skyphen

I grew up watching the news three times a day. I watched it contribute mightily to my mother's fear and anxiety after my father passed away, what with all the sensationalism and crime reports, so I stopped watching it myself when I got older and got rid of my TV years ago. I get my news online now.

Yep.

You are obviously a part of the problem.

LOL

(as am I )

Another no vote here.

Great news! Plus weekday tours, live bands, and the possibility of residential space? NICE! Now a new (old) place close in to take friends when they visit from out of town.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...iz/5843387.html

Has anyone else started riding the bus or rail due to astronomical gas prices? I know I have.

I am surprised we haven't had more rain this year. But not buggin' cause the drier weather seems to be keeping the nasties (mosquitos) away.

Yay.

I know! Last year was abnormally wet. This year so far has been abnormally dry. I guess that's nature's way of restoring balance?

Since when is the River Oaks Theatre elitist? Those saying that must have never been there. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is played there, fer chrissakes!

Sweet! Thanks for the heads-up!

I love old historic buildings as much as anyone, but I think we are a bit too nostalgic.

Houston? TOO nostalgic? That's a first.

Finally! Some eye candy along the Bayou.

I know, right? And within walking distance for me. It's about damn time.

We missed it (again) this year. Very nice photos!

so.cryptic.

Oh, ok. Well that was one hell of a schizo answer on my part. Like being shown an ink blot and trying to interpret the white area surrounding it.

I actually thought it was funny and LOLed. I didn't get the "space" thing at first either.

If you're refering to the burgers at the lakehouse, then perhaps. I thought it was a damned good burger. The best? I'm not sure, about that. But it IS good.

Agreed! I'm thinking about making a trip down there for a burger and beer right now...

Max of probably 270K

I haven't looked in a while, but last I looked there was nothing in Montrose for 270K. Houses there were starting around 300K and up. That's true of most of the more established, desirable Inner Loop neighborhoods, which is what it sounds like you're wanting. At your price point, you will need to look into a transitional neighborhood, consider condos/townhomes, rent, or head for the suburbs.

Airline Drive between Cavalcade and 610. The (painted) lanes are not even wide enough for an average car. Several times I've seen the produce trucks peeled open like sardine cans when they crowd the curb and catch a telephone pole.

Yep, going to Canino's can be a pain.

Wow! The website looks FAR better than it used to! It's nice to see HPL finally tuning into the 21st century.

My father said that he doesn't care about the rest of the center - he just cares about the theater; if this feeling is common then it has likely already been there. I could live with having the theater itself saved with the rest of the center gone, but if it will have a large garage it needs to be painted in an aesthetic manner.

But what about continuity? The theater would look out of place if it were the only part saved from demolition and everything that went up around it looked like the piece of crap in that rendering. One of the great things about the River Oaks Shopping Center is its continuous uniformity, which is found so rarely in Houston as it is.

That's been my hope all along. Even Chicago had to lose some HH Richardson & Louis Sullivan buildings before people realized what was going on.

Unfortunately, boycotts and petitions won't work in Houston. There are too many people in this city that are ignorant about the architectural significance of the River Oaks Shopping Center, and/or they just don't care about local history because they moved here from somewhere else. People will shop at the new stores, and eventually the old buildings will just fade from the collective memory.

Yep, that's what has already happened. My mother's Houston was quite a different one from the one I know.

Wow. That makes me ill, especially considering what it replaced. Looks like the strip malls over on the southwest side near Harwin. Almost any strip mall on the southwest side near Harwin. This is just sad for River Oaks and Houston. I really hope the theatre doesn't get demolished now. What is the status of that anyway?

Next to the Washington Courtyards apartments, just down the street from the cemetery?

I'm going to be the wet blanket and say reading this thread once again shows HOUSTON could use more attractions. I find it funny that people have suggested Austin, San Antonio, New Braunfels, and Beaumont, because I've had to do the same thing with visitors...end up taking them out of town. I may be slammed for this but I personally think it is shameful that touring vacant homes is even a option for entertaining visitors in the 4th largest city in the nation.

I had the task 2 years ago of having to entertain a few teenagers from Long Beach, who were very excited to see Texas for the first time. I had the hardest time trying to impress them outside of the mall, bowling, and movies, which they all could do at home. We ended up covering San Antonio which they thoroughly enjoyed (though they thought the food in Houston was some of the best they had ever tasted).

We are so prideful about Kemah, and the Auquarium, our Space Center, and our 7 miles of rail, we don't even realize that those types of things are done much better outside of Houston. When it comes to entertainment and attractions, Houston is underserved and I don't think many of us even realize it.

I agree! However, I think Houston has attractions that are unique to it, even a vibe if you will, but it's just not been packaged well. You could try a "Southern/swampy/Bayou City Houston tour" or an "international Houston" tour, or a "foods of Houston" tour, or my favorite the "lack of zoning" tour, or maybe a little bit of each of these things. The other problem with Houston attractions is that they are too far away from each other, so I'd try to focus on one or two areas of town. Whether they're into museums or not, you should take them to the Menil and Rothko Chapel. To see a world-class museum smack-dab in the middle of a neighborhood, now that's not something you see every day. Take them to Discovery Green. Sure, it's just a park, but it's a pretty nice park and great for people-watching. I love visiting parks in other cities. Good way to get a feel for its residents. People may scoff, but you could take them on a Ship Channel boat tour! That you'll have to schedule it in advance. For more ideas, there's a Houston Greeters service and Discover Houston Tours.

It will be interesting to see how the park fares during summer. I don't imagine anyone will be out around say, 1 p.m. in the middle of July, but once Discovery Tower goes up it should provide some extra shade and the wind whipping around the buildings should provide some relief. Now when there is no breeze at all and the air is thick and stagnant...

Residents of the 6th ward have been in quite a tizzy over some of the bars that have opened up on Washington, and patrons parking in the neighborhood. The increased presence may well be a direct result of their whining.

You hit the nail on the head. They are upset at 2 a.m. urinating in the yard and the like. I don't understand how people can live a hop, skip, and not even a jump from downtown and expect the surrounds to resemble Mayberry. Obviously I'm in the minority.

A vocational education has many advantages. It provides a skilled workforce, which could help reenergize our flagging manufacturing sector. It provides a useable skill to those who recognize that they are not college material. It is often not clear to a teenager what value a generic high school diploma has, when it is only useful to enter 4 more years of college. If that same student recognizes that the high school vocational diploma might get him a $10 per hour starting salary as a mechanic, rather than the $6 per hour job at McDonalds, he may stay in school.

The Houston Press just ran a story on this very topic.

College Immaterial for High School Students in Vocational Training