msteele6

aggieengineer, There was a Paul and Bill's meat market near the intersection of Griggs Road and Redwood Street, just north of the Gulf Freeway. I was brought up in the small neighborhood just to the west of Griggs Road (Marlo Place) and frequently walked to the market back in the '50's and early '60's. There was an open field just adjacent to it which has become an Hispanic social venue, I believe. Behind it were the Redwood Apartments, government subsidized housing which is still there. Across Griggs Road (and the railrod tracks) was Pecan Park. I think that the building is still there but I don't know what business is housed there.

Not really a restaurant but rather a cafeteria but I remember a chain of cafeterias called Thornhill's. The one I went to most often was at Palm Center, but as I recall, there was also one near Gulfgate on Winkler near the corner of Woodridge. The thing I most remember was their conveyor belt. It was set up in such a way that you put your tray with the dirty dishes on it and the conveyor belt took those dishes back to the dish washing area thus eliminating the need for people to pick up the dirty dishes and carry them back to the washing area. There were several openings along the length of the mostly enclosed conveyor which served the function of stations in which you could deposit your dishes. Can't remember anything about the food.

One of my least favorite intersections in the city. The redevelopment of this area seems to me to be essential to the redevelopment of Riverside, one of my favorite neighborhoods, therefore, I hope it does well. Also essential to Riverside's future is the intersection at OST and Calhoun (also Scott @ MacGregor). It used to be that every time I drove past that intersection there seemed to be some sort of illicit transaction going on, now there seems to be a barbeque shop that is making a legitimate business at OST and Calhoun. I hope that it all works out since there are so many architectural gems in the old Riverside neighborhood.

ArchMemoH, I see what happened, the list they gave you shows #636 to be 6901 Bellfort @ Wayside, actually 6901 Bellfort is at Nunn street (at least according to MapQuest), just across the railroad tracks from Wayside. I don't really remember the one at Wayside, even though I used to go that way quite a bit, was there one there as well?

No, 636 is 6901 Bellfort @ Wayside, near the old bowling alley.

ArchMemoH, i don't see the one at Bellfort @ Nunn, maybe the #626? I still go past that location occassionally and the building is still there, although the last time I went by there seemed to be some activity.

Interesting to see the list of former Jack in the Boxes. It confirms for me what I had always thought. the Jack in the Box on the corner of South Park (now Martin Luther King) and Browncroft was the first one in Houston. It was right across from Palms Center and adjacent to the old Montgomery Wards store. Reading through this old topic brings to mind a few I remember as a kid (and not so much). The first one was Thornhills cafeteria. I remember at least two of them, one at Palm Center and one in a little center not far from Gulfgate, across from Woodridge Baptist Church. They had a conveyor belt that took the dirty dishes back to the dishwasher when you finished your meal. We would put our tray on the belt and then run along to the various openings to check on their progress. The second one is the Hamburgers by Gourmet, I can still taste the burgers I got from that place, that's the one I still really miss. I used to patronize at least three of them at various times, mostly the one on Kirby but also the one next to Saint Thomas. Finally, someone mentioned the Beef and Bun on Fuqua and wondered if it was still open, I am glad to report that they are still open and I was there as late as last week, still great BBQ.

Actually, after closely studying the orientation of 1400 Hermann relative to the Astrodome with that of the building in question, I don't think that it fits. The subject building also appears to be somewhat closer to the Astrodome than 1400 Hermann.

The enlarged picture actually confirms, in my mind, the identification of the building as 1400 Hermann. In the enlarged picture you can now clearly see that the building has the T-shaped construction of 1400 Hermann. In the original picture it appeared to be rounded. Additionally, if it is not 1400 Hermann, where is 1400 Hermann, as there is absolutely no doubt that it did exist at that time.

Pretty unlikely this person wil ever make parole. If you look at his parole information, he was convicted in 2003 and given a life sentence. One of the reasons he was denied parole was for the fact that he was convicted of a felony while serving a prison term. He is up for parole in 2017, however, I think that that is really just a formality, as it should be. JMO

I wouldn't go so far as to say the next four years, however, Mr. Patrick's history seems to indicate that he may find governing to be a less engaging activity than rabble rousing (his real area of expertise) and that is a situation in which a politician may well find himself in hot water not entirely of his own creation, e.g. the late Presidency of Mr. G.W. Bush and his eminence grise Mr. Cheney.

No thoughts on Mr. Abbott, however, with respect to Mr. Patrick (nee Goeb), I would expect his tenure as Lieutenant Governor to end as many of his other enterprises have ended, in a debacle. His first appearance in Houston, as a television sportscaster was greeted by everyone I knew, with disdain. He lasted only a short time in that capacity. His next venture, a string of sports bars, ended in 1986 with a bankruptcy and his attempted suicide. Since that time he has found his niche as a conservative commentator, a vocation for which he does seem well qualified, a bombastic personality coupled with a meager grasp of fact and an utter contempt for truth. Given these characteristics, I would expect that he would rely on his aides to do the actual work of Lieutenant Governor (the most powerful position in the Texas government) and they will, I fear, at some point use their position to enrich themselves, leaving Mr. Patrick to bear the consequences. JMO

The building does appear to be about the right size (16 stories) and location (directly north of Hermann Park) for 1400 Hermann. The building was definitely there when the Astrodome was built. The building is not square, it is "T" shaped and that might account for the rounded appearance of the building in the picture.

I have complete sympathy for mass transit, in fact, I happen to believe that some method of less energy intensive transportation is essential for the continued survival of the human race. Having said that, mass transit must be done in such a way as to alienate as few people as possible in order to be accepted by the people it aims to serve. A good start would be to rationalize the traffic signals at rail crossings in such a way that, after being forced to endure an extra long light, the cross traffic would at least get the benefit of the NEXT green signal and not be forced to wait for an entire cycle before being able to proceed. Small improvements such as these, and especially improvements that would aid, not only the rail lines, but also the vehicular traffic, would be supported by many more commuters. In regard to the property value situation, it seems that our transportation officials have the attitude that, "Well, this neighborhood isn't very valuable, therefore it would be wise (and incidentally less expensive) to put our project through it". This ignores the fact that the people living in these areas have most of their worldly possessions tied up in these homes. In such ways the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, seemingly an obsession of our time. JMO

In defence of the "NIMBY's". Take a drive over by Milby High School and go through the "neighborhood" that was bisected by 225 a few years ago. These large transit projects have the capacity to destroy neighborhoods and the people that live in them's most valuable asset, their homes. If you need another example check out what's left of Riverside between Almeda Road and 288. For a counter example, look at US 59, practically every street between downtown and Greenbriar has an overpass (without any lights) which connects across 59. Drive through Boulevard Oaks, North and South Boulevards newly resurfaced, a "Stop Ashby Highrise" in seemingly every yard, that's the difference between the connected and the unconnected. JMO

NenaE, I think if you blow up the picture I posted you can actually make out that flagpole in the center of the semi-circular green space. You can also see the old Tel-Wink drive in and Woodridge Baptist Church in the background.

djrage, Here is the picture. If you look at the right side of the mall you will see a semi circular area of grass. The large granite blocks form the top part of the area and the flagpole was located in the middle. The club was right next to this area.

The first recollection I have of Mr. Patrick was of him as a sportscaster on one of the television stations. He didn't last long in that job, probably because almost everybody I knew thought he was a whiny-gut.

How do you forget something that never happened?

They support terrorism to the best of their abilities through the construction of their Wahhabi madrassas. It appears, however, that the Saudi's may be currently being blackmailed to dissociate themselves from such fundamentalist groups (e.g.ISIS) through the potential release of the 28 redacted pages of the 9/11 Commission Report which, no doubt, would implicate them in the funding of the 9/11 attacks.

I drove by this area not too long ago and it has really been improved by this new construction/renovation.

I was never in the place but I heard stories about the Four Palms on Telephone Road (which is funny because I was in many other joints on Telephone Road). If I'm not mistaken it was so notorious it actually made the newspapers at one time. Subdude, sorry, I didn't notice your post already mentioning the Four Palms.

If the people of Ferguson want justice I have one word of advice for them: Vote.

If I recall correctly there was a Post Office in that little center. It seems like somewhere on this site there was a discussion about the jewelers but I don't remember where it is.