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While browsing the The Bellaire Texan magazine dated April 3, 1957 I found a business ad for Whitehill Stables at 5418 Dashwood Dr. "One block off Chimney Rock Road Behind Chimney Rock Nursery" Recently under new management, Whitehill Stables & School of Riding (formally the Bellaire Stables.) Sandy Whitehall proprietor and instructor. J. Jones resident farrier. Horace Alley trainer & instructor.

Looking at The Bellaire Texan magazine dated July 8, 1964 and saw a few advertisements for Tidelands Marine Center located at 7414 Ashcroft St. / 6100 Bissonet St. I like the play on the famous TMC hotel Tidelands. Same family?

Went to Houston Baptist University today to visit the Lee and Grant exhibit. http://www.hbu.edu/hbu/About_HBU.asp?SnID=141925366 http://www.hbu.edu/hbu/MOSH_Lee_Grant_Exhibit.asp To be honest, I was not aware that this campus even existed until I looked up where the exhibit was located. I'm not from here originally. They would not let me take any photos of the exhibit. Pissed me off because this was the reason why I took my camera. So, afterwards I walked around this small campus and took some photos of the buildings. (the campus is located in the middle of the triangle created by the intersections of Beechnut, Fondren and I-59) Here they are: Adios

Per last week's Deal Sheet https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/deal-sheet/this-weeks-houston-deal-sheet-90506

JLW, that place was Celebration Station. I think it is still there, it is totally seperate from the old Malibu Grand Prix that is now a used car dealership.

Mid-Rise office building will be demolished for more apartments.

HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Houston real estate broker Bill Burge reports that the 7-acre Men’s Wearhouse distribution center and corporate office has been sold. The property was acquired by SER-Ninos Charter School, which will redevelop it into a high school. The 141,258-SF building, 5803 Glenmont Drive, is located in the Gulfton area, between Chimney Rock and Hillcroft Avenue and it’s on the south side of the Southwest Freeway. https://realtynewsreport.com/the-mens-wearhouse-warehouse-sol

New Gulfton bus service could become model for other Houston neighborhoods

$14M Gulfton apartment buyout to make way for flood project https://communityimpact.com/houston/bellaire-meyerland-west-university/environment/2021/03/11/14m-gulfton-apartment-buyout-to-make-way-for-flood-project/

I recall watching all the stars that showed up at the old Gaylynn Theather when they premiered "Urban Cowboy". I saw Andy Warhol, Charlie Daniels, and of course John Travolta drive up. I knew the ushers and we walked the place afterwards.....bumped into the unknown Debra Winger and then tripped all over the empty wine and champagne bottles in all 3 theaters. It was a big night for that old theater. Does anyone also remember the old Sinclair gas station at the corner of Southwest Freeway and Bellaire? We always got our gas there and also a case of Cokes (in glass returnable bottles in wooden crates). I also recall when the "Super Slide" was across the street from the Gilman Pontiac dealer.....you would slide down on burlap sacks...lots of fun. Lastly....does anyone recall the Food Giant that use to be in the mall (where Penny's ended up being located) and does anyone recall the old Eckards (??) drug store in the shopping center on Bellaire Blvd. near Burning Tree where there use to be a Dairy Queen and where there use to be a Rice grocery store in the early 70's? That old drug store use to have a drug counter where you could get a meal and ice cream, etc. It is amazing that a fountain dining counter was in as new a neighborhood as Sharpstown!

M.D. Anderson building satellite treatment facility April 19, 2007 & July 26, 2011 https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/M-D-Anderson-building-satellite-treatment-1593949.php

Ive always been curious about the developments on Bellaire blvd, and as much as I can see what they are now, im curious what kind of business's were there before. Specifically, the gessner and bellaire area, gessner area north of bellaire, etc. What kind of grocery store was in the Fiesta mart lot before Fiesta ? It looks like an old Krogers store from the 80's inside. When did Fiesta take over that space ? North of Bellaire, but south of Harwin, what kind of business's were in the strip shopping centers on the east and west sides ? Does anyone have any pictures of these areas in the 70's, 80's, etc ? Id love to hear others input, or stories, or photos about this area of Sharpstown, Bellaire. Cory

I went to look at a couple of houses in the sharpstown area...they were north of 59, north of fondren and west of the mall...I keep seeing postings like this is a dangerous area? It looked really nice...is there something I dont know about...and maybe its just the point of reference. I currently live off the intersection of Lawndale and Telephone. I classify this as a iffy area, not sharpstown. I am sure there are crappy apts over there, but I am talking about the nieghborhoods. I do notice houses are really cheap, so please enlighten me on whats going on over there.

METRO Considers Moving Transit Center From Bellaire to Gulfton http://realtynewsreport.com/2019/05/14/metro-considers-moving-transit-center-from-bellaire-to-gulfton/

Can't really spill the beans quite yet but something big is in the works at KPRC. I suspect you'll hear about it and see it in the paper sometime in 2015. Btw, they have hired a new morning weather guy out of Oregon. Should see him on the air in January. Wish I could disclose more but I can't. In due time...

During the 70's my parents bought our family annual swimming pool memberships at the Royal Coach Inn. This continued for years. We brought family and friends there to play Marco Polo or whatever. The signs posted there said "no cut-offs" due to filter clogging, lol. We entered through a specific back door to enter the pool area. We were informed by posted signs if a famous person was staying there and we were not allowed there to swim that day(s). Elvis, The Osmonds, and more stars stayed there in order to play/act at the Houston Arena Theatre (down the street). I would love it if someone out there had some pics of the Royal Coach Inn, especially the pool area. Is anybody out there (no Pink Floyd intended)? Any information would be great! Thanks, Jules

I lived in the Alora apartments, they were on El Camino Del Rey at Chimney Rock, between Westpark Tollway and Glenmont.

Is this what I am experiencing? Feels like seismic activity. What's up with that?

Looked at my 2002 Holiday Inn directory, doesn't mention it. It has the Holiday Inn Select (now Crowne Plaza) on 59, and the now-razed Holiday Inn on Interstate 10 (which I think replaced a smaller, motel-style HI near Memorial City) but not the one you mentioned. It hasn't been a Holiday Inn in a while, apparently.

I'm not sure if there is/was one there but I remember the one on Bellaire. I think it was called the Bellaire Skating Rink back in the 70's. I'm sure it's gone now.

There was just another shooting at the Sharpstown Mall. It raises the question: should the Sharpstown Mall be torn down? Lots of people think it should. But being an architect I can't help but dream big. In the vane of what I wrote in the "How Would you Change - West Loop/ Galleria/ Uptown" thread, here's my pipe dream for the Sharpstown Mall. 1: Shut down the Sharpstown Mall as we know it, and do a gut renovation along the lines of what they did at the Memorial City Mall. A cool gimmick could be to give it a retractable roof. 2: Demolish part of the property and turn it into a park. 3: Build a train that runs express from the Sharpstown Mall to the Galleria and Uptown. (In my dream it stops at that Uptown Transit Center I was talking about in my West Loop/ Galleria/ Uptown post). 4: Gut and re-skin the Jewelry Exchange building and turn it into first-class office space. 5: Build new high rise condos, luxury apartments, and offices in the air rights over part of the mall parking lot. Connect them to the mall and through there to the new Uptown train/BRT. Market them at prices between 75% and 85% of similar offices/apartments/condos in Uptown. I'm of the view that surrounding areas will come back if the Sharpstown Mall can be addressed. I would let those work themselves out. OK, I'll end my pipe dream here. Reality is that I guess the Sharpstown Mall should be torn down - but as an architect I am a dreamer.

anyone know what is going on in the sharpstown area? an abandoned car lot was demolshed and cleared. what do they have planned for that area. i hope they transform the area like they did gulfgate. peace out

Telwink says it all, "Nothing screams Hillcroft/Harwin like this 70's cube." Ask him to tell you about how he risked his life to get a photo of the building's top floor.

KHOU ran a bigl article today on the gang-wars that are gripping Gulfton. As an architect, Gulfton has always fascinated me. Gulfton abuts some of the most desirable parts of our metropolis - Uptown; Bellaire; West U - but it is referred to as the "Gulfton Ghetto." Crime rates are much higher than the norm. Poverty abounds. This post will be unlike my previous post about the Sharpstown Mall. That was more about architecture and design. This is more about urban policy and tactics that could be used to turn Gulfton around. First we need to understand why Gulfton is a ghetto. Common wisdom is that the reason is apartments. It's not that apartments are bad. It's not that renters are bad. The problem in Gulfton is that the apartments there are basically all wrong. - Gulfton's apartment complexes are too big. 200 units seems to be the limit for a good, older complex. Many of Gulfton's complexes have ten times that many. - There's not much diversity in Gulfton's real estate. There are no offices or employment centers in Gulfton. - Gulfton was developed very fast in the 1970s, infrastructure never caught up. - Gulfton was overbuilt with apartments in the 1970s, and has never recovered from the ensuing collapse of the 1980s. So what can we do now? 1: First we need to go apartment by apartment and make an honest evaluation of the properties. Complexes should be ranked based on crime rates, number of code violations, and anonymous tenant surveys. 2: The lowest ranked apartments (maybe 10% of the total units in Gulfton) should be demolished, and replaced with non-apartment development. (Retail, offices, schools, libraries, etc.) 3: The next lowest ranked apartments (the next 15%) should be gutted and renovated into new apartments. 4: HPD needs to swarm Gulfton while all of this is happening. While the worst 10% of apartments in Gulfton are demolished, the 10% of Gulfton residents that are serious criminals should be rounded up and jailed. There is money to do this - but it needs to be re-directed from other functions. The City of Houston actively works with developers and State and Federal funding sources to improve apartments. Those efforts could be concentrated in Gulfton. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs sits on huge coffers of money. If they stopped building new apartments in Houston, and started using funds to repair apartments it would go a very long way in Gulfton. I've started to believe that Gulfton will be a measure of Houston's next mayor. If his or her urban and police policies are good - Gulfton will turn. If they are a failure, Gulfton will continue to languish. These are only one architect's ideas of how to fix the "Gulfton Ghetto."