than the ice rink and the red velvet carpeted theater. III came along, with the marble decked out Macy's, and set the foundation for the more upscale oriented direction the Galleria turned in the 80s. Of course, the "luxury" aspect of III went right out the window when Sheer Insanity and Gadzook's opened up in the wing. The sales staff and management sure didn't care much for us long-haired, undesirable types meandering through their precious Marshall Field's in route to Galleria III back then, lol. On a side note, I kind of find it amazing there are so many people in here calling for the demo of Joske's. The oldest, most historical building out there, and you guys want to drop it. Good Lord, if the bastards at Dillard's would clean up the old girl, I think people would see it in a very different light. That building, at one time, only played second fiddle to San Antonio's HQ, within the Joske's chain. To raze it altogether is about as ridiculous as taking down an amusement park and leaving it to become an overgrown pasture. Thank goodness the developers restoring the Cheek & Neal Coffee Building in East End didn't have the same viewpoint.
  19. http://4-traders.com/WHOLE-FOODS-MARKET-INC-4930/news/Whole-Foods-Market-More-retail-development-on-Yale-Street-21563615/ Never mind, I finally found something about it. Whole Foods is going in across the freeway from Church's.
  20. Has anyone noticed the Church's on 27th and Yale has closed? I was talking to a business owner there on Yale, who is also a longtime friend having grown up with him in Sunset Heights, who said the clinic next door is closing at the end of the month and both buildings will be demolished for a new Sunset Heights Whole Foods Market. He is certainly not one to make things up. He recently received a healthy offer for his own business, which takes up half a block of Yale, and rejected it outright. Laughed it off, saying he's too young to retire. I've done some digging around and I see nothing on the internet that confirms or even mentions this apparent future for the east side of Yale between East 27th & 28th. I suppose we'll know when and if the clinic closes, that something is truly up. Anyone with access to who ownership knowledge of the old Church's property is, or the clinic next door, notice any recent changes? Edit to add: address for Church's is 2702 Yale.
  21. The face of Independence Heights is changing, huh? Don't drive up to the car wash on Crosstimbers, between Main & Yale, and inform the regular patrons/loiterers about that. They just might want to change your face, lol. In all seriousness, you are correct, there is a significant increase of new development in Studewood. Excuse me, Independence Heights. It's all well and good, until new development starts replacing Flying Saucer, the Mexicatessen/Landa Cafe, Lee'n Food Mkt., Church's Chicken, or BBQ Inn. That's when the proverbial fan gets splattered with us older, more established residents of Studewood...
  22. Interesting. I had thought the strip center now residing there was the old Sears building repurposed along the lines of the old Katy Fwy @ Dairy Ashford K-Mart. I was always dragged to the North Shepherd store, for Mom's Sears shopping needs. She grew up on the East End on Adams. Absolutely despised the Harrisburg Sears, and she'd never say why. I remember the old building was quite grand as we'd pass it in route to visit my Aunt's on Ave Q & 103rd, down past Manchester, and assumed that the building had been altered to the current cheap looking strip it is now.
  23. This is true of the Heights too. Once upon a time, the cool thing was to substitute the eight with an 8 in Heights, resulting in H8S. Never understood that one, as I initially read it as "hates". Likely others made the same mistake, as it seems to have fallen out of use in more recent years. Never heard the "Jail Route" slang. That's a new one to me.
  24. Oh you can't forget about the Montrose IHOP on Richmond, mkultra. Wobbled into that place many a time.
  25. Unfortunately, it doesn't look good for St. Joe's. My neighbor's son is in the process of clearing out all of the furniture in one of the buildings. Don't know the entirety of the situation, but the City was about to start citing the hospital due to the specific building being closed and basically abandoned. He has brought home several desks chairs, TVs, a refrigerator, etc. over the last week or so. From what my neighbor has told me, this is being done to clear the building out down to the bare walls in anticipation of unloading it altogether. Perhaps that's why the new Sheraton going in at the ol' Holiday/Heaven on Earth building is listed as 801 Calhoun, instead of St. Joe's Pkwy.???
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