plumber2

"the government is unwilling to spend in infrastructure and at some point there will be a tragedy that will get everyone's attention" 

Let's rephrase that to say that "the current government is unwilling to spend in infastructure". I'm old enough to remember when the government was willing to spend in infrastructure.       

There are land bridges, well actually under passes all over Texas for wildlife and livestock to cross under highways. There are several on US 77 and 281 where the highway cuts through the King and Yturria ranches.

I'm not familiar with Parker Brothers being part of a shipping business. However, I did have an uncle who drove for Parker Brothers back in the 60's and 70's. He had stories about things being very territorial back then. He told me a story where Parker Brothers was dispatched to a project in Galveston, and the workers on site refused to unload the concrete unless it was delivered by W.A. Kelso. The drivers apparently had to come back to Houston and chip out the undelivered contrete that had set up inside of their trucks.

My grandmother told me that her parent's house was taken in by the North Freeway when it was built. (of couse her parents were both dead by then). The house was somewhere near were Quitman crosses over 45. (I've never quite got to pinpoint it on a map).  Now if the freeway is expanded again, my great grand parents might  just actually get displaced this time for they are both buried in Hollywood Cemetery up near the feeder. How ironic.

Stories like this is why I love this site.

Ain't had no good coffee around here since Adela left!

Until it gets hit again.

There is a pie shaped piece of property stranded on the corner of Fannin and Old Main that has had a pile of debris on it since Hurricane Ike. I was hoping that with construction of the new Bank of America Motor Drive Up that this pile of trash would be disposed of, but oh! no!, the contractor just put his construction fence up around it.

Attached is a poor photo.

This is also the location of the only two or three free street parking spaces in the entire area. (notice the mispelled Holcome Blvd street sign....Ha!).

Thanks Phil Graham.

U.S.P.S should sell this property and maximaize every dollar they can for it. Being there is no zoning at all in Houston, the buyer can put up any type of building they want, residential or commercial, even an Ashby highrise if they so choose (being this site is not near Southampton, or Broadacres, snark snark!).

I can't stop looking at this map. I can only imagine what the landscape (cityscape) was actually like. My father's fist job was a deliverman for City Chevrolet, so this map shows what type of roads he was driving on in 1936/7 as a sixteen/seveteen year old high school student. He told me that OST was basiclly the edge of the city then, and Westheimer was just farms beyond the railroad tracks.

I spotted the Gulf Brewing Co. on Polk St. Being that this was a Howard Hughes Company, it make sense it being next to Hughes Tool.

Also, now that the Houston City Council voted to de annex the Valero Refinery, I'm wondering what parcel that is on this map?

I see a Deepwater Refinery Co just west of Manchester, and the Sinclair Oil Refinery north of Allendale. The Sinclair refinery became ARCO now BP, not sure if that is it or not, might be too far east.

I remember our former Congressman, Nick Lampson pushing for normalized trade with Cuba up to 15 years ago. His pitch was that the rice farmers of southeast Texas would benifit from this. Maybe so.............  

Actually, the operative word is Fertitta.  I don't think the facade would have made a whole lot of difference to the customers (shoot, you could've really tarted it up with a Rat Pack sorta vibe), but it's not nearly gaudy enough for The Tillman.

 

 

Nope.  This is catty corner from the baseball stadium, across Crawford from Assumption.

 

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It doesn't show up on the post card, but IIRC the white columns also had a nice shiny little turquoise inlay running up them.

Mollusk, I assume you meant "Annuciation" and not "Assumption" (I couldn't help myself).

I worked for a freight forwarder right out of college that was headquartered in the World Trade Center on Crawford St, even though the department I worked in was in the Allen Center. The World Trade Center building housed mostly freight forwarder and shipping line offices. It was a dumpy part of downtown back then, and quite a hike for anyone walking over there.

You might start with Peck and Company on Dennis Street. This outfit does all kinds of metal work and metal refinishing. I toured the facility several years ago, but I've never actually done business with them. Worth a try.

It's interesting how "topping out ceremonies" on construction projects have been taken over by the owners. This ceremony was historically an iron worker's party, staged to celebrate the completion of their scope of work. It usually marked the exit and entering of completly different sets of crafts to comple the building. Now it's just a party for the owners to announce and market themselves. Oh well, so long as they're paying for the party, let them have the glory.

I listen some, but that doesn't say much, 'cause I'll listen to NPR too if they have on something that will keep my interest.

I noticed how most of the fireman were all smiling for the camera, like they were having a good ole time.

Huge, Why is your avatar a dated picture of Mark Wallace? Really?

I noticed a reference to a "Proposed Turning Basin" on the ship channel, this one further upstream at Turkey Bend. I wonder is this was really seriously considered or was it just something on paper. It would have required dredging the bayou another mile or so to do this.

I hate burgalers. If this guy is so brave a brash as to enter someone's home and steal without fear, why not uncover their head? What's with the hoodie coward? Or, was it cold inside your house that day, Midtown?

Nena,

   This is an awesome map. It must have been an HL&P map of some type, with the KVA substation notations scatered about.  

I notice that Nabisco on Almeda is not shown but the Dominican Convent is, as is the retired priest's home, St. Anthony's, futher up the street.

Also it points to the future Veteran's Hospital as being on the south side of OST.

The bayous have yet to be channelized, so it's interesting seeing their twisted paths to the ship channel.

Favrot Tower. I was once told by a resident that Favrot was called the building of a thousands smells by some of the tenants. Not all pleasant ones either, I'm guessing.

I had one when I was a kid...back in 1966.

 

Anyone know why they switched contractors?

Not sure what caused the switch, but removing W.S. Bellows and allowing Gilbane to finish the project is kind of foolish. Probably some company guys with big heads, talking like big shots, making unrealistic

demands on the contactor, backed themselves into a corner. They are also probably regretting their decision by now too.

W.S. Bellows is the premier general contactor in Houston. I can't see why anyone would remove them, but I guess so long as you keep all the prime subcontractors under contract, you'll still get a good outcome.

Higher education in combination with biomedicine and other disciplines (engineering, material science, nanotech, etc.) would greatly benefit Houston. I imagine it would take awhile to get on Boston, NYC, or the Bay Area's level, but we could certainly become a second tier city in a decade or so if we invest in it. 

 

Most optimistically, the COH can reign in it's pension problem and translate that into more infrastructure spending and/or lower taxes. We pass a few bonds that focus on providing funds for academic buildings and dense multi-unversity student housing;

 

Or just pray Rice decides to double it's entire student and teacher population over 2 decades. 

How can you reign in pension obligations without cheating someone out of what they had earned and been promised?

Jeepers Strickn! you lost me somewhere after dog vomit.