- Fuller Realty Partners Buys 7-Story Building in Greenspoint Area Now Occupied by ExxonMobil [Prime Property]
- Ruth’s Hospitality To Sell 21 Mitchell’s, Cameron’s Restaurants To Landry’s for $10M After Spending $94M for Them in 2008 [Houston Business Journal]
- Fielding’s Local Kitchen+Bar, Jordan’s Sweet Shoppe, 3 Other Tenants Joining H-E-B at New Creekside Park Village Center near Kuykendahl Rd. and Creekside Forest Dr. [Prime Property]
- Official Opening of Doc’s Motorworks, in Converted Montrose Wendy’s, This Thursday [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Former Barringer Bar Co-Owners Have Lease, Raising Funds for Another Barringer with Same Look Close To Original Downtown [Eater Houston]
- Projected Completion of Residential ‘Build-Out’ Has Woodlands Leaders Concerned About Tax Impact [Houston Chronicle]
- To Some East End Residents, New Esplanade and Guadalupe Plaza Park Designs Put Too Much Emphasis on Ship Channel, Not Enough on Local Culture and Latino Traditions [Houston Public Media]
- A Short History of River Oaks [Art Attack]
- Bruce Monro’s Field of Light Installation, Comprising 4,500 Glass Spheres, Opens Saturday at Discovery Green [Houstonia]
Photo of the Fourth Ward: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Couldn’t agree more on the East End. They should embrace their Hispanic culture like San Antonio has done and make the area like a “Little Mexico”. Mariachis playing in open markets, restaurants and cafes lining different avenues, maybe even make a riverwalk along the bayous. They’d get more Houstonians (even tourists) if they did it right. Instead, they’re just trying to be another Midtown/Washington Avenue. Case in point, fighting tooth and nail for a botanical garden so newcomers to the neighborhood have a fancy place to walk their dog or read a book.
> re: Doc’s Motorworks
This mini-chain phenomenon seems to be an accelerating trend and it is disconcerting, as there is already such a deficit of originality in H-town. Could be worse, though… at least the place wasn’t converted into Wendy’s Creek.
I enjoyed the irony of the story reporting that Ruth’s Chris took an $84 million bath on their Mitchell’s restaurants, followed by a Houston couple trying to Crowdsource some amateur investors to open a bar downtown. What’s the saying about the quickest way to lose a million dollars is the restaurant business?
Hey! What are they doing putting a picture of my house on Swamplot without my permission? At least they included my “No Trash” sign as I think it adds a touch of real class ….
Kidding of course, I just couldn’t resist. :D
Brian, You’re right. We need more “Mexico” in Houston. This city is so damned primmed and proper, buttoned-up Anglo it makes me sick. Also, yes, golf courses just scream that La Raza lives here.
There is certainly a need, in Houston, for an upscale, Latin shopping district – like San Antonio’s Market Square. I had hoped the Plaz Americas would fit the bill, but They went low end with that – it’s a giant dollar store. Maybe the East End could do it?
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Then again, maybe not. While Sharpstown has shifted from Anglo to Latino, the East End is doing the opposite. A lot of the people buying Townhomes and condos are young, white professionals. So it’s only natural that the area is losing its Latin flavor – for the same reason that you’re seeing a lot more Latin American businesses in Sharpstown.
-Re Doc’s
Whats so disconcerting about it? I very much welcome a new bar there as opposed to a crappy fast food place. I have no qualms that thy happen to have 3 other locations in another city. It will be the only one here so most wouldn’t know any better anyways.
@Zaw: Quite a few of the young professionals moving into East End neighborhoods have Hispanic roots. Some grew up there, left for college, started their careers and are moving back.
> Whats so disconcerting about it?
The trend towards importing chain stores instead of coming up with local neighborhood ideas. E.g., look at the Montrose & Gray strip. The owners went to considerable expense to preserve the brick, but the first tenant to go in is… Mattress Firm.
My wife and I had a simultaneous forehead-smack when we saw that one. It’s very disappointing given the potential.
We sent a Liberty Kitchen and Max’s Wine Dive to Austin. Call it even on Doc’s.
Patrick,
Exactly. I have asked why there can’t be more mom & pop locally run mattress stores. It really would bring life back to the neighborhood.
Well Patrick I’m going to give you this concept for free and you run with it and go find financing and bitch about the start up costs, try and find a suitable ground floor retail locale and bitch that the food distribuors have nowhere to unload their trucks, find a bitch of a chef who has been fired at multiple places for being such a bitch then deal with a bunch of bitchy customers who dont like your decor, menu, parking, bathroom towels etc,,,,. You can call this casual eatery called Bitches and target all the malcontents who never think anything is good enough. The whole menu can be vinegar based. Salads, East Coast style BBQ etc….I’m sure you will do a landslide business. When you are ready for a second location, try an all dessert theme and call it Fat Bitches.
Reminds me of that Seinfeld quote (from George: “Well, what’s so great about a Mom and Pop store? Let me tell you something. If my Mom and Pop ran a store, I wouldn’t shop there.”
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I miss that show :(