mm mm good

I disagree, any funds committed to rehabbing/remodeling the A'dome to transform into a hotel/convention center would be a bust. The space is more valuable for parking than anything else. I know, it's a landmark, eighth wonder of the world, etc. Truth of the matter is, H-town's identity crisis couldn't have been overcome unless we had an NFL team again, and Reliant Stadium was born. After all, was Bud Adams really being such a jerkoff when he said a new stadium was necessary? Knock down the 'Dome. White elephant.

I do, that was a fun place. After it closed someone wanted to re-open it under the name Charley Ragg's but it never happened. I think the concept could be done again and be successful if someone savvy enough were to make the right decisions. Everything old is new again these days.

Cool, thanks. Perhaps the site would be viable for a parking garage or something, don't really know. Overall the "revitialization" of downtown to me seems like a mixed bag, Minute Maid park and Toyota Center were good ideas but the high-rise lofts and other residential projects seems like a bad idea. With some of the units selling for mid-$150K+ for openers, I think the prices are too high for a young urban type who'd actually want a downtown pad, and an older professional who works downtown who could afford one probably wouldn't want to live downtown - prefering a single-family house in the 'burbs instead. In the 24+ years I've lived in H-town the downtown area to me seemed the least desirable place to consider living. Even with the night life infusion and other revitialization efforts in place, the county jail is still there and degenerates continue to roam the streets. The situation might improve in the future; but aside from being within walking distance to Minute Maid, Toyota Center and other popular night-life spots I don't see any other upsides. That's just my $0.02. Some of you architect types or real estate pros might disagree with me, because there's things I don't understand about those respective businesses that apparently this makes good business sense to bankers/investors.

The old Savoy should probably be razed, I don't see the feasibility in making condos out of it. The location is poor for balcony views, the renovation and improvement costs would be difficult to recoup, and overall it's economic value as a residential or short-term lodging has expired. I just noticed the last posting date. Don't know if anything's been done to it since.

Furr's - gone. The last one in H-town was on I-45 past Aldine High on the right as you head north. The AYCE buffet was good eats for the money, but I'd never get a second helping anyway. Furr's still has one open location in Corpus Christi and several (AFAIK) in the DFW area too. There used to be a chain of places called Sweden House when I was little, that offered "smorgasbord" style dining - basically cafeteria-style service specializing in (gag) Swedish food. They were kind of a flash-in-the-pan concept in WI and IL, of course cafeteria-style dining didn't seem too popular up north anyway. By the mid-70s they faded out completely. Steak houses like Ponderosa did okay up north (I have an uncle who managed them for many years). Ponderosa's were like the Bonanza chain down here, like Golden Corral is today. Who remembers York Steak House? I worked at one briefly in Gunspoint when I was in high school, steaks were okay but it sucked to work there. They closed about a year or so after I quit. Houlihan's in Gunspoint was a cool place, I miss it. Across from Houlihan's was a place called Dalt's, which was a TGIFriday's copied concept actually started up by a couple of TGIFriday's managers who worked at the Gunspoint store. Had they chosen a location in another part of Houston it might have survived longer than it did. El Chico's in H-town - gone. The Huntsville location is still open, but they've pulled out of Houston entirely. I worked at the Gunspoint location before the chain pulled out. The Cuellar family who founded it bought it back from a company called Campbell-Taggart who originally bought it from them. C-T produced a line of frozen enchilada dinners with the same EC name, and eventually began pushing the same exact thing in the restaurants. When people found out they were paying $6 at the restaurant for the same enchilada dinner they could have bought at the grocery store for $1.98, they lost money big time. C-T couldn't recover, the Cuellar's bought back the restaurant chain for half as much as they sold it to C-T and tried to rescue it. They would have succeeded, had it not been for getting sued by the family of a deceased victim of an underage drunk driver, who left the Northwest mall location intoxicated. Picadilly Cafeterias are becoming rare. There's one still open on West Bellfort between South Gessner and Fondren, and I won't be back. Went to the Picadilly at Northline in the mid-90s, one of the better-run locations I'd ever been to, the one in Gunspoint was always good and I used to be a regular there. Don't know if it's open any longer. The only Alfie's Fish & Chips still in existence near Houston is in Texas City, that I found in a Yahoo search. The last one I had been to was on Crosstimbers across from Northline in the late '80s, which I'm certain has long since been closed.

First time to post here. I don't see any upside to preserving Greenspoint Mall, the stigma won't go away - not to mention the saturation of other malls within close proximity like Deerbrook, Willowbrook and Woodlands malls. I lived in the area for several years, worked at several shops in the mall, and had seen the decay advance over the years. The place needs to be razed, along with about half of the low-rent apartments in the area. The city should visit the idea zoning it for additional office/warehouse/commercial properties in its stead.