With all of this discussion about inner Southwest Houston, and particularly Sharpstown Center mall, I find it surprising that nobody has mentioned the actual Sharpstown neighborhood. I just happen to live in Sharpstown, Section One, the original subdivision from 1955 and the very first component of the overall Sharpstown master plan to be constructed. This neighborhood served as a model for most of the future growth of the Houston area. Few today may realize this, but Sharpstown was the first master planned community in Houston, if not the nation. The amount of media attention the development received when ground first broke is almost astounding. National media and dignitaries from Washington all converged on the pasture that would become Sharpstown. Dedication ceremonies were covered in newspapers across the country, including several write-ups in the New York Times. Houston's fledgling TV stations all devoted their day's programming to the opening of the development. Developers had built large-scale suburban subdivisions before, most famously at the many Levittowns in the northeast, but nobody had ever attempted a master-planned community like Sharpstown, which included schools, churches, shopping, parks, country clubs, etc. This neighborhood is obviously much richer in history than anyone wants to admit. Beyond being the first (or one of the first, at least) master plan community, there are other details that add to its history. The land was originally owned by a famous wildcatter (whose name fails me) whom the movie "Giant" was based upon. Construction of the infrastructure was overseen by the firm that would eventually become Kellogg, Brown and Root, which has been in the news regarding Iraq recently. The original Mercury 7 astronauts were offered homes in Sharpstown, which led to a scandal. Speaking of scandals, one of the most famous scandals in Texas government was centered around Sharpstown State Bank. The list of significant events in the history of Sharpstown goes on and on. Ironically, Houston has largely turned its back on this incredible neighborhood. Staring down one of its streets takes you right back to the 1950s. The style, uniqueness and character of the homes is something you never see in production housing today. Beyond that, the construction standards by which these homes were built is also hard to come by today: wood floors throughout, fully tiled bathrooms and kitchens, solid framing. They're great houses, and I should know. It's too bad that the developers allowed this neighborhood to cannibalize itself by building enormous apartment complexes on the periphery that quickly became slums. The fact remains, though, that this is a wonderful, cute, unique neighborhood that I could go on and on for hours about, but this post has to end sometime, right?