H8S 4 LIFE

That's exactly what we're getting. Another spanish station. Una Vas Mes owns a station here in Houston already. KUVM-DT 34 is an Azteca America affiliate, and that programming will move to KNWS once the sale is completed. This will give Una Vas Mes it's first Full Power TV station. Rumor around the cooler says that Ch. 34 will become "Mega". The name "Mega" really sends a chill down my spine with what happened the last time a Mega was introduced to this market. Another irony....and boy I have too much time on my hands....is that Mega will debut on Ch. 34, the exact number of years the former format of 101 KLOL aired, before being replaced by "Mega". Coincidence? Or conspiracy? You decide.

That has puzzled me as well. I have to take Airline to 45 now, or go all the way down to the Nicholson on ramp and face the wrath of the Starbucks crowd. Has anyone noticed that they have removed several houses behind the tire shop facing 610 @ N. Main? Basically it was odd numbered side of 29th from Main almost to Columbia and it has been leveled. I was wondering if this was done as a result of 610's expansion or not.

Yes, this is correct. Just a little advice for you, though. You will need to remove any fence that seperates the two properties. My brother purchased the lot next door to his when the neighbor's house burned, and they subsequently sold off the property a few years ago. He had the same idea as you, wanting the larger yard area, and nearly doubling his already large corner lot. Come to find out, since there was a fence seperating the back yards (there are no fences in the front yards of Hidden Valley due to deed restrictions) it was still considered 2 different properties with two different addresses and lot numbers, ultimately denying him from obtaining the homestead exemption for the add on property the first year. The fence was quickly removed and the following year there was no issue. I assume the City must have sent out some sort of surveyor, once they accepted the application for the exemption. I found it odd that they knew the fence remained, and were able to deny the exemption based on that.

Mmm....I can still smell the cabbage. The older crowd here on the boards should know exactly what I'm talking about. Cottage Grove has went through some drastic changes over the years. Once inhabited by working class German immigrants, over the years Cottage Grove became a haven for riff-raff and drugs. It's worst point that I can remember would be during the 80's. Constant gang wars between Cottage Grove and West End typically ended with someone's life being lost. After re-development began in the mid 90's all of this changed. Going through Cottage Grove for the first time in several years last week really opened my eyes as to just HOW much The Grove and West End have both changed, and all of it for the better. You can't ask for better access to the Galleria, The Heights, or Downtown. A simple ride down Larkin quickly puts you on I-10 and away you go. If I knew then, what I know now, I would have certainly bought property in The Grove back 20 years ago or so. I won't leave the younger crowd out in the cold. The old nickname for Cottage Grove was "The Cabbage Patch" because you could pass through and smell the cabbage the German immigrants were cooking throughout the neighborhood.

Mr./Ms. Hartmann, are you of the Hartmann family of realtors? If so, another building that you would probably have some fondness for would be the original Baptist Temple Church building at the corner of 20th and Rutland. There is a building that has set long abandoned and in desperate need of someone's time and effort. I had family that were members of the Church for many years, and I know the Hartmann name was, and may still be, well recognized within the congregation.

Hmm...There may have been some clean-up done to the basement that I wasn't aware of. It has been a few years since I have set foot in the old building. I hope you are right Evans-Davis. I'd much prefer someone come in with a plan to renovate it as opposed to tearing it down. It has been at least 20 years since the building was used for anything besides the storage that you witnessed. Time is of the utmost importance with this structure. The longer it remains as is, the less chance the building has to remain repairable, IMO. What use do you think would be a viable use for the building, considering its location and connection with the adjacent buildings? I always thought that it would be a fantastic place for a Spanish ministry, if given the attention and repair the building needs.

It is indeed beautiful architecture, but the pictures posted don't give a true assessment of the overall condition of the building. These pictures don't show the basement below that is a moldy, nauseating mess. Keep in mind the church's basement has been flooded more times than I can remember, and never to the best of my knowledge has a professional water extraction ever occurred after one of these flood events since the sanctuary was moved to the newer building on Arlington many years ago. I don't want to see it torn down either, but it can't remain as it is. There are too many issues just waiting to happen. With as many children in the school starting at age 5 up to age 13, someone is going to let curiousity get the best of them and will end up leading to an injury, a lawsuit, or worse yet a death. As I recall, the last thing actually done to the building was the replacement of the stain glassed windows. Those had been broken out for years before their replacement back in the early (I believe) 90's, and needless to say the church was home to many birds during those years. Back in the 80's the day care was located in the basement of the old church. Once the health risks involved to those kids were realized, the day care was moved into the house the church purchased next door to the gymnasium. Another church that falls into this category is the old North Main Baptist Church located at Gostic and 25th. While it holds a tremendous amount of historic value and has lived at that location for the better part of 100 years, it is in severe disrepair and if no one is going to restore it I'd rather see it come down than to fall down on someone or someone get hurt "exploring" it.

I am a member of Immanuel Lutheran, as well as an alumnus of the school. For some reason, I can't get the pictures to upload but the interior of the old church is in rough shape.

Just a little clarification, KKHH is located at 95.7, the old dial setting for KIKK 96 and later smooth jazz "The Wave". Had me nervous for a minute that Mike and Mike were being replaced in the mornings at ESPN 97.5. Tjones, you forgot one. "What's the phrase that pays?!?!"

Yes it is, unfortunately. The General Cinema I-IV was closed and effectively abandoned when Magic Johnson opened his 12 screen at the old Joske's site. Northline is long gone now Nena. There are new shopping strips that have been built basically from where the old Mont. Ward's auto shop was, clear up to basically the old Craig's entrance. Where the actual mall stood is now a huge lot of St. Augustine grass. They have built all of the new "Commons" in the old parking lot, and are supposed to make the original mall site into a park, with the new LRT stop incorporated within. I remember the old riding machines as well. Those were located in the Joske's wing, heading toward the old Weingarten's grocery store and Piccadilly's. There were others in front of Kresge's as well.

What a neat story, H2B. I definitely remember the old SP spur line that traveled down Nicholson as well. Seems like every time they tried to use that track in its last years, one of the cars would end up derailed. I've read some of the new Heights residents on here that have bought homes around Nicholson and had issues with the bike trail and such. A real good friend of mine lived at 22nd and Nicholson, right down from the school. That darn train horn would have woken the dead, and it blared at every single street. Imagine living within a few feet of that! Now, on this part of the line there were double tracks. I believe those started at 20th st. They used to store cars on the pass track for days and weeks at a time, and those always seemed to make good jungle gyms for us. Now, we never through anything at those SP switchers going down Nicholson. They moved so slow through the Heights that had we've done it, one of the crew would have most likely jumped of the engine, paddled our behinds, and then sent us home to get another one from the folks. We were cowards. We threw 'em at the MKT trains that ran parallel with 7th, and into the Eureka Yard that ran behind Cottage Grove. Those trains moved a little faster (though not much) and gave us ample time to run if we ran into the danger of being nabbed for our shenanigans. I certainly can't remember Merchant's Park being built, but it sure looked a whole lot different back then, than it does now. Of course, I guess that could be said about almost everything in Houston. You and I are only a decade apart, H2B. I proudly declare 39 years, and quitely admit 51. I certainly wished I'd have gotten to see the produce wagon making its way back in forth through the neighborhoods. What a sight that must've been. Sorry to all posters for going off of topic so terribly. To tie this in, looks like the progress at the Kroger site is moving right along.

I suspected that. I never remember seeing another Britt's besides the one in Northline. Growing up, I thought it was the only one. In Northline, it was originally where the HCC campus last was before the mall was demoed. As a matter of fact, Britt's Department Store was the very last thing torn down at the old Northline site, since HCC was not ready to move out when the rest of the mall flattened. Britt's was actually like a Foley's or Sear's in that it was a dept. store with a connecting restaurant inside. To tell the truth, it was more of a five and dime quality such as Woolworth's, but had actual tables to sit as well as a counter in the restaurant portion.

I loved Britt's at Northline when I was a kid, because inevitably we were stopping to eat in the restaurant. Afterwards, I got to run across the mall corridor to Playland Toys which was always a treat. A friend of mine and I were reminiscing yesterday, and Britt's came up. He swears there was a Britt's at Gulfgate, I'm not convinced. Can anyone confirm Britt's locations here in town? I pretty sure there was not one in Northwest or Greenspoint.

The Northwest Mall location had a Budget Store that ended up closed sometime in the late 80's. Every once in a while after that section of the store was closed off by drywall, they'd remove the temporary wall and use that section for big sales and such. Talk about a blast from the past, when it was opened back up for those short periods of time. The rest of the Foley's upstairs had been facelifted in the early 90's. This part of the upstairs was still from the 70's, complete with loud colored stripes adorning all the walls. What a contrast.

My family used to love Joe Matranga's on Irvington. An intimate Italian restaurant with dim lights and tremendous homemade food. Joe was the kind of guy that would come by the table, ask about your family, and genuinely cared about his patrons. He retired in the late 80's, and closed down. The last time I could recognize the building it was a cantina.

That's why I didn't remember a Firestone, it was a Goodyear. I basically grew up knowing a lot of friends from the neighborhood that lived off Shepherd. When we were kids we'd go walking down to the train tracks and throw rocks at the passing Katy. Until one day, we got caught by my buddy's mother peering at us from down the block. Needless to say, phone calls were made and rears were reddened. We weren't always the smartest kids in the world, but we sure thought so at the time. My brother's girlfriend (now wife of 32 years) worked at Merchant's Park Bank, which is why the Wyatt's Cafeteria right down the strip was such a huge deal to me. It was a basic ritual of the time to meet up for lunch. I grew up a bit north of Merchant's Park, in the Sunset Heights off of N. Main and 26th. Dated a young lady that lived at 12th and Waverly throughout high school during the 70's. That whole area was kind of a second home. I pass that house she lived in sometimes, and can't believe how disrepaired it has become. That was such a neat little house in its day. I'm not familiar with Birdie's, H2B. This tells me, you must have a couple of years on me as it must have been before my time.

Well sure I remember Weiner's, but I guess the Firestone is one of those things that my memory has abandoned over time.

Having travelled all over the States, the one and only reason that I have retained residence in Houston is the people. There is nowhere else quite like Houston when it comes to hospitality. One only has to go back a year to see just how quickly we pitch in to help each other in times of need. This is home, and this is where my heart is. In good times and bad, I am still "Houston Proud".

This is not correct. Kroger #11 was torn down, not renovated. You are correct on the year however. The signature style store there now was built from the ground up in 1995. This happened 2 years after Merchant's Park Bank (lastly Region's Bank) expanded their community rooms towards Kroger, buying out and closing the Walgreen's in the process. My sister-in-law was the VP of Auditing for MP Bank, and Union Planter's as well. There was no way in the world Kroger would have ever tried to "renovate" that God awful store. Come to think of it, with the demolition of Region's Bank the only original building left is the one W.T. Grant was in, and the front half of that is now Golden Island. Only the back half remains as a thrift store. H2B, where was that Firestone you got the tires from? For the life of me I can't place it.

Not sure about Marcella. I'm speaking of the little single story concrete building right next to White's/Sand Dollar (across the alley way). There was a lease sign on the building for a while, as the first bit of construction began but that is long gone. Now a simple cyclone fence encases the building and nothing has happened in at least 2 years. I think that you are confusing the "new" savings and loan building with the old one that I am referencing. Seems like the multi-story S&L building with the large circular window in the middle on the corner of W. 19th and Yale was the one with huge mold and asbestos concerns. Thus, it sat abandoned for years as Compass Bank was relegated to the small brick corner building at W. 18th and Yale until those problems could be worked out and the building demoed. Quite a few people must have harbored that same anger over Danburg's. As I remember it didn't take long at all for the windows to be smashed out and the interior of the store destroyed once they closed up shop. It sat there as a boarded up monstrocity for at least 20 years as inner family feuding delayed the inevitable sale of the property to CVS a few years ago.

For years, Danburg's Department store sat vacant and decrepit at the corner of 20th and Yale. A true eyesore for The Heights until one day it was torn down to make way for a gleaming new CVS Pharmacy. Finally the eyesore was gone, but alas, another one has popped up. What is the verdict on the old Heights Savings & Loan building directly across the street from the Weingarten's strip? Baptist Temple used to use this for Sunday School classes and such, but the Church sold it a couple of years back. Some work had begun, I suppose, refurbishing the building but that work has come to a screeching halt and it now sits there looking worse and worse by the day. Who owns this property now, and what if anything is planned for this rapidly declining property?

You are right. That was a Texaco for many years, and only changed to a Mobil within the last couple of years. Ah yes, the Exxon on the corner, where Mattress Firm is now. I had a new speedometer cable and gear replaced in my 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass at that Exxon. When they were through, I could be driving 60mph and the car was reading 20mph. Needless to say, after that I never went back. Great memories of MP for me as well. Wish I had a nickel for every pin I've ever knocked down at the ol' N. Shepherd lanes.

Heights2Bastrop, I believe they are talking about the Mobil gas station that was on the SW corner of Shep. and 11th. That has been torn down since around the turn of the year. U-Tote-M is still there, well at least the building. It's a (insert name here) food store now. BTW, I remember those 6 checkout lines! There wasn't much change at all, to the best of my recollection, when H&P became Kroger. Sure do miss that Wyatt's right down the strip from it...

You are right. He is on KWWJ, and I believe has a show on KYOK as well. Hopefully, there will be a reunion of sorts for the old personalities before KCOH signs off.