Blender

Sorry for the misspell of the name, but during the 1980's this cafe was located in back of the store Woolworth next door to the cobbler's shop in Meyerland plaza. My dad would always get his shoes fixed in the shop and go next door to the Rumble Seed to have a drink at the bar. This was also a cafe that had a band to come in and play during the week after people were getting off from work.

I remember drinking cherry cokes there at the bar counter then going over to play Pac-Man at the video game table. They also had a penny gum ball machine that my dad would give me pennies to buy gum.

Does anyone remember this place? Does anyone have photos? I remember my dad got me a shirt from this cafe that I liked wearing, though it was so big it would go down to my feet since I was a little kid.

I vaguely remember going there. I think it was called the Rumble Seat.

Yea I remember the place at the far end of the strip center opposite Los Tios...seems to me that Schlotsky's took some of their sandwich ideas when they opened in the area and Zappo's shut down...is there any connection between the two operations??

Zappo's was much better in my opinion. I think Schlotsky's had already been open a couple of years before Zappo's closed. When they remodeled the shopping center they raised the rent, which is probably why Zappo's closed.

I remember the location at 59 and Gessner. I went once when I was 6 and bought my mother a Joan Walsh Anglund ornament. She was surprised I found one that she didn't already have Good memories...

OK. Thanks. What I've got so far is Sears opened in 1962, Montgomery Ward opened later (196?), Foley's opened later (196? or 197?), and Lord & Taylor opened in 1977, Frost Brothers opened somewhere (I have never figured out where, but apparently they closed in the late '80s), then Mervyn's came into the former Lord & Taylor after they bolted, Wards closed, then in the remodel, Foley's was torn down, and a new Foley's, Dillard's, Lord & Taylor opened, and Target opened (former Wards). Then Lord & Taylor left (again) and became JCPenney. Then Mervyn's closed and was razed for...a Cold Stone? Still, I haven't figured out what the ice rink used to be, or the food court, or the former remodels...

The Frost Brothers store was inside the mall, next door (or very close) to Foley's. I was only 8 or so when the store was open, but my great aunt loved to go there when she visited us from CA.

This also reminded me of the Chuck Wagon dog food commercial. The dog gets startled to see a tiny chuck wagon parading around the kitchen. Remember? lol

Haha - I'm glad you brought that up. My sister cried one time because she thought our parents were taking her to eat dog food.

I remember when they chopped down all of the beautiful, old trees in the interior courtyard. What a sad day that was. I don't even remember why they did that - was there a plan to enclose the mall? What a silly thing to do.

I remember as a little girl going into a gift store with my mom (on the end where Woolworth's was) and buying little ceramic birds. I also remember eating at a restaurant called 'The Rumble Seat." There was a big antique mall there for a while, too. (Right before they bulldozed the entire thing.)

That does look pretty cool although he or she took over the Pavilions site.

What's the Pavillions site? I don't live in Houston anymore...

What a great opportunity for Houston to create a mini "Central Park." The row of parking lots connecting the Toyota Center to the main downtown area looks like a great place to me. A park would also attract people wanting to live downtown. I can see all kinds of developers wanting to build residential high rises that look over the park.

Here is what it could look like - not the best rendering, but you get the idea...

In addition to the T-Rex project, Denver also has plans to turn the historic Union Station building downtown into a transportation hub. You can read more about the plan here: http://www.denverunionstation.org/master_plan/

There looks like plenty of room on that rail right-of-way to expand to full-fledged commuter rail, should the need arise.

There was an interesting piece on one of the network evening newscasts a couple of weeks ago. I-70 or I-80 (I forget which) in Colorado is absolutely maxed, so there are two proposals for relieving the problem.

1: Spend a billion and a half dollars building a tunnel through some mountain.

2: Spend even more on a rail system.

According to the piece, nearly everyone favors the rail. Even the half-dozen or so people sitting high in their SUV's in stopped traffic on the interstate. They all desperately wanted rail.

I've alway thought of Denver as the Seattle-of-the-Mountains, and of Seattle as a moister version of San Francisco. This would seem to go along with that notion.

I live in Denver and have sat in traffic on I-70 more times than I care to think about. I-70 is the only direct East-West route through the state. Traffic on Sunday night is bad year-round from people coming back to Denver from Utah, skiing, camping, etc.

The problem was really bad this ski season because of the amount of snowfall we received. When there is a lot of snow, they have to close Loveland pass and send the haz-mat trucks through the Eisehnower tunnel. For those of you who have never been here, the Eisenhower tunnel is a very long tunnel that goes through the Continental divide. Loveland pass goes up and over the divide. Understandably, they cannot send cars in with the haz-mat trucks, so they stop traffic every hour to let the trucks go through. This backs up traffic for miles. We've sat in traffic for 4 hours to go about 5 miles.

The two ideas on the table are to add an additional lane to I-70 or add a rail system. It seems obvious to me that adding a rail system would be the best option even if it cost 10 times more than adding a lane.

An additional lane would (possibly) ease traffic problems for only a limited amount of time. How long would it be before we need another lane? And it's not like you can just keep adding lanes. The highway runs through the mountains and there's only so much room to expand. Not to mention the cost of widening the Eisenhower tunnel each time. A rail system wouldn't need to stop to let haz mat trucks through or close because of bad weather. And it's the ethical thing to do to reduce pollution through some of the prettiest terrain the world has to offer. Yes - there is the issue of transportation once you get up there, but I'm sure we can figure something out. Some ski towns already offer a free bus service to and from the resorts.

I hope the powers at be make the right decision.

Boulder has some of the highest housing prices in Colorado, so that may not be an option unless he wants to pay 400,000 for a 800 sq ft house. However, try looking in Broomfield, Louisville, or Thornton which are just outside of Boulder. There is a lot of new development going on in these areas and I'm sure he could find something nice within the price range you gave. I live in downtown Denver so I don't know much about the cost of housing north of here, but I don't think your friend needs to move all the way out to Aurora to find a place to live. Especially with the cost of gas now!

Hah! Now I have that silly jingle stuck in my head. "If you need a brand new car, go see Cal..." sung to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands..." Go see Cal! Go see Cal! Go see Cal!

I haven't thought about the guy that would "stand on his head and eat a bug if he couldn't sell you a car" in years!

Does anyone remember Zappo's in Meyerland? It was a sandwich place in a strip center across the street from the mall that made "Schlotzsky's-type" sandwiches (except that Zappo's was way better.) It closed after the area was re-developed in the early 90s. I also vaguely remember a restaurant called the Rumble Seat that was located in the old Meyerland Plaza mall.

And boring....

I grew up in a suburb of Houston and moved to Denver a little over three years ago. Denver is anything but boring. But if what you mean by boring is a clean city where people care about their surroundings, then I'll take it.

Unlike what you may think, though, the sidewalks are not rolled up at night. Many people live downtown and there is always something going on (art festivals, outdoor concerts, crazy people doing what they do best) every night of the week. The weather is condusive for going outside almost year-round, so there are always people walking up and down the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall which includes many restaurants, stores, clubs, bars, and entertainment venues like Lucky Strike Lanes and an AMC Theater. And like every other major city, Denver has its share of problems its working to resolve.

Anyway, I think you get the idea. Denver has one of the best downtowns I've seen. If you want to learn more about Denver, check out www.denverinfill.com or www.denver.org.

I moved to Denver about three years ago and am fascinated with this Web site that tracks infill development and revitalization of downtown Denver. This site would serve as an excellent model for any city focusing on replacing surface parking lots and rehabilitating existing structures. I would love to see someone create a similar site for Houston.

http://www.denverinfill.com/