silverartfox

I think I remember seeing 1930's - 40's photos or movie clips of their carhops. They wore white satin shorts, tall majorette hats and white majorette boots with tassels.

Local history buffs will correct this if I'm wrong.

I grew up in Houston in the 1940's-50's and quite a few architecturally significant old mansions were still standing at that time. Some were in good shape, others less so, but the movers and shakers of this city weren't interested in preserving its past history. Unfortunately for Houston, most varieties of historic preservation still seems to be part of an elitist mindset.

Thanks -- a great photo that really brings back memories. I lived a couple of blocks away from Jackson and spent grades 7, 8 and 9 there with Mrs. Dorrill as my homeroom teacher. After school and on weekends, a bunch of my neighborhood pals and I would ride our bicycles to the school for the sheer joy of zooming in and out of the front entrance arches and then down the steps, all the way to the street. Those old Schwinns with coaster brakes and big tires were really sturdy!

Looks like EpiCenter might actually happen on the old AstroWorld plot: http://www.bizjourna...urface-for.html

It would be great to actually read the article you referenced but I am not a subscriber to the publication!

There's a really good book available:

Working Windows: A Guide to the Repair and Restoration of Wood Windows by Terry Meany.

The Old House Web Forum online has some lively and informative discussions about preserving old windows vs. replacing them with new ones. It's a website worth visiting for anyone who owns a home that's mid-century or older.

Plus 1 for one cash, brother. Christ, people act like I'm a drug dealer to use a $100 bill in a transaction.

Plus 2 for cash -- it's way easier than keeping up with a bunch of grocery receipts to compare with the monthly statement. I try to stick with smaller bills -- hate it when the cashier holds my $100 bill up to the light to check for a watermark.

People whined about how the overpass would kill the area, the all under will do the same thing, but just more expensively.

Looks like you've been keeping up with developments on this issue from the beginning.

Could you please cite some examples to back up your statement?

I was in Disco Kroger today and the new checkouts are nice. However, the loud, automated voice constantly announcing the open register numbers quickly grates on one's nerves.

I don't like self checkouts either and refuse to use them.

The BigBox home improvement stores should get rid of theirs too and put in a couple of staffed express checkouts. It's infuriating for the customer who is buying a couple of items to wait while two guys ahead of him have flatbeds loaded with sheetrock, odd-sized lumber and assorted building materials without barcodes.

As I recall, the LC Cafeteria was accessed by escalator or stairs leading down from the street level. Your estimate of the 800 block of Main (west side of the street) seems to be about right. It was in the basement of an office building that was either new or remodeled post-WWII.

The LC Cafeteria may have been discussed in a previous topic on this forum.

Looking for info or location of the old Dickinson Gun Plant site. Near there is or was the Galena Park,Cemetery? West of Clinton Dr, north of the Houston Ship Channel, about 200 yards from the old Dickinson Gun Plant site. The cemetery is surrounded by a 4 foot cement wall?

Could this location be reach?

Thanks for any info.

I think you're referring to the Dickson Gun Plant. Have you checked the Handbook of Texas as to its location, etc.?

I've always heard that a number of "temporary" buildings were hurriedly installed on the UH campus in the late 1940's-early 1950's to accommodate the huge increase of students who were attending college on the GI Bill. Some of the buildings were barracks-like wooden shacks that stayed in use for decades -- I remember attending art classes in one of them. Another one behind the Art Shack was used as a coffee shop.

Editor,

My bad -- I thought I started this thread in the "East End" section but apparently not! Please,could it be moved there?

Thank you.

There's a "For Sale" sign on Macy's warehouse property on Lockwood -- just saw it for the first time as I drove past this evening.

I recall the Weingartens at Lawndale, Gulfgate, and Southmore (in Pasadena). They were very large supermarkets. Minimax and Lewis & Coker were in the neighborhood I grew up in. I don't recall noticing Krogers until the late '60s, around Telephone & Bellfort. They were probably around earlier, but just not where I lived. A&P's were present, as well, the tiled entry (maybe yellow &/ or green) stores on Telephone and Gulf Freeway (@Monroe) come to mind. I always got the impression they were old stores.

The reason you didn't notice Kroger's is because they probably hadn't yet arrived in Houston. Kroger acquired all the old Henke & Pillot stores and re-branded them.

I believe the Gulfgate Weingartens was there from the beginning - mid '50s? Seems there were others, on Telephone & either on Broadway or Harrisburg, well before that.

There was one on the corner of Harrisburg and Dumble as far back as the 1940's. Its original Art Deco brick building has been restored and is now home to an auto supply store, laundromat, etc.

Silver, I hope you don't like anchovies....

As a matter of fact, I've always liked anchovies. Why do you ask?

In the late '50's, Valian's was the place to go after a UH home football game. Pizza was somewhat of a novelty in Houston at the time. The good ol' country boy I was dating back then used to order our pizza with "everything" on it. He hated anchovies, though, and would always pick them off and put them on my plate.

Didn't it used to be a Boy Scouts headquarters?

I believe it was the Red Cross headquarters years ago - remember attending a meeting there when I taught in Houston ISD. At that time, most of the original interior features were gone or covered up in a mid-century modernization attempt, but I remember seeing part of a bathroom wall with some fantastic tiles.

My mother lived in Houston during the early years of the last century and recounted that, when the Kirby mansion was newly built, it had a natatorium where nude swimming parties took place.

Since when was there a CVS at Harrisburg and Lockwood? I had to do a double-take when I spotted it.

It's been open for three months or thereabouts. The one next to that awful Kroger on Polk is now closed. All of us in who live in the area are hoping that a new, really good grocery store will be built on that vacant parcel adjacent to the new CVS.

I have rediscovered Twinkies, after 15 years of not partaking. I was at the grocery store, stumbled across them and thought: Hey! I remember these!

I have one Twinkie, with my coffee, every morning now. Not a healthy snack - but yummy.

If they came in a 2-pack there's always someone else around who will eat the other one before you give in to temptation.

BTW, I've heard they sell Deep Fried Twinkies at fairs, rodeos, etc.!

The apples at Caninos have sucked the past 2 weeks. What the hell.

This year's U.S. apple crop is just beginning to come on the market. Everything else has been in storage for months, is imported from the Southern Hemisphere, or both.

There are a lot of different varieties of apples, many of which we don't see in this part of the country. Some are good for eating out of hand, some are best for cooking, etc. To me, the ubiquitous "Red Delicious" just ain't what the name implies!

I nibble on tofu puffs that I pick up from Asia Market. Of course they are bland by themselves so I top them off with soy, sriracha or assorted other sauces. Other than that I often snack on nuts or olives. I think they are pretty healthy, plus I really love them.

Delicious! However, most of those have a very high sodium content. Combined with the sodium hidden in the other foods you eat, it's possible that you're consuming way more than is healthy.

Some years ago the Houston zoo had an interesting hippopotamus exhibit with a large pool and several regular size hippos, not the pygmy ones. Wonder why they got rid of it?

The exhibit opening is at the space125gallery on the evening of June 3. It's located in the Center for the Arts Building on Allen Parkway.

Yes, I saw that blog, too. Thank goodness I didn't have to read any academic publications, theses or dissertations by the person who wrote it!

3201 Allen Parkway is the reimagining of the former Star Engraving Company Building into a modern retail, creative office and restaurant project in the heart of Inner Loop Houston.

Formally home to the Houston Children’s Museum, the Anza Falco Museum of Art and Design, and the Stages Theatre.

The redevelopment was designed by Perkins + Will.  The landscape architect is SWA Group, and Perrin Projects handled the interior design.

I just received a gallery invitation to view the architect's drawings for this new Houston museum. It's slated to open in 2010, first in some sort of temporary building and later in a permanent structure.

This is the first I've heard about it. There's virtually nothing on the internet as to location or funding and very little about its purpose.

Information, anyone?