Memories Of Sharpstown

[Houstonia]

Bumping up this entry to the forum.

I have lived in Sharpstown off and on since 1975. I remember going and sitting along Bellaire Blvd to watch the fireworks show from Sharpstown Center. I remember Del Taco and Burger Mountain Soda Fountain. Lewis and Coker, Sage Drugs, LaRosa's Flying Pizza, Bluebees, and some kind of fish place over at Beltway center (I think that's what it was called). I could hear the cows mooing and I would ride my bike to the western edge of the neighborhood to pet them. (we lived in the section off the southwest intersection of Gessner and Bellaire.

I remember walking to Sharpstown Mall and going to Good Time Charlies, Wendy's and Woolworths when there was still a restaurant in it. We ate at Foleys a lot too. There was some kind of pub... whiskey something? near Good Time Charlies that was open at night. I remember walking to the newsstand to buy my dad a Sunday paper - at the northeast corner of Gessner and Bellaire. I did that for years before I realized there was an adult section in there.

I remember when it was only Strake Jesuit ... WITHOUT a grocery store in front of it.

I remember the first Asian businesses moving into Sharpstown, saving it from becoming a ghetto.

I loved Sharpstown then and now. I lived in other sections of Houston, but Sharpstown is home. LOL.

Someone was saying the apartments are to blame for no revitalization - I only half agree with this. (As that comment was made years ago, things have obviously changed since then). I think some of the HOUSES in Sharpstown are in worse condition than the apartments - rental houses - we have a house on our street - owned by the original owner, but years ago, either he turned it into a HUD home or it was taken over by the city (according to HCAD, the original owner still has possession). We've had one group after another move into that house - I can't imagine what it's like on the inside. We have another house on the street a two-story house - the owners left it - leaving their dogs inside. For at least a year they left the dogs there, only coming back to feed them. The dogs had full run of the house until the SPCA showed up after Hurricane Ike. The house is rumored to have an unrepaired water leak and a bad foundation - who would want to invest in a house like that?!?

If you can track down the owners of the apartments, it's possible that major repairs can take place, changing the entire complex - I just feel like the houses are more difficult and more expensive. I HAVE seen some promising renovations, although there is a monstrosity that is currently being built on the corner of Leader and Redding - I don't know how they got permission.

It's true that there are some AWFUL apartments and I feel bad for the families that have to raise their children in those environments - But have any of you noticed the absolutely awful duplex-style homes on Gessner between Bellaire and Beechnut?

I've heard that the civic association can not really do anything about Gessner, as it is zoned as residential OR business and something about the Civic Association not being able to enforce deed restrictions there (hearsay - I have no idea what the facts are behind this claim).

Safety - I feel very safe in Sharpstown - Especially on the Asiatown/ChinaTown side - people in my neighborhood walk in the mornings or evenings. There are many people who walk over to the Chinese markets. The worst thing is the traffic on Bellaire.

Someone suggested there is a name recognition issue with Sharpstown - I could not agree more - It's unlikely that they would ever change the name of the subdivision, but I think it would go a long way to changing people's ideas about the neighborhood. Sharpstown seems to be a place that people love to trash on - but I'm not sure why as there are many beautiful homes, large yards, huge trees, and nice hard-working people.

Thanks for starting this thread - it inspired me to join the forum. :-)

[GBryant]

I think that store was a Safeway

Yep, it was a Safeway until the late 80s/early 90s. My parents owned a bakery one block over and we would occasionally have to run to the store for supplies. I remember there were Time Pilot and Krull right by the entrance.

[profjake]

This was fun reading the History of the place I grew up. My family moved to Sharpstown in the summer of 1969 when I was 5. We bought a house in the "NEW" section west of 59 off Fondren near the corner of Lugary and Prestwood. Id say that was FAR west Sharpstown. I didn't consider past Harwin as Sharpstown. I went to Sharpstown Christian School (Church of Christ) from 70 to 76.  I went to the Church of Christ every Sunday and Wednesday on the little white minibus that would come pick us up.  I went to Sharpstown Jr High from 76-79 and then moved to Alief ISD although we still lived in Sharpstown on Gessner in the San Louis Apts... I lived with my dad when my parents divorced. He moved there specifically so I could go AISD schools. I was a curious kid and rode my bike everywhere so I know Sharpstown well, I have literally pedaled down every single street between Braeswood and Harwin, Hilcroft and Gessner. I have a photographic memory so I remember every house, every business, every sign, i even remember license plates and cars that were parked in front of certain houses.

 

I remember all the things you have all posted about. I used to hang out at the Neptune Pet Center and help them with the Goldfish Giveaways. I used to bowl every saturday in the Jr Leagues at the Southway 6 bowling alley and get tacos al carbon afterwards at the Rolandos Burger Factory. I remember riding my bike out "west" across the golf course to Gessner, must have been circa 1972 and looking west from the corner of Sandspoint and Gessner and seeing NOTHING... except for a line of cement trucks heading west... presumably to build the road... Harwin and Bellaire were dirt roads past Gessner. Harwin was a dirt (actually shell) road past Fondren and Milton Koy who owned COD (the concrete company) was the only thing on Harwin between Fondren and Gessner. 

 

I remember watching Star Wars at Southway 6. I remember watching the 2nd story being added to the mall. I used to be one of those kids that tried to sell you the big styrofoam planes in the mall. I bought my first rc car at Jean's Model shop, an orange Porche 911 Targa for $44 that I got a paper route and saved up to buy, I remember the live bands at the Chelsea Street Pub. I remember listening to the Steve Miller band play as I racked up the high score on the Astec pinball game upstairs in the arcade at Good Time Charley's. When Video cames got more popular, I was the Tempest Champ, I always left the initials, JAX on the machines.

 

I really enjoyed growing up in Sharpstown. I felt safe and nurtured. All of us kids would make up games, play hide and seek or war, we would build ramps and jump them with our bikes, we would fashion stilts from 2 by 4's. We would pull crawfish out of the bayou until dark, we would watch the fireworks at Sharpstown Mall, from our backyard sitting on the brick wall separating us from Fondren. I went to HBU Summer Day Camp every year. 

 

I remember sitting in my last period  English Class upstairs at Sharpstown Jr High during the last few days of the semester, right next to the open windows, not listening to the teacher while the winds blew the cords on the flag poles outside making a familiar and beckoning "tinking" sound, teasing us... school is almost over... come out and play. Come jump in the pool over at Landsdale Park or ride your bike on the paths on the hill or go over to the Odom's, Wood's or Mondshine's house and get into some trouble.

 

My sister and I used to do Sesame Street puppet shows at the Walter Branch Library in the summer. I still remember that musty smell of books and the huge paper card catalog. I loved that Library. Did many a book reports there. Learned about Magic from an old man that would teach us on Saturdays.

 

Favorite restaurants: The Ground Patti... they had a kewl reel to reel music system behind glass. Wan Fu, by Safeway, I remember Frank Wong well. First Chinese restaurant in Sharpstown. Loved the Tidbit Platter. James Coney Island, friends worked there, so I got leftover food, tried my first cigarette upstairs. Rolandos Burger Factory of course, who invented Fajitas. Mr Gatti's, with the big screen TV. Antonios Flying Pizza over on Hillcroft, the food court at Good Time Charley's, Zyder Zee seafood on Fondren (later became Wendy's), Alfie's Fish and Chips, Steak and Ale, my parents would take me sometimes and I would see my old friend, Clark Walter, with his 3 piece band play hits from the 60s and 70s, 

 

In my jr high and highschool days, after my parents were divorced, I would often skip school and ride over to the Radio Shack Computer Center on 59 and hang out there. I taught myself how to program the TRS-80s and the sales people let me write code all day, they didn't care. I invented the game, Breakout, but Atari stole it, I was 14. I wrote lots of code that is still out there today. I was using this:  8-)   the sidways smiley face before anyone else was in 1977.   I invented the "squiggly" line on a TRS-80 that you might see in emails...

~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~

 

 

My dad and step mom still live in Sharpstown on Bonhomme in the "new" patio homes, right next to the park which used to be my friend, Keith's house. I say new because they were probably built around 1980. Its fun to make up some excuse to go over and visit. It is such a beautiful and quiet area there off of Wanda Lane with huge mature trees. My dad fashioned a sliding gate next to his hot tub in the back yard so he can open it up and have a 10 foot view of the Bonham Acres Park there where Keith used to live.

 

I know things change, but it is really sad to see Sharpstown mall literally die as it has. It is interesting to see how something so grand and so special, the first of its kind eventually gets passed by and fades away. But it is not all bad. As I said, my dad's neighborhood and that part of Braeburn Valley still have some large and beautiful houses there and some people are building new homes there. 

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

 I was the Tempest Champ, I always left the initials, JAX on the machines.

 

 

 

 

you MF..... lol

 

You always beat my high scores on those machines.... I used to put XTC or AAR as my initials.  

[UtterlyUrban]

I owned a house in Sharpstown Country Club Terrace from about 1989 to about 1992.

I knew it was time to move when, more than once, we were awoken by a police helicopter overhead shinning roving search lights into all the yards looking for some suspect. Not good.

The apartments that ring all of sharpstown were problematic back then and they likely have only gotten worse.

This young man died just last night less than a mile from my old house:

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Houston-teen-shot-dead-when-bullet-flies-into-his-bedroom-265190761.html

[IronTiger]

This was fun reading the History of the place I grew up. My family moved to Sharpstown in the summer of 1969 when I was 5. We bought a house in the "NEW" section west of 59 off Fondren near the corner of Lugary and Prestwood. Id say that was FAR west Sharpstown. I didn't consider past Harwin as Sharpstown. I went to Sharpstown Christian School (Church of Christ) from 70 to 76.  I went to the Church of Christ every Sunday and Wednesday on the little white minibus that would come pick us up.  I went to Sharpstown Jr High from 76-79 and then moved to Alief ISD although we still lived in Sharpstown on Gessner in the San Louis Apts... I lived with my dad when my parents divorced. He moved there specifically so I could go AISD schools. I was a curious kid and rode my bike everywhere so I know Sharpstown well, I have literally pedaled down every single street between Braeswood and Harwin, Hilcroft and Gessner. I have a photographic memory so I remember every house, every business, every sign, i even remember license plates and cars that were parked in front of certain houses.

 

I remember all the things you have all posted about. I used to hang out at the Neptune Pet Center and help them with the Goldfish Giveaways. I used to bowl every saturday in the Jr Leagues at the Southway 6 bowling alley and get tacos al carbon afterwards at the Rolandos Burger Factory. I remember riding my bike out "west" across the golf course to Gessner, must have been circa 1972 and looking west from the corner of Sandspoint and Gessner and seeing NOTHING... except for a line of cement trucks heading west... presumably to build the road... Harwin and Bellaire were dirt roads past Gessner. Harwin was a dirt (actually shell) road past Fondren and Milton Koy who owned COD (the concrete company) was the only thing on Harwin between Fondren and Gessner. 

 

I remember watching Star Wars at Southway 6. I remember watching the 2nd story being added to the mall. I used to be one of those kids that tried to sell you the big styrofoam planes in the mall. I bought my first rc car at Jean's Model shop, an orange Porche 911 Targa for $44 that I got a paper route and saved up to buy, I remember the live bands at the Chelsea Street Pub. I remember listening to the Steve Miller band play as I racked up the high score on the Astec pinball game upstairs in the arcade at Good Time Charley's. When Video cames got more popular, I was the Tempest Champ, I always left the initials, JAX on the machines.

 

I really enjoyed growing up in Sharpstown. I felt safe and nurtured. All of us kids would make up games, play hide and seek or war, we would build ramps and jump them with our bikes, we would fashion stilts from 2 by 4's. We would pull crawfish out of the bayou until dark, we would watch the fireworks at Sharpstown Mall, from our backyard sitting on the brick wall separating us from Fondren. I went to HBU Summer Day Camp every year. 

 

I remember sitting in my last period  English Class upstairs at Sharpstown Jr High during the last few days of the semester, right next to the open windows, not listening to the teacher while the winds blew the cords on the flag poles outside making a familiar and beckoning "tinking" sound, teasing us... school is almost over... come out and play. Come jump in the pool over at Landsdale Park or ride your bike on the paths on the hill or go over to the Odom's, Wood's or Mondshine's house and get into some trouble.

 

My sister and I used to do Sesame Street puppet shows at the Walter Branch Library in the summer. I still remember that musty smell of books and the huge paper card catalog. I loved that Library. Did many a book reports there. Learned about Magic from an old man that would teach us on Saturdays.

 

Favorite restaurants: The Ground Patti... they had a kewl reel to reel music system behind glass. Wan Fu, by Safeway, I remember Frank Wong well. First Chinese restaurant in Sharpstown. Loved the Tidbit Platter. James Coney Island, friends worked there, so I got leftover food, tried my first cigarette upstairs. Rolandos Burger Factory of course, who invented Fajitas. Mr Gatti's, with the big screen TV. Antonios Flying Pizza over on Hillcroft, the food court at Good Time Charley's, Zyder Zee seafood on Fondren (later became Wendy's), Alfie's Fish and Chips, Steak and Ale, my parents would take me sometimes and I would see my old friend, Clark Walter, with his 3 piece band play hits from the 60s and 70s, 

 

In my jr high and highschool days, after my parents were divorced, I would often skip school and ride over to the Radio Shack Computer Center on 59 and hang out there. I taught myself how to program the TRS-80s and the sales people let me write code all day, they didn't care. I invented the game, Breakout, but Atari stole it, I was 14. I wrote lots of code that is still out there today. I was using this:  8-)   the sidways smiley face before anyone else was in 1977.   I invented the "squiggly" line on a TRS-80 that you might see in emails...

~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~

 

 

My dad and step mom still live in Sharpstown on Bonhomme in the "new" patio homes, right next to the park which used to be my friend, Keith's house. I say new because they were probably built around 1980. Its fun to make up some excuse to go over and visit. It is such a beautiful and quiet area there off of Wanda Lane with huge mature trees. My dad fashioned a sliding gate next to his hot tub in the back yard so he can open it up and have a 10 foot view of the Bonham Acres Park there where Keith used to live.

 

I know things change, but it is really sad to see Sharpstown mall literally die as it has. It is interesting to see how something so grand and so special, the first of its kind eventually gets passed by and fades away. But it is not all bad. As I said, my dad's neighborhood and that part of Braeburn Valley still have some large and beautiful houses there and some people are building new homes there.

Zuider Zee Seafood Inn? They had those in Houston, too?

[cdollaz]

Regarding Sharpstown and Hillcroft:  after the Globe, wasn't there a store there called FedMart?

[august948]

In my jr high and highschool days, after my parents were divorced, I would often skip school and ride over to the Radio Shack Computer Center on 59 and hang out there. I taught myself how to program the TRS-80s and the sales people let me write code all day, they didn't care. I invented the game, Breakout, but Atari stole it, I was 14. I wrote lots of code that is still out there today. I was using this:  8-)   the sidways smiley face before anyone else was in 1977.   I invented the "squiggly" line on a TRS-80 that you might see in emails...

~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~

 

Ahh...the old "trash 80's".  I cut my teeth on those, too.

[Yayan]

Great reading all these posts!!! If any of you happened to have driven down Neff St.(going towards 59) in the mid eighties you would have hit me or one my friends playing street baseball. Some of the best times of my life!

[toga]

Lived on Sharpcrest from 65 till 81, well I moved out in 78 parents in 1981. Nothing but fields around when we first moved in, went to Neff, Sharpstown jr and sr high, grad in 1978 . I had forgot most of the stuff people posted about the area. Fun read,  We played baseball, football, and other games in back yard, our  house and  the Beans didnt have fence between the houses, Fun stuff. 

[Zenjive]

I grew up in Sharpstown in the 70's and 80's. My parents lived in one of the townhomes on Gessner just before moving to one of the homes in the far west end of Sharpstown, CCT3.

I remember before Corporate drive and the apartments were built, civilization (in my little kid mind) ended at Eichler. Beyond that was bike trails and then the cow pasture that is now Art Storey park, then Alief beyond. We explored Brays Bayou from Bellaire to 59. There used to be a partially burned wooden bridge over a small creek that emptied into Brays just across from Art Storey park, in the Chambers elementary ball field. That bridge was probably 1910 or earlier and I think it was connected to a road that came down from Alief. Old USGS maps imply it.

I found an old map of Ft Bend that shows two parcels of land listed as "Leo Roark" right on the edge of Harris county, right over western Sharpstown and the Westwood area. Look due north of the large William Stafford league:

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth493129/

I assume this is where Roark road (which was along 8 from 59 to Harwin) got its name. Leo Roark was the son of one of Austin's original colonists:

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fro03

I've seen mentioned on this forum that in recent times that ranch was owned by Bob Everett Smith:

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsm57

 

At Roark (now 8) and Bellaire there used to be 4 or 5 metal buildings and a small short street of to the side of the main. When the buildings were gone, people used the old road bed as a runway for RC planes.

 

Back to Gessner.... there was a tire store at Bellaire, on the sw corner. It's still some sort of tire shop. I don't know if it was a Firestone, but it had a Firestone sign, which I think is still there, but painted over. There's a large tractor tire, painted yellow, on the curb.

Further down Gessner at the Bissonnet fire station, just north of the Bissonnet interesction is a low spot in the road. This was the natural path of Brays bayou, but sometime in the 50's or 60's, it was re routed to cross Gessner further down at Braeswood. I guess they didn't fill the old channel well enough and subsidence has taken over.

 

One of my favorite things growing up was being able to take our bikes into Westwood mall on Sundays when everything was closed. The main mall area would still be open. We could ride about two crazy fast laps before the security guard got off his butt and chased us off.

[Zenjive]

I don't know if this should be a new post or not, but does anyone remember people painting fire hydrants in unique and funny ways in the 70's?

I'm not sure if this was just in Sharpstown or all over town. I remember almost all of the hydrants in our part of the neighborhood had been painted in one way or another. One really elaborate one was painted to look like a dalmation in a firefighter uniform. Many were patriotic, I think this may have started in summer of 1976. But by 1980 or so, they'd all been re-painted and standardized by the city.

[Fringe]

Many hydrants were painted as part of the Bicentennial in 76. Fire departments went along with it but most were painted back to original soon after. Most people don't know it but hydrants in many cities are painted different colors to indicate water pressure/volume at that point.  

[Zenjive]

Does anyone know what Diho Square at Ranchester and Bellaire was named before it was Diho Square? Did it even have a name before it was Diho?

 

This would be back when Lewis & Coker and La Rosa, etc were still there. Someone in the Sharpstown facebook group is asking to settle a family discussion and now it's bothering me, haha.

 

Thanks!

[PhilBrown]

I remember that my mom's friend showed me her yearbook from the 80s - she went to Sharpstown Middle School and it was 100% white. I was thinking "wow" how things have changed. Sharpstown used to be what Katy is now. I think when the oil crisis happened, everything started going down for SW Houston and a lot of apartments sprung up.

[IronTiger]

1 hour ago, PhilBrown said:

I remember that my mom's friend showed me her yearbook from the 80s - she went to Sharpstown Middle School and it was 100% white. I was thinking "wow" how things have changed. Sharpstown used to be what Katy is now. I think when the oil crisis happened, everything started going down for SW Houston and a lot of apartments sprung up.

As I recall, the SW Houston deterioration, especially regarding Gulfton, was because they built cheap, dense apartments for well-paid yuppies in the oil industry, and that was fine and good, but then the oil crisis happened, the well-paying jobs disappeared, and the resulting apartment glut led to below-average rents and below-average renters.

[Fringe]

I don't think it had that much to do with the oil industry slump. The key was they were built cheap to begin with and were not kept up as is the case with many large apartment projects in Houston. When they opened the Fiesta on Bellaire and Hillcroft, Hispanics were drawn to the area. They didn't mind the ruin down apartments as long as they were cheap. The yuppies moved to newer apartments on Westheimer and places further out.  

[mollusk]

Houston ended up with a lot of residential overbuilding because of the early 80s oil industry crash (not slump) and the savings and loan crisis that then erupted before oil got back on its feet.  The Gulfton apartment city was actually pretty new at the time; much of it was built in the mid to late 70s, as was what was then called Fondren Southwest; Sharpstown was a product of the late 50s - early 60s.  All of them started out as white as a box of rice, and all of them went down the income ladder because there was less money to go around and newer stuff was available for cheap elsewhere.  Fiesta was expanding a lot in the 80s, part of which was its becoming more international in scope and moving into areas that were not part of its original Hispanic focus - not just Bellaire at Hillcroft, but also Gulf Freeway at NASA Road 1 and Katy at Bunker Hill, to name just a couple, as well as some former Apple Tree/Safegarten's locations in places like Montrose.

[SFDS]

These at excerpts from my great memories from summer 1970 through summer 1977 when we lived in Sharpstown in Houston. I'm sure there are others who have the same memories. It was still a time when we played outside until dark, learned how to swim at the Sharpstown Country Club or got up at 4am to get the best free lessons from the Red Cross at Lansdale Pool. Getting your house wrapped meant your were popular, even if it was just for one night. Shopping was at the Kmart, Woolco, or at Montgomery Wards at the Mall. Service was walking into a store and havng someone greet you and help you find what you needed. Everyone would drive to the Mall and sit on top of their car to watch the 4th of July fireworks. We went door to door selling booster club chocolate to raise money for sports which was fun playing softball, eating Frito pies afterwards, and then singing bus songs on the way home. We used to play crochet every weekend in the late afternoons. We raced each other down Sandstone street to train for track and we sang all of Donny Osmonds songs to practice for choir. Summers included taking baby sitting classes, pep squad camp, and going to Astro World. We would ride our friend's mother's Lincoln Continental to go get ice cream at the Baskin Robins on the otherwise of 59 and Bellaire. Before 1974, Halloween and Christmas was awesome and more because every house decorated as if they were competing for bes

t decorated house. I could go on..

[cowboybud]

Substitute street names and places, and it could apply to just about any first-ring suburb of the time.

[UtterlyUrban]

8 hours ago, cowboybud said:

Substitute street names and places, and it could apply to just about any first-ring suburb of the time.

True.  I grew up a long way from Houston...... in a galaxy far, far, away......  and my memory of childhood from around the same time are very similar.

 

the part about hopping into a Lincoln Continetal was funny though.... my memory is piling 14 kids (literally) into a friends Dad's Chevy Vega (I.e. Junker subcompact) and heading to the baseball diamond a few miles away.  Kids sitting on kids siting on more.  A clown car takes to the streets.  Car seats?  Seat belts?  Air bags?  Anti-lock brakes? What the heck were those?

 

 

[cdenker]

On 2/15/2006 at 7:13 PM, roym said:

I found this listing for Southway 6 on cinematour.com:

Southway 6, 8006 S. Gessner Dr., Closed

Unfortunately they didn't have any photos or other information. Don't know which theater was at W. Bellfort & Fondren. Maybe a similarly named one?

 

This thread is way old, but the cinema was called PLIT or maybe PLITT.  No idea what that stood for, but it was built around the same time that Welch Middle started up, in the very early '80s.

[Ross]

3 hours ago, cdenker said:

 

This thread is way old, but the cinema was called PLIT or maybe PLITT.  No idea what that stood for, but it was built around the same time that Welch Middle started up, in the very early '80s.

It was Plitt, named after teh founder, Henry Plitt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_G._Plitt

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

On 6/27/2019 at 7:05 PM, Ross said:

It was Plitt, named after teh founder, Henry Plitt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_G._Plitt

 

 

I saw Trading Places there   

[cdenker]

On 2/15/2006 at 7:13 PM, roym said:

I found this listing for Southway 6 on cinematour.com:

Southway 6, 8006 S. Gessner Dr., Closed

Unfortunately they didn't have any photos or other information. Don't know which theater was at W. Bellfort & Fondren. Maybe a similarly named one?

 

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

The Southway 6 was named after the strip center it was in, Southway.
The theater at West Airport and Fondren was named after the chain it belonged to. I can't remember off the top of my head, it was a really long time ago. I spent far more time at Southway than at the other.

[zaphod]

What do you guys think of the future of that area will be like? It seems like a prime gentrification target if you ask me. Centrally located, the single-family portions generally look nice. Bellaire is no less close to the Gulfton apartment ghettos. It would follow that at some point someone will tear down those 60s era homes for McMansions like you see in other surrounding areas.

 

I'm thinking because of the decline of retail in general, instead of being redeveloped into a open air or big box shopping center, the mall will just continue to languish and then one day get torn down for who knows what. Probably some kind of low density, less than exciting type of mixed use project that itself never gets finished 20 years later. I'm just spraying windex on my crystal ball here...

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

tear down the apartment complexes and the area will be fine. It's a good spot for middle income people who have to live somewhere.

[gmac]

3 minutes ago, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

tear down the apartment complexes and the area will be fine. It's a good spot for middle income people who have to live somewhere.

 

Where are those folks supposed to go?

[zaphod]

3 minutes ago, gmac said:

 

Where are those folks supposed to go?

 

Exactly. It's a complicated problem. Greenspoint is the same way IMO - its a mess with such a concentration of poverty but its also a humongous share of the city's low end housing. It would be a bad idea to uproot thousands and maybe tens of thousands of people who don't have anywhere else to go.

 

I guess the displaced residents could go find some apartments in Katy that are having some leasing specials with the oil bust and all that. You know, history repeating itself...