A few recent scenes from around town: Jay Lee provides a carriage-eye view of Briar Forest East Rivercrest, just south of Briar Forest.
More fun-around-Houston pics below!
Read more about: 77007, 77008, Briar Forest, Houston Heights, Old-Sixth-Ward
Some residents of the Sabine Street Lofts are unhappy with the new Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark that opened across the street on June 1st: “an average of 320 people have skated its ramps and concrete bowls every day. Lofts residents say the skaters also have tagged city property, left behind soda cans and snack-food trash and even trespassed onto loft property to skate in the parking garage. Topping their complaints is illegal parking on the Sabine Street bridge, which they say constricts the route they use into and out of the complex.” [Houston Chronicle; previously]
Read more about: 77007, Neighborhood Disputes, Old-Sixth-Ward, Parks
Neighbors in the Sixth Ward have noticed some activity at the shuttered Pig Stand on Washington at Sawyer:
It appears that the former owners of the Pigstand property have retained ownership, but that they have leased the property out to the Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc.
Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc., is a new corporation, formed in April, by none other than Darren Van Delden, owner of The Drake.
I am not sure if Darren or the Dallas property owners are doing the build-out, but it is in its very early stages. (The Pigstand only had an outdoor bathroom, so I expect some relatively expansive upgrades, at least to the interior).
Photo of Washington Ave. Pig Stand (No. 7): Flickr user Fotollena
Read more about: 77007, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Washington Ave.
Razorblade and wheatpaste artist Give Up gives up this photo preview of the Artist Front (AFront for short) boutique and skate shop, opening March 21st on Washington:
anthony correa and matt fuller have decided to take their combined years of experience in pretty much every facet of the skateboard industry and turn it into something a little more physical. offering up a new skate/boutique/gallery space under the name A-FRONT. located at 2205 washington next door to the darkhorse tavern, A-FRONT is like houston’s answer to supreme or huf or ftc. with an even stronger emphasis on art. a fully functional gallery space, the shop’s grand opening will also be the opening of their first show.
Another inside photo of Afront — from the front — after the jump.
Read more about: 77007, Graffiti, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Retail, Washington Corridor
It’s a little old bungalow on a small lot . . . but it’s clean and green inside! The sellers of this 2-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath, 960-sq.-ft. home say they’re trying to get this Sixth Ward home LEED certified:
The 1920 facade has been preserved, but when you open the door, its all about 21st century. The hm has been renovated using non toxic materials, low VOC paint & sustainable design materials.
A neighbor who watched the work reports the house was sold to the current owners as a teardown:
It was a nasty, dirty, filthy, funky house with a garage in the front yard. They tore the garage off the front, moved the house around on the lot a tad, and have done an outstanding renovation.
Plus: the neighbors are very very quiet, says our correspondent. The house is next to Glenwood Cemetery.
Read on for more pics, from before and after!
Read more about: 77007, Construction Materials, Development Strategy, Green Design, Green Development, Historic Preservation, Homes for Sale, Old-Sixth-Ward, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations
A Sixth Ward reader writes in with this report from the sneak preview of Beaver’s, Monica Pope’s new barbecue joint at 2310 Decatur near Sawyer, just south of Washington Ave.:
Tasty food there, nice interior. There is also a rumor (overheard at Beavers from someone that should know) that a man bought the Pig Stand on Washington, and another Pig Stand (my guess the Beaumont one) and plan to reopen them.
The shuttered Pig Stand stands just north of Beaver’s, at the corner of Washington and Sawyer. Bring on the roasted animals!
After the jump, menu highlights from the now-open Beaver’s (hint: there’s more than meat on the grill), plus a considered summation of the rehabbed ice house from a Beaver’s barbecue stalker.
Read more about: 77007, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Washington Ave.
“If your city doesn’t have a skatepark, then your city is a skatepark,” reads a headline on a Skaters for Public Skateparks website. And really: Houston has so many better uses for its concrete surfaces—like channeling floodwaters.
In the words of one proponent, speaking in a Public Use Skateparks for Houston (PUSH) video:
If you want to get the kids off the streets, get them to quit tearing up your ledges and your rails, and put them some place where they can actually have some fun and stay out of trouble, a place where families can come hang out — there’s a real need for it in a city this big.
It’s the flypaper theory of city planning: Build it, and maybe those annoying skaters will go there and leave your property alone.
You might have expected building owners bothered by scrapes and skate wax to have been bigger proponents of the newly announced downtown Skatepark. Instead, it took a $1.5 million donation from Joe Jamail for the Houston Parks Board to meet its fundraising goals.
The park will be 35,000 square feet of sculpted concrete on the west side of Sabine St. at Memorial Dr., just under the Sabine Bridge over Buffalo Bayou. There better be some drains in those bowls.
PUSH spokesman Barry Blumenthal told city council to expect 200 skaters and hundreds of onlookers at the park on a typical Saturday.
After the jump, more views of the new skatepark.
Read more about: 77007, Downtown, Old-Sixth-Ward, Parks
Neighborhood obliteration never really took off in the Sixth Ward the way it did in the Fourth. Maybe the experience is something developers can learn from as they set about tackling the Third Ward. In the meantime, a new proposal would seal the Old Sixth Ward Historic District’s fate, extending a six-month moratorium on demolitions.
Here’s the concept: instead of being a plain ol’ Historic District, most of the Sixth Ward neighborhood would be renamed as a Protected Historic District. An entirely new concept.
This would be okay, really. The neighborhood is mostly small old Victorian houses. You don’t get the really spectacular demolitions unless the buildings have some concrete or steel.
Photo: 2015 Lubbock, available at Har.com
Read more about: 77007, Demolitions, Development Restrictions, Fourth Ward, Historic Districts, Neighborhoods: Old Sixth Ward, Old-Sixth-Ward, Third Ward
