ssullivan

Yes, the improvements to Hermann Park are great. I love riding MetroRail over there on Saturday afternoons to have lunch by the lake and walk around. It's a beautiful part of the city and unfortunately I think a lot of people either don't know what's there or don't make the effort to drive into town to use it. It's certainly a lot nicer than any of the suburban parks I've seen.

The Hermann Park Conservancy (formerly Friends of Hermann Park) has a great website on the park and the projects they've completed so far, along with ones that are in the works. Check it out at http://www.hermannpark.org/. This group is a shining example of a citizen-led nonprofit working in partnership with the city to bring about civic improvements that the city alone would not have the funding to do for many years.

On a related note, has anyone heard anything more about Whole Foods Market's proposal to relocate the Woodway Dr. store to a new, larger building to be built near Post Oak Blvd. in Uptown? I think one possible location across Uptown Park Blvd. from the Uptown Park Center.

I think it would be great if Central Market opened a second store here. That location on I-10 isn't the easiest to get in and out of, but it would be close to the affluent Memorial Villages, which is very much the demographic that Central Market targets.

Good point, ssullivan.

Is it just me, or is everyone unsure as to the fate of the printed page and brick-and-mortar stores? Will we dinosaurs still have those options in a few years, or will everything come into our homes through this little cable? amazon.com seems to be doing a booming business, and many newspapers and periodicals are available online.

I hope the next generation will have the pleasure of browsing through books and finding new interests of which they were perhaps unaware. The efficiency of computers is sometimes a disadvantage.

I agree. I for one prefer to buy books in a store. I know there are eBooks now but those really don't seem to have caught on all that much, and I certainly don't want to have to sit at the computer to read a novel before going to bed at night. I do make some purchases from Amazon, but those are usually because I do some travel writing work for a website that offers non-cash compensation, and I usually pick Amazon gift certificates as my redemption. And, unfortunately, sometimes there are books that I want to read that I can't find at any of the local stores and I am forced to order them online. It would be nice if Houston had a large, independent bookseller like Powell's in Portland, Tattered Cover in Denver or BookPeople in Austin. I'd gladly support a local operation over Borders or Barnes & Noble.

Worked admirably for the old Woolworth's. I used to drop by and coo at the parakeets on my way to lunch in the tunnel.

I didn't mean a store in that format (some retail ground level, some tunnel level). I should have been more clear - I intended that to mean I didn't think downtown could support a large bookstore like that yet.

i would love to see a big book seller like borders or barnes and noble develop a main street parcel which connects to the tunnels below; a multi-level store with sales floors below and at street level.  if security is an issue, close the tunnel level entrances when the tunnel schedule requires

That could be a good concept for helping to bridge the gap between tunnel and street retail. However, I don't think downtown's reached a point where it can support such a store yet.

Several from long ago in my childhood when we used to come to Houston to see my grandparents:

-Kapan's on South Main at Kirby (where the Eckerd's is now), our usual Sunday after church lunch place - good steaks and seafood, and those excellent crab ball appetizers that the guy in the white suit used to bring around to all the tables

-Angelo's, another long gone seafood restuarant

-The Strawberry Patch on Westheimer, the Pappas family's country/home cooking concept (Pappas Bros. Steakhouse is there now)

-Tokyo Gardens, the first place I ever had Japanese

Underpaid, overworked slave for a wife and husband-owned financial planning firm. Soon to be laid off. Hopefully on to better and bigger things very soon!

This is great news. I hope they are able to go through with the restoration. When I was in this building last year for jury duty I was disappointed by the sad state of the interior and obvious renovations that had been done to squeeze more courtrooms into the building. It will be nice to see it returned to its original appearance.

highland village was updated but has been around for a long time.  its kind of a well kept secret for "upscale" shopping but is totally decked out at christmas with holiday decorations and looks lovely.

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how Highland Village is always the first shopping center in Houston to put up Christmas decorations and last to take them down? Usually by Halloween they're all lit up and some years it's almost February 1 before they get them down. I know this year I was traveling for work much of January and February and I remember coming home between trips the second week of February and driving by and seeing the big red bows still on top of the buildings.

But they are great decorations and give the place a great holiday atmosphere. I just think they could be a little more prompt in taking them down.

I went to that website but I can't find the poll!

Edit: Duh, never mind, I found it.  The print is really small. 

Yeah, it's not that obvious. But it's there, right under "BREAKING NEWS" on the upper right side of the page, just below the banner.

Bye bye Taco Milagro?

Taco Milagro is on the northeast corner of the Westheimer and Kirby intersection. The article states that the land is on the west side of Kirby, just south of Westheimer.

I think I can beat that.

A popular topic for this area of town is the Plaza Hotel located on Montrose close to 59.  The issue remains, what should or could be done with this property.  Obviously, it would make some bad ass lofts.  The last I heard was that a developer was holding out to recover the amount of money he invested in the 80's.  From what I understand this is several million dollars.

Anyone have any new information on the grand ole Plaza Hotel?

Yeah it would make some great lofts, except I've heard from multiple sources that the ceilings on each floor are pretty low by today's standards, and the building's design makes it difficult to increase the height of them. There's also asbestos and 25+ years of decay to deal with, and asbestos. And an owner who wants far too much money for the property. And a parking situation that is less than ideal. While the building is architecturally interesting and worth saving, the odds of succesful redevelopment happening are severely impaired by all of the things the place has going against it. It is a shame because it has a great location and could be a really neat place to live.

I took a tour of that building when I was looking for a new place to live.  I was unimpressed.  Concrete floors and metal stairwells everywhere -- even in the apartments.  It was like living in a dorm room.

The worst part was that the unit the agent showed me was occupied by a man who hadn't left yet.  It had two bathrooms, and apparently he never cleaned one of them.  He just let it get dirtier and dirtier and more disgusting until even he couldn't stand it anymore and he then started using the other one.

Imagine what a year's worth of man-funk does to the porcelain.

When I jokingly said that they'd have to replace the tub and toilet before I could move in, the woman had the nerve to say that it would be MY responsibility to clean it up.  Um... no.  I don't think so.  I went somewhere else.

I can't believe they showed you an occupied unit. I've never heard of an apartment community showing occupied units to potential renters, only models and unoccupied units that have been cleaned and made ready for move-in. I know as an apartment renter I'd be ticked off with my management office if I found out they were showing my unit to potential renters with me still living there (although I keep my bathroom clean!).