Scott08

I was driving south on Studewood last night around 8 and saw the commotion. Tons of police cars and a couple blocks surrounded in crime-scene tape. When I came back going the other way 15 minutes later the scene was almost cleared. Nothing in the paper about it this morning.

If you're referring to the Norhill esplanade between 14th and 16th, that's become a defacto neighborhood "dog park." I live a couple blocks north and ride my bike by it at least a couple times a week and there's always people out there with their unleashed dogs. For better or worse, I don't expect it to change.

PS. Maybe I'm a unique kind of pet owner, but I've never taken any of my dogs to a leashless dog park before. I have a fenced yard where they are allowed to run free, they get to come in the house at night and when I'm home, and I walk them around the hood on a leash in the evenings. My current dog is pretty well behaved and I don't worry about him running off, but I just don't want to take the chance of something weird happening with him and another dog or human.

Man, MyFitFoods is expanding like crazy. I've been going to them for a couple years now, always at the original S. Shepherd hole-in-the-wall location. Their prepared meals are actually pretty tasty for healthy foods, make great lunches. I had been going in for a few months a few minutes before their posted opening hours on the way to work as there was already staff there prepping food and accepting deliveries. Everyone was always super friendly until one morning a new guy gave me some attitude about expecting service before their regular hours even though the doors were open. It made me mad enough to quit going for awhile, then one day I ran into the owner Mario at a car club meeting I was attending. I told him my story and he gave me a handwritten note saying their store was "always open for a good customer like myself" along with his cellphone number if I ever had a problem again. He must have spoken to the staff because it's always been smiles since.

I just did a HAR search for "all types" of homes in the 77024 and 77055 zipcodes under $300K, and both had pages of stuff. Mostly townhouses in the 024 south of I10, a mix of stuff on the north side in 055. Not every property in either of those zips is zoned to Memorial High School, but most of them are. If schools were my priority, I'd probably opt for one of the Ethan's Glen or Woodstone townhomes as mentioned above, or one of the smaller single family homes north of I10. I don't see the property values of either dropping in the future.

The people who move into the Villas on Heights

My favorite bit of builder-developer lunacy in all of Houston. I love to make fun of this project whenever possible. Thanks.

I've driven by that one a few times and always thought it was some kind of public building. Finding out it's a house gives me hope. I too want to see more Darth Vadar and less Tony Soprano.

Starting on September 2, there's going to be some impromptu cyclocross races in the grassy area between White Oak Bayou and I-10 adjacent to the new bikepath, on Wednesday nights at 6:00. Allegedly work on the RR bridge crossing the bayou is supposed to be done in September. This is a very grassroots type event with the blessing of the proper authorities, come on down if you'd like to watch me suffer (and maybe try it yourself!)

I don't see how a new roof for your house could cost 20 grand, even with trumped up charges for asbestos removal. I got a new 30 year shingle roof on my 1200 sq ft house a couple years ago for right around $5K. That included a few extra charge upgrades and removal of all the old roof down to the rafters.

One of my semi-regular bike rides goes down MacGregor there. I remember the devastation from Allison but didn't know Ike had done it again. Very sad, I always enjoy taking new people down that street and seeing something fairly unique to Houston. Does it affect every single house on the street? or just some of them?

I contacted Narrow Larry and he said his photos were taken in September of 2000. His visit to the house was on an open tour of "unusual Houston area homes" put on by an Arts and Architecture group so there's a precedent of it being opened to the public occasionally. As far as he knows, it is still owned by Marilyn Oshman. A quick Google of her reveals she endowed the Orange Show when its owner died a few years ago and she is still very active in the Arts community and other charitable boards.

Watching the YouTube videos about the house, it's clear that the Ant Farm Collective was way ahead of its time. They took pictures and films of the whole process, building the house was as much performance art as architecture. In some ways, I think it was always meant to be an artistic statement, a sculpture, as much or more than a house. That only fascinates me more. Just as many mod fans wax nostalgically about the 50's and 60's vibe that MCM's generate, this house to me evokes the time period post Vietnam era, where the "hippies" were struggling to make a new future. I happened to be in high school/college during that time frame so it really stands out for me.

Note to mods: Is there any way the posts about the House of the Century could be peeled off of the original thread and given their own title/thread? We might find out even more about it if it wasn't hidden in another thread. Thanks.

I see things just the opposite I guess. I looked at some Para Design townhomes a few years back when they started under $200K and topped out around $225K. Back then, they sold before they were finished. And now they've got unsold houses at $260K and they want to build more for almost a hundred thousand more? I'm not understanding that. Although that area may be less hard hit than some others around town, I still see plenty of stopped construction, resales, and some foreclosures. I think that the arrogance of builders sometimes trumps common sense, seems like they could sell them a lot faster keeping them in the 2's and I just can't believe the land prices have escalated when they've been depressed or static almost everywhere else.

I ride my bike past the OP's townhouses at least weekly. They sat between 1-2 years and then the one on the left was finished up in just a month or so. I'm no scientist, but I can see no way that sitting in the elements that long hasn't damaged the framing of the house. I'd be amazed that anyone would buy it with its twin rotting away 2 feet away. There are examples like this all over the inner city.

I really, really want to see the House of the Century. Recent threads and videos of it have re-kindled an interest in me for the house that started in the '70's when it was built and I first read about it. A friend and I drove down to Angleton on Saturday and you can't see the house from the road at all. It's possible that when the woods thin out in the winter months, a glimpse might become visible. Using GPS and Google Maps, we drove around a bit to see if maybe there was some access from the lake side, but no roads come even close. Presumably the house belongs to whomever (or what entity) owns the other house next to it with the long driveway but I'm not bold enough to just ring their doorbell. I just hate to see the house in decline, I would love to do whatever I can to preserve it.

Mr. Cohen has passed away. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?n=robert-cohen&pid=131107822 . There is also an article in today's Chronicle but I can't find an online link.

15 years ago or so, long before it had really taken off, I looked at house in Shady Acres. It sat on a 1/3 acre lot, nicely renovated 2 bed/1 bath with 2 car garage. Overall it was an extremely sweet deal listed at only $50K (keep in mind that nothing in the neighborhood was going for over $100K at the time.) Trouble was, there was a sleazy 20 unit or so apartment building next door. There was trash in the back yard that the apartment residents had thrown over, and the noise level was pretty high coming from there. A friend advised me to buy the house, saying that the area was ripe for redevelopment (he was right there) and that in only a short time the apartments would be history. Long story short,the apartments are still there. New townhouses abound all around there, but the land price has still not risen to a level where it makes sense for the slumlord to sell out or redevelop. With things slowed down again, I suspect the apartments will still last another decade or more.

Scott, that all sounds good except I would never recommend riding a bicycle on Shepherd at any time of the day or night.

It was too hard to explain, but from that area, I'd probably head down McDuffie, ride down Shepherd a few hundred yards to Allen Parkway, then jump on the sidewalk going over the bridge to Memorial. Shepherd is a bit crazy, both bumpy and with very fast traffic.

<br />All those places deserts look fantastic, but it does not look like any of them sell wine.  A requirement for a nice piece of chocolate cake for me, is a nice smooth cab.  I love my wine with my desert.  Know of any good ones that sell wine as well?<br />

Epicure on West Gray sells wine. It's a couple doors down from the River Oaks Theatre. Also has dinner entrees in addition to its desserts.

I drove by the Braeswood house last night, looks great from the outside. Per TSARP, this is in the 100 year floodplain, anyone know if these houses have actually flooded and how often? Also drove by the flat-roofed mod on Reamer that was sold last year. It was in really poor condition when I toured it but it looks like the buyer is well along the way in restoring it to its former glory, the outside is pristine again from the street. I meandered over towards Willowisp's neighborhood, think I may have seen your house even. I'd never been through that neighborhood before and it looks like a treasure trove of mods too.

I go out at least once on the weekends for dessert and coffee with friends. I like Antidote's coffee, but their dessert selection isn't always consistent. Usually end up at Epicure on West Gray, Dessert Gallery, or Chocolate Bar. I can't wait to see what the new place has to offer.

From Shepherd and West Gray, you could go north on Shepherd, cross Allen Parkway and when you get to Memorial jump the curb and ride the paved and/or dirt path along the bayou heading east. There's a pedestrian bridge that crosses Memorial at Jackson Hill, go over that and down JH to Washington. Cross Washington, jog over to Leverkuhn and head north to Center. East on Center to Heights Blvd and take the path north. I'm okay riding busy streets in a group, but when I'm by myself I prefer to take the paths less travelled. I ride from my house in Norhill to Memorial Park at least a couple times a week and have a backroad path that keeps me being in traffic to a minimum.

It was particularly annoying that 19th street wasn't closed off to car traffic. 

I'm going to get on my soapbox here for a minute about the 19th Street merchants. In 2006 and 2007 there was an extremely cool event that took place in the area, a bicycle criterium race. Sponsored in part by the Baptist Temple, and a local cycling club, it involved closing a few blocks of 19th from Heights to Rutland from 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning until around noon. Several hundred racers were there along with the probably 1000 or so folks they brought to our neighborhood, many if not most of them had never even seen the Heights before. Rather than embracing this influx of new potential customers, a vocal minority of 19th Street vendors complained loudly to the city about their two hours of lost business. It became a big enough stumbling block that the organizers just gave up. Started up after the Heights Crit died was a similar event in Sugarland's Town Square where apparently they are seeing the financial upside of it. My guess is that the White Linen organizers didn't want to go through the hassles of a street closure, and that at least a few 19th Street shops would have complained if they had.

I did my pilgrimmage to the Penguin Arms yesterday. Very cool building, looks like it's in very poor condition, especially the window glass that's all patched up at the corners. Assuming the carport area behind it goes with the apartment building, I'd have to say it's probably a goner. With all the new construction around there the land is probably worth much more than operating a viable small apartment complex. Then again, if someone wanted to make say four very cool condos out of it, it might work.

Yesterday, after almost 20 uneventful years in the neighborhood, I had someone break into my North Norhill home. Thanks to an alert neighbor, an alarm, and a big dog, it was a quick in and out by the thief with nothing missing. As I was leaving my house early for work, I had noticed a 30ish Hispanic male in blue jeans and white tshirt walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Don't usually see anyone but other neighbors out in the morning so I took a look back when I got to the corner. He was still walking and didn't appear to be looking at me so I went on about my business. Got to work and my neighbor called 20 minutes later to tell me she heard my dog barking and glass breaking, called 911 and the officers were there in just two minutes. The half window in my kitchen back door was broken. The door is double deadbolted, but you have to actually enter the house to set off the alarm, so apparently the thief crawled in, and when the siren started and the dog started going nuts, made a hasty retreat. Neither my neighbor or the police saw anyone running from the scene and there were no unaccounted for cars seen nearby. In the aftermath, two other neighbors reported seeing the same male walking up and down the street both before and after I left, so it seems almost certain that the guy I saw was walking around, waiting for someone to leave, and an opportunity. The police officer called me, waited for me to return home, and then with backup went in and cleared my house to make double sure no one was hiding inside. This really sucks. It's been almost 30 years since I've experienced a personal theft and it just reams me that there are people like this out there. I am thankful that I live on a block where most people know and look out for each other, and the police response was great. The epilogue to this story is that another house, across the street and two doors down, had a window broken on their front porch yesterday at 3:00 PM! I would like to believe no one could be so bold as to return to the same street after almost getting caught to try a different house on the same day, but who knows. There was someone home there and as soon as the window was broken, their alarm sounded but they didn't see anyone either. All I can say is do your part. Alarms really do seem to help, watch for anyone or anything suspicious, get a dog, and do meet your neighbors.

My friend Brittanie Shey wrote an amazing article about the "House of the Century" today:

http://blogs.houston...etons_myste.php

I had no idea it even existed. Looks like very few people do. This photo gallery is fascinating:

http://www.narrowlarry.com/nltx6.html

Has anyone been out to it? I'm seriously contemplating a little road trip out there now...landmines and barbed wire or not.

I don't know where to start, but I'd like to see this house up close too. I actually remember it from at Playboy article back when it was new detailing some unusual houses. I remember it being in Texas but I don't think the article gave any more details than that at the time. The Google map shows a huge house nearby, wonder if that homeowner owns the House of the Century too?

the license plate should probably be blurred

License plates are on public view all the time, someone carelessly parked their car tipped over in a ditch. I see no problem at all letting the world see their license plate.