Reefmonkey

Except, one could say the same thing about a package of linguine or soba noodles that you're saying about a box of Cheerios, yet when I have gotten home delivery, I've gotten linguine and soba noodles that looked like someone had sat on them, all broken up. When I go to the store to pick them out, that's not a problem. And when it's my food, I've just decided I like to minimize the chain of custody. I've never done Doordash or Uber Eats because the idea of some basically gypsy cab driver carrying my food around in his car turns me off. Generally if I'm getting takeout I'd rather go pick it up myself, but at least if the delivery driver is an employee of the restaurant there is at least some accountability for food handling and quality when it reaches you. I don't know, whenever I hear people justify their reliance on home delivery for everything with "my time is just too valuable to spend it in a store (or restaurant)", I just think about the high likelihood they are spending that "valuable time" bingwatching Hulu (or posting on internet forums), and getting up, getting out, getting some fresh air and exercise and interacting with people might be a more valuable use of their time. It's like we're becoming a nation of lazy shut-ins. When I lived Downtown just as it was getting cool in the early Aughts, the whole point of living downtown was to be out, to be able to walk out my door and have everything there. I rarely spent much of my waking hours in my apartment. I would have loved to have had grocery stores to walk to.

Heh, just 2 hours ago I said that, and then this story pops up in my browser: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/03/business/hershey-virtual-checkout-counter/index.html

Yep, I've tried grocery store delivery just for "convenience" a few times, through both HEB and Randall's, and have to say I'm not a fan. First of all, you have to plan ahead, then have to schedule it in to be there during their arrival window, and then half the time they are "out" of things you know they have at the store, just not in their home delivery warehouse, and even when they attempt a substitution, it's not what I would have picked, any time I've ordered something like linguine or soba noodles they come all broken up in the package, and the produce is usually terrible looking. I think with the pasta and produce, they deliberately send to home delivery the stuff they know would be rejected by in-store customers. When I grocery shop on my own I can more spontaneously fit it into my schedule, I'm more likely to find what I need, or if I don't I can make subsitutions that are better for my intended use, I can pick out the best produce, make sure things like pasta aren't broken up, and when I'm going through the store I often remember things I need which I forgot to put on my list. Sometimes I think grocery stores haven't thought through the fact that by pushing the home delivery they are going to really cut into their revenue in the form of impulse buys from in-store customers. I have several friends who claim they never go to the grocery store anymore, rely solely on home delivery. These people claim to be foodies, and like to cook. I have to bite my tongue, because to me, if you really care about food, you want a hand in picking out the best ingredients. How lazy have we become if we can't take the time to pick out and prepare the very fuel that keeps us alive and healthy, and which forms the centerpiece of much of our coming together as families and friends? Man, I've read too much Michael Pollan. It is ironic, however, that urban hipster "foodies" have gone in about 5 short years from insisting that they have to shop at farmers' markets to have a connection with their food and the people who grew it, to having minimum-wage workers pick it out for them and deliver it sight unseen. Agree about Randall's. Shoot, in the 80s, Houston was the envy of many other cities for having Randall's. Sure, it was more expensive than Minimax or Gerland's, but the quality and selection were always top-notch. Then between Kroger's and HEB upping their game in the late 90s and Randall's being bought out by Safeway after Safeway had already failed in the Houston market, Randall's has just been downhill ever since. Now after running them into the ground, Safeway sold them to Albertson's, another company that couldn't hack it in the Houston grocery market, and Albertson's is already doing their best to make Randall's worse, by closing its Houston distribution centers and serving it out of DFW. As if they weren't always running out of stuff already. I almost wish Randall's would just finally fold completely, put it out of its misery.

So basically to kind of fill the role bodegas play in NYC?

Which I imagine means China Garden's days are numbered. Oh God. You know what I think would be really neat and unique in a sports stadium? Being paid for by the team, not taxpayers.

A few weeks ago, after the city planning commission fielded a proposal to eliminate the minimum parking requirements, the Houston Chronicle's op-ed voiced its full support for ditching them https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Ditch-Houston-s-burdensome-parking-regulations-13220515.php What do people think of this, is this the way to spur better urban planning and encourage using public transportation, ride sharing, micromobility? Or are they putting the cart before the horse, reducing parking before providing better alternatives to driving yourself?

The island itself was formed by buildup of the same sediment that is suspended in the bay. And that same sediment extends out into the Gulf (which the bay is hydrologically part of). Very fine suspended sediment takes several days of very still water to finally settle. One kickup of afternoon winds, one afternoon rainstorm, starts the clock all over again. But when we do get long stretches of doldrums and no rain, the gulf water often gets surprisingly clear, I've even snorkeled in it, I remember a few years ago it got where I could see my feet standing chest deep, and enjoyed following a school of spadefish for quite a while. And the waters from the Trinity and San Jacinto keep on going through Bolivar Pass (and San Luis Pass to a lesser extent). Remember what I said about fine sediment taking a long time of still water to settle out? Well not only does the sediment from the rivers NOT have time to settle out, the currents the rivers create stir up sediment that has previously settled. Rivers also create plumes of sediment that fan out beyond a simple straight line out of their mouths. This is how deltas form. So just because the Sabine, Brazos, and Colorado rivers don't "empty at Galveston", doesn't mean their sediment can't make its way to Galveston. And you're contradicting yourself here, you're saying the Sabine, Brazos, and Colorado, three rivers that are fairly close to Galveston can't affect Galveston water clarity because they don't empty at Galveston, but you are saying the Mississippi River, which is much farther away, can. You're also not factoring in the longshore current, which runs parallel to the coastline, and which, in Galveston's case, happens to run West-Southwesterly (ie, from southwest to northeast), pulling sediment from the Colorado and Brazos towards Galveston. No, it doesn't, you're wrong, this has been definitively dealt with. The shear bulk of discoloration in Galveston comes from Texas rivers, NOT from the Mississippi. The Loop Current carries Mississippi water AWAY from Texas, not toward it. It makes no sense that you are so invested in the Mississippi source misconception. Bill King is both right and wrong. He's right that the bay used to be, and could be, clearer, and that oyster dredging and loss of seagrass makes for a silt bottom that is easily stirred up, making the bay murkier. If you look at Dana Cove, on the bay side of Galveston Bay State Park, where I've been canoeing and kayaking and fishing for 35 years, the planting of seagrass and placement of geotubes as breakwaters to shelter the cove and allow the seagrass to take hold since the 90s has absolutely made that water body clearer. When I was a boy in the 80s, it was nothing but puffermud and opaque brown water, but now when I paddle through it, I can see to the bottom, see flounder, stingray, crabs, etc. in the dense seagrass. But King is off-base comparing the Great Lakes to Galveston Bay, especially using clarity as a benchmark. Clear water is not necessarily a sign of a healthy ecosystem, and the Great Lakes continue to struggle with water pollution, worse than Galveston Bay in some ways. And one reason why the Great Lakes have become so clear in recent years is the invasive zebra mussel, which filters plankton and nutrients out of the water - plankton and nutrients that native Great Lakes organisms need. It's not just the sediment that makes Galveston Bay waters murky, it's also the plankton, and that goes hand in hand with Galveston Bay being one of the most biologically productive estuaries in the United States. It blows the Great Lakes out of the water in terms of biomass density and biodiversity. You can see how much a role plankton plays in water turbidity in Galveston Bay during winter when the plankton doesn't bloom like it does during the summer. The water is much clearer in the winter, and a deep slate blue instead of greenish-brown. As a final note, if you look at my profile, you'll see I'm an environmental scientist, so I kinda know what I'm talking about here.

That's quite a claim. Anyone heard of any corroboration of that? I just finished reading a history of the west Houston area from the early 19th Century to now called "Pleasant Bend" that makes no mention of suicides.

I'm generally not a fan of magic, but I'm excited about this. I remember going once back in the late 80s, I guess, probably late elementary or early middle school, and was less interested in what was happening onstage than the general occult ambiance of the place. I hope it's like that when it reopens.

How has this eyesore been allowed to remain in this condition for so long? From what I have read, the current owner has owned it since 2012, and last I read they claimed in 2016 they had plans to make it back into a hotel, but it's been two years, and at least from the Pierce Elevated, it looks like no progress has been made. More than just an eyesore, this building has been a dangerous haven for the homeless, and I don't just mean that there is probably a lot of drug use and other crime going on in it, it looks to me structurally unsafe for homeless people to be in. It amazes me that someone would sit on such an expensive piece of property for so long, paying taxes on it while generating no revenue from it, not to mention exposing themselves to liability from it. Is there any remedy the City can take to put a lien on the property and/or otherwise take it over and demolish it?

The naming conventions of the different University of Houston branches seem to be getting more and more cumbersome and paradoxical. University of Houston - no brainer. University of Houston - Clear Lake. Yeah, okay, Clear Lake is in COH, makes sense. University of Houston Downtown - okay University of Houston - Victoria - Now it's starting to get weird, Victoria isn't even in Houston's MSA University of Houston Downtown - Northwest, Cy-Fair, Kingwood - now we're all over the place University of Houston - Victoria, Katy campus - ????

The Victory Wilson Building. It was built in the late 1800s, a new facade was put on it in the 1920s. Victory Wilson was a Dallas-based clothing store that opened there in the early 1920s, and I think went out of business in the mid 30s. Can't remember what was there in the late 90s early 00s when I was prowling around downtown.

Care to elaborate?

I've noticed a trend in the last few years of unflattering reporting on local media portrayal of how local school districts handle students with disabilities. Generally, the articles portray the districts as uncaring and not wanting to acknowledge or provide services for children with disabilities, and portray the parents as noble crusaders for their childrens' rights under the law. The district is portrayed as ducking comment on the issue. Rarely do the articles ever prominently acknowledge that schools are prohibited under FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) from commenting at all on the situation. The parents can badmouth the district all they want, can even make up lies about the district, and the district cannot defend itself or even counter the lies. Greg Groogan with Fox 26 is especially prolific in championing the parents and neglecting to mention the schools are under what amounts to a gag order. Groogan himself is one of those parents who feels his own child's autism was not properly handled by a school district, which calls his impartiality into question I've personally seen school districts' sides of contentious cases where parents are claiming the districts denied FAPE. I've seen very often parents are refusing to accept schools' good-faith evaluations of their children and determination that they do not qualify for special education services, and I've also seen that there are many parents out there whose children have been identified, and given services, but the parents want more, and take the districts to due process, or even federal court. When parents win, they report having been vindicated, but when the school wins, it's almost never reported as a vindication for the district. If it gets reported at all (again, under FERPA, the districts can't report their victory) it gets reported as parents getting "railroaded" by a system that is "stacked against them." So what does not get reported is how often parents take districts to due process for ridiculous reasons, demanding atrociously expensive and unfeasible accomodations, even including paying for private school tuition amounting sometimes well over $100,000 a year. Because of FERPA, I cannot provide specifics on most of the cases I know about. However, I can cite a case that occurred in Massachusetts that demonstrates what I am talking about, since it went to federal court and became a matter of public record this year. The case is Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School District vs Mr. and Mrs. W. The W's daughter, Wallis, was a sophomore in the local high school when she suffered a concussion in field hockey practice at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year. She returned to school after two weeks, was given accommodations for having missed those weeks, and continued making the same high grades after the concussion as she did before. However, she did struggle somewhat in a very advanced math class she was taking, and in May 2013, her teacher recommended that she take a less rigorous but still advanced math class the next year. Her parents began to claim that Wallis was a disabled child, and accused the school of failing to comply with their legal obligations to provide her with special education. In September 2013, they removed her from the Lincoln-Sudbury schools and enrolled her at Lawrence Academy, a private school. (Wallis is now an honors student at George Washington University). They then took the district to due process to demand that the district reimburse them for the private school tuition. It was a long drawn out process that cost the school district tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, drawn out mostly by the parents' delay tactics where they demanded that hearing officer after hearing officer recuse themselves, before it was found that the school had met all the legal requirements, and the parents' claims were "patently frivolous" and brought for "an improper purpose." The district then sued the parents in federal court for attorney's fees, while the parents countersued for a motion of summary judgement on their counterclaim appealing the due process hearing. The federal court found for the school and against the parents on all filings. Lest you think that this Massachusetts case is an isolated one that happened far from Houston, there is a similar case that happened here in Houston just last year which I can talk about, because the mother waived privacy to try to garner publicity for her fight. The mother is Tianna Hall, a self-appointed crusader for autism rights in schools. Her autistic son was getting Extended School Year services over the summer, but she decided he wasn't getting enough, and was "regressing" over the summer, so she paid for private interventions, and then demanded that the school district, Spring Branch, reimburse her. Not only was it found that her son had not regressed as she claimed, in the course of the hearing it was discovered that she had made multiple false statements (contradicted by her own posts on social media), had been giving her son marijuana on her own belief that it would help him, and it was found that her own behavior in the home was adversely affecting her son. Additionally, the hearing officer made the rare move of chastising her in his decision for false personal attacks she had made against Joni Warren, the head of the special education department. It should be noted that Greg Groogan came to sessions of the due process hearing to support Tianna Hall and take pictures with her that she posted on social media, but Groogan didn't report on this story once the hearing officer released his findings. These are not isolated cases, school districts have to deal with these kinds of frivolous demands all the time. Most of the time the districts cave and give the parents as much as they can because it's less expensive than lawyer fees, and sometimes this includes paying for private school tuition. There is a cottage industry around this, with "special education advocates" charging parents by the hour and going in and demanding every service under the sun from the district, no matter how inappropriate for the particular child. The most notorious among them is Louis Geigerman. Geigerman has no schooling or experience in the fields of education or psychology, and he uses one or two psychologists who will say whatever he pays them to in order to counter the schools' evaluations. Geigerman is regularly quoted as an "expert" by Fox 26. Recently there have been reports on the local media (first reported by Fox 26) of physical abuse of a 20 year old autistic student at the Harris County Department of Education's ABS-West. Even the Texas Education Agency found ABS-West had violated policies, and certainly it is important that this be reported and fixed. However, the local media vilification of ABS-West and the HCDE has been over-the-top. Students do not get sent to ABS-West unless they have showed significant levels of violence towards themselves or others, so much so that the local schools' special enclosed Alternative Behavior classrooms cannot handle them. The teachers in the districts' alternative behavior classrooms regularly get spit on, have chairs thrown at them, get bitten, punched, kicked, scratched, etc. get told they are going to be killed, etc. I've seen the multiple bruises and scabs from scratches my own wife has come home with - and these are the students that the schools believe they can handle on their own - imagine how dangerous the students they send to ABS-West are. Imagine a whole school of students like this, and as a teacher having to deal with nothing but these kids all day, every day. I can believe that the employees of ABS-West lose their cool from time to time - but that is reason to provide them more services, more support, not vilify teachers who are underpaid to be physically and verbally abused all day. Even in cases of teachers within school districts using excessive physical manipulation on students, the local media tends to exaggerate and report the parents' claims as fact. In April 2016, Greg Groogan reported "a child challenged with Down Syndrome, was throttled and thrown to the ground by an adult special education teaching assistant." This was not true. The incident was captured on surveillance cameras, the child was supposed to be sitting, was noncompliant, and the teaching assistant put one hand on the child's shoulder, no where near his neck, and attempted to push him into a seating position. The child then flopped down on the ground, which was a tactic he used when he was noncompliant. The district rightly fired the teaching assistant immediately, but the District Attorney's office, on viewing the tape, found no reason to press charged. The mother was going around telling the story of her child being "choked", and also claimed that the district had not allowed her access to the video, which was not true, the district had allowed her to view the video, but had not granted her request for a copy of the video, because it had images of other students who were protected by privacy laws and they could not allow her to distribute it. What I hope to accomplish by posting this is not to argue that districts are perfect, but to hopefully raise awareness that there are parents out there looking to game the system, not above exaggerating or even outright lying about schools, and there are local reporters, some with their own biases and axe to grind, perfectly happy to print these parents' sob stories as fact, without acknowledging that schools are barred by law from publicly defending themselves against even defamatory false accusations.

I took a look on historicaerials.com, it looks like the house was built some time in the mid 50s and torn down in the mid to late 70s. Here is the timeline: 1953 - nothing there (no aerials between 1953 and 1957) 1957 - house is there, looks complete 1973 - last aerial where house looks intact (no aerials between 1973 and 1981) 1981 - it looks like it had been torn down and only the driveways and a pad remained (no aerials between 1981 and 1995) 1995 - the driveways and pad aren't distinguishable from the surrounding land, except for being clear of trees 2002 - the first color aerial, better resolution, some of the driveways and pad are visible 2004 - no significant change from 2002 2009 - current flood detention pond is in place and looks about 1/4 full of water. all aerials since show the site as it is now

The Trail Dust was a chain and that was their much-advertised gimmick. Up until a few years ago, there was still one up in Dallas, still cutting off ties. There were several restaurant chains and independents that had this gimmick at one time.

Back to the topic, some other restaurants I remember in the 45-Greenspoint area in the early 80s: Scooby Doo's Pipe Organ Pizza, right across the street from Greenspoint Mall (sorry, but I was born in 1976, so pretty young in the early 80s) Dalt's inside Greenspoint Mall (kind of Bennigan's-like) Las Brasas Mexican restaurant, on lower Kuykendahl (south of FM 1960) - in a cool old hacienda-style building, and back then there wasn't that much around it so it felt like a bit of a destination. Matthia's - or something like that, west of Kuykendahl on 1960, kind of in the Cornerstone area.

I know I went to Bobby McGee's as a little kid in the early 80s (I lived in the Cypresswood subdivision) because I remember the name being bandied around, and I think I remember it, but may be mixing it up with one or two other restaurants. Was it kind of similar to Magic Time Machine (which was on Post Oak North of the Galleria, IIRC), in that the decor was whimsical and eclectic, and the waitstaff dressed up in different costumes? I was pleasantly surprised to see that Magic Time Machines are still in business in San Antonio and Dallas. Looking at the menu, it's pretty pedestrian, especially for the cost, I guess you're paying for atmosphere. I also remember another quixotically themed restaurant, which may also have been in the Galleria area - Flying Tigers? I kind of miss that genre of restaurant, which was a carry-over of the 70s I guess. And even the restaurants with less "character" in the waitstaff but still were decorated with Americana tchotskies, the last of which to survive was the Mason Jar on I-10. Even TGIFridays have all redone their interiors to be slick and get rid of the tchotsky decor, and Bennigan's brief c. 2012 resurrection, while the Monte Cristo tasted the same, the sleek decor just wasn't as warm and inviting as the 80s fern bar atmosphere I grew up with.

The more I think about this, the more I think this reasoning can't be correct. Second Empire architecture was actually very popular in Texas after the Civil War, especially for courthouses, such as: Caldwell County (Lockhart) built 1894 Crockett County (Ozona) built 1902 Fannin County (Bonham) built 1889 (originally in Second Empire, but extensively remodeled in 1965 to Moderne style) Hood County (Granbury) built 1891 Houston's Harris County Jail at 403 Caroline Street, built 1879, was a classic Second Empire building. And then to show that Second Empire wasn't just for public buildings, there is the Fulton Mansion in Fulton (near Rockport), built in 1877. I'd definitely be interested in finding out about Second Empire residential structures in the Houston area, past or surviving, if anyone knows of any. I have heard of one that was an excellent and expansive example, though sadly long since demolished, it was on Main at Jefferson. It was called the Charles Shearn House House (I didn't stutter, a family with the last name "House" owned it). Built in 1882 and demolished in 1920.

Back when the Mariposa dining room was on the first floor of Neiman's Galleria location, the walls were decorated with white tiles with whimsical paintings in blue. Anyone know the story behind the artist, and if these tiles were preserved, and if so, where they ended up?

Bump

Just finished reading this book about the history of the West Houston area, from Old Spring Branch out to Piney Point and all the way to what is now Highway 6. If you live in the area and have wanted to learn more about what was here before it became suburbs and urban sprawl, it is literally the book on the subject. Mostly because I don't know of any other books written about this area. It does get a little tedious from time to time, after about the third or fourth family of German settlers who all die of yellow fever or cholera, they all start to run together. https://www.pleasantbend.com/about-the-book-1.html

Bump for October.

The Official Preppy Handbook (published 1980) has a section on "where the preps are" each day of the week in several cities across the country, including Houston, and gives some good insight into Houston's bar scene in the late 70s. I was born in 1976, so I don't remember any of this, but below each entry from OPH I give a "where are they now" update as best as I can: Monday Roscoe’s Cafe & Jazzbar. 3230 Chimney Rock. Live Jazz, big name performers, Backgammon tables. I never went to Roscoe’s and I don’t ever remember hearing about it. Now it’s a digital printing center. Tuesday Butera’s. 5019 Montrose. Deli, very casual, with millions of different beers. The place to be seen, but closes early at 8 p.m. Butera’s had phenomenal sandwiches. My favorite was one with roasted portobella mushroom and red pepper slices. They were still open at least into the early 2000s, but have been closed for several years now. Wednesday St. Michel. 2150 Richmond. Jazz, very sophisticated atmosphere. I never went there, never heard of it. It looks like now there is a fairly new building in that location filled with doctors offices. Thursday Kay’s Lounge. 2324 Bissonnet. Neighborhood bar with game room. Relaxed. Ah Kays, I’ve been there several times, as has my wife, it’s one of many places in Houston we figured we probably just missed meeting each other before we finally met. My wife ended up stuck there during Tropical Storm Allison when her car got flooded in the street, two years before we met. This was also a favorite hangout of longtime Channel 13 ABC affiliate evening anchorman Dave Ward. It only closed last year (2016), and I think the building is still there and nothing has reopened in it yet. Friday The Hofbrau. 1803 Shepherd. Texas roadhouse for steaks and heavy imbibation. Fraternity hangout. The Hofbrau is still there, I went a few times in the late 90s. It lost its cache, though in the mid 90s when Tilman Fertitta of Landry’s Restaurants chain bought it and turned it into a nationwide chain. That man is much despised here in the Houston area. Saturday The Cadillac Bar. 1802 Shepherd. Roast quail at this bar /restaurant. Famous for its Ramos Gin Fizzes. The Cadillac Bar is still there, across the street from the Hofbrau, and it endured the exact same fate, also bought by the Landry’s group and its concept taken nationwide. Sunday Cody’s. 3400 Montrose. Top floor (10th) with great view. Key spot. Good jazz, dress code. When I was young and single in the late 90s, early 00s, this location was called Scott Gertner’s Sky Bar, but other than that it was pretty much as described by the OPH. I took a lot of dates there, because you could step out of the bar and onto a patio on the 10th floor with great views to downtown, the Medical Center, etc. Dates that stopped there always went very well, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, the bar closed maybe 10 years ago, and the building was razed. It’s now a luxury apartment highrise Also, when I moved back to Houston after college in 1998, I lived in the old Westpoint Apartments on Westheimer and Fondren. My parents laughed that I lived there, because they remembered going to parties there when they first moved to Houston, young and childless, in the early 70s. They talked about there being a nightclub right there at the apartment complex called Barbary Coast. Sorry, this website is acting really buggy today, I go to post or edit, and it tells me I can't, but then posts anyway, and I then try again before realizing it's now double posted.

The Official Preppy Handbook (published 1980) has a section on "where the preps are" each day of the week in several cities across the country, including Houston, and gives some good insight into Houston's bar scene in the late 70s. I was born in 1976, so I don't remember any of this, but below each entry from OPH I give a "where are they now" update as best as I can: Monday Roscoe’s Cafe & Jazzbar. 3230 Chimney Rock. Live Jazz, big name performers, Backgammon tables. I never went to Roscoe’s and I don’t ever remember hearing about it. Now it’s a digital printing center. Tuesday Butera’s. 5019 Montrose. Deli, very casual, with millions of different beers. The place to be seen, but closes early at 8 p.m. Butera’s had phenomenal sandwiches. My favorite was one with roasted portobella mushroom and red pepper slices. They were still open at least into the early 2000s, but have been closed for several years now. Wednesday St. Michel. 2150 Richmond. Jazz, very sophisticated atmosphere. I never went there, never heard of it. It looks like now there is a fairly new building in that location filled with doctors offices. Thursday Kay’s Lounge. 2324 Bissonnet. Neighborhood bar with game room. Relaxed. Ah Kays, I’ve been there several times, as has my wife, it’s one of many places in Houston we figured we probably just missed meeting each other before we finally met. My wife ended up stuck there during Tropical Storm Allison when her car got flooded in the street, two years before we met. This was also a favorite hangout of longtime Channel 13 ABC affiliate evening anchorman Dave Ward. It only closed last year (2016), and I think the building is still there and nothing has reopened in it yet. Friday The Hofbrau. 1803 Shepherd. Texas roadhouse for steaks and heavy imbibation. Fraternity hangout. The Hofbrau is still there, I went a few times in the late 90s. It lost its cache, though in the mid 90s when Tilman Fertitta of Landry’s Restaurants chain bought it and turned it into a nationwide chain. That man is much despised here in the Houston area. Saturday The Cadillac Bar. 1802 Shepherd. Roast quail at this bar /restaurant. Famous for its Ramos Gin Fizzes. The Cadillac Bar is still there, across the street from the Hofbrau, and it endured the exact same fate, also bought by the Landry’s group and its concept taken nationwide. Sunday Cody’s. 3400 Montrose. Top floor (10th) with great view. Key spot. Good jazz, dress code. When I was young and single in the late 90s, early 00s, this location was called Scott Gertner’s Sky Bar, but other than that it was pretty much as described by the OPH. I took a lot of dates there, because you could step out of the bar and onto a patio on the 10th floor with great views to downtown, the Medical Center, etc. Dates that stopped there always went very well, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, the bar closed maybe 10 years ago, and the building was razed. It’s now a luxury apartment highrise. Also, when I moved back to Houston after college in 1998, I lived in the old Westpoint Apartments on Westheimer and Fondren. My parents laughed that I lived there, because they remembered going to parties there when they first moved to Houston, young and childless, in the early 70s. They talked about there being a nightclub right there at the apartment complex called Barbary Coast.