20sGirl

I love Discovery Green. The Grove has that great patio on top with a fantastic view of Houston. Another good date place.

I used the tunnels when I worked downtown years ago. They were good for when the weather was bad. But some of those businesses would be just as well at street level.

The zoo is always fun, especially on a weekday when it's empty. Hermann Park is a nice walk too when the weather is good. And Miller Outdoor Theater has some good free concerts at night. And the Houston Garden Center has a beautiful rose garden to walk through - when they're blooming. (Can you tell I lived in the Med Center for years?)

I like the scary robot crown. It's the rest of the building I don't like. Another beige box. Yawn.

Maybe I'm missing something but it looks kind of ugly to me. Is this what Martha's Vineyard architecture looks like?

I LOVE this! You are so creative. But I guess that makes me a bubblegum degenerate because although I live in Houston, I love Austin! You can't beat the natural beauty and I guess I'm a city girl at heart who doesn't mind the crowds. 6th Street was never really my scene as I don't like drunken frat boys and vomit. But in the daylight hours, Austin has some great hiking trails. And yeah, I'm a nutty crunchy type who loves all the California food available. I started visiting Austin back in the early 90's. I guess I missed the "weird" phase because I don't really think Austin is all that much weirder than any other city or college town I've visited. Hell, I think I've seen weirder things right here in Houston.

Is that why they keep closing off the top floors of the parking garage on the busiest nights? Why would someone build a parking garage to only use the first three floors???

The Kroger on Hammerly and Long Point is in the same boat. Hasn't been updated in ages. Their produce and dairy departments are terrible. I think they might stay open though because many people who live in the apartments walk there. I'm wondering if they will close the HEB on Gessner and Kempwood. It's pretty crappy as well. The new Bunker Hill HEB is awesome!

Wow! You just brought back some memories! I completely forgot about that slide. It was tons of fun though! You remember "Goodtime Charlie's" in Sharpstown Mall?

Thanks for the welcome back! I like your post-- it's good to know I'm not the only sentimental one out there. By the way- I've been enjoying your photos of downtown and med center. I've used some of your photos for wallpaper on my work computer. Keep up the good work!

I think it was a Plitt Theater at one time. (You can imagine what we kids used to call it). Anyway, before that it was something else. Loewe's, maybe? Then it was a dollar cinema for a while. Guess it's closed now. Reading this really brings back memories. I'm SHS class of 1990. Grew up right behind the high school. (Section 4?) Those were Pulte homes if I remember correctly. I had no idea Sharpstown was such an important development to Houston. That stuff about the Conquistador opening the door to build hi-rise residential. I always remember looking out and seeing those twin buildings on Fondren and 59 with the flag on top. Don't know their names. This was in the 80's- way after Conquistador being the tallest building.

Great photos, Greens! I remember going out of town for family visits when I was a kid. I used to sadly watch the skyline fade away as we drove down I-10. And I was always so happy to see the skyline emerge when we returned. Even today, I can't take my eyes off the skyline when I ride past it. (when I'm not driving of course.)

News to me too. The neighborhood over there (behind Costco etc.) was protesting some apartments to be built. I assumed it was on that lot. But now I'm not so sure. Guess we'll just have to wait and watch. HEB would be really nice--hopefully better than the one on Kempwood. Also, Bunker Hill will be widened to accomodate traffic. (I think it was Parrothead who brought up the traffic earlier.)

Curses!

"The majority of buyers are professionals from the Medical Center" True, they're first time buyers but that doesn't mean they're cheap. $200,000 townhomes sounds expensive to me--for Houston.

Thanks for the article pineda. Just a few thoughts: This article implies that all of America's cities will be "urbanized" but won't there still be tons of rural property all over the country? Smart growth is only proposed for cities, correct? So, if people don't want to live in an urban environment, they could move away from the city to small towns and rural areas, right? I think it's funny how the EPA is intorduced in that evil, conspiratorial tone. "Instead, they are part of a coordinated campaign supported by the (cue evil music) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)!" Nooo, not the EPA! God forbid we have clean air initiatives! They talk about reduced stress in the suburbs. Suburbia has stresses of its own just as living in an urban environment does. Sitting in traffic, lack of exercise (nowhere to walk), lack of human interaction, boredom, homogenization, etc. They talk about developing bike lanes as if its a bad thing. Another quote "Cars pollute most when accelerating and at slow speeds. So most pollution comes from congestion and stop-and-go traffic." If we had an effective public transportation system, that would not be as big of an issue. Besides, in suburbia, even the closest stores, etc. need to be driven to. I'm sure people in the suburbs aren't cruising at 60 mph to go to the Home Depot. Rural highways are probably the only exception here. "According to the EPA's own estimates, air pollution is worst in the nation's densest cities--the kind of cities smart-growth advocates want everywhere. Moreover, the most polluted portions of those cities are in the places with the most congestion" Is it all due to auto emissions?? If so, maybe we need less cars and more trains. Or, more enforcement of clean air standards for corporations. Or a cleaner burning fuel. (I know, I'm pegging myself as a liberal tree hugger.)I'd be curious to research this further. I really wish you the best of luck in your fight pineda. I'm pulling for "smart growth" because I've seen the result of uncontrolled sprawl and boy, it's ugly.

But were high-income people moving to that area? I think Ricco had a good point. If hi-dollar folks are moving in, things will probably be cleaned up pretty well. Money rules in this world unfortunately.

Good because I'm really sick of those stupid commercials. "HE went to Jared." Ugh.

Upon further investigation, I'm probably wrong about there only being 3 races- I think that's an outdated theory. Any anthropologists here? My point is that it's hard to pigeonhole people into one race. Or even one nationality for that matter. What happens if you move to Ireland? Do you cease to be an American? Are you then an American-Irish? Your race doesn't change-just your nationality. I love threads like this.

y'all are confusing race with nationality. Biologically, there are only three races. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who is "100% pure" one race. Life is messy that way I guess. If anyone is offended by this post...sorry.

Thanks for the info! They all did a fantastic job "re-creating" this building. I was only in it briefly but was so impressed with the job they did. It has a very comfortable and open feel to it. Lots of greenery and they kept the wooden floors. Lots of natural light. I worked in 1000 Main for a while after it was newly built. It looked very nice on the outside but it was so uncomfortable inside. Everybody was getting sick- something to do with construction dust in the air circulation, fumes from the new carpet, etc. Since we couldn't open the windows, we had to breathe the toxic air. Also, the building had a very closed-in feel to it. There was absolutely nothing organic in the building. Everything was metal, plastic and glass. Long narrow rooms with lines of identical cubicles. And most of the offices don't have windows- only the corner ones do. However, the lobby looks very nice. And the building looks nice on the outside. I like the lights on the top. Anyway, I digress, hopefully others can learn from TMC's example... please guys?...learn from this?...quit tearing down our history and replacing it with crap?...

Neiman's is still there. So is the Luby's. That's about it. Dillards moved to Memorial City. Last I heard, T&C mall would be replaced with office space. I think it would be nice to have an extension of T&C village but I haven't heard anything to that effect. Across the beltway, where the "Bazaar" once stood, they are digging a huge retention pond to accomodate the inevitable flooding when I-10 is expanded. I was a little sad to see T&C mall come down. It was nicely laid out and could have been converted to office space (like Westwood mall). But, I can't blame them for wanting to put something there- that mall truly was dead. Even when there were stores in there, many had odd hours and weren't always open at the times posted.

Are they tearing it down to make room for the "bigger better" I-10?

I'll take a guess and assume that business owners feel safer when officers are in their places of business and hope to lure them with discounts?

Thanks for the info, H2B. I'll definitely check this one out. When did PBS show the Houston series? Do you know if they will rebroadcast it?