Htowngirl

Correction, then: "I heard from a neighbor this weekend that the former MILAM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is indeed going to be a private school, and they are renovating most of the school right now, but will rent out the un-reonvated part of the building to HISD offices during the renovations."

I heard from a neighbor this weekend that it is indeed going to be a private school, and they are renovating most of the school right now, but will rent out the un-reonvated part of the building to HISD offices during the renovations.

A few months back, I posted that I had heard rumors from my neighbor that this school was being bought by a private school. As of the past couple weeks, the "For Sale" sign has come down, and the school is seemingly being remodeled. There were workers in there over the weekend, and new fences and (young kids) playground equipment is being installed. Does anyone know what school this may become? Private? Public?

Shade (mac & cheese)... probably my favorite restaurant in Houston Berryhill (chicken tacos on flour tortillas, queso) Chatter's (everything) Max's Wine Dive (bread pudding)

Anybody remember the "Gap Warehouse" at Pasadena Town Square Mall? They had "Gap Warehouse" brand clothes. It was kind of the pre-cursor to the Gap Outlet, and they had "Old Navy" clothes there too (before there was Old Navy)... I think that was more in the very early 90s though.

More info from Swamplot: "Neighbors in the Sixth Ward have noticed some activity at the shuttered Pig Stand on Washington at Sawyer: "It appears that the former owners of the Pigstand property have retained ownership, but that they have leased the property out to the Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc. Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc., is a new corporation, formed in April, by none other than Darren Van Delden, owner of The Drake. I am not sure if Darren or the Dallas property owners are doing the build-out, but it is in its very early stages. (The Pigstand only had an outdoor bathroom, so I expect some relatively expansive upgrades, at least to the interior).""

...except that we're ALL engineers... NASA ones at that!

We use Dos Mas (in Clear Lake) sometimes at work... we discovered that if we order food for about half or 2/3s of the number of people, it's usually about right. For 30 people, we ordered "for 20" and I think it's $8 or $9 pp including all the fixings. That's the cheapest I've ever seen. I've called a few places inside the loop, and most fajitas are $12+ per person. I have used La Tapatia on Richmond (their website is down right now, but their prices are online). When I called, for a group of 25, they recommended that I NOT get fajitas, and get appetizers instead... I did that, and it was like $120... fajitas would have been a lot more. The appetizers went over really well too. Hope that helps...

I've noticed recently that they've had various lights on inside the units... it looks like they have fridges, microwaves (you can see the glow of the green clocks on them at night), etc. Why are they sitting empty?

Mercury Room/Boaka Bar closed down like a year ago(?)... Has anything been done with the space? It is (was?) a gorgeous venue, it's a shame it's just sitting there. http://images.clubzone.com/company/images/1798/1.jpg http://images.clubzone.com/company/images/1798/2.jpg http://images.clubzone.com/company/images/1798/3.jpg

Well, obviously there in no Walgreens, or an upscale restaurant there... any updates? Is anything in the works?

My funny story about those apartments.... when my best friend moved to Houston in 2001, she was going to work downtown, and we looked at the Archstone and decided that it was a bad area of town for a single girl to be coming & going late at night/early AM. She ended up renting by the Galleria. 2003 - I moved (from Clear Lake) into the (AMLI) apartments across the street. 2005 - she moved into the (Siena) apartments across the street. 2007 - I bought a house less than a mile away.... I love how fast a "bad area" becomes up and coming in Houston!

I think you are referring to the Archstone Memorial Heights Apartments. My friend is a landscape architect and he told me that Archstone is planning to tear the current apartments down and build some higher-rent apartments on that site to get more for their money. His firm bid on the landscaping for the new apartments. Seems a little strange to me, since those apartments are not that old and look nice. Apparently, Archstone hasn't told it's residents anything about it.

Anything new on this? I really love this building, and with all the revitalization on Washington, it would be a prime time for this location... [saw a more recent inquiry on this building here, but thought I'd bump this topic.]

Both Target and Walmart have a pretty good selection of their furniture in their stores (ex. sometimes they'll have the nightstand and dresser in store, but you'll have to go online to buy the bed). Target is higher quality than Walmart, of course. Also, sometimes higher end furniture designers will design furniture for Target (Smith & Hawken, Thomas O'Brien, etc.) and it will be available for a fraction of the price of that designer's "real" line. I ordered a very nice entertainment center for $100 (in the clearance section) on a whim, and I was very pleased with it. I've also ordered 2 chairs that look nearly identical to my Crate & Barrel dining room set (no one notices the difference). I ordered almost all of the Smith & Hawken patio furniture earlier this year (after seeing a few pieces in the store) and am extremely satisfied with the quality [i have a huge patio]. *However* - what I was NOT satisfied with was Target's misleadingness (not a word, i know) of the having the Smith & Hawken furniture in stock. In MARCH, I went looking for the furniture at several local Targets (yes, I called first, and they claimed they had it in stock) - after visiting 4 stores, it was apparent that no store in Houston had any of it (even though they ALL had it out on the floor). So, I went online and using a 10% off coupon + my 5% cashback from Discover (basically paid for most of their overpriced shipping) - I ordered it. I ordered about 20 things (including the furniture covers). Some of it was "backordered" for 6-8 weeks, which was NOT apparent until after I paid for it. I recieved some furniture immediately, but in the end it took till the June to get all the pieces (about 10 weeks). I spent countless hours online and calling Target, UPS, etc. trying to straighten some things out. I order online from other sites all the time and have never had that many issues. So, I was pretty dissappointed overall, and am not sure I would ever order online from Target again. Anyways, good luck with your hunt... I actually thought about "you" when I was browsing the furniture selection at Marshall's in Clear Lake last week - they had some good stuff!

Ziggy's in Midtown is open now... they have advertisements for it at the other location. I hope the service is better at this one... Love the food, but the service has always lacked.

I'm not sure how tight your budget is, but I'm a big fan of Chic Warehouse in the Heights. It's good quality Pottery Barn/Crate & Barrel-style stuff, but lower prices. It's a small place, with only a few pieces to look at, but they have tons of catalogs and fabric samples to choose from and order. There's also Newport Furnishings, which is appointment-only (I've never been), but they are supposed to have good deals on the same kinds of furniture. If scratch & dent is ok, try Macy's Warehouse on 45. It's hit or miss, but you never know. Nearby, Finger Furniture has a HUGE warehouse basement full of scratch & dent furniture (although I did hear that it was moving to somewhere out 59... you might want to call first) - but while you're there, you can visit the old Colt 45's stadium at the Houston Sports Museum inside the store, which I *loved* when I was a kid! Target, or even Walmart. Target's furniture looks really nice, IMO. Also, some of the larger Marshall's / Marshall's megastores have lots of furniture (in particular the Megastore on West Gray). Hope that helps!

Grand Opening is August 17th. http://howlatthemoon.com/houston_tonight.html

Be careful of Jackson Hill... I LOVE the street, but there are parts of it pretty close to the bayou (in the flood zone)... might affect you or the resale potential. Those new Waterhill townhouses on Jackson Hill are in it.

I went there last night - it was AWESOME. Great service (and I'm all about good service), food, atmosphere, decor (they did a superb job renovating that building) - just what that area needed!! A perfect place for a pre-game/concert meal. I really really think this place has got what it takes to succeed - the prices are reasonable, there's a little bit of something for everyone (food wise and price wise), and the service is outstanding... Go now!!

Guess I'll have to look across the street next time I drive by there... Didn't know their HQ was there... interesting.

I was driving around the Heights this weekend (buying furniture at my new favorite furniture store, Chic Warehouse), and I saw this little wooden shack on a large corner lot on Yale (I think) that had "Pappasito's" painted on the street-facing side and some beer (?) logos painted on the side. I was just wondering what the story with this was? Was it an original Pappasito's building? I kinda doubted there was ever a Pappasito's in that location since it's the dry part of the Heights... where did it come from?

Article about the heads: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archi...3/01/2003100770

There's some more discussion about XO here.

Yeah, I was just going through ENVY mag and saw a review on the new XO Lounge on San Jacinto! Whoops. Here's their website. Thanks for the heads up. "Fans of fine cognacs, they named XO Bar & Lounge after the expression "Extra Old," a way of classifying the aged alcohol." Hmm. Well, it ain't new! I also heard some old Ozzy from the 70s or 80s while I was there...