20thStDad

Let's see, several things come to mind. The tractor at my grandparent's house in rural Mississippi (when it's described as outside of Brookhaven it's rural) - I couldn't tell you what kind but I can find out next weekend. I remember my grandfather getting annoyed at me because I didn't quite understand the concept of the clutch and was just chucking it in gear, happy for it to go. I was 11.

Around 12 I got a new friend who had a pretty long driveway, and his parents didn't mind him going up and down the driveway in the 1989 acura integra. He also had a go cart, and of course the main purpose of that was to see how violently we could flip it and where we would end up relative to the go cart when everything came to a stop.

Official learning took place in either a 1989 gold Jeep Cherokee or a 1988 white Astro van. I much preferred the Cherokee, not just due to the bonus coolness it had, but because the Astro van seemed to have a hair-trigger gas pedal. If it was even just a little wet, the damn thing peeled out all over the place. And it didn't have the foot-width brake pedal either, it was a 3 inch wide nub pedal. Not enough. I always felt like I was going to die in that thing.

More fun than all of that was letting my little sister drive to/from school once she started high school at the same school as me (2 yrs younger). I really didn't care much and thought it was fun to give her a chance, but it was dangerous. Swerving all over. I remember one rainy day, starting off from a red light turning left, when it went green she was a bit heavy on the gas and pretty much spun us around 180 degrees and we were facing the people behind us. She flipped out a bit, but I just pointed to the right and said "that way".

I finally had some time today to go past where the pavement ends across the bridge by I-10/45. The unpaved piece isn't too long, it's a nice workout to plow through and was dry even after this wet week. From the end of that, it wasn't far at all to the new St Arnold brewery, which is what I was after. I hadn't yet seen exactly where it was. I love the area, reminds me of where my grandfather's business was in Baton Rouge (N Choctaw if any of you are familiar).

I hate the damn Galleria area. Over rated and over priced.

Exactly the kind of area that has tourists and visitors. No one stays in a hotel downtown when they come here, and very few people live downtown. That's why it's dead at night. You can't just build things downtown and expect people to journey to them. First you need to get people staying/living down there - more conventions, more hotels, more lofts/apartments.

Angry Bungalow Owner. It's like an AWP, but they try to impose their way on everyone else.

Come on guys, complimentary cooked to order breakfast?? Forget all the rabble about ugly, hook me up with a waffle stuffed with a 9 egg omelet with a pound of bacon in it!

I meant this one. I'm doing this one, not fantasy! College football >>>>>>>>>>>>>nfl.

I did it. I'm pretty sure I will lose this week, I only picked 2 dogs!! Then again we're still waiting on some lines to set.

s3mh is not a troll.

I agree. s3mh is just the leader of the ABO when it comes to Walmart and historic districts.

Maybe they could put the new location next to the west end Wal-Mart. Oh, the parking lot fights that would ensue...

Sushi Mac and Cheese from a random food blog.

i'll pass.

That's no sushi, that's just someone wasting more time than they need to on chili-mac, which should take 8 minutes to make. No Kraft stuff. Although I'll eat it from time to time and it's not bad, I would want really good cheese if I'm eating out. No powder!

Mac n philly cheese steak sandwich.

Mac n cheese stuffed flounder.

Appetizer - mac-n-cheese queso (con carne) with pork cracklins instead of chips to dip.

I'm not sure why I'm getting into this today. Maybe I'm pregnant or something.

It's so ridiculous that I almost like it. But it's too dark inside for me. Do we know if any of the turrets are rocketship escape pods? That might seal the deal.

More people (LOTS more) need to live downtown for it to stabilize and grow more. No one is going there when you have all the same crap closer to your house.

Sushi mac?!

Why not? A Philly roll already has the basic elements. It just needs a row of macaroni across the top.

I got another one - cool down some mac n cheese so it's thicker, form/roll it into balls, batter, and deep fry. Maybe they could have this available fondue style. Everybody wins, even the TMC!!

And thats the problem.

In times square there is a continually packed TGIF, AMC theatre, and kinds of other big chains Houstonians would hate to have in their downtown. Would you say New York is a ghost town? Would you say Manhattan isnt the epitome of what a vibrant big city downtown should be? Of so then there is no reasoning with you people and no hope for downtown houston, ever.

People who frequent internet message boards do not often represent the majority. I think most "average" people would probably say "oh, neat" to a TGI Friday's or AMC downtown, which is why average people generally annoy me. But there are more of them and they generally decide what succeeds and what fails in business. If I ever open a business I will aim to cater to them, otherwise you are probably just making some social statement with your money, which is just dumb.

I wasn't excited about this when the thread first popped up, but I have been on a cheese kick lately. So I'm with SilverJK, I need cheese too. And I want all kinds of different meats up in there too. Mac and cheese stuffed sausage. Brisket infused mac. Deep fried mac. Barbecue mac!!! Sushi mac...I could do some smoked salmon rolled with cheese and mac on the inside. Mac and cheese chimichanga!! DO IT!!! You are free to steal my ideas if I get free food!

But it wasn't always that way... I wouldn't have described downtown that way 6-7 years ago. And the whole period from 1998-2004 or so seemed like things were very lively in downtown, especially around Main Street.

So the question is, what happened? And once that's determined, can (and should) anything be done to reverse it?

Did those patrons just move west to Washington Ave? If so, why?

Etc...

Some of us just got older, moved out of midtown, and stopped going out. It happens. And the hip thing with kids these days is to act and look like a douchebag, which fits better on Washington than downtown.

I don't mean to sound like the pessimist, but this is very troubling news that this city is in this bad of shape financially, all these things are happening around town such as the recent major water rate increase, Angelika Film closing, and this. What is really going on in this what appears to be a corrupt government? Seems like the citizens of Houston are the ones taking up the rear end.

Whoa chicken little, I think you're connecting dots that aren't even on the same page. We knew the city was in debt already, that doesn't have anything to do with the Angelika closing.

Vasquez is going nuts over "voter registration" fraud but then admits that over 2/3rds of the applications sent in were indeed legitimate?!?!?!

The "fraud" in many cases appears to be duplicate applications which in many cases can be explained away if people can't remember if they registered for their current address. Poor people move more than the average American. Seems like an easy explanation to me.

These Tea Party folks are pretty un-American if their main objective is to suppress votes.

Dealing with paperwork for this seems idiotic in this day and age. Thumbprint everyone, master record on file, make them responsible for updated addresses, and with a finger scan when you vote, there is no chance of double voting. This is what happens when regular (dumb) people are responsible for local/state government offices.

Whatever it takes to make them happy. If that means 4000 sq ft for a family of 3, so be it.

I agree. I don't want to clean or furnish that much space, but if someone else wants to I don't care. Just pay your bills and don't let your dog crap on my hike/bike.

I guess I could have said more, but they are doing work all up and down the part between Waugh and Sabine (that's all we walked today). There were more paths leading up from the trail when it goes on the north side of Memorial for a bit, maybe there is a tie-in to the neighborhood there?? Somewhere close to Sawyer St maybe? I couldn't really tell and we didn't go up the paths since some were incomplete. There was a lot more dirt/silt on parts of the trail than there used to be. And not just a little, but 6 inches of it or more in some spots.

I'm telling you, some urban art or maybe a full-building Rockets ad would do well there. Just put some lipstick on that pig! (and make $ off of it)

I guess the biggest progress from the April photos above are the pilons.

From the Allen/right bank side:

They're paving new pathways all over, this one from the trail up to Montrose where there wasn't one before (Allen side)

A few from the Memorial/left bank side:

We went to Christian's Tailgate (I-10/Washington) last night and it was damn good. I took down a 1 pounder double and was still loving it on the last bite.

Just curious if anyone wants to speculate on what the other stores of this development will be. From the below article the developer estimates there will be 25 to 30 stores.

Let me be the first to bet on a starbucks.

http://www.khou.com/...-101533333.html

Quizno's

Check cash store

AT&T store

Mattress Firm

Chipotle

Wings n Things (I wish)

Spec's (I wish more)

Starsucks

Bed bath and beyond (please god no)

Marble slab

Chuck e cheese (at which point the anti-burbanites' heads explode!!!!)

This thread is one of those that every time it pops up in new posts, I get really excited. So can we implement some rule (which I am violating right now) that you can't post anything to this thread unless there is some actual change or new information? Who isn't on the edge of their seat just waiting for this to become a reality!!??