mkultra25

So, right around where Canino dead-ends into I-45? Or a little north of there? Roughly what years do you remember it being there? You might take a look at Historic Aerials - you can plug in an address and click "Aerials" on the left-hand menu bar to see which years aerial photos are available for that address. I used 8010 North Freeway, zoomed in, and looked at the photos from 1957-1973. Not sure I saw anything that was definitively a truck stop, but there were a couple of places that might have been.

Getting "HTX" accepted in common usage here was the first step in Austin slipping the camel's nose under Houston's tent.

I can't remember how I first found HAIF. I suspect it was via a link from some other site, or from a hit in Google search results when HAIF happened to have something relevant to whatever it was that I'd been looking for. I am somewhat surprised that I've been here since 2006. Doesn't seem like it's been 15 years.

Thus the intensity with which the old Lovett cheer "we are the best college, all the others suck/Edgar Odell Lovett..." was typically shouted.

I just spent more time than I care to admit paging through that PDF, deep in a Proustian reverie triggered by the sight of a Spud-U-Like ad.

Yep. That was the neighborhood Walgreens before the newer one was built. It used to be my go-to drugstore when I first moved to Montrose, but tbh I probably spent a lot more time in it after Soundwaves relocated there.

Yep. Dogwoods, the former estate of Ima Hogg's brother. It's mentioned in the article I linked to. The Arnold family may have a decent track record in philanthropy, but they're clearly unimpressed with John Staub's architecture.

Hanszen was one of the original colleges when the college system was implemented at Rice in 1957. The building being demoed is the "New Wing" of Hanszen, which was also built in 1957. There is also an "Old Wing", which was built in 1916 and was previously known as West Hall prior to the advent of the college system. Residents have long complained about the deterioration of the facilities in the New Wing, so this has been a long time coming. Still, it always makes me a little sad whenever another of the Rice Institute-era buildings that sprung up during the postwar building boom meets the wrecking ball. Tangentially related: Harry Hanszen lived in a John Staub-designed mansion in River Oaks on Lazy Lane that subsequently became much better known as the longtime home of John Mecom, Jr., until it too met the wrecking ball in 2017: Storied Texas Mansion Completely Demolished

One (actually three) I don't see on the list - the small fountains adjacent to the Labyrinth on the University of St. Thomas campus.

We'll be on the lookout for a guy on a bike that bears a suspicious resemblance to Rob Halford.

So where's Yellow Cab moving to, if the "North Site" is going to be developed at their current location? Maybe the city can get Elvin Hayes to revamp his Yellow Cab ad for the new development. "When you really make it big - single-family home big - you're on Hays Street."

Tom Doneker. Both my wife and I have been his patients for at least 15 years, ever since she was working in Tanglewood and got referred to him by her then-boss when we were shopping around for a new primary care physician. Straight-talking, very personable, and responsive when I've had to send him a message via the MyChart app. https://www.kelsey-seybold.com/find-a-houston-doctor/thomas-doneker-internal-medicine

"Please seek regulatory attention if road is closed for longer than four hours"

And rig up a fan and some tubing for the arms, a la Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man.

The Falun Gong are probably trying to figure out a way to move into the recently-vacated Chinese Consulate on Montrose and repurpose it for year-round Shen Yun.

Yeah, the produce section at our usual HEB is generally pretty good but occasionally it isn't great for the items we typically buy (either they're out of stock, or what they do have is suboptimal). But they've got me when it comes to store-branded ice cream. Creamy Creations > Private Selection every time. And their beer and wine selection is quite good but the Kroger at 11th and Shepherd probably has everyone else short of Spec's beat when it comes to sheer size and selection of wine.

I used to think HEB proponents sounded suspiciously like a cult. The HEB stores were nice but none of them were very convenient to us, so we went there infrequently. Once we had an HEB nearby and got used to shopping there, we haven't looked back. IMO, HEB has better quality products than Kroger, particularly when you compare their house-branded products. I think HEB being a Texas-based chain makes a difference, as they can be more effective with locally-focused items and promotions than a national chain can (and their supply chain tends to rebound quicker from disruptions in the aftermath of natural disasters like the recent winter storm). They do cost a little more but the difference typically isn't huge.

If I may ask, what's your preferred local used office furniture place? I've been needing to replace my worn-out home office chairs for quite some time, and would like to upgrade to higher-end Steelcase or Herman Miller models, but I'm not going to pay the $1000+ prices those chairs usually command new. It's been quite a while since I last priced premium office chairs, but I gather from your post that the pandemic has depressed the market sufficiently to where it's probably time for me to go shopping again.

With the right contractors, anything is possible.

From what I can tell, Hillstone owns roughly two dozen restaurants around the country, half of which were rebranded to Hillstone's and half of which retained the Houston's branding. Paradoxically, the sole surviving Houston's actually in Houston (the one on Kirby at Westpark) was rebranded to Hillstone's.

Glad to see this sort of reclamation taking place. It may not be apparent from looking at it, but Abercrombie Lab is 70+ years old. It's already been announced that William McVey's sculpture "Energy", which graced the entrance to Abercrombie for the building's entire history, will be preserved and incorporated into the new building.

That should all get cleared up as soon as the pre-soft-opening interview with the owner gets published:

Rice Media Center confirmed to be torn down by end of 2021, film and photography professors reflect on goodbyes, transitions and expectations By Shiyu Miao 4/20/21 9:13pm University administration has confirmed that the Rice Media Center will be torn down by the end of this calendar year after stating an uncertain timeline last September. Kevin Kirby, vice president for administration, said an architecture firm named Diller Scofidio + Renfro has been selected for the new building, and the design process will start in August of this year. The building will be ready to open in about three years. “[Diller Scofidio + Renfro] were selected after a design competition,” Kirby said. “The lead architect is Charles Renfro, and he is a Rice grad. The design process takes roughly one year, and then [it] takes roughly two years to build, maybe a little bit faster.” Kirby said Rice Media Center was built to be temporary and many problems now have occurred in the last 10 years. When the center’s demolition was first announced, Kirby revealed that the building had required $800,000 in maintenance and repairs in the last three years alone due to issues such as water leakage and faulty air conditioning. “It's a 50-year-old building that was meant to be a temporary building,” Kirby said. “It opened in 1970, and we've had many problems with the building over the last decade, [like] maintenance issues. It's just at the end of its useful life.” In preparation for the demolition and construction of the new building, faculty and staff who previously occupied the media center have been relocated. Geoff Winningham, a professor of photography, said he planned to move his darkroom in August last year but the main move did not happen until January. “The equipment from the main darkroom and the digital lab was moved out starting at the end of January,” Winningham said. “January and February [was] when we were actually moving the equipment so it was a big job, because there's a lot of equipment and lots of stuff to move at the media center. It took more than a month to get it all over.” Winningham said the digital lab, which is used for digital photography, has been moved to the basement of Sewall Hall and the darkroom for film photography has been moved to the basement of Herzstein Hall. Winningham said the new darkroom will be half the size of the original one but he has high expectations for it. “The university has spent a good bit of time and money making this temporary darkroom,” Winningham said. “And although it's smaller, it's going to be every bit as good as the darkroom we had before. And it's closer to the center of the campus. That would be easier for students so that they don't have to go all the way up to the media center. It will be operating by this summer. All the equipment is there, all the plumbing and electrical is installed, so it's almost ready to go.” Winningham said a new VADA building will help connect the arts departments and enable them to learn from each other. In the past, the Rice Media Center has primarily been used by the photography and film departments, while other visual arts courses have historically been held in Sewall Hall. Winningham said he hopes to find more inspiration for his photography by being able to observe other visual artists in the printmaking studio, which will be within walking distance in the new VADA building. “We'll all be working in the same place that the painters and sculptors and printmakers and the filmmakers are all working,” Winningham said. “They may be on a different floor. They may be way down the hall, but we'll all be in one place. So we'll all learn from each other.” Brian Huberman, a professor of film, said he hopes to have a space in the new VADA building that allows an adequate level of noise for film editing, which requires constantly rewinding and rewatching films. After relocating his office to Sewall Hall, Huberman said he always wears headphones now so he will not invade everyone else’s space. “Our film is noisy,” Huberman said. “Film editing is a nightmare for those around it, because you're constantly replaying stuff over and over to see how edits are working. And maybe your movie has bugles and trumpets in it like my current documentary does, and they're loud … For the future, I would hope that there is a recognition that the film people need something different. We need to be able to shout [and] make noise.” Huberman also hopes that the new building will have a design that fosters communication between the faculty and students like the Rice Media Center. “The great thing about the current media center design is that all the main elements of the program are really together,” Huberman said. “My office is where I work and have my editing setups, and it’s right there in the heart of [the center], so students that are there just have to walk a couple of steps, and I'm right there for them. And that way, you're not always limited by office hour connections or having to make an appointment like they do now. I would hope that the new building respects the design of the old in that sense.” After relocating to Sewall Hall, Huberman is planning to teach FILM 444: Handmade Film next semester. He says it is a hard course to teach because of the space necessary and the equipment involved. “We need a messy space,” Huberman said. “Because in addition to filming films, they also work on the film as a plastic medium, painting on it and gluing stuff to it and exploring the many different approaches to film. Maybe we'll just push out into the sculpture yard which now has these covered areas. Maybe we'll colonize some of those spaces and have the students do [the work]. Because in the days of the media center, when the weather was good, we would go outside then, and they would paint on the film.” Huberman said there will be a few activities held around the media center before it is demolished, including a potential final screening of “Last Night at the Alamo,” a 1983 film co-directed by influential Texan independent filmmaker Eagle Pennell that Huberman worked on as a cinematographer. As the media center’s last days loom, Huberman is reflecting on his long Houston and Rice careers. “I'm getting through a period of mourning,” Huberman said. “I've worked at the media center, I think, for 46 years. It's like my whole professional life has taken place in that building, so it's a kind of a life experience. I came to Texas from England in 1975 to take up the position, so the passing of the media center is the end of an era, certainly, for me.” While full of nostalgia for the old media center, Huberman is equally excited about the new adventure the department will have in the future. “We [should] remember to reinvest some of this energy into the next stage of the life of the film program that will now be very much embedded in the art department,” Huberman said. “It's a new adventure.” https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2021/04/rice-media-center-confirmed-to-be-torn-down-by-end-of-2021-film-and-photography-professors-reflect-on-goodbyes-transitions-and-expectations