Ready to see some fun pix from around town? Here’s the guardhouse for the loading dock at the Igloo plant in Katy, as captured a while back by blogger Donna B.
A few more:
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Montrose
Attorney and possible mayoral candidate Ben Hall may have cost himself a few votes from the style police for his very public flirtation with purchasing State Rep. Hubert Vo’s languishing Rivercrest Megamansion last month. (Hall’s wife apparently vetoed it because it was “too big.”) But Hall’s working on a comeback, scoring glowing words from Fox26 reporter Isiah Carey after a visit yesterday to Hall’s law office — in a 1922 mansion at 530 Lovett Blvd. in Montrose:
It is by far one of the coolest legal offices I’ve seen in quite some time. It’s an old mansion that seems to be the centerpiece for the entire street. It is huge. Inside of the building is also super cool. You can tell the legal eagle took pride in decorating his offices. If worst comes to worst Hall could say this is his home and still run for Mayor of Houston.
- How Ya Living! [The Insite]
- A bizarre start for the mayor’s race [Houston Chronicle]
- Previously in Swamplot: Hall Says No Go to Vo Pad, From Vo’s Folly to Hall’s Hall: The Outsize Rivercrest Mansion for a Man Who Would Be Mayor?, More Vo Real Estate for Sale: Memorial Mansion with Multiples
Photo of 530 Lovett Blvd.: Isiah Carey
To counter the all-shutterings edition of Openings and Closings posted on Swamplot earlier this week, here’s a mostly debuts version:
- Opening: With the opening of Bryan Caswell’s Little Big’s, Montrose’s late-night restaurant row is complete — at least on weekends, when the burger shack will be open until 3 a.m. Writes Katharine Shilcutt in Eating Our Words:
In addition to sliders, fries and shakes, Little Big’s also offers wine and beer at extremely reasonable prices, which will all but ensure their popularity. Once the large, welcoming patio is completed, it’s a sure bet that this will be the new hot spot in Montrose.
This Little Big’s is in the former Ming’s Cafe on Montrose just north of Westheimer; the next one will be in Hermann Park.
There’s more!
The cars, the people: The big city can be an intimidating place. How about these guys take on the Galleria next?
- Post Apocalyptic Cavemen In Houston [YouTube]
The newly revealed design for that $7 million pedestrian bridge over Buffalo Bayou near Montrose makes a brilliant metaphor for the appeal of this city, no? From a distance, it doesn’t seem like Houston is really . . . “passable,” either! But once you’re looking at it up close . . . sure, it’s all right: You can make it through. An excellent message to send prospective Houston tourists! Plus: Wasn’t that how the Houston Ship Channel got started too?
Official name of this Memorial Heights TIRZ project: The Tolerance Bridge. Perfect!
First came Katz’s, then Biba’s One’s a Meal. Now Alison Cook maps the coming convergence of 24-hour restaurants in the heart of Montrose:
In December, a critical mass of late-night eateries will coalesce near the storied Houston intersection of Montrose and Westheimer. The debut of Little Big’s, a new slider shack from the guys at Reef, firmly establishes the crossroads as the go-to address for clubgoers, nightcrawlers and late-shift service personnel in search of something to eat.
Little Big’s, construction of which is underway at 2703 Montrose–the former Ming’s Cafe–looks straight across the street at BB’s Kitchen, the terrific little po’ boy and breakfast place that stays open until 2:30 am Thursday, 4 am Friday and Saturday. It’s my favorite late-night spot in town.
Cook also notes a second Little Big’s location will open in Hermann Park this spring.
- The next late-night central: Montrose @ Westheimer [Cook’s Tour]
- Rouge Wipes Away Easy as the Biba’s Regulars Move In [Swamplot]
Photos of Little Big’s, under construction at the former Ming’s Cafe, 2703 Montrose Blvd.: Alison Cook
Just scrub away all that glitzy makeup and the former location of shuttered Rouge restaurant — at 812 Westheimer just a block east of Montrose — works fine as the new home of Biba’s One’s a Meal, says Alison Cook:
. . . the Biba’s folks got busy, banished the wine-dark swank, whitewashed the place and covered Rouge’s tables with blue-and-white checked plastic. Add a flotilla of Aegean photo murals, put on the sound track from Zorba (I am not making this up) and you’re good to go Greek. Or American, as the Biba’s menu and sign helpfully remind us, referring to the breakfast and burger fare that has seen many a local wastrel through the dark hours before the dawn, when a souvlaki or moussaka just don’t seem quite right.
Eighty-six the Beef Wellington with Mushroom pâté, bring on the chili cheeseburger with fries: The fates of restaurants make great economy-size metaphors, no?
I particularly enjoyed the way the formerly snazzy bar area is now filled with dinette furniture, as if the dining room redo–with its pretty wooden chairs and gleaming wine wall–just ran out of gas. What made it even better: a long table running the length of the room was filled with men of a certain age having a long, late lunch that looked right out of the old country.
- Burger Monday: Biba’s One’s a Meal Greek Village [Cook’s Tour, via Houston Foodie]
Photos: Alison Cook
This dramatically hung mobile above the entry and stairwell of the house for sale at 503 Fargo St. in Montrose certainly captures your attention!
But that’s not why reader Kelley Owen alerted Swamplot to the listing. She noticed some artwork hung much lower on the wall in the Master Bedroom . . . and calls it “possibly NSFW.”
A reader wants to know about the 4-story office building Stream Realty is claiming it can fit on a couple of recently demo’ed lots on W. Gray near Waugh:
Hadn’t driven by this part of town in a while. Is this the sort of thing that went out the window when all the credit froze up, or did this sign just go up?
A listing on the Stream Realty website indicates that 1335 West Gray is supposed to contain 22,392 sq. ft. of space, with a third of it (on the top floor) apparently already spoken for. The first floor looks open for parking.
A reader sends along this photo of the very brightly painted new structure now up at the corner of Montrose and W. Clay, where the much-tamer red-and-yellow Golden Room Thai restaurant used to be.
According to the Golden Room website, when the restaurant reopens it will have the same ownership and food but a new name: Khun Kay Thai-American Café.
Remember back in July, when the folks from InnerLoopCondos.com sent out a survey about a new development proposed for 819 W. Alabama — the former site of Bistro Vino — and wanted you to help them choose which of six funny costumes the new condo building should wear? The company is now saying it’ll likely build 6 to 8 stories on top of at least 3 parking-garage levels, producing 80 condos priced from $190,000 to $400,000.
Best of all, InnerLoopCondos.com — a subsidiary of Montreal’s Group LSR — plans to break ground . . . in maybe only 18 short months!
What the thing will look like, though . . . is still up to you! “We’re very sensitive to what people are saying on the survey,†InnerLoopCondos.com’s Andre Julien tells the Chronicle‘s Betty Martin. So how are the votes tallying?
The company won’t start planning until the survey had received about 50 responses, the minimum needed to gauge what prospective condo buyers want, Julien said.
What? Fewer than 50 votes!???
Readers, the ballot box is still open. You have six colorful theming choices. Do you need to hear that lecture again about how important your vote is?
- Condos to replace Bistro Vino [Houston Chronicle]
- Potential Condominium Development In Neartown Houston [InnerLoopCondos.com]
- InnerLoopCondos Wants To Know: Would You Prefer Ugly, Pretentious, or Simply Out of Place?
- Bistro Vino: The Honeymoon Is Over [Swamplot]
Images: InnerLoopCondos.com
Fun pix from around town: Part of a convoy of about 40 tree trucks headed down the Eastex Freeway last weekend, looking for a little bit of work.
More photos:
Where is this week’s mystery pad? Three of you guessed the Heights. Eastwood and Montrose got 2 votes each. Other guesses: Woodland Heights, Braes Heights, Riverside Terrace, “Wahtever that area is called bordered by West Gray/Shepherd.Westheimer and Commonwealth. Behind Hugo’s and around Mockingbird Bistro,” Southampton, Southgate, Cherryhurst, Castle Court, West University, and Spring Branch.
First out of the gate was Miz Brooke Smith, who called:
Montrose. A single-family home or maybe a converted upstairs-downstairs duplex, with bathrooms updated in the ’80s. The big-plant curtains betray the ’80s, and the sun porch off the master bedroom is the Montrose giveaway.
And what about the checkerboard tile Kitchen floor? Is that even legal in any other part of town? Another player might have trumped Miz B. S. by mentioning Mandell Place, but Montrose is good enough to win it. Congratulations!
A special commendation goes to this week’s secret agent, David W, who was one of two readers to write in with the actual answer, but followed up with this distracting “guess”:
From the windows and sunroom off the master I would say it was built in the 30’s. From the black and white kitchen floor, glossy cabinets, and white Sub-Zero I would say remodeled (and not inexpensively) in the eighties. Could be Montrose but I am going to guess Riverside Terrace probably on the South side of the bayou since the updates aren’t more recent.
The home’s actual details?
Sandwich franchise Pita Pit has a store tucked inside a Greenway Plaza office building. Two more locations debuted recently: one at Highway 6 and Williams Trace in Sugar Land (opened in May) and another in the tunnel beneath McKinney St. Downtown (opened in July). A new store in a strip center at Westheimer and Fountainview is listed as “coming soon” on the company website.
Now a source reports that a total of 10 Pita Pit franchises are planned for the Houston area — including one in the shopping center at 3939 Montrose Blvd., just north of the Hurricane-Ike-swept Diedrich’s Coffee, near Marble Slab.
- Pita Pit [via Swamplot Inbox]
Photo of Sugar Land Pita Pit: Pita Pit
Photo of W. Alabama near Dunlavy: Swamplot Inbox
