Specwriter

Russian made train = something I would most certainly be very comfortable riding in and not worrying 1 iota about my personal safety or life.  Never!

An acquaintance of mine lived in Moscow in early 1980's and was supplied with a Lada automobile which was a Soviet built Fiat that looked like the box it came in - nothing stylish about it at all. He jokingly said he doubted the car could go fast enough to actually hurt anyone riding in it; a bit like the cartoons where Wylie Coyote's Acme rocket sled falls to pieces around him and he just slides on his butt across the desert.

Lmao, too true! What's worse is that Cadillac they are sitting in likely had air conditioning of its own. It was available then, but maybe ol' dad didn't spring for it.

Cheapskate...lol.

In the 1950s air conditioning was probably the single most expensive option available on an automobile and it was very expensive; often as much as 10% or more of the total price of the car.

Yeah I was wondering about shops along the bridge too. I seemed to recall some other old European bridge with a similar set up (didn't think the one I was thinking of was in Florence?).

I would think there are bound to be others. I can't think of any in particular off-hand. Other HAIFers can you help? The Ponte Vecchio is rather famous probably because it is in Florence which is another architect's candy store.

That would be a pretty long bridge - not like those spanning downtown or medical center streets. Someone such as myself would certainly appreciate moving sidewalks. Then I could text while standing still. Texting and walking has not worked well for me in the past.

I would suppose TxDOT would have a lot to say about the whole venture. I wonder if small shops could be located along the bridge (one might need refreshments along the journey) like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

Somebody has a drone and uses it well. Thanks for the video, Urbannizer.

Cimarron was actually a J-car.  Hard to believe in retrospect, but I remember reading that that was meant to be their response to the BMWs that were becoming popular at the time.  Instead it practically destroyed their reputation for decades.  The Chevette was utter junk.  I can't see the point in a RWD subcompact.  It's not like a Chevette driver would have been concerned about better handling!

At the time, mid-1970s a scaled down rear-wheel drive platform was just cheaper to build. Even when the Vega and Pinto hit the market in the very early '70s there were a few European makes with FWD such as Mini, Citroen, and Simca which the American manufacturers could have cribbed.

Of course GM did come out with FWD a few years later with the Citation, Phoenix, Omega, and Skylark quadruplets once they had "perfected" FWD cheapness.

The emoticon signifies that my first brand new car was a 1980 Pontiac Phoenix coupe. It was a handsome looking car, rode well, and was fairly quiet for a small unibody vehicle but I had to replace 2 CV joints in the five years I owned it and have it repainted because the original paint faded so badly after only three years. Also, the plastic pieces of the interior faded to about 50 shades of red within that time. Other than the CV joints the car really gave me no serious trouble but I could see how GM had cut corners in its manufacture. At the time my fiancée was driving a 1975 Toyota Corona with the 20R engine. It was by no means "fancy" but the difference in ruggedness and reliability was obvious.  

It has been a whole hour since this post and there are not several dozen responses already! I am surprised. This is one of those things I have to think about long and hard. I would did want, and did everything in my power to get, the best possible education for my children. I don't know what the situation is like in China but it intrigues me to learn that sending children to a public school (any public school) in the United States is something parents in another country entertaining.

I'm also curious about the vertical stone post makers scattered throughout this area as well. They provide the same function as the mosaics, but they seem much older.

I've seen these all over town. We even had them in HIdden Valley (subdivision just west of I-45 at W. Mt. Houston) where I grew up in the '60's. The developer must have put them in because the area was not inside the city limits of Houston at the time. Those were made of concrete and the street names were molded into the faces of the posts. The lettering was usually painted black which wore away after a while. The posts did not last. Many became the victims of turns taken too sharply.   When the COH annexed the area including Hidden Valley in 1978 regular street signs on metal poles went up. I don't remember if any of the concrete markers were still around then but they were probably removed at that time.

I was joking. It reads like an automated translation of something that was originally in some cartoon version of an Asian language to me.

 

They were aiming for something with all of that. They missed.

 

As for the building, more stone has gone up and they have installed nearly all of the glass on the lower three floors. The tunnel connection from BG Place/801 Travis is closed (and has been since May, but I missed that), and a "tunnel lounge" is in the renderings.

 

I'm still looking forward to seeing the interior, though less than I was before reading all of that mess.

Nate, I know you were joking. The fact is that sort of thing appears all to often in press releases, advertising brochures, etc. these days.

I agree the images look interesting. These may be really nice spaces. BTW, I have some owner's manuals for various household appliances and tools that were very poorly translated but are absolutely hilarious. I'm not saying I could do better and I don't mean to belittle the efforts of others but they do bring a smile to my face.

It is written to be google translated in to many languages and still be semi-decipherable.

Give me a break. Is that crap supposed to appeal to an educated clientele? I agree with Texasota; it is (it's) hardly decipherable in the original, i.e. piss-poor English.

Here is my translation: Authentically restored to is historical grandeur, it holds pride of place in the center of the hotel. I could be even less florid and replace the last phrase with: it is located in the center of the hotel.

Thank you Bullman! +1.

 I bet that strip center doesn't play a beautiful bell arrangement once it's complete like the church did.

I'll bet you are right, Purpledevil, although shopping centers with carillons is not unheard of (pardon the pun). There is The Carillon (actual name) at 10001 Westheimer and one at the corner of Wirt and Westivew.

If you were expecting guests of your own you would have to park on the street in front of your own house to ensure that they have a space when they arrive. Oh, and don't rely on traffic cones.

This should be fun, since the alternates aren't under utilized, and there's no way to get over Buffalo Bayou between Shepherd and the Loop. All of the Heights area kids who go to Lanier Middle School may have a tougher time getting to school this Fall

As badly as this work is needed it will wreck havoc on traffic in the area. OTOH, most of us did live through the Kirby re-do.

For all those new to Houston, welcome.

I'm more upset at the clear cutting that accompanies all these developments.

I agree and that does seem like a large footprint for the total square footage. A six-story "class A" office building? Really? Does anyone really know what that means anymore? I am an architect and I've seen the term used rather loosely throughout my career. Let me just say if it is only six stories it may have an hydraulic elevator or two like your typical economy hotel. Having one of those slow, often jerky, and occasionally smelly things definitely precludes "class A" status IMO.

Soccer is big on Planet Earth; even more so outside the U. S.

To the local sportscaster, whose name I forget right now, it is pronounced re-al' like the "re" in do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do and "al" like Al Michaels not like "rod and reel." When I first heard him say real Madrid I thought, "Is there an ersatz Madrid then too?"

I never knew this film existed. The trailer seemed a bit corny but not out of the ordinary considering the time. In the opening scene an aerial view of the Sam Houston statue is shown, ostensibly I believe, to let the viewer know that he is indeed in Houston - makes sense given there was no Astrodome in 1956.

Too bad we don't still have Teas Nursery. Someone there might have known. I suggest contacting the folks at the arboretum or, if there is a pressing need to know like you pet or child ingested part of the plant, the appropriate person at Texas A&M.

Probably for the workers as the elevators with all the floors on it aren't installed yet?

Exactly right, Tiger. The numbers are placed so they can be seen from inside the temporary construction elevator cab (or cage). Otherwise, once a building gets above about 5 stories it can be difficult to keep track.

Ah, yes... back when schools closed for Go Texan Day, and the big name entertainment consisted of the likes of The Cast Of Bonanza getting driven around the floor of the Coliseum in the back of a pickup, waving at people.  People actually came for the rodeo itself.

And we weren't so P.C. that we were able to call it the "Fat Stock Show."

I thought it looked more like the early-to-mid-seventies. If you look through old Campaniles (yearbooks), the student body in 1967 didn't look anything like those pictured in the film. In the 1968 Campanile, the male students are all well-groomed and wearing coats and ties for the class pictures. 1969 still had the coats and ties, but there were significant countercultural elements on display. 1970 dispensed with the class pictures altogether, as well as anything resembling a standard yearbook format, in favor of a smaller paperback filled with stream-of-consciousness photos and quotes from luminaries such as Ken Kesey. By the 1971 edition, many were looking less like engineers and more like hippies, and there's quite a bit of facial hair in evidence. 

 

What a difference a decade makes.

At last a voice of reason----- please run for city council.

Presently I do not live within the  city limits of Houston (true). Is that a problem?

Very unfortunately "doing it right" usually costs more money up front even though there are usually greater savings down the road. Remember the old motor oil commercial where the mechanic says "You can pay me now or pay me later?"

The more voltage going through the lines the greater the minimum distance requirements are.

 But it occurred to me that while the crews, machinery and materials were there- all curbs at each intersection involved where water lines were laid, could be made wheel chair accessible and the worse sections of sidewalk could have been replaced along the water line routes. This could have been a beginning to address the broken sidewalk problem. Two problems addressed at once- water lines and sidewalks.

But that would require planning and coordination; perish the thought. Pardon the sarcasm.

The City of San Antonio did undertake such a coordinated effort in the late 1980s with the Tri-party project. It involved upgrading underground utilities (water, sewer, and electric which was underground since this was in the middle of downtown), streets, and sidewalks. A very close friend of mine worked for the City Water Board at the time and was able to relate to me some of what was involved.

It was a challenge, of course. Some of the active water lines were over 90 years old, only about 2 inches in diameter, and made of wood staves and metal hoops (like whiskey barrels). There were also abandoned trolley and larger train tracks and sewer lines (active and abandoned) of every conceivable material. Since this was in the relatively confined area near the Paseo del Rio, the major tourist attraction of the city, the effort and cost was deemed justified. Having just visited the area last month I would have to agree.

What does this have to do with improving sidewalks in the Montrose area? I believe fixing everything once, and doing it right, is the most economic way and will have the least long-term impact on commerce and convenience for those who live and work in the area.

It's funny how tastes change. I think Cadillac was one of the first to have digital clocks with a LED display. If you had the trip computer option in the Seville, you got the LED clock. I believe that was for the 78 and 79 model year.

My father's 1978 Bonneville Brougham (o.k. not really an Eldorado or Mark V but as luxurious a mid-priced car that could be had in those days) had a digital clock but it was not an LED. It had drums that had numbers on them which rotated through a small window much like the speedometer on a mid '60's Riviera (or was it the Toronado?). The clock was in the center of the dash above the controls for the air conditioner. The car was in the family for about 11 years and the clock was still working when the car was sold.

Sheldon would love this vid.......................

Specwriter loves this vid too.