plumber2

I just keep thinking about "El Mercado del Sol". Sorry to be a pessimist.

I have an idea. Feed the homeless in your neighborhood, and on your own property. If there is a need, they will come. If there are no takers, then life is good in you neighborhood. You can then go on about your business feeling good about yourself.

That link was awesome!

The 4 digit store numbers reflect the size of the stores. The 4000 series stores are the older large 1960's era layouts. The 3000 series are the newer 1970'-1990's era large stores including Big K's.

The 7000 series are medium size stores built outside of large cities like to old Webster and Texas City locations. The 9000 series are the small rural community store's usually lacking a garden shop, and cafeteria. These would have been in small cities like Alvin, and Angleton.

The Telephone Rd and Pasadena stores came with next next expansion.

Telephone Rd.

Pasadena

East Freeway

Homestead

W. Little York

20th St.

S. Post Oak

Van Fleet

There were several more by the end of the decade all over Houston, and then more, and more until................Walmart kicked their butt.

In 1976 it was Lancers Club

Just how old are you sev?

I like the period outdoor furniture, however what is up with unfinished CMU blocks on the far left?

Oh, I missed that. Okay, now I dislike it.

I actually agree with Niche!

If HEB was the landlord and there was a breach of contract, then you should have sued them for damages. Why just roll over to them, and then whine on an internet forum?

There was no breach of contract. That's my point knucklehead. It was just a promise.

And I can whine on this forum because it's here! (and the moderators let me). Hopefully someone may learn a lesson by reading this and keep their eyes and ears open when making agreements with HEB, like the City of Pearland.

I guess in the Land of Niche, your recomendation would be for everyone to sign a contract, so they can sue later. I guess in hind sight that would have been good advice, but I didn't have that option.

Anybody got any Cheese?

Niche, my displeasure is rooted against HEB because, of all the major retailers in Galveston, they are the ones that cut and run. Krogers, Randalls, Specs, Walgreens, CVS, Marshalls, Walmart, Big Lots all had minor flooding in their stores and came back rather quickly. Home Depot and Target did not get flood waters and were able to open right away. The city emergency managers allowed grocers in particular to return ahead of the general population so they could secure and survey their property and to make repairs. HEB choose this opportunity to gut their store and haul everthing off. (I didn't get that opportunity to return early). When I was allowed to return, I saw other retailers making quick repairs to reopen, except for my landlord, the anchor of the shopping center, was boarded up and gone.

Yes Niche, promises were made. When we signed our lease it was under the promise that HEB, owner and landord, had big plans to improve and enlarge their store. Not quite a Super HEB, but one of their newest, similar to Wharton or El Campo. This of course never happened. Their skitish behavior after the storm should have been a sign to me. That a business partner would renig on such a promise sticks in my crawl.

Our business recovered immedaiely, but HEB sold the property to the Mosbacher family, which then gifted it to a public charter school. (No local real estate agencies were allowed to participate in this sale). This school, although good for the community, is not a very good landlord (not their fault). We and Papa John's Pizza will probably relocate after our leases are up.

I stand by my comment to the original post that Pearland should not submit to any tax breaks, code variances or land use regulations. Make HEB obey and yes pay just like any other outside retailer. Just because they are from Texas does not mean that they are in anyway favorable business partners.

South Houston (College St.), Spring Branch (Long Point), and Baytown.

Tilman J. Fertitta

Henry Cisneros!

Screw HEB and their business practices. They abandoned Galveston after Hurricane Ike. So much for the "we are all Texans" as the clueless Pearland councilman is quoted as saying. HEB claimed that they sustained major flood damage to their store on 61st Street, stating 2 1/2 ft of floodwater by one source. That is a flat out lie because I have a business in the same shopping center at the same finished floor elevation and we only received 5 1/2 inches of water. I'm sure they bamboozled their insurance company and probably FEMA into allowing them to claim all sorts of operating losses, but never returned anything back to the community of Galveston.

Beware Pearland, don't give up anything to them. Make them pay like any other business that wants to operate in your community, because they'll give nothing back.

It's ashamed that some greedy out of state lawyer has caused such a mess. Property owners beware, you are on your own.

And much to the surprise of the local conservative republicans in that area, most of the construction jobs generated by these expansion projects will be filled with travelling skilled labor, mostly union. Materials will be purchased from suppliers nationwide, although some economic spill over will happen during construction, but afterwards, the locals can go back to their peaceful lives, and keep electing Ron Paul types to congress.

I agree, RobN is probably remembering the Simms estate. We used to go there in groups during High School and just snoop around. It was dangerous I'm sure, but we didn't know that then. I think it caught fire a few times and finally burnt to the ground sometime in 1970 or 71.

If you enter the Fiesta parking lot off of Wayside and notice the palm trees in the landscaping traffic island, they are orginal to the Simms estate.

There was one spanish speaking colony in Texas called the DeLeon Colony. It was just as successful as the Stephen F. Austin colony. The colonists were loyal to the Texas revolution and many served in the Texas Army with General Sam Houston. However, after Texas won indepence, uneducated anglo settlers robbed and killed DeLeon family members, and other spanish speaking colonists. Most anglos considered spanish speaking citizens as traitors because they just didn't know any better. Lands were eventually stolen or "acquired" by anglos through less than legal means. Remaining spanish speaking citizens were forced into a parallel sub culture that was not allowed to prosper.

Are you guys plotting your escape from the impending zombie apocalypse?

I have a Subaru sti, and can pretty quickly attach a big metal cow pusher on the front, I can put lots of gasoline in the back and I'm good for a speedy getaway

A Subaru? Really? I have never known anyone that owns a Subaru. I've seen the comercials on TV all the time, about the guy loosing his sunglasses and the other where he does want to part with his older Subaru (which incidentally looks just like the new one), so he makes room in the garage for both.

But really, I never see anyone driving one around here. Is there even a dealership here in Houston?

I was viewing the neighborhoods around Mykawa and 610 and noticed an image of a Southwest Ailines jet. It disappers as you zoom in, but clearly visible from higher up. It is around the 5900 block of Osborne. There was a smaller corporate jet image at Griggs and Calhoun for awhile but it is now gone (landed I guess, Ha!) Does anyone know how often Google updates it's images, and why would the plane not show up at lower elevations?

I was fiddling around on Google Earth the other day and discovered something odd just north of the Chapparel Clubhouse on Dickinson Bayou. On the picnic grounds there is an old putt-putt golf course that was apparently for member use. The course spells out "The Santo Club Inc" viewed from above. I knew that the club was once the former Monsanto employee recreation center, but I never knew that it was called The Santo Club. Interesting Find.

BTW. The club is located just west of I-45 south of the bayou.

Not sure about those three graves but there is a Confederate Cemetery further back on city property, east of Reisner St.

The parking garage, like many built during that era, has (or had) an employee lift. This single person device is an open air shaft between floors that has a step for the parking attendant to step onto as it takes them to an upper or lower floor. Think of it as a giant rubber band stretched from bottom floor to top that runs continuosly. Stepping on and off at each floor required little effort, but I'm sure became a safety nightmare as OSHA and lawsuit happy lawyers came along.

If the facts that Ango state are true, then I would say the property is priced too high. The market will even things out. The property owner can either reduce his price or keep sitting on it hopingthat the restrictions will change. His choice.

I too remember the exit/entrance stubs on 59. They were between the present GRB and Minute Maid Park. The stubs went out about 25-30 feet. The first stub northbound was evidently to receive an exit ramp to the future 225 eastbound. The next stub, further up, would have received entrance traffic from 225 onto northbound 59. The same occurring on the southbound side. I'm assuming these ramps would have dropped down below the elevated 59 and connected to a future 225 at grade or below grade. because there just did not seem to be enough clearance for any other kind of enterchange. Guard rails concealed these stubs from most drivers view, but they were clearly there. New freeway construction eliminated them.

Note: There was another ramp from the surface (not part of the future enterchange) that was real tricky. Northbound 59 feeder (Chartres) traffic could enter the freeway via an inside ramp between the two elevated sections. It was fun making the manuver with a new comer. It usually freaked them out, being that their fist thought was that this was an exit ramp!

Full circle is right. My grandparents lived just 2 doors down from this place on Ashland, and my great grandmother lived right across the street from it on 13th St. I recall when visiting my grandparents in their later years, that nobody keep up their yards on their street. I think my grandparents may have been the only property owners living in their own house on the street by that time. Renters parked cars in the front yards and used oak trees as hoists to pull engines and other uses. It was really a mess. The machine shop was actually not that bad of a neighbor, at least they kept their site clean. Now a former resident, or a relative like myself would never recognize the neighborhood. My grandparents house is still standing although altered and enlarged. Yes, "full circle" is a proper description.

It wasn't that long ago that the Moody family literally gave the building away. There have been several attempts by interested parties to remodel this structure. I hope this one sticks.

The Moody family, which means American National Insurance Co., had held the entire block for years, as a site for potential expansion. Lately the company has been moving employees off the island to it's corporate site at South Shore Harbour in League City. So maybe, if the Medical Arts Building does take off, they could develop the rest of the block with something other than a surface parking lot.