Lone Star Rooster

Thanks! Much appreciated. Some very interesting stuff coming available in Glenbrook Valley. That seems like a good neighborhood, lots of neat homes, I just wish it were located in a better area of town.

I would think it'd be hard to steal any of y'all's plays--UH has a very unique offense. Not sure I can think of anyone else in the country that runs one like it. It's getting closer. Can't wait. GO GAMECOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any new updates? I enjoy looking through the mod listings.

Greetings UH fans! A USC Gamecock alum and fan here. Interesting (for me, anyway) that these 2 teams are meeting in a bowl game this year. I just moved to Houston in August, and have been to several UH games this season. My future father-in-law is a UH alum (and season ticket holder), and played on their football team during their early 70's heyday. So, I've been able to do a bit of advance scouting for the Gamecocks... This promises to be a hell of a good game. 2 very good coaches with 2 very good offensive teams. Probably one of those "last team with the ball will win" type of games. Should be one of the better non-BCS bowls, in my opinion. UH has some incredible speed on both sides of the ball, a very good QB, and they spread out the field on offense. South Carolina has a good (underrated) ground game, surprising for a Spurrier-coached team. Our QB Blake Mitchell is OK, but is usually good for at least a pick or 2 every game. I look for USC to line up and attempt to run it at y'all a lot. Wish I could make it to Memphis, but I'll be visiting family in SC. So, what are your thoughts on the game from a UH perspective?

You've hit on one big reason why HoJo's is now only a shadow of its former self: trying to please everyone (from little kids to expense-account businessmen), and getting nothing right in the process.

Yup. The spirit is the same: give the traveling family a good deal for their money. And, make sure it's a place the kids like, too. I ate at a Cracker Barrel the other night--nothing but kids and old folks as far as the eye could see. The kids are, of course, the new generation of customers, and the elderly are the ones who used to frequent HoJo's back in their glory days.

Back in the peak expansion years of Stuckey's (1950's-60's), the chain's founder, Bill Stuckey, had an uncanny knack for locating his stores at just the right places. Rumor had it that he would be driving down the road, and wherever he'd have to stop to go to the bathroom, that's where he'd locate a new store.

Yup. Forgot about those. Or, how about Stuckey's? There's only a few original locations left, and you folks in Houston are lucky to have one of the last holdouts nearby--on I-10 near Winnie.

The old HoJo's location on Gulf Freeway (just inside Loop 610) is no longer a HoJo's--it's now a Red Carpet Inn. But, the old lobby building still sports the Orange Roof. It's the only one left in the Houston area that I'm aware of. Check it out here: HoJo's Houston-Southeast BTW, the rest of the autoage.org site is pretty cool if you're a HoJo-ologist like me. Lots of pictures documenting the chain's rise and fall. True that, Ashikaga--hotel chains no longer show the same standardization or eye-catching logos they used to. I kinda miss these, though: Howard Johnson's orange roofs Ramada Inn's "innkeeper" signs (horn w/banner) Holiday Inn's "Great Signs," that looked like something straight from Broadway Quality Inn's old "gold medal"-looking signs, with the blue ribbon off to one side Shoney's/Bob's/Frisch's/etc. Big Boy Road trips are little less fun these days without them!

Thanks much for the continued updates on the Mod listings! Keep em coming! I'm moving from Atlanta to Houston in a few months, so am looking more closely at the real estate market down there. Thanks to this board, I'm getting more interested in the Mod concept. So much more interesting than a Woodlands McMansion (though budget restraints may force me into an area like the Woodlands/Pearland/etc. for now).

Thanks, sevfiv!

Quick question for anyone out there: I read somewhere that National Geographic once did a story on Brownwood. I've searched the local library's collection of NG's, including NG indexes, and can't seem to find anything on it. Does anyone know if Nat'l Geo ever really did a feature on Brownwood? If so, when did it appear? I'd like to find it if such an animal exists.

No. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Alvin & The Chipmunks' Christmas song. I can hear the tune in my head, but I can't recall the title. Worst Chirstmas song ever. No doubt about it.

I saw "Walk the Line" a week or so ago. I also highly recommend it. The music is excellent, whether you're a big country fan or not. The acting is superb--Joaquin Phoenix (Johnny Cash) and Reese Witherspoon (June Carter) both did their own singing. It's amazing how true-to-life Joaquin's acting job was--he looked and sounded just like Johnny Cash. Definitely Oscar-worthy.

Thanks much for the pics, TJones! Very attractive houses. That home in Lakewood is about what I imagine Brownwood looked like in its heyday--large homes, lots of trees, manicured lawns. Wish I had a time machine...

Any luck on those pics? Thanks!

I'm also interested in seeing pics anyone might have of Brownwood in its heyday. Several years ago, someone directed me to the houstonwet.net site. That's when I first heard about Brownwood and the subsidence problem (I'm not from Houston, but visit there a lot). Very interesting and mind-blowing stuff. I finally got to make it over to the BNC (former B'wood) site a few months ago. Well worth the $3 admission price--I think you can also get a yearly pass for something like $20. Nice views of the monument, bays, and new bridge, and some dang good bird-watching too.

You might also try www.houstonwet.net. This site tells the story of Brownwood's slow demise from upper-crust suburban neighborhood to subsidence victim. There are a number of decent pictures of homes there; most pics date from the 1960's and 1970's. In addition, I also am interested in seeing any old Brownwood pics anyone might have to share. On that subject, if you haven't been to the Baytown Nature Center (former Brownwood site), I recommend you go for a visit. Pretty neat hiking trails, good bay views, and if you know the history of the area, it's almost spooky walking through it.