thedistrict84

It does seem like this is something that can be put together very quickly, given the limited construction needed and the inherent small scale of a par 3 course. 

I guess I need to hit the range, since I haven't swung a club in over a year. . . 

44 minutes ago, ljchou said:

Saw the doors open today (garage style doors leading to patio along Navigation) and bar is already fully built out. I wouldn't be surprised to see this open soon.

This is great news, another new bar within a reasonable walking distance from me. Although, given that this is in Second Ward, I really think they need to shuffle the names around and call this one "El Segundo" instead. 

24 minutes ago, staresatmaps said:

Groundbreaking for "Trebly Park" because it is on block 333 and has 3 corners due to the terrible parking lot. Estimated completion of March 2022. Will include Tout Suite cafe.

That is good news I guess, I was wondering where they were going to relocate.

38 minutes ago, BeerNut said:

Think someone should tell them....haha

With an attitude like that, it is probably safe to say that Jan Simpson isn't on HAIF, eh?

New updates on Southern Yankee Brew Pub, including some insight on the planned renovations.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMP80wzAo04/?igshid=3r94krl6hxzu

On 3/9/2021 at 9:29 AM, Response said:

I can't wait to see how this building will interact with the downtown skyline behind it. I realize that this building is about half a mile away from the west side of downtown, but it is still close enough that at some angles it might work to expand the downtown skyline somewhat. 

I would love to see that last photo at a wider view. Where was it taken from?

Thank you for posting.

Not the one who posted the photo, but the angle and distance looks like it was taken from The Sovereign.

6 hours ago, HouTXRanger said:

Also, wouldn't mind something like this if it included a little GFR . . . as it is this is probably going to detract from the community unfortunately.

Does it count as GFR if the office sells tape, boxes, and other packing supplies?

3 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:

The Crossfit gym on the same block will likely provide a better wake up call than the trains. 

I walk close by that place on Harrisburg occasionally, and they play the music there way too loud. I guess they want the music to drown out all of the grunting and weight dropping. 

This is great news, places like How to Survive, Giant Leap, Equal Parts Brewing, etc. will have a steady stream of fresh customers staying just a block or two away.

On 2/19/2021 at 1:36 AM, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

The guy who had the Yugo parts place was Jay, he started out on Jones Rd near 1960, then moved to Eldridge Road somewhere north of 1960. I had the misfortune of meeting him the day after Clinton bombed the Zastava factory. I'm like, dude, i just need a hood for my Spider, I don't need the long rant... lol

Sounds just like Jay. He’s a nice guy, but conversations with him usually go off on some unusual tangents.

Drove by here a day or two ago and noticed that they were adding an internal staircase to the roof to what I assume will be a rooftop terrace. Not sure if this will be for Night Shift or the other entity, but it will have a great view of downtown.

13 minutes ago, mkultra25 said:

That's got to be a rarity. Can't imagine too many of them survived in decent shape given their target market of people wanting a new car at a used-car price. 

To be fair, when I say "all original" I just mean it has been kept stock (aside from FIAT X1/9 wheels added to it by the previous owner). I've had to replace quite a few things over the five years I've owned it, but I finally have it to a state that I would characterize as "well-sorted." 

I've only seen three others in Houston, ever. One I spotted in a salvage yard off of Mykawa back in 2000-2001, a GVX (the "performance" model) that blew past me doing 80 on I-10 east at Lockwood circa 2005, and one still in the possession of the owner of a certain engine and transmission repair place in the East End with a catchy jingle and slogan.  

Been catching up on the Historic Houston posts the last few days when I was lucky enough to still have power, and thought of a few questions for everyone here:

• Does anyone remember Pearson Chevrolet in Alvin? I didn't see it mentioned in this thread. I remember going there as a kid in the late 1980s, when my dad was a salesperson there. I think it was at Highway 6 and Business 35, current location of a Ron Carter facility. I seem to recall the franchise being purchased by Ron Carter sometime in the 1990s, with the Chevrolet dealership subsequently relocated to the then-new Ron Carter Autoland (or whatever it is/was called) at FM 528 at Highway 35. My grandfather bought a brand new 1968 Camaro there, which currently resides in my garage (with the original dealer emblem still intact on the trunk lid).

• Anybody happen to recall which individual dealerships sold Yugos in Houston? From what I've learned, there were virtually no standalone dealerships, as the vast majority of franchises were purchased by existing dealers (typically GM) to be sold through their existing lots, probably in part as a way to get people in the door given the absurdly cheap price of the cars. The other bay of my garage is occupied by an all original 1987 Yugo GV, but it came from Ohio (and is somehow rust free!). If there was a Houston Yugo dealer out there, I'd love to possibly track down some memorabilia from it. 

• On a related note, I do know the Yugo parts guy who decamped to San Angelo some time ago used to have a facility off of Shepherd (he's still selling parts, mostly NOS OEM stuff he bought from the dealers when they folded back in the early 1990s). Curious where that might have been.

Thanks in advance!

Article on CultureMap from a few days ago:

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/city-life/02-09-21-stop-big-tex-storage-heights-petition-houston-city-council/

I love the phrase “ugly bunker design” used in the article, as if that was the actual style the architect was going for.

1 hour ago, skooljunkie said:

Surely people are starting to buy BM buckets and secretly live in these. There are just so many. 

Agreed, this is getting ridiculous.

People of Houston: stop hoarding so much crap and just get rid of it!

1 minute ago, HOUCAJUN said:

Is it just me but when did the MMP Mixed Use development turn into the freeway cap thread? Asking for a friend.

We went off on a bit of a tangent when we started talking about other bars to go to near MMP and how accessible they are, now that everyone's favorite MMP-adjacent sports bar Home Plate has been unceremoniously demoed.

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

Abbreviated exit ramp?  Do you mean the one that exits the main lanes of I-69 just after St Jospeh Parkway and dumps northbound traffic on to St Emmanuel just past Polk (almost 2000' in length)?http://ih45northandmore.com/docs13/02_NHHIP_Seg3_I-45_RollPlot_PH_2-3.pdf Then they'll have stop lights at Dallas and every 320' thereafter all the way through EADO.  And once you get to Lamar, there's the park on the west side of the street (Sorry, H-Town Man; not a Big If. That cap park is happening.) Sorry, I don't see a problem there.  It's actually quite similar to freeway traffic being "dumped" onto CBD streets at points all around downtown; In all such cases, traffic is immediately calmed by, among other things, traffic signals every 320'.  

As I said earlier, check back in 10 years or so; we'll see who was borderline delusional.

It has been awhile since I had looked at the plans, and I will admit that that exit ramp is a bit longer than I recall it being. Hopefully they have a significant drop in the speed limit soon after exiting so traffic slows substantially prior to the intersection. Still, knowing how most Houston drivers approach freeway offramps of this type, I can predict with virtual certainty that people will routinely be going through that first intersection at 40+ MPH to beat the light (like they do at the Polk exit now).

The consensus has been that the cap itself is definitely happening as the TXDoT budget and engineering necessarily requires it. Development of that cap into anything that is not a barren patch of concrete is still a question mark, and far from the certainty you seem to suggest, especially in this COVID and slumping O&G climate. Further, from my understanding, construction on top of the cap will be very limited to park infrastructure, so there are several blocks that will be lost to future development if the park does not happen.

But, in what I think fits the true definition of ironic, the map you shared in part to show the plans for the cap actually seems to label the cap area as "HIGHWAY CAP/POTENTIAL OPEN SPACE." I didn't even realize that having it open was still a possibility, and if that is indeed the case it will absolutely, unquestionably kill the area. 

4 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Traffic Lights/Stop Signs every 325' go a long way to calm traffic, even cars that were recently on a freeway. In spite of it being a "de facto feeder road", St Emanuel will not be much like a standard feeder road.

As someone who lives in central Houston, takes the train into the neighborhood many times a year, spends a lot of time at the bars and restaurants around here and MMP, and is very familiar with the plans, I am very excited about the plans to boost this part of town into one of the most attractive, exciting, interesting and walkable areas of Houston.  :-)

If you are familiar with the plans, then you will recall that there is an abbreviated exit ramp which dumps eastbound freeway traffic onto St. Emanuel right at East Village, which is very much the heart of the most walkable segment of this area. It is borderline delusional to think that that arrangement will not have a negative impact on walkability and detrimentally affect businesses in the immediate area (if they even manage to survive the several years that construction will take).

18 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

Because the cap development is going to happen and traffic calming measures can indeed meaningfully improve the situation.  We shall see, won't we?  I think in a minimum 10 years' time, you'll be shocked.

I admire your optimism, and the faith you have in Houston drivers not driving too fast or recklessly for once, especially immediately after exiting a freeway. At a minimum, the walkability of St. Emanuel will be negatively impacted.

As someone who lives less than a mile from MMP, walks to 20+ games a year, and spends a lot of time at the bars and restaurants around here and MMP (pre-COVID at least), I am very worried that this is not going to work out well, and kill all of the effort that the City and local business owners have put into making this a relatively appealing and enjoyable part of town.

31 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

The good news is, no matter what they build on this site, the bars near BBVA Stadium are very accessible to Astros fans.  And will be even more pleasantly accessible when the freeways are moved below grade and capped.  Very exciting times ahead for this part of town.

I'm curious as to how you figure moving the freeways from elevated to tunneled and capped will make these bars "even more pleasantly accessible." You will still have the same basic issues. A fully developed greenspace/park on top of the cap would be welcome, but any development of the cap is not part of the TXDoT/federal funding, as only the basic concrete cap itself is included. I'm not sure about you, but I am a bit uneasy about relying on foundations and major corporations to put up the money to develop it, given the current economic climate. 

And if you think removing the de facto feeder road that is present day Chartres will be a benefit, think again: under the realignment, St. Emanuel will be the new de facto feeder road for essentially double the freeway capacity. Aside from knocking out bars to the west of St. Emanuel (including Little Woodrow's, Neil's Bahr, and True Anomaly), the ones that do remain on the other side of St. Emanuel will now front what is essentially a feeder road. All the traffic calming in the world isn't going to meaningfully improve the situation. 

As a resident of the immediate area for the last seven years, I--and I am sure many others--do not share your enthusiasm.  

I walked my dog past the Cidercade last night around 8, it seemed to be pretty busy for a Tuesday night. Great to have something like this drawing people to the area. 

6 minutes ago, tigereye said:

Why? They already have lots extending to BBVA, plus added lots where they demolished Star of Hope and the halfway house behind CF. This is such a prime lot next to home plate, bridging the gap between the ballpark and ADLA/Discovery Green. 
 

And their interest in a mixed use development for this particular site has already been reported. I just can’t envision them doing all this work and negatively impacting the the pre/post game experience by paving over the only bars they have located next to the ballpark.

I'm pretty sure he is being sarcastic, although knocking down historic buildings on a prime lot and paving it over would be peak Houston.  

On 2/7/2021 at 4:24 PM, zaphod said:

This is kind of random of and off topic, but how did Houston end up with a really obscure 2nd Main Street (W. Main). It's obviously in the footprint of the original city so it must be substantially old and the name must have a purpose.

I always just assumed that it branched off of Main St. and headed west to connect the "suburbs" of Montrose, Hyde Park, Boulevard Oaks, etc. to downtown. As the area developed over time, Richmond and W. Alabama incidentally became major arteries instead of W. Main. 

31 minutes ago, nate4l1f3 said:

It’s goin doooown

I'm torn about this.

On the one hand, these were attractive, historic structures which paired well with the brick and overall appearance of MMP.

On the other hand, Home Plate Bar & Grill (and the other bar whose name I don't even care enough to recall) were very, very gross, and the remediation and sanitization required would have meant stripping it down to the frame and studs anyway.  

I just hope that whatever they have in mind is a good fit and still echoes the overall motif of MMP.