Specwriter

Just wondering if there are any HAIFers that attended Immanuel, either the church or the school. I am in search of a friend that I have lost touch with in the last 10 years, and would like to find out if she and her family are doing okay. Her name is Kelly Kuehnle. If anyone here knows her, please let me know.

I attended Immanuel myself, and have recently heard the school has been closed. If you attended Immanuel's church or school, stories of your experiences as a Panther would be great to discuss here as well.

I have a friend who attends and has for many years. I will ask if he knows your friend. I will send a PM if his response is positive.

I am also old enough to remember when Long Point was, if not high-end, at least much nicer than it has been recently. Funny, for all the run-down appearance of the place it has remained fairly active without the great number of abandoned buildings seen in other areas of the city. These higher end residential developments though amaze me. I guess this is more evidence that more and more people are tired of long commutes and are willing to pay to live closer in. 

 I wonder if the cemetary will stay..

The Hillendahl family cemetery an important historic element in the area. I cannot see how it could be relocated or anything else. It is not that large either.

I got to drive a 300SE 6.3 about 5 years ago when the car was almost 40 years old. It had been well maintained of course. The experience was amazing. The ride compared well to any modern luxury car and the power was phenomenal. I got it up to a very super-legal speed on the highway and it seemed to just beg for more. It was also incredibly stable without all the electronic 'nanny' devices. The only downside: the car was pretty much good for 10-12mpg tops. Then again, if a person could afford a $15,000 car in 1970 gasoline prices weren't much of a concern.

Austin and Travis seem to be popular names for boys. I don't recall ever meeting someone whose first name is Fannin or Crockett though. 

I've had experience with a few projects where the building site was very "tight" so mock ups were constructed on nearby open space that was usually leased (on a short term) from the owner. If the mock up is to be tested there needs to be space around it to set up the testing apparatus. This has even been done in locations well away from the building site since only engineers, the materials suppliers, and the contractor (the owner too sometimes) have much interest in the outcome of the testing.

Many designers are very conscientious and require that mock ups for aesthetic purposes be oriented such that they are exposed to the same daylight as the completed building. For example if the building has sunscreens on its west facade then the mock up of that facade would be oriented toward the west as well. This seems obvious but unless the requirement is clearly stated there is no guarantee the contractor will do so. He should not have to guess what is important to the designer.

This is the lot on the North side of the Shell station, which has been used for construction equipment storage and trailers. I saw this structure when I was driving past it last weekend, but I have no idea what the heck it is.

It looks like it will be a mock up of the exterior wall. These are done for several reasons. Their primary uses are to determine if the aesthetics of the building are acceptable to the owner (the entity paying to have the building constructed) and to set the standard for the level of quality of construction for the entire building. More and more mock ups are also being constructed to test the building envelope (walls, windows, etc. and the interfaces between these components) for air and water infiltration.

I thought it was strange at the time that we almost never (if at all) saw the mothers of the two teen girls. 

If, God forbid, my family was in such a situation and my wife did not want to increase the pain of her loss by making public appearances I would understand. If, on the other hand, she wanted to be very visible in her pursuit of justice and advocacy for the safety of others I would support her totally. Given the circumstances of the Ertman and Pena family's tragedy perhaps it was thought best to have other women in the family keep a low profile. The perpetrators were gang members after all.

It was called Helmut Holder Mercedes-Benz. It opened in September 1964 at the corner of 59 and Fountain View. Sometime along the line, he opened up an independent shop. At his memorial service, there were laminated copies of the Houston Chronicle from the day the dealership opened. I think it was the first MB dealership in Houston. The buildings still stand today. The showroom is still there as a used car dealership, and what I think was once the service area is now the Firehouse Saloon.

 

IIRC Mercedes-Benz automobiles were sold through Studebaker dealers in the late 1950's. By 1964 Studebaker was all but dead. Many of the first Mercedes-Benz dealerships afterwards were of the same type as Mr. Holder's; independent repair shops that had experience with the brand. I also recall reading about a similar dealership in Ohio started about the same time.

Everyone who knew him probably has a great story about Helmut Holder. I'll keep it brief and just say he talked me through a minor repair on my 1967 Mercedes-Benz sedan over the phone! "Reach down the side of the engine block just below the manifold. Do you feel a nut there?"

"Yes."

"OK, get your 10 millimeter socket and place it on the nut . . ."

Again, I apologize for hijacking this thread but Broadway extends to Brady Island in the Houston Ship Channel where makes a curve to the left and becomes Harrisburg. Immediately after that curve Navigation intersects Harrisburg by curving south and following the ship channel for a short distance. Paste the page below in your browser which shows that configuration.

http://www.mapquest.com/#c51b4aac3621be53318a405b

Art, you are correct about the origin of Telephone Road but, as near as I can tell Leeland stops at Hughes just west of Wayside.

I'm a member of the Mercedes-Benz Club, and one of the members told me that a new MB dealer is supposed to be coming to the Woodlands, possibly by the end of this year. If I remember correctly, some dealership group out of Louisiana is supposed to be the one who'll run the dealer, and it would be located either across the freeway from the BMW dealer or the VW dealer. Has anyone else heard of this?

That is amazing considering it will bring the total in the area to six by my count: Star on Old Katy Road, M-B Houston Greenway on the Southwest Freeway, M-B Sugarland, Alex Rodriguez in League City, M-B Houston North on I-45 at FM 1960 and now in the Woodlands. It seems the last two are pretty close together. There must be quite a bit of anticipated sales volume in Montgomery County for Mercedes-Benz North America to grant this franchise.

Star is the only dealership that sells other than the Mercedes-Benz brand; Volvo, Lotus, and Aston-Martin though Alex Rodriguez does retail their Sprinter commercial vehicles (vans).

The last time I remember seeing fire flies in this area was about 20 years ago at my cousin's place outside of Huntsville.

I don't know why they threw that in there. It's a Wal-Mart that's going to be built in Katy. You can see the street name is Falcon Landing Blvd, and on the top half, you can barely make out Westheimer Pkwy.

Thanks, JM. That makes me feel much better. I did see the Falcon Landing wording on the site plan and it just didn't register in my mind.

Also, I sent you a PM on another topic.

So much for the medallion marking home plate at the old 'Buffs stadium, I guess.

Except there is a Broadway and it goes straight to Hobby Airport. (And one day, it might even be nice to look at  ).

Off topic but right now Broadway is getting a $17 millon refurbishing (which it badly needs). Since this is many peoples' first glimpse of Houston, if they enter via Hobby Airport, I'm glad to see it happening.

BTW, Broadway sort of turns into Harrisburg FWIW.

I had to check the date this thread was started to make sure it wasn't April 1st. 

I just finished re-reading an old book about the auto industry in the 1980s (Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Auto Industry by Paul Ingrassia).  It was mainly about GM digging itself into a ditch.  As you can tell by the title, the pitch was that GM and Chrysler had learned from their mistakes and were on the verge of a big comeback in the 1990s.  Obviously the author way jumped the gun on that conclusion.  

Ingrassia may be partially correct. GM's products improved but they way it did business (marketing, labor relations, customer service) did not. They bought SAAB and killed it (murder by incompetence - not understanding the car or its traditional customers); let Saturn wither on the vine when it had been, and could have continued to be, an alternative to lower priced imports; and scuttled two of the linchpins of its heritage: Oldsmobile and Pontiac.

A couple of years ago I drove Harrisburg Avenue one Saturday morning just because. What I noticed was the commercial buildings generally were not "spiffy." There was the occasional newer CVS or DollarTree but most were run down. That was some contrast to the amount of vehicle and PEDESTRIAN traffic that I saw. The place was crawling with people going about the usual errands.

Dan Patrick: he'll be one heartbeat away from the Texas Governor's Mansion and that is very SCARY !

Be scared anyway. Constitutionally the Lt. Governor has more clout (ostensibly presides over the senate) than the actual Governor. Of course, reality (as with actual mileage) may vary.

Just recently Governor Perry has started more frequently performing what I was always led to believe was one of the unofficial duties of the office: acting as a representative of the state's "chamber of commerce." His traveling around the country (and the world) touting the positives of our fair state may have more to do with a potential run for president however.

Two things the Governor of Texas can do that gives him or her power of some import is the ability to call special sessions of Congress and, of course, to veto legislation.

Yup. Everything looked kinda rusted, right?

If the structure supporting the tiles looked "kinda rusted" then the tiles needed to come off. Each one is certainly larger than anything I would want falling on my head. I'm glad to see work progressing on this building.

So cool! I may have missed it but I don't think I saw a Schwinn Stingray. My grandmother gave me one for my sixth birthday. I really liked that bicycle. I sold it to another kid later when I got my 10-speed bike.

Janet Shamlian still appears on the national news with some regularity. She has a very good delivery and seems to never age.

I drive 225 inbound in the mornings frequently. On the map it loks like 225 and 45 are far enough apart that merging on to 610 then on to 45 north would not be a problem. The reality though is different. It is a wonder there are not more accidents there.

I almost forgot to mention the reason I highlighted Dexter Jones name through out the article. I did that because I first sent it, about 2-1/2 years ago, to a person who knew Mr. Jones but did not know about his involvement in the State Highway 225 extension debate.

My apologies if I have posted this before. Otherwise, a very interesting article:

LaPorte_Freeway.pdf