nativehou

"Umble" is supposedly how the Humble family (for which the city is named) pronounced their last name.

We did, too. One time in the early 80s several of my friends and I were driving down RO Boulevard, near the country club, and we saw donkeys in someone's yard. We stopped the car, rang the doorbell, and told the older man who answered the door that he had donkeys in his yard. He laughed and said that yes, he knew that. Supposedly he and his donkeys were well known -- but we didn't know, we were just hayseeds from the southeast side. Does anybody know who that man was?

Happy birthday! I tried to follow the directions, but I don't see where you can "sign up for as many months as you would like" on the $1 per month sale. Please advise.

Cool! Is this one being lived in and maintained?

I can't tell -- does the rendering include a parking garage?

Here's a page with directions: http://www.saintarnold.com/contact/

I think the Sao Paolo law is a move to get rid of what's gotten "out of hand." I'm in marketing and I love good advertising, too -- I think it's definitely an art form. But so much of it is not "minimal" -- a lot of it screams at you -- either visually or audibly. Billboards are no exception. Perhaps if Houston got rid of billboards, we'd notice how awful most of our freeways actually look, and there would be more beautification of the roadways. Wishful thinking, I know.

I've used Darin at http://www.blindfashions.net/default.htm. He doesn't have his products online, but he can get you just about anything. He was very good for what I needed -- I had to match some existing blinds that had been there for 10 years, and the new ones match perfectly, even though they're a different manufacturer.

This will be a very interesting experiment. The law apparently only outlaws large signs, not all signs. Billboards can be quite pricey -- I wonder where the advertisers will spend that money now. Internet? probably. Newspapers? probably not. Radio/TV? maybe (thank God for DVRs).

I know, sorry. I need to start carrying my camera with me since I don't have a camera phone!

If you're looking for thrift stores, I go to http://www.theguildshop.org/ a lot -- on Dunlavy between Westheimer and W. Gray. Also http://www.thebluebirdcircle.com/ on W. Alabama just east of Montrose. They both have great furniture, and staggered pricing -- the longer it sits, the cheaper it gets. For anyone whose interested, Blue Bird has a really cool '70s striped velvet couch -- very long -- for only $110. The background is ivory and the thin strips are shades of blue and green. I bought a similar one from Retropolitan Ballroom last year for $550. I was just there today to buy some other stuff. If I had room for it, I'd buy it.

Thank you for posting, texianjoe. This is great!! Seeing the spinning "million dollar movie" thingamabob was such a blast from the past.

They had a minimum square footage charge, which I didn't quite meet, but had to pay anyway. I think I paid $850 -- cringe. I found some other guy in a neighborhood paper (don't remember the name), and he probably would have been cheaper. But he said it would take two days and International Stoneworks did it in one day. That made the difference -- I didn't want to take two days off of work just for that.

I used International Stoneworks. They did a pretty good job restoring terrazo in a bathroom that had been covered in vinyl tile for 30 years. http://www.intlstoneworks.com/ EDIT: When I had my consultation with the representative of this company, I was just starting out with a bathroom re-do. He said that the terrazo restoration should be the last thing I did. So I waited until after we painted to have his guys come out. MISTAKE. Their machines scraped off much of the baseboard paint. Had I been thinking AT ALL, I would have realized that would have happened, but I just blindly followed his advice.

Amen. We all need to turn off the 24-hour news channels. Of course, we need to stay informed, but listening to hours of non-stop speculation and watching the same videos over and over is just crazy.

I remember that after the theater originally closed, it sat vacant for a while before it turned into a porn theater. They re-used some of the letters and called it "Stars."

Which park, DJ?

Hi, Lisa: I really appreciated the column yesterday. Very well done. Personally, I only know one couple that has a monstrous house. They tore down a beautiful ranch and built a 6,500 sf Mediterranean style home. And they have no children! Why would someone choose to not only build that type of house, but MAINTAIN it! My god, what are the electricity bills in something like that? And certainly they're paying housekeepers to keep it clean and neat. There is such an emphasis now on pampering yourself that it has extended to the physical house. I guess they feel they "deserve it", but what are you giving yourself? In my opinion, it's just a constant maintenance headache.

I know virtually nothing about the Fertitta's, but let's not forget the wonderful quote by Honore de Balzac..." Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."

Did anyone else notice a certain quote from Lisa Gray's column in today's Chron? The column, titled "$1 million pad not what it used to be", discusses the status of high-end realty in Houston, including tear-downs making way for the huge monstrosities people want now. While it's not a direct quote, Martha Turner, of Martha Turner Realtors, said this -- "In Hunters Creek and Piney Point, Turner said, a nothing-special 1950s house, 1,500 to 2,500 square feet, can sell for $800,000. Nine months later, that house will be gone, and the new one on the lot will command $2.4 million. In Tanglewood, any house under $1 million is a teardown. I know some of these homes have serious issues and some are nicer than others, but Martha isn't doing Houston a favor by calling them "nothing special." Maybe it was the columnist's choice of words, but regardless, that's what ended up in the paper. We need more realtors like rps who will speak up for the "nothing special" homes! http://search.chron.com/chronicle/openDocu...p;selectedPath=

Where did you purchase it?

I just noticed it's OPTION PENDING, but here's my uncle's house: http://www.har.com/1515343

I have an aunt who lives in Sharpstown -- on the south side of 59. She's lived their since the early 60s and has seen it change drastically. Last year a neighbor kid tried to burn down her house. Luckily, it was caught before it did much damage. I have a late uncle who lived on the north side of 59 -- in the area you are describing. It's a much different part of Sharpstown, it feels much safer. His house is currently for sale on Osage.

I hope to go on Sunday. Last year's tour -- featuring homes on the bayou -- was awesome. You should get the RDA membership -- then you'll receive their excellent quarterly, Cite.

Down the street a bit, at Montrose and W. Alabama, there is a drug rehab facility that doesn't keep a tight grip on its patients. The teenaged son of a friend of mine just spent time there, and he pretty much came and went as he pleased. Why the facility would allow this is beyond me. Another bad mark for the neighborhood.