SOUTHEAST AND SOUTHWEST HOUSTON SEARS STORES GOING SOUTH 
Included in the latest round of Sears store closings: the mall-anchor locations at the Baybrook Mall (off the Gulf Fwy. at Bay Area Blvd.) and the Westwood Mall (off the Southwest Fwy. at Bissonnet). Liquidation sales are scheduled to begin by the end of this month; the stores will shut down completely by the middle of September. This will bring the the number of Sears Holdings stores scheduled to close this year to 265. [USA Today; Business Insider] Aerial view of Sears at the Baybrook Mall: CBRE
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Westwood
A reader sends this photo, taken Saturday morning along the southbound Southwest Fwy. feeder, of what the Chase branch in Westwood has been hiding from you all these years — or the branch signage, at least: The original logo of the Texas Commerce Bank, which was established here at 9525 Bissonnet back in 1974 and which merged with Chase in the ’80s. The more up-to-date signage must have fallen off or been removed, notes the reader, who was a little moved to see that well-preserved and clean-cut Helvetica: “It brought back a lot of memories.”
Photo: Swamplot inbox
- 7870 Kendalia Dr. [HAR]
Here’s the kind of campaign true fans of demolition can get behind: That’s Houston’s Mayor Annise Parker in the driver’s seat, about to trash a balcony at the Winfield I Condominiums at 10110 Forum West Dr., near the intersection of the Southwest Fwy. and Beltway 8. In taking the ceremonial first whack at a derelict complex, the city’s honorary demolisher-in-chief is campaigning in favor of a city bond issue on the November ballot that would generate $15 million to remove “blighted properties” like the Winfield. Though Proposition E is listed as a measure for housing bonds, the mayor’s office notes, the funds would “all go toward demolishing dangerous and abandoned buildings to make way for future affordable housing.”
- City demolishes condos that are neighborhood eyesore [abc13]
- Demolition Scheduled for Neighborhood Eyesore: Owners Step up and Take Responsibility [Mayor’s Office]
- Previously on Swamplot: A Day for Houston To Celebrate Demolition, Houston’s Chief Demolition Officer Takes Her Turn
Photo: Jessica Michan
The house with the red carpet prompted a wide range of neighborhood guesses this week: 2 each for Willowbend, Lindale Park, and Spring Branch (one of them specifying the area near Long Point or Gessner). Plus: River Oaks, Afton Village, Champion Forest, Oak Forest, Pasadena, Irvington, Meyerland, Sharpstown, Houston Country Club Place, Simms Woods, Hampshire Oaks, Mason Park Terrace, Glenbrook Valley, the East Side, the near East Side, the North Side, the near South Side, and Briarcroft.
But that wasn’t all. A larger number of you this week provided longer descriptions for the neighborhoods. Are we running out of names? These included the I-45/Tidwell/Airline area, the Tidwell/I-45 area close to Luna St., “the cultural cavity that is bounded by I-45/59/I10/610″ (??), the North Side near the Hardy Toll Road, East Westbury off Bellfort, “north of 610 N between the toll road and 45,” the Gulfgate area “east around the brewery or on the other side of the east loop,” “the post-oak so main area in the netherworld between the loop and the beltway,” “Stella Link/Willowbend – to the east of Post Oak and South of the Loop,” off Irvington Park Blvd. just north of 610, “East Side, south of the Lawndale/Telephone nexus but well inside the South Loop,” Riverside (Terrace)/MacGregor, OST/Griggs/South Loop area, “Mykawa/South Acres/Bellfort/Almeda Genoa-kind-of-area,” Mangum/290, and Westbury Sq./W. Airport.
Whew. Those Willowbend guesses . . . so close! The winner was tcpIV, who impressed the judges with this more specific entry:
Poor Granny. We loved her so. I’m hoping for the Stella Link/Willowbend area – to the east of Post Oak and South of the Loop. She was quite a housekeeper though. Gosh I miss her.
tcpIV edged out Chuckles, who drew a slightly larger boundary around
the post-oak so main area in the netherworld between the loop and the beltway
and went home with the Silver. Actual subdivision name: Westwood.
An honorable mention goes to marmer, who wrote:
This looks a lot like my mom’s house, which was built in 1952. The attic fan switch and heater filter detail are identical. Lots of other bathroom elements and little architectural touches are similar. Unfortunately for this particular Guessing Game, she doesn’t live in Houston. Fortunately for me, she’s still alive and has neither the money nor the bad taste to do this to her house. Mid-to-low priced postwar tract house. Not a bungalow. Pre-MCM. Could be almost anywhere.
After the jump: The gory details.
It’s high time for another street-walking adventure from the writing, singing, photographing, and drinking duo of quasi-professional pedestrians John Nova Lomax and David Beebe. Their latest challenge: a 14.5-mile walk along Bissonnet, from Synott Road (just past Dairy Ashford) to Montrose, which brings Lomax to this stirring conclusion on the sidewalk-transforming power of street trees:
By now, I’ve walked damn near the entire lengths of Bellaire, Westheimer, Clinton, Navigation, and Shepherd, and Bissonnet is nicer than all of them, for the simple reason that its sidewalks have far more shade. Westheimer has none between 6 and the Loop, save for a few landscaping fantasias at scattered corporate campuses; there’s none to be had on most of Shepherd unless you duck under a bridge (where you might sit on human turds); sun-baked Bellaire has none from Eldridge central Sharpstown, and the East Side streets are only a little better. Bissonnet, on the other hand, seems like a stroll through Yosemite.
Below the fold: local color.
