SecondTour

I don't know, Crunch....In the 70s, we were watching Happy Days. A show about the 'old days' - which at the time were only twenty years earlier. We're older than we think.

Bixby, We purchased a 1950s mod several years ago and had to go through many of the same repairs you're about to undertake. We re-did the kitchen and master bath because of tile damage. We did it in the 50s style to stay true to the original design. I'll get the guy's contact information for you. In fact, I need to call the guy myself for the redo on the second bathroom. We also had a new roof put on and some new construction (roof related). Ours is a flat roof also. We used Regional Roofing in Bellaire - ask for Larry. The only thing I can't help with is the plumbing fixtures. We replaced most of the old ones with new duplicates, again staying true to the original design. However, the company we bought them through is gone. Don't get too big of a headache over all the "custom" work that was done previously. I speak from experience when I say it can all be undone. It's taken us years, but we undid all the "custom" work our house had when we bought it. When we bought the place, the neighbors told us the house had a lot of customizations from the previous owner and that he was really handy and did it all himself. Uh, yeah - handy is one word for it.

Exactly. Look at the number of things in those pictures that are imitations and abstractions. Imitation trolley cars, brick streets (only where they give retail areas the look the design group originally planned), building facades made to look like 1920s construction, brownstones made to look like they were built separately, restaurants and fountains built with distressed bricks - to give it an old, worn, used feel. Even the people, mostly kids, with their distressed t-shirts and pre-tattered caps for that same used, old feel

Unfortunately, I don't. There's so much available (and cheap) land down here that building new seems easier than worrying about old. There's also a different mindset here about what is old. Look how many topics are on this board about tearing down old buildings built way back in the 50s. Part of that could be perception due to the age of the city itself. In a city as young as Houston, 50-year old buildings really do seem old and 100-year old buildings are nearly non-existant. In answer to your query - I don't see the trend of cookie cutter designed\planned residential and retail areas slowing down any time soon. There's a huge percentage of the city's population that seems to have no interest in it's history. Strickn, not all New Yorkers (current or former) are as clueless about the fly-over states as you may think. In case you haven't noticed, I'm currently living in a fly-over state.

My thoughts exactly. It's a sterile, white utopia. No thanks, I'll stay in the real world.

Step backwards is relevant. A current point and shoot can do amazing things when it's in the right hands. The photographer makes the photograph - not the camera.

+1

I thought the same thing as soon as I saw that one.

One of the Japanese auto industry's favorite cars.

Well,yeah - but the cost of living is pretty low here.

The sign on the store next to it says "Valley Fruit". Maybe that's a place to start, if anyone knows anything about old Houston businesses. Possibly some sort of records database or something.

Here's a photograph; Also, I mentioned before that there's a second house nearby that's very similar. Here is a photograph of it; The two are very much alike. Living space on the right of the entrance, garage on the left. The only two noticeable differences are the placement of the garage doors (side vs front) and a slightly pitched roof on one of them.

No, that strip is just a wood facia across the top. No steel anywhere.

At least you got to see the 500th. Here's a really amatuer drawing I just did of my house, but it's actually a good representation of what it looks like from the street. I don't know what style it is because it doesn't seem to have one. Built in 1960. I have a picture at home.

Thanks. I'll try to get a picture up soon. You wouldn't quit following the Astros if you moved away from Houston would you? That's quite a game you got to see, by the way.

We specifically looked for a house like that. We eventually found one. We love it. It's as plain in front as there probably is. It's nothing more than a brick wall (flat roof) with a single break in it - a gated entrance into an atrium. I have a thread about it in another section, but no photo yet. As soon as I get one, maybe you guys will be able to tell me something about it.

Well put.

I can see it. Neither of them were anything special. It won

This isn't my house, but it is very similar to this (I found it on HAR). I'll try to get a good picture of mine and post it. Like this one, mine is flat roofed and flat across the front. However, my house is even more plain than this one - no front windows, the garage door is on the side so it's not visible like these two?, and the front door is only accessible from inside a gated atrium - which is the only interruption in the brick wall front. The gate\opening is about 6 feet wide. There is one other about a mile away that is much more like mine.

Not even remotely similar to the stresses the Olympics places on a city's infrastructure and resources. Here's an article on how a city is affected by being the global stage for several weeks and the amount of work that goes into it. Atlanta Olympics article

Yes

Obviously not. I'm suggesting that the lack of an existing, substancial, mass transit system (rail) that could handle an influx of hundreds of thousands of visitors is one of the reasons this city is often overlooked.

Houston has almost no public transportation. The busses are for residents. That system would fail under the strain of hundreds of thousands of visitors that would be here over the course of several weeks. The rail system consists of The Superbowl Train. It has served it's purpose already - it shuttled Superbowl visitors back and forth between the Superbowl and the downtown hotels and restaurants. If Houston were to even come close to having a chance, real-world mass transit would have to be in place and fully functioning - able to handle the load without delays - usable to the thousands of visitors from around the world. Not just short lines to and from downtown or the Galleria. They could start with two lines going to and from the airports - where all the visitors would be coming from. The litter here is shocking. People seem to think nothing of throwing trash out of their cars. The other stuff seems to be ok - or at least being worked on. Many freeway areas are now being re-worked into landscaped areas as opposed to acres of paved embankments. 59 between Shepherd and downtown looks a million times better than it used to. Same for parts of 288 near downtown. That kind of improvement does wonders for a city's look and feel. For the residents as well as the visitors. It may happen, but it's going to be a while. As someone else mentioned already, I think Atlanta really hurt the chances for future, non-international cities to be considered.

I'm surprised there aren't more of those around in coastal areas. As brutal as the environment can be, you could really lock the place down when things got hairy. Or if you were going to be gone for extended periods.

Thanks guys. I'll start with those. The tax link was partially down with a SQL server error. However, I did find the plat for my neighborhood. Interesting.