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Specwriter

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Everything posted by Specwriter

  1. Specwriter
    You are so right, Amlaham. Actually Buffalo Speedway between Holcombe and N. Braeswood is a fairly recent rebuild and in good shape though you can see (and feel) some subsidence of the pavement already. South of the bayou to S. Main is terrible though. I don't even drive the speed limit (35 mph) along that stretch for fear of hitting my head on the roof of the car. 😟
  2. Specwriter
    Even though Buffalo Speedway will remain "open" during construction I imaging a lot of through traffic will move over to Kirby between Holcombe and the Southwest Freeway. Won't that be fun. 😧
  3. Specwriter
    Much of it can be done on the ground or even off-site then it is craned into place like a big woven steel blanket but the "blankets" need to be tied or welded together. It is tedious but the pros make it look easy.
  4. Specwriter
    Here is an article from the July 9, 2005 Houston Chronicle: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Historic-locomotive-rolling-out-of-Hermann-Park-1491046.php
  5. Specwriter
    I'm all for letting sign owners convert to LED without losing grandfathering status. It will save energy and brightness can be controlled. There does need to be something in the ordinance about brightness too. There is a sign in Kemah (or used to be) at SH 146 and FM 2094 that would cause momentary blindness. In fact, it was so bright (lots of white color too) that it was difficult to read. As for "signs" with no sign - empty frames that are rusting away - I say declare them a hazard (they could fall over), demolish them, and send the owner the bill. He hablado. 🙂
  6. Specwriter
    1955 was a great year to open a Chevrolet dealership. Advertising for the 1955 models called them "The Hot One" and they were with COMPLETELY NEW styling and an all new overhead valve V8 engine replacing the venerable but not nearly as powerful "stove bolt" six cylinder engine. The building was certainly not that exciting but, in those days I guess, the cars sold themselves.
  7. Specwriter
    I could not find a picture of the Jimmie Greene Chevrolet dealership at 2611 S. Shepherd but I vaguely remember it though. I don't remember the last iteration of the building being anything unique like Knapp Chevrolet at the intersection of Houston and Washington Avenue. I did remark in this forum (Old Car Dealerships) in January of 2010 that I was told the owner of the property got a princely sum when he sold it for development as a shopping center.
  8. Specwriter
    mls, do you remember the chimney sweeps from the movie "Mary Poppins"?
  9. Specwriter
    I believe I saw that Edsel station wagon on a morning walk in my neighborhood several months ago. If it is the same car (and how many turquoise Edsel station wagons can there be even in Houston) it is in very good shape. I love the boomerang tail lights.
  10. Specwriter
    It is a 1962 Pontiac. My father had a 1964 Catalina in a very attractive turquois blue. Starting in 1963 full size Pontiacs had the headlights arranged vertically. This was the configuration through the 1967 model year. Cadillac did the same with its 1965 through 1968 models.
  11. Specwriter
    Is anyone familiar with the Torre de David in Caracas, Venezuela? It is never finished residential tower that was "colonized" by some homeless in the city. The government was either powerless or indifferent to prevent it though the residents were relocated in 2014, some 20 years after some had first move in. There was book published about the building available on Amazon of course. https://www.amazon.com/Torre-David-Informal-Vertical-Communities/dp/3037782986
  12. Specwriter
    Much better.
  13. Specwriter
    That would be something interesting to learn about. Your wrote "OST" so I take it you are not confusing the restaurant with Bill Williams that was on Main Street. There is a Bill Miller's chain of bar-b-que restaurants in and around San Antonio. I believe the closest one to Houston is in Seguin at Interstate 10 and Texas 46.
  14. Specwriter
    That's a pity. It is a great building. One thing I find remarkable is the pay phone on the porch. It looks like it is in pretty good shape. I wonder if it is operational.
  15. Specwriter
    They will be present as long as they meet demand and highest, best use.
  16. Specwriter
    That is true H-Town and I should have made the distinction.
  17. Specwriter
    Understandable but, darn, she is so much fun to watch. 😞 She always seems so cheerful and happy. I wish her the best and I know which station I'll turn to when I am in Austin.
  18. Specwriter
    John C. Calhoun (if this is the Calhoun the thoroughfare* was named for) was a segregationist and a staunch proponent of slavery. I doubt there is much sentiment in favor of returning to that name now. That said, I'm not a big fan of renaming things for political expedient though I can certainly see removing names of people whose actions were so odious as to cause great consternation and loathing among the population. Why the asterisk? I was told once, and am now too old to remember by whom, that the original layout of thoroughfares in what is now the central business district named those going more or less north and south as streets and those east and west as avenues. So we have Main Street and Texas Avenue and those parallel to either keep that same designation, i.e. Smith, Louisiana, Travis, Milam, Fannin, San Jacinto Streets and Capitol, Rusk, Lamar, Dallas Avenues. You are probably bored of my post but I continue: St. Joseph "Parkway" is NOT a parkway. Allen Parkway qualifies in my opinion and the Sam Houston Parkway does not. There are probably thoroughfares in the suburbs that would meet my expectation of a parkway - at least until they are lined by strip shopping centers and drive through restaurants. Are there any other kind of restaurants these days? 😬 Be safe and healthy.
  19. Specwriter
    There did seem to be a concentration of people of Italian decent in the area around Assumption Catholic church (corner of Little York and Airline Drive). I attended Mass at that church with my parents in the 1960's through the mid-1970's. It seemed most of the parishioners had Italian surnames. There were also those with Czech and German last names but in smaller numbers. As Poppahop wrote, there were Italian families in the area, - farmers, raising mostly vegetables, many of which found there way to Canino's farmers market - but that was many years ago. I remember as a very young child riding in the back seat of my parents car as we drove along Airline between Little York and Gulf Bank roads looking out the window to see rows and rows of crops just across the ditch from the road. It's been a few years now, but I often met with friends on Thursdays at the Sacred Heart Society of Little York on Whitney (Knights of Columbus Hall) for pasta and meatballs lunch. There were mostly Italian-American men running the show. I believe it was a fundraiser for their charitable activities.
  20. Specwriter
    Great statue, great "plinth."
  21. Specwriter
    Servicing one will be a lot of fun - not.
  22. Specwriter
    This image rocks! Thanks, hindesky.
  23. Specwriter
    cloud, are you talking about Clark's Hardwood Lumber Co. at 700 E. 5-1/2 Street? There is also Houston Hardwoods at 4910 W. 34th. These are not traditional "lumber stores" where one gets Southern yellow pine 2x4s etc. They have more exotic species generally. Years ago there was another specialty lumber store (also in the Heights IIRC) called All Woods/Schroeder. The corporation was dissolved in July of 1991. I visited All Woods Schroeder and Houston Hardwoods to get certain species for projects. They had/have some wonderful stuff. When I was a child living with my parents a neighbor was a buyer for All Woods Schroeder. He made many trips to South America and a few to Africa.
  24. Specwriter
    Last week I noticed the "marquee" on the front of Stahlman Lumber (facing Greenbriar) read that it was moving to Stafford. It seems appropriate to have a Porsche dealership in that location. There are several Porsche's in West U. and Southampton and many, many Audis. I wonder who patronizes the Porsche dealership way out the North Freeway. People in the Woodlands perhaps.
  25. Specwriter
    There was a Lucky 7 at the corner of Airline Drive and Gulf Bank. I don't remember the actual name (Firebird probably does) but it was owned by the Io (ee-oh) family.
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