lowspark

I will start riding metro if.... ... if it will take me from where I am to where I need/want to go. Doesn't look like that will happen in my lifetime but if it did, I'd ride.

It will be interesting to see how much of their fan base is actually somewhere in Louisiana on Sep. 11. That's less than two weeks away, and there's so much talk about how it will take weeks, months, to return people to their homes in NO and surrounding areas. But I do agree that Baton Rouge is probably a much better place for the Saints to play, simply because the state of Louisiana has sustained a terrible blow, and I can see a Saints game helping to raise morale there if it's played within the state, vs. how Louisiana folks will feel if their home team has to play in another state -- and that's probably true no matter where they're living at that time.

I don't know if it was always there but in 1979 it was on Westridge Rd (that's one of the streets that spikes out from the Astrodome). And yes, I do remember the Windmill Dinner Theatre in Town & Country!

I think that was called the Houston Oil Company. That also reminds me of the Filling Station (I think it was called that) on Richmond maybe near Fountainview. They had an old-time red gas pump in front. Also, does anyone remember Dean Goss Dinner Theatre? Dean Goss was a pretty big presence in Houston in the 70s.

You're talking temporary housing right? I saw on the news last night that they are considering opening up the Astrodome for people who can't afford to stay in hotels for a couple of weeks since it looks like it's going to be at least that long before some of these folks can head back to N.O. They were talking about Houston hotels price gouging. They interviewed a motel clerk who said they weren't CHARGING 199.99 but were QUOTING 199.99. The implication was that they were tyring to cut out the "riff raff" (can't remember if the clerk used that word or the reporter, but one of them said that). Then they talked to a guy who was being charged $195 per night per room for three rooms in a motel that was also obviously not worth that much under normal circumstances. Then Bill White came on and said that we would not tolerate price gouging. I certainly welcome the tax income to the city of Houston but hate to see us squeezing $$ out of those who cannot afford it in their time of need.

I don't know about the woodlands, but Sugar Land is an incorporated city (like Bellaire or West U) so it can't be incorporated into Houston.

Can you get some local radio/TV shows to interview you or do a story about the site? It's definitely local interest and that kind of thing is free, isn't it?

I can't really speak to that -- I don't know the facts of how Exxon or Shell deal with their social responsibilities. But again, when you drive up to a Chevron or a Randalls or wherever to pump your gas, you could be pumping oil from Exxon or Shell or any other producer or refiner. When you buy milk, maybe you could trace that gallon to a particular producer (Borden for example) and even to a particular cow - I don't know! But gasoline is not like that. Crude oil is traded on a world market and between the time it is pulled out of the ground and loaded onto a ship and sailed across the world, it's been bought & sold a dozen times. And then when it reaches the refinery, it might be blended with other crudes before it's refined. Then as I said above, it's not necessarily going from the Exxon refinery to the Exxon station on your corner. It just doesn't work that way. So you might think you're keeping your $$ from Exxon by buying your gas at Chevron, but don't bet on it.

Oh, and one more thing I wanted to say. If you think gas is too expensive, then cut down on your driving and buy a car which gets better milage. Because in point of fact, although the price of gasoline has been steadily rising for a while now, demand is not only NOT declining, it is rising. I always say, when you start seeing more compact cars than SUVs, you'll know the price of gasoline is high. Until then, it might be rising, but it's still affordable. That happened back in the 70s when the price of a gallon of gas was higher (in comparable $) than today. So yes! Vote with your dollars! Not by attempting to "boycott" a corporation which is comprised of employees & stockholders and who has made its money long before the gas arrives at the pump. Instead vote by reducing YOUR need for gasoline, thereby purchasing less. Period. Cuz baby, till the demand goes down, you will not see prices go down. (Not that I'm saying prices WILL ever go down, I don't know the answer to that! But they definitely have no reason to drop as long as demand continues to grow.)

By the time you pump that gasoline into your tank at some local station, the only one you're hurting by "boycotting" a particular station or brand is the owner of that station. Exxon & Shell & whoever have already made their money buying & selling the crude oil & refining ALL the products which come out of that barrel. When you buy Exxon gas, that doesn't mean you're buying something that Exxon pulled out of the ground, refined, and delivered to the pump. A barrel of oil can (and does) go through several owners before it gets to a refinery, and when that gasoline comes out of the refinery, it doesn't necessarily go to the gas station owned by the same company as the refinery. Particular refineries serve particular cities. When an Exxon tanker truck needs to deliver gasoline to an exxon station, it picks up from the particular supplier for that station. It's just a bit more complicated than boycotting tea from the XYZ company in England.

Just thought of this -- Remember the Basement at Foley's? Downtown store had one and Sharpstown had one. They would sell lower priced items in the basement than they did on the other floors.

Anyone remember Paul Bosche (local wrestling announcer) wearing a dangling diamond earring for I.W. Marks Jewelry store? Same premise as Joe Namath wearing hose back in the 70s for Hanes or whoever. If they can make ME look good, imagine what they'll do for you! Trouble is, neither of them looked good!

Hmmm.. that made me think..... Maybe part of the reason Houston lost was BECAUSE of the Olympics experience in Atlanta. I don't know if you remember but Atlanta didn't get rave reviews of how they handled the Olympics. And Houston and Atlanta are perceived to be very similar -- and they are in lots of ways. You know, I (with my family) went to those Olympics and I thought they were wonderful. We had a wonderful time and found Atlanta to be a very nice city and we had no trouble at all getting around! BUT, we're from Houston so.... the heat/humidity didn't bother us that much (it's what we're used to). Transportation was easy -- we drove so had our own car. Two things that were definitely not the case for all the visitors Atlanta attracted for that event, and the same would go for Houston.

I'm not sure why we lost the olympics -- maybe it was our "ugly" freeways! But... --- Give me the convenience of our feeder roads any day! Yeah, we definitely could pretty them up, and in fact some of that is definitely going on (have you seen the planting they've been doing along the sides of the west loop between the s. loop & 59?). Ugly can be fixed -- lack of feeders is permanent. --- And, as a side note, it would have been great if Houston had gotten the Olympics on our first try, but what's wrong with us learning from experience and trying again?

I think White Castle opened here in the mid or late 80s. There was one on S. Post Oak near W. Belfort if I remember correctly, and I don't know what other locations they had. I'm pretty sure they didn't stay in business a whole year.

Hamburgers by Gourmet, never ate there but I do remember it -- and it actually reminded me of another restaurant, Across the Street. I can't remember where it was located, but there were telephones on every table and you'd call your order into the kitchen. I remember going there around 1975ish. I just (on my way back from lunch) saw a sign on the Edward's Theatre building (Weslayan at 59) that said they're going to open a restaurant called Harlow's! I do remember the Harlow's on Hillcroft (near Richmond I think) for its late night hours and old movie posters featuring (who else?) Jean Harlow.

I worked very close to that Nabisco plant from 1992 - 1999 and remember smelling the wonderful smells some mornings. I knew someone who worked for Nabisco several years ago, and he told me that the recipe for fig newtons required a mixture of broken crackers/cookies. So, assuming he wasn't lying, they did recycle the broken stuff.

Not that I know of. I do remember when I was a kid, going to the Fritos factory for a tour with my day camp. I have no idea where the factory was but as far as I know, there is no frito factory here anymore. I remember the tour because they showed us HUGE vats of Fritos-to-be, looked like vomit! Didn't stop me from eating them tho!!

Oh yes! I remember Carvel. Someone I knew at that time they opened (must have been the mid 80s) raved about how wonderful Carvel was when she was growing up in New York. It lasted about 5 minutes -- correct me if I'm wrong but it's just soft serve ice cream, right? Reminds me of White Castle Hamburgers. It's the kind of thing that brings back youthful memories for people who grew up somewhere else, not because it was so delicious but because it was what ate when they were a kid. They open one here, everyone who grew up with it gets excited and goes a couple of times and that's it -- not enough to keep the place(s) in business, because, after all, they're not really good, just nostalgic, and they can't compete with other (better) places that are here. OK, all you Carvel & White Castle lovers, go ahead and flame me. I'm a native Houstonian and I just don't get the attraction for either of these restaurants.

Go subdude!! You have all the great pictures! Thanks for posting those!

Yeah, I agree, it's a tiny store. But just after Albertson's closed up HEB went full force with the kosher foods at that location. They devoted quite a bit of space to it, hoping to attract shoppers who formerly went to Albertson's specifically for their kosher foods. That amount of kosher foods dwindled significantly after a while although they do still carry quite a bit percentagewise in relationship to the size of that store.

Yeah! Belden's has a lot of Kosher foods, and that HEB started carrying a lot too but it's sort of catch as catch can with HEB. I think a lot of people get the Meyers mixed up. MeyerLand is the former mall on Beechnut & 610, built in 1958 (?) Meyer Park is the strip center on W. Belfort & 610 which contains the Randalls & Wal Mart and it was developed in the 80s I think. But Meyer Area will do fine! I never go to that Casa Ole! There is (or was) a Chinese buffet in that same strip as Casa Ole which was wonderful when it first opened, but went downhill so I haven't been there in a long time now.

There's apparently 4 Steak & Ales still in Houston: 12250 Gulf Freeway Houston 77034 713-944-9986 11109 Katy Freeway Houston 77079 713-467-5050 17425 N Freeway Houston 77090 281-440-1983 2425 Mangum Road Houston 77092 713-681-4675 I went to the one on Mangum (at 290) recently --- I didn't know they had beer battered bread, tho!

SpaceAge -- Perfect!! That's exactly what the Kip's on Bellaire looked like! Looks like there's a bank at that address now.

I recently switched to Vonage too and so far so good. In any case, it's saving me about $25 a month!