Specwriter

It doesn't have to be any of those mentioned but perhaps one or more of the newly minted multi-millionaires in the city could step up.

I know inflation has been pretty flat for the last decade but even if that has not been taken into account this chart looks pretty encouraging.

Sad to learn about this. For a beignet place to be successful it has to have a steady stream (almost a torrent actually) of customers like Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Beignet have absolutely NO shelf life. Like a doughnut, only more so, they are best eaten as soon as they cool down enough to put them in your mouth. I used to patronize the beignet shop in Clear Lake near Bay Area Blvd. and Space Center Drive. The pastries were made as they were ordered. Having them made up and sitting under a heat lamp simply would not do and the owner/manager or whatever of the shop understood this. Unfortunately, those patrons satisfied with going into Shipley's down the street and getting what had been sitting on a tray for an indeterminate amount of time weren't in the mood to wait 3-5 minutes for what has to be one of the most delicious treats I can think of. Too bad.

Nice work JLM. Thank you. You've got my interest piqued.

When the grid for the City of Houston was laid out by Gail Borden thoroughfares including Texas, Rusk, Prairie, and all others running parallel to those were designated "avenues." Those running perpendicular to Texas, e.g. Main, Travis, Fannin, etc. were designated "streets." I had the interesting experience of driving through the old part of Texas City earlier today. Thoroughfares there are numbered in both directions with avenues running in one direction and streets in the perpendicular direction. That can be confusing. Imagine being at the intersection of 25th Street and 25th Avenue and trying to decide how to reach 1601 34th Street.

My great-grandfather had a rural loft but he called it a barn.

I was introduced to Colleen through her sister, Lucille, who was also my neighbor at the time. I would never ask Colleen why she located her store where she did - I don't think that would have been polite but her sister told me that the location turned out to be very convenient for her out-of-town customers of which she had several. They could fly into Hobby, take a cab to her store (less than a mile), get their book(s), and be back at the terminal in no time. This also gave them the opportunity to browse. Remember Colleen not only sold books she was a locator of rare books as well.

I know the book store in the Rice village to which you may be referring. I cannot remember the name but it was (is?) in the same building as the Briar Shoppe. There are a few others on Bissonnet (2300-2400 block), Murder-by-the-Book and Brazos Book Store. Brown Book Store downtown sells primarily technical books and manuals. Another very cool (but no longer in existence) book store was Colleen's on Telephone Road at Airport. Yes, that's the right location. Colleen Urbanek sold used, antique, and rare books mostly in the subject area of political science and history. She sold her inventory several years ago (I believe she was in her early 80's at the time) to a buyer on the east coast and has since passed away. Ironically, there was an article on Colleen's in the Houston Press 18 years ago this day, June 13, 1996. http://www.houstonpress.com/1996-06-13/news/old-and-rare/ . As far as independent bookstores are concerned, apart from those mentioned above, I am at a loss. Sub, I don't know how old you are but I am just a couple of years away from being AARP eligible. Reaching awareness of such things like which store sold what in the 1970's I remember the shopping mall as the place to buy books and magazines other than the tabloids. Walden Books and B. Dalton were the major stores then. Bookstop and Borders came along a little later. Now it seems Amazon, along with Kindle, is ringing the death knell for those as well.

A tree on a building's structure indicates that it has been "topped out" meaning that the structural part is essentially completed. This is true whether the structure is steel or concrete (or maybe even wood!). As far as I know the tree can be of any species. I think the trend though is to use an evergreen of some sort, like a fir tree, since any given building can top out at any time of the year. Sometimes it is a cut tree and will be disposed of at some point. Sometimes it is planted in a large container and may wind up as part of the building's landscaping. It is an old tradition and one I hope continues for a long, long time.

Apparently Forshey Piano is not selling Steinway any longer. I guess they have become too pricey for the casual piano shopper - new studio models start around $10,000 and the "mighty" Model D Concert Grand is north of $50,000 these days. I notice the new establishment is "by appointment only" too and that is probably a good location being as it is near the performing arts district.

I worked in that building for a few months before the move to Transco (now Williams) Tower. The architecture part of CRSS (CRS Sirrine) had been bought by Hellmuth, Obata, & Kassabaum (HOK) out of Kansas City. Coming from office buildings with an average floor plate of around 18-20,000 sq, ft. the single floor space seemed enormous. It was odd also that the ceiling height was no greater than a normal office building floor. The veterinary clinic is still there and the exterior of the building has changed little. The interior was modified extensively of course. I was fortunate to attend an open house for the clinic just before it opened. It was impressive - very leading edge technology. It seems appropriate that such an advanced animal care facility would be in the same city as our renown Texas Medical Center. I made that comment to one veterinarian there and he simply harrumphed at me. I guess he thought I was crass comparing pets to mere people.

I miss it greatly. If you are going to have a big, ugly sign blocking my view of the trees at least have it so it makes me smile. By the way, the OWNER HAS BRAIN DAMAGE sign was at the back of a car lot and it only blocked the view into someone's questionably landscaped back yard.

Houston's public spaces are quite the item these days. Think Discovery Green, Market Square Park, Buffalo Bayou Park, and the recent and current improvements to Hermann Park as well as the expansion of hike and bike trails along Braes Bayou and other places. I believe soon we will be getting more widespread (positive) media attention weather we want it or not. Yeah, I know I'm a booster. I'm a native (born at Hermann Hospital) and have lived in this city all my life except for 7 years in San Antonio. I wonder if any other city in the U.S. could handle as well the immense growth and cultural change Houston has experienced in past half century.

quote from one of the comments in the newgeography article: Far better to remain a "best kept secret" among the right kind of people. They will find out and come anyway. I tend to agree. I've been to San Francisco (including other parts of the Bay Area) many times and I think it is a great place to visit. I'm glad I don't have to "live" there though (earthquakes notwithstanding).

Not much goo really and it is much easier to clean glazed tile than natural stone like limestone. Gimme a drum of mineral spirits and a big rag - I'll get after it.

Well the West Mansion was hosting a rather large event when I drove past about 1:00pm yesterday. The paved parking (such as it is) was full and there were several automobiles parked on the grass. There were people standing all around on the terraces. I have no idea what the event was. Can any HAIF'ers shed some light? I know it costs money to install and maintain landscaping but the place just screams for some azaleas. All those around my modest abode are in full bloom right now and it is just magnificent. Once again, though, my compliments and gratitude to Mr. Olajuwon for preserving this treasure on Clear Lake.

According to discogs.com the album was released three times in 1962 on the Duke label and twice 11 years later on both the MCA and ABC/Dunhill labels then again on MCA in 1995. It appears the album cover here was one of the 1962 releases so the Cadillac in the picture was fairly new (1960 year model I believe) and the house also no more than a decade old at the time. If you look to the left on the Google street view you can see a fantastic Mid-century Modern balcony on the neighboring house.

Piece by piece.

The fifth and sixth cars on that row nearest the street are a 1959 Ford and a 1959 Buick so that pushes the date to at least late 1958 (assuming those cars were very new at the time the picture was taken).

More like trying to perform major surgery on a hangnail. Dammit! Don't mess with my James' Coney Island. It's been fine for 90 years. That's where I go when I want a chili-cheese dog (actually I buy them in threes) and it is always where I will go unless some newbie screws things up.

JM, you are right on all counts. The present Stewart Cadillac showroom was originally Sam Montgomery Oldsmobile, then Mossy Oldsmobile, then Massey Cadillac with maybe a few others interspersed. I'm not exactly sure. Sam Montgomery was the Rolls-Royce dealer in Houston in the 1960's. When that dealership was moved to the North Freeway at Rankin Road in the 1970's Rolls-Royces were sold there as well. Montgomery later took on Volvo and that building on the east side of the freeway was demolished about the time DeMontrond got the Volvo and Oldsmobile franchises. There was another Cadillac dealership near where the present Rolls-Royce Motorcars of Houston is today. That was Highams Cadillac at the corner of Post Oak Blvd. and Loop 610 where Uptown Park is today. I cannot recall if they were also a Rolls-Royce agency.

The renderings are definitely cartoonish but it does look like fun. They remind me of the poster maps one could get at Six Flags or Astroworld back in the day.

I don't believe S. F. Carter was Jesse H. Jones' nephew as Carter was born some 17 years before Jones. Carter WAS M. T. Jones' business partner in the Emporia Lumber Company and M. T. Jones was Jesse Jones' uncle.

My wife and I got caught in the evacuation at Jacksonville airport earlier this week. We were to get on a 7:00pm flight to Hobby. That was about the time everyone was cleared from the building. Not knowing the details of the situation in the airport or when it would be resolved I waited until we were told absolutely that no flights would be leaving Jacksonville that evening. That was about 10:00pm. I then called Southwest. The person who took the call knew immediately I had a "special situation" and forwarded me right then to a supervisor. He was most courteous, informed, and helpful. My wife and I were on the same flight but had booked separately since our schedules at the time we made our reservations were still uncertain. Within minutes I had changed both our reservations to a flight that left JAX at 6:35 the next morning. Of course the whole mess was not SWA's fault but they did make those last minute changes for free and with absolutely no hassle. I don't know the magnitude of Southwest's losses from the incident but I do know they bought themselves megabucks in goodwill from me.(I had to pay for an overnight stay at a hotel and an extra day at the parking garage near Hobby myself but who would reimburse me for that? TSA? the jackass who caused the whole incident? - unfortunately neither.) I'm delighted that SWA will have international service soon. About this time last year I flew to Costa Rica on American Airlines. Everything went well but my expectation of some inconvenience was fairly high due to my limited past experience with that airline. The biggest inconvenience I had last year was having to fly from Houston to Miami then to Costa Rica (out of IAH no less - bummer since I live in the Clear Lake area and, thus much closer to Hobby). Leaving from Hobby to destinations around the Caribbean will be much welcomed.

IIRC it was a modest facility too. There was a carport big enough to cover about a dozen vehicles parked side by side (similar to what Star Motors on the Old Katy Road has for their used cars today) and a showroom that could probably hold three cars at most. Of course there was a service garage behind that.