mkultra25

Current undergrad enrollment at Rice is just over 3800 students, and I believe on-campus housing capacity is around 3300. But not everyone chooses to live on campus (although every undergrad is a member of a residential college regardless of whether they live on-campus or off-campus). I think it more likely that if this rumor is true, the converted Holiday Inn would be intended for additional graduate student housing. Rice has around 2500 grad students, and although they own three different blocks of off-campus grad student housing, I'd be very surprised if the aggregate capacity of those facilities was anything close to 2500. They currently have to run a lottery to determine who gets into the three facilities. It wouldn't be the first time Rice has repurposed an old hotel for grad student housing - in the 80s they "converted" the Tidelands into the Rice Graduate House, where "converted" basically meant putting up new signage.

This just aired on Channel 2's 10pm newscast: http://www.click2houston.com/news/historic-houston-mansion-misses-near-demolition/27846828

I wasn't aware of the earlier history of the Record Rack, so thanks for posting this, Michelle. It was definitely the place to go for club/dance/electronic/industrial music in the 80s. @brucesw: a Chinese restaurant called the Hunan Dragon preceded Jenni's in the spot at the end of the strip center. Record Rack was closer to the opposite end of the center, I believe where the car title/payday loan place is in the Google Street View link you posted.

I was there - got a late start that day and arrived just in the nick of time before they shut the exhibit down.

Sounds like a plan to significantly expand the appeal of Critical Mass rides.

It still looks the same, minus the sign. Here's a cropped capture from Google Maps street view:

It's already sold (or under contract, at any rate). There was a brief blurb in the Chronicle on the 8th stating that the unnamed buyers are native Houstonians and that they intend to restore the property.

That would be quite a nice sleeper. I guess not too many people remember the old song "Hot Rod Lincoln" any more.

Like this one? Surviving examples tend to be well-maintained, as they're fantastic cars and quite collectible (the ones with the big M100 engine obviously command a premium) . IIRC they were the last generation of Mercedes that were essentially hand-built.

Somehow Frosty Travelers escaped my attention all these years, until I ran across a mention of it last year. I took advantage of the next time I was in the neighborhood to drop in and grab a burger, but based on some of the online reviews I've seen since then (as well as Firebird65's comment about the CFS sandwich), I foresee at least a couple more visits to explore the menu further. Sam's was a longtime favorite as well. I agree that it's not quite the same since Hungry Farmer bought out Sam's heirs. The food is different from the original Hungry Farmer location on Crosstimbers, and of the two I've gotta say that I prefer the Crosstimbers location. That Veterans Memorial Sam's never could seem to get its act together. I used to eat there occasionally when I worked near Greens Crossing several years ago, and the place always seemed like it was in a constant state of disorganization. I wasn't real impressed with their portion sizes or the quality of their meat, either. Still, there wasn't exactly a surplus of halfway-decent BBQ joints in the vicinity, so I guess that's how they managed to hang on as long as they did. I hadn't realized they'd closed until a couple of months ago when I was out and about with my dad and we thought about having lunch there, only to find that it was no more.

Both of these features would have been at home on a Maybach. Still, the S-Klasse is the showcase model for Mercedes, and they've never been shy about packing it with new features. Bet it'll be a while before we see Swarovski crystals on a Genesis or Lexus. The new S looks very nice judging from the rear three-quarter view. But if I were among the independently wealthy, I might prefer something a bit more subtle for daily driving:

As the old saying goes, it's a lot more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car slow.

Flying Saucer is definitely the gold standard for pies in Houston. The thousands of folks who line up around the block every Thanksgiving would no doubt agree. Make mine a chocolate cream. Purpledevil, did you (or any other Aldine HAIFers) ever frequent Frosty Travelers on Airline at Raymac?

Great pic! Thanks for posting this, Subdude!

I just ran across Mr. Holder's obituary in the Chronicle yesterday (just now catching up on the past couple of Sunday papers). I didn't know him personally, but I certainly knew of him. A tremendous loss to the community. What dealership did he used to run?

The screen size isn't the problem, it's what they're using to project the image onto it. 4K projection should stack up adequately against standard 35mm projection. 35mm film has at best about 6K lines of resolution, although this is a rough number because film grain doesn't map precisely to pixels/lines of resolution. In practice, this "6K" is often much less as there's usually several levels of duplication in between the original camera negative and a release print, and you lose resolution at each one of those levels. "Real" IMAX is 15-perforation 70mm film running horizontally instead of vertically, and as such has a vastly larger surface area and ultimate resolution compared to 35mm. It's usually said to have about 18K of resolution. When theatrical digital projection first started to take hold, 2K projection was the standard. 4K projectors have since become more common, and while the image a 4K projector throws onto a 60x80 foot IMAX screen probably won't suck, it's also nowhere near what's possible with 15/70 IMAX. But most people probably won't care, because it's "digital".

Wow. I don't think I'd consider that an "upgrade". I wonder if any IMAX licensing fees may have played a part in this decision? Sad that the first IMAX venue in Houston is no more, leaving the Edwards IMAX as the only true local IMAX theater.

Interesting. I knew Chrysler had benefited from some parts-sharing back when the parent company was still DaimlerChrysler, but didn't know about this specifically. I assume by "underpinnings" you're talking about suspension components or subassemblies, and not the chassis itself? I'd think any handling shortcomings would be the result of weight distribution issues more than the suspension; the F/R balance of the 2013 Challenger was roughly 55/45 with the big 392 Hemi, and is listed as 52/48 for the 2014 model, but that number was with the V-6, so not sure that it's significantly different than the 2013 once a V-8 is factored in.

http://youtu.be/6Z7I022m5GI

I think it's better than Stanton's, and I like Stanton's quite a bit (just ate lunch there earlier this week, in fact).

The fried chicken is outstanding. My wife thought it was the best she'd ever had in town, but she didn't arrive in Houston until the late 80s and never got to eat at the Wind Swept Inn. Don't go when you're pressed for time, as you'll need to allow 20-30 minutes prep time for the chicken (I think this is mentioned on the menu, and the waitress will definitely remind anyone that orders it as well).

Be sure to specify "fresh ground cheeseburger" when you order. It's actually listed separately from the "regular" cheeseburger on the menu, and costs a little more.

I firmly believe that the fresh ground cheeseburger at Triple A is the most underrated burger in Houston. Or maybe not so much underrated as unheralded - if more people knew about it, they'd be lining up for it.

It's not bad, and is certainly better than some other places I could name. But your comment reminded me of the Barbecue Inn - I've known many people who swear they've eaten there for years and never had the barbecue. The seafood's definitely the main attraction (although not having been there in several years, I'll confess to having sticker shock when I looked at their menu online the other day and saw that the price for my favorite dish had increased significantly since my last visit).

It apparently horrified Anthony Bourdain enough for him to coin his memorable characterization of it as "warm crap in a bag". Oh well, even Homer nods.