marmer

Correct. That is the photo. Thanks for posting this, Simbha.

I thought it was earth, air, fire, and water. Or was it just Earth, Wind, and Fire?

That and Houston rock-n-roll history, maybe...

Not so much as you might think. I work with the Fringe in real life; I know he's a retired firefighter. I was teasing him.

I don't know that a civilian is gonna be able to tell just by looking that HFD has already "gone defensive!"

Well, 24-Z, I might be able to help you. I went there frequently in its later years. It closed down around 1984. I went there several times in late high school and college. They had several rooms, one of which had a black or dark blue velvet sky with tiny white light bulb stars. In the entrance there was a sort of Italian night-time courtyard scene sort of like something out of the spaghetti scene in _Lady and the Tramp_. I remember it having a motto inside the entry that said "Pepe Roni: our pizza chef!" Yes, it was on the east side of South Main and Holcombe, near the former Holiday Inn and across from the Shamrock Hilton. If you search this Historic Houston forum, you might be able to find some pictures. I don't remember the pizza being all that great, honestly. Kind of a thin, crispy thing which tasted a little like frozen pizza. I think we are remembering it so fondly because there weren't all that many pizza places back then, and the atmosphere was very interesting, especially to a small-town kid like me.

I haven't gotten mine yet, looking forward to it. Ben, do you have it, or do you just know what's going to be in it? MissJanel, you used to be able to buy single copies at Brazos Bookstore; call 'em and ask. On the other hand, individual memberships to RDA are not very expensive and are IMHO, very much worth it for the access to lectures, home tours, and Cite.

The Guide says that Mr. Kirby and his family lived on this site from 1897, but in 1925 they replaced their Victorian house with this "rambling, 36-room English manor house" designed by James Ruskin Bailey. It has apparently been used for offices since 1948. James Ruskin Bailey was busy in the 1920s. He also did the education wing of First Methodist Church, a bank building downtown, and additions to Eastwood (later Lantrip) Elementary School. Having said that, I agree with kylejack that Kristin may mean one of the buildings he posted near Spur 527 instead of the Kirby house, which is north of Spec's.

The Mackie & Kamrath Farnsworth building on Wayside which housed NASA in the pre-JSC days and now is home to the city's Parks & Recreation Department is being renovated. Just saw the article in Sunday's Chron. Chron article What's up with that? This is Houston, we're supposed to tear that old stuff down!

I don't want to post it here out of respect to Story's copyright, but there is a very good view of the Sunken Garden (and Cullinan's house Shadyside) from the roof of the Warwick in Story Sloane's book of Houston images from the 20's and 30's.

I've heard some things from some fairly well-placed and credible sources. I can't really say more than that, so trust me or not. 1. There is significant concern among the Rice faculty, not only about the financial impact, but also on the cultural impact. There would be a huge increase in faculty numbers. Dr. Vardi is one of the most outspoken, but many of his colleagues are very concerned. 2. Having said that, there is a strong feeling that Rice has little to no choice about going forward, for three reasons: a.) most if not all of the institutions that Rice considers as its peers have a medical school and the concern is that a generation or so down the road Rice will lose significant ground and become a second-or-third-rate institution without one. b.) the handwriting seems quite clearly on the wall that governmental and corporate scientific granting will become increasingly bioscience based, with strong emphasis on medical applications. c.) If Baylor Med fails it will be a big loss for the community. Rice doesn't want to be in the political position of being seen as the institution that _could_ have saved Baylor and didn't. There is a real concern that this will happen even if the merger falls apart for reasons that Rice can't really control.

This is exactly right, based on my recent experience with Chicago Pizza in the Heights. It was good, but it was a lot of bread, and not exactly life-changingly good pizza.

Um....no. Lasagna has lasagna noodles in it. That's where it gets the name. Just so we're clear.

The lesson I'm taking from this is that when grabbing images from photo-hosting sites such as flickr for the purposes of illustration, it's polite even if not always strictly required to give attribution. I have certainly been guilty of not doing this in the past. A lot. I appreciate the reminder and will try to do better. (except maybe in the international Guessing Game thread! )

The listing photos are beautiful! What a view with all those windows. So sad to hear it's neglected and probably a goner. Jason, I'm sorry to complain, but I called Brazos Bookstore for a copy of your Jenkins book last spring when it came out, and gave them my CC number (I was a little surprised they asked for it at that time.) Haven't heard a word from them for several months. Can you shed any light on that?

Maryland Manor used to be a dump, but a fairly cheap dump. Yes, lots of Rice students used to live there. It was extensively remodeled in the mid-90s, seems to be pretty nice now. I would not assume for a moment that those people who live there now, probably grad students, med students, and middle-income-ish retail and office workers, will be able to find 67 similar units in the area. I could be wrong, but I bet I'm not. But, hey, go ahead and tear down a perfectly decent, up-to-date, highly occupied apartment complex, and build something that might not get financing, might not find tenants, and almost no one in the area really wants. That's what property rights at all costs, with a side order of urban density, really means!

For the purposes of this discussion, it may not be a significant numerical difference, but I've gotta point out: Maryland Manor serves a lot of Rice students who walk, bicycle, or ride scooters to campus. I'd be willing to bet that every one of the likely residents of the Ashby high-rise will drive to and from work.

Oh, sheeats, you are such a tease!

I don't know if it's still there but HMNS used to have a Corliss steam engine that was used in the early days to generate power at Rice. Given that and the tall smokestack on the Power House, I can't imagine that they used anything but coal. Admittedly, the petition from President Lovett, quoted by sevfiv in post #2, speaks more to construction than to coal.

Yes, exactly. We (the orchestra) played Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien and the fireworks artist was in contact with the various "firing stations" by radio or more likely wired intercom. I don't remember if he had a cue person following the score, but I think he did. Anyway, in time with the music, he would call commands like "Venti due.......GO!" It was very cool. It was at a planning meeting for this event that Dancie Perugini Ware greeted my arrival by throwing a chocolate truffle at me, which hit my jacket with a very surprising "splat!" Sort of a chocolate paintball, I guess. She paid for my dry cleaning and sent a box of truffles to my office. Classy lady, classy firm.

I had a bag phone from Houston Cellular, too. It was a Christmas gift from my wife, probably '89, '90 or so. It was pretty expensive at the time. Don't remember what the minute charge was, either. Expensive enough that it was pretty much only for emergencies. Edit: I don't remember the Continental flyover, and I was there. But I had a thousand things to worry about with the orchestra, and that may have been earlier in the day.

Yes, let's not get this thread confused with the equally enjoyable "Back in the '60s when we had an actual culture..." thread. The first time I saw cell phones was at the opening of the GRB convention center in '86 or '87. There was a giant fireworks display created by some Italian fireworks artist and the Rice orchestra played live music for it. Several of the organizers and event staff were walking around with "bag phones" slung over their shoulder, having Very Important Conversations. These phones were about the size of a purse or large hardback book. I wonder what they were paying per minute? I bet it was something like a dollar or something.

I like the Mondrian shirt on the kid in the front row, next to the kid wearing Nantucket red pants. Another one: pretty much all the fun stuff to do was outside. You could go "roaming" or "exploring," even if you were a girl, and no one thought anything of it if you were home in time for dinner. Going to a ballgame or to the movies was a reasonably cheap entertainment choice.

Lake Jackson here. Born 1961. Yes to all of the above with a lot of fishing and motorcycle trail riding thrown in! This isn't maybe so much of a good thing, but many if not most adults smoked. The only real no smoking areas were gas stations and chemical plants. Little kids learned to watch out for cigarettes held down low.