Astro

I remember when it was a 24/7 diner in the 90's, called Charlie's I believe? It's a great old landmark building in a very prominent location across from the Tower Theater, on the curve of Westheimer. Anyone know what the original use of the building was?

I agree, GoAtomic and Subdude... I've always liked those Bali Hai apartments and am sorry to see them go. It was only a matter of time though.

The Marquee apartments are in better shape and will hopefully be around longer.

This is interesting news...

I used to live down the street from there... I believe the SW corner of that intersection is where the so-called "College Without Walls" stood (part of the HCC system).

The fire station is on the NW corner of that intersection.

So it's actually closer to Hockley than Tomball... that's WAY out there...

It'll still be worth the drive for me though.

According to the article there will be a single screen, and it will play new releases. They would like to eventually stay open 7 days a week but they know they will probably have to start with limited hours.

To me it appeared to be "suburban cottage" style... and it definitely looked 1920's rather than 1960's... Nice looking home.

This is great, really cool news! I too would definitely drive out to Tomball to see this!

The Katy desperately needed to be widened.... 3 lanes in each direction is ridiculously insufficient... it should have been widened a couple of decades ago.

Those are old bungalows dating back to the 20s or 30s. The Art League has used them for years as classroom buildings. I took a painting class in there about 10 years ago.

What about the Bull Penn Restaurant At 10702 South Main St. ?

Awesome photos Subdude!! Great job of putting thee threads together!!

I love the old look of the Holiday Inn building as well but I don't remember it looking too different now? I need to take a closer look next time i go by there...

I've always liked that Weldon's Cafteria building as well.

And personally I kind of like the current facade on the Sears building... I'd just like to see it cleaned up and the windows put back in place on street level... (like that will ever happen. )

Here's my suggested route for the new light rail line connecting the Galleria and UH: Start at Westheimer and Post Oak, run it under the 610 service roads along with 4 lanes of Westheimer through traffic, down Westheimer to Weslayan with stops at Mid Lane, Highland Village and Weslayan. Lots of retail and multifamily in through there, and you avoid having to take the line down Richmond through Afton Oaks which that neighborhood is fiercely opposed to.  Then south on Weslayan to Richmond, with a stop at that corner.  Then down Richmond all the way to Main with stops at Greenway Plaza, Kirby, Shepherd, Montrose and Main.

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This is my favored route as well. I would much prefer to see the rail line running all the way down Westheimer eventually to Westchase and beyond, rather than Westpark. Westheimer is a much more densely developed corridor. If that street didn't get so narrow once it got inside the loop and there was more room for it I would like to see it go all the way to Elgin. But since Richmond is wider I guess that would be the best possible corridor although it will be sad to remove the tree-lined median in the Montrose area. So I think the rail line should cut south around Weslayan or Timmons. Hopefully there's enough ROW through Greenway Plaza that those trees in the Richmond median can be preserved.

The Fry's in Clear Lake is the only one in the City as of now that is not in an old existing shopping center.

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The one that just opened on 59 at W. Bellfort was newly built from the ground up. It is adjacent to an older shopping center at 59 and Murphy Rd. That's where my chiropractor's office is.

As far as the upset people, I understand why they're upset, but I'm worried if we fight this, then we'll end up with nothing at all. The project will be stalled until it eventually dies, then in 20 years we go through the whole thing agin.  I think this new plan could really work.

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I agree. This plan is a huge improvement and a good compromise to save money and to get a lot built in a short amount of time... I'm worried as well that the protests could cause us to end up with nothing at all or to have to wait another lifetime.

That comment of Perry's doesn't bother me... he was saying that about one annoying reporter, not about the people of Texas or some other broad group of people.

That being said, I still can't stand this guy... I agree he's never truly been elected considering Bush handed the governor's office to him in the first place and then the only other person he had to run aganst was Tony Sanchez.

I would have liked K.B. Hutchison to run but I'd rather see Strayhorn or Kinky win it over Perry. Or anyone else who would put an end to his stupid Trans Texas Corridor that he's rammed down our throats.

So he likes to cater to the religious right, by doing things like choosing a religious school as the place to sign an anti-gay bill that doesn't even require his signature. So I can see why the R.R. likes him, but what does anyone else see in this guy??

The last I read about the Alvin freeway (SH 35) was that it was canceled south of Beltway 8, but the segment from 45 to the South Belt would still eventually be built. 

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Is this the highway that's supposed to run parallel to Mykawa Road? I wondered what the status of that one was.

I'm also curious about this new tollroad that is supposed to run along Highway 288... I've never heard about this. Perhaps they plan to build it inside of 288's wide median??

I am very happy about Metro's modified plan! This one makes much more sense and will accomplish much more as far as moving people from all part sof the city. I don't understand why those on the east side are complaining since they are still getting all of their transit lines they voted for in the form of BRT which is practically the same as light rail, and even better since it's less expensive. In addition to this they are getting a new light rail line which will connect UH to the west side of town. This is definitely a win-win plan for all of Houston...

Texas Maps

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WOW what an awesome site!!! Thanks for sharing... That will keep me occupied for many hours

I love old maps as well... I have a few old Houston road maps from the 40's - 60's but nothing quite that old.

In response to jt71... the best way to find neigbhborhood boundaries is the maps on HCAD's website: HCAD

lol.  Yeah, compared to the other buildings on campus it's really craptastic. 

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I agree. I think the Moody Towers look much better.

I saw it for the first time in person only a couple of months ago, only from the outside. And I hate it... I think it's hideous.

I can not tell you how excited I am that the Southwest corner of West Gray and Taft will become a cleaners.....

(HUGE SARCASM)

There is a cleaners less than 3 blocks away.

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There's one only 3-4 blocks away on either side of this location down West Gray. One at W. Gray & Crocker, and one on W. Gray around Gillette.

Further over in Midtown it seems that every new strip center there has one. There's one next to the Subway at Bagby & McIlhenny, there's one at McGowen & Smith, and one 2 blocks away at McGowen and Louisiana. I think there's one in the Post Midtown development as well, and probably several more in the area that I'm not aware of.

The rumor has it that a condo tower (6 story) will go in at the Southeast corner of West Gray and Taft on the site of the old sheet metal shop.

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That would be good news.

Is that clinic still open on the SE corner? Is the sheet metal shop you're referring to on that same block?

I think I'd be scared to drive through that...

I ran across this map of various "neighborhoods" within the loop.  Being new to (what the map depicts as "Memorial"), I'm wondering if these are generally agreed upon boundaries.

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No, that map sucks. It's even worse than that other one someone posted which said that Fairview and Stanford was at the "edge" of Montrose

I agree with jm1fd that the best way to find neighorhood boundaries is the HCAD maps.

That superneighborhood map seems to do a good job of grouping the neighborhoods, although there's not enough detail to show exactly the where boundaries are.

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That looks like some major traffic chaos there... are there any lane dividers in the circle part?