tmariar

I got to check out the Dubliner last night.

The Dubliner (technically, the Auld Dubliner) is the bar now occupying the old Chaise Lounge space across from Pearl Bar and next to (or almost next to) Walter's. It's been in limbo for a while as they did some redecorating and waited for the license name to change over. But they've been open, and I think even had their official opening last week. One of the owners is affiliated with the Harp, and another is a Harp regular - hence the Irish name, other Irish touches, and the internet jukebox.

Physically, the bar hasn't changed too drastically. The layout is pretty much the same as it was, and they've still got the nice back courtyard/patio. They've also still got the small parking lot across the street, which is handy. But, inside, the black and white floor is gone (replaced, I think, by concrete), the sofas are gone (now it's all tables and chairs), and there's beer stacked along one wall. There was also a TV, and a group watching the Rockets.

I've been told that the Dubliner wants to be a neighborhood bar, and nothing about my visit led me to think otherwise. Everyone I spoke to connected with the bar or just there drinking was friendly, and the atmosphere was laid-back and pretty similar to that at the Harp. In fact, it's probably got even more of a neighborhood-bar feel to it than the Harp because of its size. I can see it attracting some of the Walter's post-show people, and so possibly getting a bit of a Rudz/PG-type crowd as well. All of which I think is great, as long as the place doesn't end up getting too packed.

I asked about the hours (because Chaise Lounge used to not open until 8). The Dubliner is open 7 days a week, and is currently opening each day at 5pm. At some point, they hope to start opening at 3pm. Another possible down-the-road plan is to expand the back porch.

Yay Dubliner! In my opinion, it's a very welcome addition to Washington Avenue. I think it already got a good review or two above - if anyone else has gotten to stop by, I'd be interested to hear what you think.

I would like to add to that. Any suggestions for someone to:

refinish pine floors on the cheap

concrete countertop in kitchen

EMME - PM Musicman regarding Prudencio's information for floor refinishing. Or better yet, just search on "Prudencio" in past posts - I think he's posted the contact info before. Prudencio quoted me very good prices for floor refinishing, and I think he's done work for other HAIFers who were pleased with him.

Regarding Swift & Co.:

-1932 lists Swift & Co. refinery at the southwest corner of Waverly and 7th (no address)

-Swift & Co. wholesale meats was located at 1102-1106 Commerce St. (and the next block, 1016-1020, was Armour & Co. meat packers).

Thanks. I have been wondering whether the building started as the Swift & Company Refinery, or became that later. So at least it was that by 1932.

And I did see some things suggesting that Swift and Armour were related for at least some period of time.

Don't know why the building interests me - I think one reason is that it's large, especially for its (apparent) age. And I'm thinking it must have played a big role in the early economic development of the surrounding neighborhoods. There were a number of large factories around the Heights in the early 1900's, but we don't have much left of them.

It may well be, though, that the building is not as old as HCAD says. Alternatively, there's another very old building not far away - it's only 1-2 stories - and that may the 1909 building. Even if it doesn't date to 1909, though, it's still quite old - it's nice it's still being used.

I used to live on Waverly and have always thought that Swift&Company building is neat. I bet the view from the top is great. What kind of refining would they have done there? Sugar?

As far as I know, Swift & Company was a meatpacking (and/or meat distribution) company. I saw somewhere on the internet someone saying that their relative had worked at the "Swift & Company Refinery" in Georgia, "working in the cold room packaging bacon." Plus, the company that is there now is a meat distribution company. But I'm hoping I can find more information about the place somewhere.

I had no idea there was (used to be) a Polish community around here.

The only thing I really know about the Polish community here is that Fitzgerald's was originally built - back in 1917 or 1918 - as a Polish community center/dancehall. It was called Dom Polanski (which I think means "Polish Home"). The dances were held on the second floor, which used to have a lot of windows that could be opened to catch the breeze. I think there was a kitchen/dining area on the first floor.

Just found 10 years (1893-1903) of the Houston Daily Post online at the Library of Congress site.

Thanks, y'all - appreciate the information!

On bike rides around the neighborhood, I've spotted (and tried to photograph) lots of places/things about which I'm curious. Here are some I've passed recently:

OLD BUILDINGS:

The Swift & Company Refinery Building @ 621 Waverly - HCAD dates this building (at least I think it's this building) to 1909. It now appears to be owned by Freedman Distributors, Inc. It looks from the internet like both Swift & Company and Freedman Distributors have/had something to do with meat distribution.

Southwestern Bell Building @ 743 Harvard - One site I found suggested this building was built in 1925-26.

ART:

Sculptures @ 620 W. 9th - There's a whole series of these along the fence - I think they're pretty cool.

Squirrel drawings on street @ 800 block of Harvard - I've seen a similar squirrel drawing elsewhere in the Heights, but don't remember where. They remind me of the chalk outlines police put around dead bodies at crime scenes.

FOOD/DRINK:

J&R Louisiana Cajun Boudin & Sausage @ 420 E. 20th - Sounds like they do some retail sales here, but only in large quantities.

3 Hermanos Grocery & Grill @ 6500 N. Main

La Coqueta Bar @ 2020 Studewood - No windows?

Jamail Family Market @ 1602 Airline Dr. - But for the name, I'd assume this is a wholesaler.

Puebla Bakery @ 6320 N. Main

La Carreta @ 208 E. 20th - I've seen reviews, but don't know anyone who's been there.

Polo's Sports Bar - Right by Dan Electro's

C&F Drive Inn @ 6714 N. Main

Rose Garden @ 2621 Link

Figured I'd post and see if anyone had more information about the buildings or art, or had been to any of the restaurants/markets/bars...

Studewood will be closed tonight between 8 pm and 5 am, presumably to pour concrete on the overpass over the street.

I was wondering if that was why. Hope so.

If you knew the history of how long it took to get started, I think it was hard not to be skeptical. I was a little skeptical, too.

But I must say that, while the project hasn't proceeded on a super-expedited basis or anything (is December still the projected completion date?), it seems to have been progressing steadily since it got going, and more quickly than I anticipated.

Creative idea, guys. I'm not sure of my schedule yet, but would try to make it whenever.

We can plan offline once there's a date, but I'm happy to bring booze/mixers, etc.

Same here. I've got some folding chairs, too, if you need them.

Someone on the woodland heights bulletin board went to CBS Outdoor to ask what was being built. They were told that CBS was building the structure for their own use.

That jives with the building permit info I found. Not very exciting for us, but good for them.

Those would be cool to see.

Absolutely. Is it Super 8?

If you don't get any responses to your post, I suggest emailing the non-profit Houston Arts and Media for advice and possible assistance.

I figured it was just going to be a front office for CBS Outdoor. Here's what I think is the building permit:

Project No:06063219

Date :2008/11/18 00:00:00

USE :SITEWORK , NEW OFFICE BUILDING 1-1-2-B-

Owner/Occupant :*CBS OUTDOOR

Job Address :1600 STUDEMONT ST 77007

Valuation :$ 1,300,000

Permit Type :13FCC

Group :Office, Banks, & Professional Bldgs

Buyer :*CBS OUTDOOR

Address :1600 STUDEMONT ST 77007

Phone :(713) 797-0404

Assuming it's just a front office, I'm a little surprised that the billboard business in Houston is apparently thriving.

Just to add information about those addresses c. 1932:

Thanks!

I'm curious, where did you find this information online?

NewspaperArchive.com - It's a subscription service - I think it's $15-$20/month. But it gives fairly good text-searchable access to the Galveston paper all the way back to I think the 1860's, and some other local paper archives as well (no Houston papers, though).

EDIT: Posted before I finished - I was going to add that I've found the Galveston paper to be an incredible resource wrt Houston history. Hence my frustration over Houston newspaper archives not being equally accessible.

Yes, check old Houston maps first to see the general development of Woodland Heights. And there is a lot of interesting information you can find easily on the internet about the Bayland Orphanage.

Woodland Park (formerly Highland Park) and the old streetcars played a big role in the history of Houston Avenue.

The former home of Woodland Heights developer William H. Wilson, at 205 Bayland, is a notable structure not too far from those commercial buildings.

As for the buildings themselves, the old city directories at the Julia Ideson library willl show you what businesses were located there over the years (there are listings by address - very easy to use).

I looked up one address (Kaboom Books - 3116 Houston Ave.) online, and saw that someone whose name looks like C.B. Gennusa applied for a building permit to build an addition at that address in February 1915.

A 1910 article mentioned that Bayland Avenue was in the process of being paved (with shell), and referred to the buildings at the intersection of Houston and Bayland as Woodland Heights' "business district" - it also said that the city was considering a bond issue to pave Houston Avenue up from Spring Street to connect with Bayland, as Bayland would otherwise have no paved connection.

In 1907, there was a wood yard - W.T. Weeden's Wood Yard - at 3108 Houston Ave. (Possibly this W.T. Weeden.)

If you do the city directory research, let us know what you find!

Here's a link to a lengthy 10/28/97 Chron article about the pharmacy ("Charm and cherry Cokes / Ever-present past, uncertain future for Huston's Pharmacy").

What about all the restaurants on Washington Ave?

Hey EMME! Have enjoyed your posts on Swamplot, assuming you're the same EMME.

Yeah, this thread was started back in May 2006, and a lot has changed since then. Now the thread has become the default repository for a lot of Heights-restaurant-related posts, and so it's gotten overly long. I like to see individual restaurants have individual threads (and some do) - but the one I started on El Gallo de Jalisco (a nice little neighborhood taqueria on White Oak with limited hours) got moved by the moderators (who are generally very good at tidying things up) from the Heights section to the general restaurants section, so maybe there's an advantage to having this one very long thread for discussing Heights restaurants, even if the title has become misleading.

I think the Heights can claim pretty much all of these restaurants as at least "Heights-area" restaurants. A friend asked this weekend what the closest Indian and Middle Eatern restaurants are, though, and that stumped me a bit. Not a lot of Heights-area options there, unless I'm forgetting somewhere...

Boy, this one is hard to find, I tried, no luck...maybe looking into "Chaneyville" would lead you somewhere. (The block book maps are inaccessable right now, boo.) I couldn't find anything in the link to the old schools (the good one w/ the old pics). This may be one for the Texas Room librarians.

Thanks for looking! I hadn't checked the old school photos link yet, so that's helpful.

I'm curious if anyone knows what's happening with the Harper School building at 3200 Center St. (just north of Washington Ave., just west of Studemont).

Based on the information I've found, the building was built as the "Harper School" in 1927, and named after poet and abolitionist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. I think the school probably served black students for some period of its history, based on its name/age, but also because I've seen old newspaper references to "Harper Colored School" and "Harper School (Negro)". I've seen references to the Harper Colored School as far back as 1915, so I think it pre-existed the building. The architectural plans for the building are dated 1926, the project is referred to as "Harper Colored School - New Building", and the architects are listed as Wyatt C. Hedrick and Gottlieb.

More recently, the building appears to have been used as an HISD alternative school - Harper Alternative School. But Harper Alternative School moved to North Shepherd in Fall 2007.

There are a number of temporary buildings on the grounds next to the building. When I rode by a couple of weeks ago, the building and grounds were surrounded by a fence, with for-sale signs posted around the property. The sales company's brochure for the property is here. The ad mentions the temporary buildings, but not the 1927 building. Which makes me wonder if (1) the 1927 building is not for sale, or (2) the 1927 building has been torn down very recently, or will be torn down very soon.

Anyone know what the plans are? Or have more information about the school's history?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3335/3431814651_0207cfc428_b.jpg

Harper School (front view)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3573/3432630548_b45fbd8bf1_b.jpg

Harper School (side view)

Some that I remember from occasionally looking at UE sites:

Fort Worth

Detroit

Good luck with the blog!

Thanks!

Though, the house hasn't been torn down yet, and Hakeem has cooperated with GHPA to some extent on other issues in the past - so I wouldn't assume just yet that he won't make some concession to the historical significance of this building. Even if it's just not charging a non-profit as much as he would a commercial venture for the purchase of the building.

They're in response to this guy's attempt to build an apartment building that's going to be a bazillion times taller and larger than anything else in the neighborhood:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...and_houston.php

Surprise, surprise.

There are drawings of the proposed structures in the last link in post 126.

My understanding is that they are not a "giant modern apartment building" (like the yucky one built a couple of blocks away, fronting I-10), but two single-family houses to be built side-by-side. And I think the Freeland District is the only neighborhood the new constructions would "dwarf" - they would dwarf their neighbors, just like many (if not most) of the townhouses and houses-you-really-shouldn't-call-freestanding-without-a-wink that builders have squeezed into subdivided lots in the Heights.

I'm certainly not in favor of anyone tearing down 536 Granberry and replacing it with two 50'-tall new constructions crammed into a single 50' lot in an otherwise undisturbed, albeit small, historic district. I'm against it for all the reasons cited by the HAHC in that same link, plus more. I admire the Freeland District residents for fighting to protect the historical integrity of their pocket of the Heights, and am fully behind them. I think there was just a misunderstanding along the way about the nature of the proposed structure(s).

Or does someone have some more recent info suggesting the plans have changed? The lot is VERY deep (maybe 150'+ feet?), but I still can't imagine trying to build an apartment building there.

Sorry to repeat myself but, if a moderator reads this, could we please have posts 125 forward moved to their own Freeland Historic District thread?

SaintCyr: Thanks for the additional information.

Poyea: Oh man, I subscribe to so many different things that I think I got the notice a couple of different ways. But I know that one of them was from the Sunset Heights Civic Club. They must have a sign-up for email updates on their site. There's a list (with links) of Heights sites and Heights-area civic group pages in the right column of the Heights Blog.