Jump to content

Flashman

Full Member
  • Posts

    111
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Flashman

  1. A youngster working for my wife asked if she had been to that cool club on Westheimer called "Hashtag 2"
  2. they are geckos. small non-native lizards
  3. Saw Steve Forbert there in what must have been 1980. I thought it was a great venue.
  4. No, it is showing that 8 of the 16 have reached the threshold. Wishing don't make it so: http://swamplot.com/8-out-of-16-houston-historic-districts-are-now-up-for-reconsideration/2010-11-18/
  5. I remember many years ago (I would guess 1983 or 1984) a woman killed herself by jumping off the West Loop onto I-10 outbound lanes at about 4:00 PM. I was trying to get home, and was not at all happy. I figured she impacted more people's lives that one day than she ever had in her entire life. Not in a good way.
  6. So, do you think they will make it? I think back to when Hugo's opened, and you couldn't get a table for love or money. I guess time will tell.
  7. We tried it Saturday. Not a dissimilar experience, except there were no buxom blonds in attendance: Eating at Ocean There is a new restaurant just down the street from us called Ocean's. It just opened this past week. We generally try to avoid restaurants in the first couple of weeks of operation, but it was close (walking distance) promised some interesting food (Mexican Ceviche) and had margaritas. So we wandered over about 5:30 on Saturday afternoon. Sure, that is very early for dinner, but we had our lunch/brunch of Trouta's waffles early (about 11:00) so we were both getting a little peckish. As we walked in, they were just setting up the patio. We were greeted by Randy, the Maitre'd, and said we could sit anywhere. He told us that they just had their ceviches and some tacos and tostadas, and the the whole menu would be coming out in a couple of weeks. We settle back, got some cold water, ordered a couple of house margaritas, and looked at the menu. There were about six different ceviches on the menu, a couple of salads, maybe four tostadas and about six tacos. (I did not have my camera, so I have no photos. I am sure that their website will soon have the menu and food pics online soon.) The margaritas came, and I was surprised by the neon yellow color. We tasted them, and I thought they were very good. Doreen thought them a bit tart, but that is not bad. They are colored by the real lime juice, real orange just, and agave nectar used. The house pour was Jose Cuervo silver, which was fine by us. We must have liked them, as we had five between us. We settle on two ceviches (Ocean's Cechive, and the second one on the menu. I can't remember its name. Must be the margaritas). They were using flounder as the fish, and both ceviches were great. The eponymous ceviche was nice, crisp and simple. Good quality fish, lime, peppers, and onions. The second one used a chipotle reduction as well as the citrus juice. I liked that one better. We ordered the Maximiliano Taco (Lobster) and the Ocean's Special (grilled shrimp) tostada. Both were served "open face" with the difference being that the taco was on a crispy tortilla, and the tostada on a soft one. Both the lobster and the shrimp were excellent. Neither were overcooked, and the remoulade like sauce. These came with french fries (somewhat incongruously.) (The fries were OK.) Finally, we had a Tres Leches cake for dessert. Too much icing for me, but it was a nice finish. I hope they make it, as it is nice to have another place around the corner for an interesting meal. They are also planning on hitting the Montrose Sunday Brunch market. With La Strata gone, and such a nice, big patio, I think they have a chance. Oh, and the menu is much more limited than Yelapa. But they said that they will be moving to their full menu "soon"
  8. The rumor was not such a good rumor, I will admit. Plus, it was not clearly enunciated above. Kroger wanted to rent the space, and the new owners wanted HEB to let go of the lease for that reason. They didn't. Of course, maybe it isn't renting because nobody wants it.
  9. RE: SW Corner of Montrose & Westheimer: I understand that there is a long term lease on that property held by HEB. They are letting it sit idle to stick it to Kroger. The new owners want to do something there but their hands are tied. Not sure if I believe it myself (Mr Butt seems to be a good citizen) but that is the rumor.
  10. I think you are forgetting about Boobie Rock and all the other SOBs. Then Elanor put in the SOB law, and all the intersections sprouted "No Turn" signs and all that traffic went away. How many of you have EVER had to wait for more than 1 light cycle at the Montrose/Westheimer intersection? More than 2? I can't even think of the last time I waited through 2 unless some goober head was texting and not watching the lights.
  11. I guess it all depends on whose ox is being gored. I walk, drive, and bike that intersection with great regularity and find it easy to navigate. (compare Kirby and Richmond, or Kirby and Alabama) We need more density inside the loop. If the price we pay is a little more traffic, so be it. You can't have your cake and eat it, too. If you want to live in the "inner city" you can't expect it to feel like Sugar Land or The Woodlands. I have a friend who lives in Afton Oaks and brags about being an inner looper, and how cool it is to be able to be so close to everything downtown. But he bitches and bitches about the light rail - just the thing that would enable him to take advantage of the things downtown he likes - but without a car. The intersection of Montrose and Westheimer is an embarrassment. That should be a vibrant, throbbing, active, hot, and happening place. And what is it? A smoothie king, a gas station, a buffet restaurant and an empty lot. For goodness sake! Think about the city for a minute or two. But if your little problem getting across that intersection is more important than making Houston a more livable city, well I guess that is just the way you roll.
  12. I have lived about 4 blocks from that intersection for the past nine years. I don't find it particularly busy - even at rush hour. I would like to see higher density in the 'trose. A little extra traffic is a small price to pay for the services the extra people will demand.
  13. So THAT Is what happened! It happend about the same time as the step-down transformer got hit over in Midtown. We live just down the street from 3400 Montrose (The skybar building) and were wondering what exactly happened. Thanks for the update. However, from what I understand, with the amont of asbestos in that building there was no danger of fire...
  14. Probably funny the first time this happend (in the 60's!) But when you consider that the city has to shut the fountain down, clean it out, and take a city employee at least a full day to make it happen, are you really proud of yoruself for doing this? How, exactly, is this different than throwing garbage out the window that someone else has to clean up. Grow up, for goodness sake.
  15. I bought my first house in Houston in 1982. Things were still going pretty well - so well in fact that I had to buy a negative amortization loan with increasing interest rates. (Who said that all these creative mortgages are new?) It was in Concord Bridge - the SW corner of Eldridge and Little York. I think we paid about $69k for a Gemcraft home, and the interest rates went from 11% to maybe 13% (I cannot recall exactly) and the equity amount increased for the first four years. In other words, we weren't even paying all the interest we owed! By the fourth year the house was worth much less than we paid for it, and the interest rate was 13%! About 1/3 of the houses in the neighborhood were abandoned. All the surviving neighbors got together to mow the lawns of the empty houses. It was a stinking mess. I bought a house in The Heights (420 West 23rd - you can look it up) for $112,000 in 1988. (the house is now appraised for $402k. Not really such a big deal - that is only about 6.5% annual increases). We rented out the Concord Bridge house (on Lyndonville) for what we were paying on the mortgage. We finally sold it in 1990 for what we owed. I felt extremely lucky to get that much. I keep telling people that we have seen this movie before. I just hope it has the same ending.
  16. Let me make sure I understand your question: You are asking which company to APPLY to? Or have you received offers from these four companies and want to know which offer to accept? If it is the first, I would recommend all of them (and every other one you can imagine) If it is the latter, you are a very lucky man. I worked for Exxon right out of school (many years ago) and would agree with the assessments above. They are a great company. But so are Devon and Shell. Th CEO of El Paso is a great guy, and those things tend to flow downward.
  17. I talked with one of the real estate people representing the group. It is dead. I am not sure what they have to do to pull the listings from HAR, but I would bet that is not top of their list.
  18. It seems like The Riparian high rise condos on Montrose is now a dead deal. I don't know much more than that, but I trust that is enough.
  19. I have lived in Houston for 19 of the past 24 years. The last 4 have been in The Montrose, the previous 10 in The Heights, and before that outside the loop. The Montrose has much more of an urban feel to it than The Heights. (The Small Town inside the Big City, one of the old slogans for The Heights, is not far off.) We can walk to many shops and restaurants now, but in The Heights that was very difficult. Crime exists in both places, I was broken into twice in The Heights, my wife (not my wife at the time) was living on Bayland and was broken into four times
×
×
  • Create New...