woodheightsguy

There's no hard line, so it's whenever someone speaks up about it.

Good illustration..

That's not a good illustration, they're describing noise pollution, it doesn't matter what type of house it's coming out of.

Someone on the woodland heights bulletin board went to CBS Outdoor to ask what was being built. They were told that CBS was building the structure for their own use.

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but perhaps one of the biggest reasons for the lack of restaurant diversity in the heights may be due to the lack of diversity in the residents?

5 shrimp makes it a "keep on driving".

I ate at Big Mamou's yesterday. My aunt ordered the shrimp po-boy and I had 9-10 shrimp on it. They were very tasty. I had the combo meal of 1/2 a Cajun Po Boy and cup of gumbo (a pretty good deal for $8.50, I think). The gumbo was great, the sandwich was decent. A friend of mine had the muffaletta and loved it.

They are still working out the kinks, the lady taking orders had no idea how to work their computer system, but other than that, the food came out quickly and was all in all pretty good.

Big Mamou opening this Friday.

sorry about all the ass in this comment.. ive had a few beverages.

Never apologize for drinking and posting!

yeah, I grab the occasional drink there, maybe once a month tops, but I always wonder where they pull their crowd from. It certainly doesn't seem like they pull from the neighborhood.

Hi All

We are just about to move into The Heights after spending too much time out of the Loop. I've been browsing this forum and got some useful information from it, and we're definitely looking forward to moving in.

One thing that I would like to get some info on is the availability of babysitters in the neighborhood, maybe some recommendations, and/or reputable local agencies.

Thanks for any info.

We have had great success using sittercity.com to find babysitters. You can check their profile and references before using them. We felt a little strange about checking for sitters online, but we have been very pleased with the two or three sitters we have found.

another incident to be aware of, peeps:

This morning around 11:30 while at Woodland Park with my daughter, we were

approached by a man walking a dog who offered to sell us a teddy bear for

$3.00. I declined. He walked away and came back after a while, and asked

me some questions - seemed to be looking for parks, saying he was a kid's

entertainer. He gave us the teddy bear saying he had lots of them.

It just didn't feel right to me. If I saw this person again in or near a

park I would be inclined to keep my kids close.

Description: Caucasian, about 40 years old, wearing a dark hoodie and a

hat, with light colored pants. His dog was a small dog, white and tan,

walked with a limp. He was driving an older model van, gold in color with

brown striping, large tinted windows, chrome spare tire cover on the back,

and it said "Starcraft" on the side of the van near the rear. Plate JZG-743

Where is Woodland Park? We've stopped taking our child the park at the bayou and Studewood after my wife saw one of our friendly bums shooting something to his arm on the bleachers. We either go to the park at 7th and Heights or Proctor Plaza.

I kept wishing they would turn into a version of Eatzis, never happened, but would have been nice!

Antidote, Ooo la la and the children's store next to it, Shade, Glass Wall, Berryhill, O.C., Dry Creek, and Fiesta are some of my favorites.

Yeah, just remember what was there before Tricon built those houses..... It was a complete slum. I'm not a Tricon fan, but welcomed getting rid of those apartments.

Did you make the beer? The only home brew I have left is an oatmeal stout, and it's finally cold enough to bust that stuff out.

Just checked the weather, high of 71, low 56 Saturday. I guess it'll be shorts, but hopefully not the sweating.

No, I didn't make it, not that crafty. It's a Belgian beer that they sell at onion creek, it's in a huge white bottle with a pink elephant. They also sell it at central market, I didn't see it at Specs.

Yeah, you and 20th Street do make me feel rather uppity. Kinda like a Baytown resident looking down his nose at the LaPorte crowd.

Good call on the flask. I'll have to break it out. We may need to come up with a HAIF meeting place, like behind a dumpster or something.

Ahhhh, can't wait, wifey and I will be sans baby and carrying our own stash of brew, Dellerium Noel, 10% alcohol, Look out! Thank goodness we live in the 'hood! (not sure if i'm in the uppity side of the heights or not, i'm just happy to be here!).

marksmu- i think you have a lot of valid points. i am not against development but i do think that there is value in history. perhaps it's b/c i am from an area where history is preserved almost to a fault, but i think that houston has lost so much of its history already. i live in an old on the outside/ modern on the inside home. i have no desire to live in a house that is "period" b/c it's not my style. however, i have great reverence and appreciation for people who do. additionally, i would never tear down a bungalow. i think they are important socially, historically and architecturally and i think they do need to be protected. i also hate the Disney-fication of the Heights. really, tear down a true victorian to put a fake one in it's place? gimme a break. gut it and make it as modern as you want inside, but don't insult us by putting a fake, just add water so it can fall apart in 3 years piece of crap in its place and say you did everyone a favor. there are a lot of moderates when it comes to restoration and preservation. however, development is so rampant in this part of houston, some people have to fight on the extreme side of preservation so that there is a middle ground.

I mean absolutely no disrespect by this, in fact, I'm convinced I'll be drinking margaritas with Heights Yankee at Berryhill one night with our kiddos all playing on the patio. But, honestly, I have a couple of questions. You said "i think they are important socially, historically and architecturally and i think they do need to be protected." My question is this: why are they important socially and historically?

Can you give examples in our neighborhood of this "gimme a break. gut it and make it as modern as you want inside, but don't insult us by putting a fake, just add water so it can fall apart in 3 years piece of crap in its place and say you did everyone a favor." By that, I mean I'd like to know of houses that were built three years ago that are falling apart. That are in disrepair, because that's what "falling apart" means to me. To me, that's what you are implying. Maybe it's happening, and I don't see it. It's a big neighborhood, but I didn't see any new construction topple over after IKE,much to the dismay of the new construction haters. (I refuse to use McMansion, as I do live in a newer house, that in my opinion is anything but a McMansion, but I digress......).

I'll be the big red head at Berryhill with 10 month red headed daughter, look forward to tipping back an adult beverage.....

This is why we stopped going to Berryhill. If you want your kids to "go nuts" I suggest you take them to McDonalds or Chik-fil-A. The patio at Berryhill is for people to enjoy their meal and drinks without kids crawling around. Last time we went there, we were joking that they should just put in one of those cages with the colorful balls. There were children continually running past our table as we tried to relax (this happens inside, too). Please take note, it is undesirable inside or out. It is not appropriate restaurant behavior.

Let me be the first to say "Adios".

It seems as if W 19 and W 20 might turn into the new Washington corridor.

Whoa!!!! I don't think the Washington corridor is anywhere nearly fully developed yet, I'd wait a bit till you proclaim a new Washington corridor in your 'hood.

We are regulars at Dry Creek, but went to Berryhill this morning. They open at 8am, which isn't great for us as we have an 8.5 month old that gets up earlier, but we made it till 8 this morning. It was great. They have a pretty diverse breakfast menu for being a Mexican food place.

Antidote has wireless. We have a couple friends who have been getting online over there.

Onion Creek has wifi as does Mc Cain's (at least I think it does).

We'll be rocking in Woodland Heights. I'm sure we'll loose power, but we have plenty of coolers and ice, planning on getting the smoker going on Sunday after IKE is hopefully long gone. Anyone interested in ribs, chicken, salmon, and pork chops, let me know. Also have a few coors lights handy.......

Probably depends on the configuration of your house relative to open space and nearby trees. The front of my house faces south, which would seem to be the direction this junk will hit us, but I have a solid tree in front that should block a lot of things should they come my way. I am going to get up in it today to trim any dead-looking branches and any that I think could hit the house if bent over by high winds. I'm not boarding up though, just not prepared or willing to do it. I have 6 south-facting windows, the rest pretty well shielded by neighbors or facing north. I am most worried about not having cable for college football watching Saturday. I already have tequila and scotch, and if power goes out for a few days I will be smoking/grilling all the meat and frozen pizzas we have. Should be fun.

We are supposed to fly to Santa Fe tomorrow for a wedding. One little problem is we have a 7.5 month old daughter that is staying behind with her grandmother. We're just trying to decide what to do, stay or go. We'll make the decision tomorrow, but if we stay, I'll be following your lead and will be heading to my local meat shop to buy some meat for smoking!

We feel like its a catch 22, if we stay, this thing will hit Mexico and we will have missed out on our trip, if we leave, it hits Houston and blows out all our windows and electricity and we see our daughter and her grandmother on t.v. being lifted to safety by a helicopter!

Why did I not know about this before? Seems like a perfect place to get lunch to go on my way to the tour at the new St Arnold brewery, whenever that is finished. I'm going to check it out this weekend, thanks for the tip!

Not sure about their spelling of boudin (boudain on the website), whether that bodes well for their cajun-ness. I've never seen it that way anywhere in S LA, but then again I haven't seen everything everywhere.

Anyway, to pretend I am on topic, something like that where Shady Grocery is would be awesome. Less than a mile away from me.

A great meat market a little north of the hood is B&W on about 43 and N Shephard, we've gotten brisket, ribs, and steaks from there. They also have a ton of sausage.

Also, as a more local plug, McCains does do sandwiches for lunch and has some pretty good steaks they'll cut for you.

Man... and here I'd always fought against making the assumption that the attitude of someone buying a new construction in an historic neighborhood had to come down to "I don't care what you think." Not much more to say after that.

Sunsets - Thanks for posting that article - it was a great read.

That's a ridiculous way to interpret my statements.

I did care for a while, I've done what I can to be a good neighbor and have developed several good friendships with folks in my neighborhood. I can't change the way people feel about new construction and have given up apologizing for my home. It's over, the old bungalow that was in it's place is gone. I don't go around criticizing folks in my neighborhood that live in bungalows that have obviously let them fall into disrepair, don't keep up their yard, park cars in their lawn, and just plain don't seem to care a rats ass about anything.

BTW, what would be an acceptable reason to you for buying a new construction in a historic neighborhood?

I understand that many think that the purchase is fine. I believe we all agree that truly salvagable homes should not be replaced. For those who find this purchase of the Victorian-themed home (which is 5 years old and is really looking like it is in perfect shape) was a bad one, the question remains. What type of home purchase would you have condoned for this couple? Please don't forget the time, skill and money limitations which they have. Also, please remember that they have a toddler, another child on the way and a budget which limits them from the price per sq foot costs of most of the renovated bungalows in Heights proper. One poster was quite clear - they are not welcome in the Heights if they can't afford a renovated bungalow (since they can't update one on their own time and $). I don't really see other suggestions from the "haters" as one put it. The one poster was definitely correct - they did want a/c, power for the microwave, at least 2 baths and very low maintenance inside or out. Having a yard is not important to them as they utilize the Heights' parks continuously. This isn't a question to start a war of words between those that like the neglected homes going away and those that want only neighbors with the time, skill and money to renovate them or the purchasing power to buy one that is already renovated. I just wanted to know, for those of you who still want this neighborly couple in your neighborhood, but don't like what they purchased - what would have been acceptable to you and still met their needs? This is about putting yourselves in their shoes and applying your vision for what would be acceptable within their time, skill and money parameters. Is the only solution that is acceptable to "look elsewhere and we'll wait for neighbors with more time and money?" Buying a renovated bungalow with 2 bathrooms and updated throughout within Heights proper was outside of their price range. I have watched a lot of bungalows get renovated near to my house. The new owners who are moving in have Land Rovers, etc. Those new neighbors are also very nice people with young families. I welcome them. However, that is not the income power of this couple. They are not poor but they are what may be considered the working class. They are not upper middle income. I just wanted to see if those that are against this can come up with a solution or if the only solution is that they would not be welcome in the Heights. I have to be honest, while I totally disagree with the poster who felt that they shouldn't move to the Heights in the first place, I did appreciate the honesty. It was shocking and reads very differently than the Heights' attitude which I know and practice but at least it offered a solution. If you can't afford it, despite your qualities, don't come. Yikes.

We've been in a new house in The Heights for over three years and we absolutely love it. We love our house, we enjoy our neighbors, and we plan on being here for a very long time. I used to get upset when people would diss all new construction, then I realized, I really don't care what other people think. Hell, if you want to see a McMansion, don't go to The Heights, drive out to Royal Oaks. We love our new home, I think it is well built and we have no regrets at all. My advice to your friends would be to just enjoy their house and neighborhood and don't worry about what others think. After all, you can't please everyone, especially long time Heights residents!

Just wondering, Does Kroger's on 20th Street sell alcohol?

no

The weather was brutal this past weekend. A couple of suggestions:

1. Close off 19th Street (intersection of Shepherd and intersection of Yale)

2. Instead of August...why not the Labor Day Weekend in September (much cooler)

3. Recyclable containers along the routes

I like where you are going with a cooler date, however, not sure Labor Day accomplishes a "much cooler" scenario. The avg high in early August is 95 degrees, early Sept, 92 degrees.