memebag

There was a chain of ice cream stores called "Swensen's" that operated in this area, but it wasn't much like Farrell's. It was more like a Baskin-Robbins with paneling. Swensen's is still around, see Swensen's web site.

True to my word, I went to the new Original Marini's on Westheimer today. The empanadas are good -- not as good as the ones I remember from the original original, but better than any I've had since. The place is nice and seemed to draw a decent number of people. Hopefully this one will last longer than the 90s incarnation. The serve yerba mate if you're into exotic xanthine mixtures. The menu is almost identical to that 90s version, with one spectacular addition: chocolate empanadas. The menu says it's filled with "Warm Ghirrardelli chocolate", but it seems like it may be cut with something. Straight chocolate would have been more overpowering, I think. This was smooth, creamy and almost light. Whatever it is, it provided one of the greatest experiences of my life. I'll be back for more. Then only slightly odd part was a single raisin swimming in the warm chocolate. My lunch mate said that would have greatly disturbed him, but it takes a lot more than a raisin (gosh, I hope it was a raisin) to scare me off of a steaming pocket of warm, chocolatey goodness.

I do. It took a lot of whining to get my mom to take me there, but eventually it became a yearly ritual to go to the Tiddy Factory for that summer's pair. Then there was the yearly ritual of developing the summer Tiddy blisters, which eventually turned into Tiddy calluses. I remember years later they licensed them to chain shoe stores, but those were never as good as the ones we bought at the factory. If you've never heard of them, Tiddys were sandals made from 2 or 3 layers of foam rubber, held to your feet with loops of surgical tubing. Very simple, very comfortable.

Sweet! Back in the 90s Marini opened a place closer in on Westheimer. It was good, but not as good as the original. I'll have to try the new one at lunch tomorrow.

I realize this is a 2 year old post, but I have to wax nostalgic about these two places. These were the best empanadas I've ever had. The menu was huge. I think there were over 100 different kinds of empanadas. The original joint was tiny, with bull fighting posters on the walls and tables and chairs made from old barrels. I remember a few other locations later on, including one in Good Time Charlies at Sharpstown Mall. There was a location on Hillcroft that changed its name to Marines in the 90s when Marini opened up a new place on Westheimer. None of them are as good as the original, when grandma was making them in the back. This place was incredible. They had a huge White Mountain ice cream freezer in the store, just like the one we had when I was a kid, except much larger. The ice cream they made tasted exactly like home made ice cream, because it was. There was a location on Guadalupe in Austin during the mid 80s. It makes me sad to think of how great these places were. Another place I miss was Phil's (where 59 Diner on Shepherd is now). I remember going there in the late 70s or early 80s and it wasn't a retro 50s restaurant, it was like someone had preserved a 50s restaurant, including the waitresses. Best chicken fried steak I ever had.

Starbucks should buy the Alabama strip center, show movies in the theater, put a Starbucks in the theater and turn every other store in the strip center into a Starbucks. I'd go there.

Mom: "Guess where we're going after church? Me (at 5 years old): "Where?" Mom: "We're going to Sea-Arama!" Me: "Great. What's a 'Rama'?" Mom: "No, bubba, we're not going to see a Rama, we're going to Sea-Arama!" Me: "Um, OK. So ... what's a 'Rama', anyway?" My dad laughed all the way to Galveston. Ever after we got there, I kept looking for the Rama.

They change the routes sometimes, too. One tour I took went to a building where they were working on the re-entry glider. I think that was right after it was de-funded or something and they hadn't cleaned the place out yet.

My dad worked at Nasa in the 60s and 70s, so I got to spend some time there while growing up. I even got Bob McCall's autograph while he was working on that mural. In high school, I was in an Explorer troop based at JSC. We got to climb around in the shuttle mock ups and play on the air bearing table, that sort of thing. So I despise Space Center Houston. But you can still go to the main buildings. The tours from SCH take you to some of the buildings I played in as a kid. You have to stay in the tourist areas, but even that's better than staying at Space Center Houston.

Wow, this building is more Frank Lloyd Wright-ish than I realized!

Not surprisingly, it's difficult to find web pages containing the words "nude", "swimming" and "school" that aren't porn sites.

Amen! All of those great old buildings you see in other cities that have great old buildings went through a phase of looking tacky and unfashionable. Somehow they survived that phase and eventually started to look less familiar, less dated and more "classic" or "historic". Everything can't (and shouldn't) last forever, but keeping a little from each period provides a link to our history. Jones Hall makes a fine link.