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mkultra25

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Everything posted by mkultra25

  1. mkultra25
    My mom says the same thing - she moved to Houston in the early 50s from a town in deep East Texas that is tiny even today (blink once and you'll miss it while driving through). Those theaters would be quite impressive now, if they were still around; I can only imagine what they must've looked like in their heyday to someone who'd grown up in the country.
  2. mkultra25
    Seems like there were always some shady characters hanging around the Coliseum area whenever there was a concert. I got mugged there once before I even got in the door. It was a Cheap Trick concert, and four of us were walking around the side of the building toward the entrance. I was behind everyone else and was (stupidly) carrying everyone's tickets clearly visible in my hand. Sure enough, someone that had spotted the tickets grabbed me from behind, punched me in the face, snatched the tickets and ran off.
  3. mkultra25
    Is that the building currently housing the Hungry Farmer BBQ?
  4. mkultra25
    My wife attended a wedding reception there last year. I was kicking myself later for not going with her, as she said the house was incredible.
  5. mkultra25
  6. mkultra25
    I think I mentioned this book in another thread recently. I have a reasonably substantial library of books related to theater history and motion picture technology, and this book is the last word on a subject that's not been well-documented in the past. Run, don't walk, to the bookstore and get it if you're even slightly interested in Houston's old theaters.
  7. mkultra25
    There's a discussion of the globe originally being the Weather Eye in this thread at SixFlagsHouston.com - someone says that was not the case, and claims that the "weather ball" (sic) wasn't decommissioned until the early 80s. That doesn't sound right to me, but at any rate I'd think Dene Hofheinz would certainly be in a better position to know the globe's origins than just about anyone else.
  8. mkultra25
    Ferrari dealers generally don't have to go looking for customers - they know customers will come to them. Ferrari manufactures a very small number of cars compared to larger car companies, so there are frequently more prospective customers than there are cars allotted to a dealer. For a new model that's very much in demand, it's common for Ferrari dealers to give preference to customers that they already have an established relationship with and who have purchased several cars from them in the past. That said, there's not really a compelling reason for them to move, especially when the property taxes are probably a lot lower in their current location than they would be in the more upscale parts of town.
  9. mkultra25
    Staples is opening several retail stores in the Houston area in the near future. There was an article in the Chronicle about this not too long ago.
  10. mkultra25
    I meant to post this earlier but forgot to until now. If you haven't already seen it, check out David Welling's wonderful new book Cinema Houston - anyone who remembers any of Houston's movie theaters of the past will find it an indispensable reference. Cinema Houston
  11. mkultra25
    Both George and Herman Brown as well as their wives were deeply involved with Rice - they both attended classes (but did not graduate) there, and George later served on the Board of Trustees for 25 years. There are separate buildings on campus named for George Brown, his wife Alice Pratt Brown, Herman Brown, and his wife Margarett Root Brown (Brown & Root cofounder Dan Root's sister). From http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?8399901:
  12. mkultra25
    Not sure, but I certainly do. The Galleria and Memorial City Macy's stores are nicer, but they're also a lot further away from where I live and the traffic surrounding both of them is much worse. I can get downtown in 5-10 minutes, and with a little patience, can park at one of the on-street metered parking spots right in front of Macy's entrance (on weekends, anyway). Plus, it's simply a historic store, and I find it interesting to check out some of the details that have survived over the many years it's been there. I think the downtown Macy's does a lot of lunchtime business from downtown office workers, especially when there's a good sale on. When I used to work downtown, I could always tell when there was a particularly good sale because there would inevitably be a big group of coworkers headed over there at lunch. When I go there on the weekend, they never seem to have nearly as many customers as you'd expect to see given the size of the store.
  13. mkultra25
    I miss Foley's too, but I've gotta say at the consumer level I don't see a whole lot of changes since it became Macy's. I remember quite a few people expressing dismay at the time and speculating that Macy's would probably do away with the frequent Red Apple sales that were Foley's hallmark, but judging from the number of emails and snailmail flyers I receive from them, if anything the number of sales has increased. I prefer the downtown store - I was afraid that if Macy's decided to close any stores, the downtown one might be on the list, but so far that hasn't come to pass. There still seem to be quite a few employees there that were 20+ year Foley's employees, and the quality of service hasn't really changed. And IMO neither Penney's nor Dillards can compare to Macy's as far as convenience or selection of merchandise.
  14. mkultra25
    Lorenzo de Zavala Edit: Oops, gnu beat me to it.
  15. mkultra25
    Wow, thanks for posting this. John Brandstetter was also principal at the school I attended in the late 70s, almost 20 years after this picture was taken. He was Dr. Brandstetter by then, having acquired an Ed. D. at some point in the interim. He lived to the ripe old age of 90, passing away in 2005. John Brandstetter obituary from Houston Chronicle archives
  16. mkultra25
    Anyone have photos of Sam White Oldsmobile? It later became Mossy Oldsmobile, and is now Stewart Cadillac, located in the block bounded by Main, McGowen, and Travis. I've admired the building on the corner of McGowen and Travis for years (the one with all the windows). It used to be Sam White's service department, but I've often wondered if it predated the dealership or not. I remember when I was about four years old, my parents went to purchase a new Oldsmobile at Sam White. They wound up getting a '68 Delta 88 despite my firmly-held opinion that they should opt for a 4-4-2 instead, proof that I was into muscle cars at a very early age.
  17. mkultra25
    All gearheads should go to Keels & Wheels at least once - there's nothing like it anywhere else in the area, as the 2007 list of car entries will attest. Anyone remember dethroned strip-center king Jerry J. Moore's Antique Car Museum that used to be in a warehouse on the North Loop near Shepherd/Yale? That place was incredible - rows and rows of Duesenbergs, 12- and 16-cylinder Cadillacs, Packards, and other similar classics worth millions of dollars, all crammed into a nondescript building in a part of town you wouldn't expect to find it in. It was closed to the public at some point after he ran into financial difficulties and the cars were eventually moved out (and presumably at least some of them were sold). The building now houses a discount furniture store, but I think of what it used to be every time I drive by it.
  18. mkultra25
    It is, and I believe the movie theater actually reopened recently. It was showing movies the last time I was over there several months ago, at any rate. I was pretty surprised to see that, as it had been closed for a long time. It used to be an AMC 6-screener; I can clearly remember seeing ALIEN there in first run in 1979 with my dad. I don't think I've ever seen another movie audience react as strongly as when the creature burst out of John Hurt's chest.
  19. mkultra25
    Except a burger smothered in chili with a fried egg on top.
  20. mkultra25
    Wow, Fatburger's the first place in the Sawyer Heights center I'm actually excited about, although if I had a choice between California-based burger chains, I'd probably pick In-N-Out before Fatburger. If I'm not mistaken, this will be the first Fatburger location in Houston. Fatburger
  21. mkultra25
    As long as 7.9 of it's a balloon payment, I'm golden. Besides, I hear tell there's still a few hardy lenders out there offering zero-down ARMs.
  22. mkultra25
    Anyone else see this house on the front page of the Chronicle's Sunday real estate section? 8 Remington If money was no object and I could live anywhere in Houston, Shadyside would be probably be at the top of the list. They're asking more than twice what HCAD has the property appraised at, but how often do houses in Shadyside come on the market, anyway? 10 Remington sits on an even bigger chunk of land - a staggering four acres right in the heart of the Museum District. The aerial view from Google Maps is impressive, to say the least.
  23. mkultra25
    I wasn't real impressed with Thelma's, especially compared to Williams Smokehouse in Acres Homes. I've yet to find the BBQ joint that can beat the ribs at Williams. Back to the subject of the thread, however: Dinner Bell, all the way!
  24. mkultra25
    Yes. If I'm not mistaken, they've significantly cut back on visitor hours in some state parks already because they can no longer afford the staff to keep them open full-time, and there's even been speculation that they'll have to close some sites to the public altogether for part of the year for the same reason. State budget cutbacks are at the root of the problems, but you'd think that if any public park in Texas merited increased funding to keep admission costs at bay, it would be San Jacinto Park.
  25. mkultra25
    I agree, and I believe a key reason is that tourism is essentially nonexistent in Houston, so restaurants that hope to make it here have to be at least halfway decent in order to cultivate repeat business from locals. They can't get away with charging inflated prices and serving subpar food for very long, unlike in locales where a significant chunk of the business comes from tourists.
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