Metro Matt

Hess Discovery Tower sounds 1000 times better IMO. Oh wells...

Whats going on all over downtown? There is scaffolding on the tops of several towers like 1500 Louisiana & Continental Center. Are they replacing damaged windows or lights from Ike? I noticed the band of white neon which is lit sometimes on top of Wells Fargo Plaza appears to be broken in several places.

My guess is the blue lighting was damaged by Ike. Possibly lenses that got blown off exposing the white sodium floods underneath.

I miss the lighting on the Wedge Tower. I wish they'd bring that back.

Wedge still does light the very top borders from time to time, but the whole thing hasn't been lit up in years.

Can anyone tell me if they have shut the beacon off? The last couple of times that I have seen the Galleria area at night, it hasn't been on. I tried to do some research to see if any of the news stations had any reports on it but I couldn't find anything. I just had this huge fear that because of high gas prices they might have shut it down for a while or something.

Thanks!

Hmm

Was it after midnight when you saw it?

The beacon usually comes on right at dusk & shuts off exactly at midnight.

Maintenance maybe?

I'm glad to see efforts continue to keep trash out of the bayou.

I love the crystal clear waters of our beloved bayou.

I never knew bayou's were supposed to be clear...ever been to Louisiana?

Many Asians are moving to other parts of Houston besides the southwest side to get away from Asians. They will just commute into the southwest side(Bellaire & Beltway 8) to grocery shop. However, there is a growing Asian community in the northwest side(Veterans Memorial & ..) of Houston with Asian grocery stores, restaurants, etc., so they will most likely not drive to southwest. Sugarland has its own Asian supermarket, but still lacking in good Asian restaurants, varieties of Asian dishes. The supermarket is not exactly stellar either.

Theres been a fairly large Vietnamese community around Veterans Memorial & Jersey Village for quite some time now. Those are the two oldest Asian areas on the NW side of Houston. Many of those who lived there are moving to newly developing areas like Cypress on the far, far northwest side. I have a friend that moved to Cypress from the Veterans Memorial area back in 2002 when Cypress was really just starting to take off.

Right off of Leeland/Telephone, a few blocks outside of downtown. It is worth a visit - very cool interior.

Close to "Old Chinatown'?

What ever happened to the Van's skate park off I-10? Was that thing just a flash in the pan?

I think sugar Land is better than the Woodlands my opinion

I personally like The Woodlands better than Sugar Land aesthetically speaking with all the tall pines & natural beauty, but the sheer amount of diversity in Sugar Land & all of Fort Bend County for that matter is worlds away from The Woodlands.

Although not associated with the "W" Hotel in any way, form, or fashion, will Houston's "W" have the trendy Ghostbar like the ones in Vegas & Dallas?

One of the more anonymous "box" buildings in Houston's skyline. The black glass facade looks very 80's ish.

Exactly where is this temple located? With the east end of town being predominantly Hispanic, its very out of the ordinary to see something like this.

On the nightclubs issue. I'd have to agree with the poster that mentioned the "thug life" element killing downtown. It happened in Dallas with Deep Ellum and even a club my firm helped design (Blue). We created it to be "the" place to go with a restaurant, amazing sound system and light show, and several floors and VIP "levels" that, depending on the membership you purchased, you were given access to.

When it was done, it was amazing and billed as one of the downtown destinations to visit. My old business partner still lives there and said the last time he went (a year or so ago), they weren't charging a cover anymore and it was filled to the brim with pretend ghetto gangsters (that probably lived in Frisco or some suburbania) with big asses and boobs all hanging out everywhere. There was a supposed drug related shooting in the parking lot in 2005 which made it all the more thug-like.

I looked around and I don't even think the club is open anymore -- their website is down and there's a new one in its place called Cirque.

The old Club Blue is now called Club Cirque, its been remodeled on the inside & is an improvement from what I've heard.

Theres a Ferrari dealership in Plano...so why would The Woodlands be such a bad place to open one? I mean both towns are obviously filled with rich people that have more money than they know what to do with.

Not sure if we have enough, too much, or not enough, but the only station I KNEW was billed as hip hop was/is 97.9.

Ghetto a** and all.

I thought Party 104.9's motto was "All Hip Hop all the time"?

The question I have to ask is, who really cares?

Doesn't Houston have enough of that Hip Hop/Rap crap already? What about us folks that actually enjoy listening to other kinds of music besides that ghetto ass stuff Houston is so filled? When are we ever going to get a station that plays the old school 80's & 90's hits like "Movin 107.5" in DFW which is now my favorite station up there, we just now finally got JACK FM here in Houston which is a good station, its been in Dallas for several years already.

W is about young hip and cool, with a trendy nightclub. Austin has high-tech people, musicians, and celebrities. Houston has lots and lots of middle-aged oilmen and engineers who do not fall into the "hip and cool" category. Whatever small demographic we do have looking for hip and cool are pretty well served by the Hotel Derek uptown, Icon downtown, and ZaZa at the med center. A W would face real competition from independents here.

The Ghost Bar clubs atop the W Hotels in Dallas, Vegas, & Chicago have nothing to do with the hotel itself, from what I understand, they (The Nine Group) just lease a floor.

Plant Bar Rio on Richmond has been hosting some pretty big Electronic Dance Music acts the past year or so with Oakenfold & Sasha being the most recent headliners.

I know I am digging up an ancient thread and this is actually my first post. But whatever did happen to the Club Vision, which is now Midtown Lounge. That was the BEST place to go in houston that was both afterhours and played the BEST techo/trance music. It was like a rave there every Saturday night. I wish I could find another place like that somewhere in town.

Club Habitat with long time Houston Dj, Michael Degrace every Saturday night from 2am-?

1415 California

So I've recently seen where this building is getting new black glass windows placed in front of what appears to be the railed balconies. Anybody know whats going on? Have they sold to another hotel chain, or are they just updating the over all look? Is it for safety reasons, has something happened to make them to block off the balconies like this?

No one, nor this article has ever mentioned the Trammel Crow building, which has recently illuminated its pyramid like spire with green & white lights visible in the far right side of the picture.

So why do building owners like brightly lit towers in Dallas.. and Houston's skyline sits kinda dark?? Maybe they think Dallas is, dare I say it, ..more vibrant. It certainly looks it.

Just because a skyline is lit up Vegas or Hong Kong style at night doesn't necessarily mean its buzzing with people at street level such as with Dallas. Houston's downtown is much more developed & filled with activity than Dallas' is IMO.

Why is it that Houston does not have colors on our building like this?

Cause Houston isn't the flashy, glitzy city that Dallas tries so hard to be...

Simple enough answer right?