COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE NAME OF THE GAME “I drove past this place just this morning, saw the sign and at first thought it was a sex-toy boutique. It is across Kirkwood from a Chinese restaurant disturbingly named Spicy Panda. Not too terribly far away near Harwin is yet another oddly named eating place, Them Hung. Which brings us back full circle to the Loving Hut.” [Miz Brooke Smith, commenting on Loving Hut on Kirkwood: Expanding the Cult of Fast Food]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THAT MIDCENTURY MODERN HOUSE HAS NO GARAGE “The lack of enclosed garages on Post-war Modern homes has more to do with architects designing homes around the occupants and their lifestyle – in other words, the car was provided a resting place (sometimes covered, sometimes not) but the garage was likely seen as an excessive element to the Modernist spirit. More significantly, the consumer culture – a.k.a. conspicuous consumption – was not as rampant in the 1950’s and 60’s as it became in the 70’s, 80’s and beyond. All one needs to do is to review total square footage dedicated to storage/closets in Modernist homes in contrast to contemporary homes – this exercise is further validated by looking at storage/closets in pre-WW2 homes. Tiny. Take a look at a typical contemporary garage and you’ll find a plethora of things [previously] not commonly found in a garage prior to 1970. The garage has primarily become a storage room – and in its worst case, even the car is pushed out of its designated shelter. To live modern is to live with the essentials.” [JAH, commenting on Behind the Westminster Wall, Still Modern After All These Years]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THOSE FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS WITH THE CHICKENS “. . . I feel obliged to disagree with the comparison between Lone Star [Poultry] and a train. We’ve never smelled chicken or been bothered by truck noise or anything. I heard from some old-timers that Lone Star used to be a problem but neighbors complained and it’s no longer an issue. Our interaction with Lone Star has been nothing but positive…one of the truck drivers had to make room for a load of chicken and gave us a whole sack of cabbage as we were walking by.” [Katie, commenting on Hangin’ with the Large and Lonely Homes of Bammel Lane Park]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN HOUSTON WAS RIGGED “The Astrodome is ~1 mile north of the old Pierce Junction Oil Field. Most of the area is industrial, but there are homes along the perimeter of the field where Glenn McCarthy, who later built the Shamrock Hotel, made his first millions. Here’s a link to a 1956 TIME magazine article about the field and issues regarding growth of Houston versus industrial development. If anyone reads the article, I believe the dump it refers to is now a golf course. There are methane candy canes all around it. This is to say nothing of the Humble area. If anyone can find any old aerial photos of Humble online, let me know. I’ve seen them in the past and would like to do an overlay of current use versus prior use.” [J Wilson, commenting on House Shopping in the Chemical Discount Zones: Finding Houston’s Less-Toxic Neighborhoods]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: PARALLEL PARK OR LOSE IT “It is one of those skills that tends to go away if you don’t use it. Back in the day I could zip right into a spot with six inches on either end of my car on one try; all these years of Houston living have made that a LOT harder!” [John (yet another), commenting on Swamplot Award Winners Converge as Phoenicia Moves in Next to Discovery Green]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YE OLDE DYNAMO WAREHOUSE SOCCER STADIUM AND EMPORIUM, NIXED “. . . we met with the architects Wednesday before the game. Received assurances that the design will be modern and eye-catching. Someone suggested the possibility of sticking with the red-brick warehouse motif, and that was summarily dismissed. Not gonna happen.” [Nord, commenting on Dynamo Stadium Is Just a Sketch]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SWAMPLOT READERS, SHOW US HOW YOU LIVE “My abode rather resembles the interior of Brian O’Neill’s pub – lots of green, old curiosities and dark wood, but not the square footage. Some friends more accustomed to large bright spaces say a Hobbit would feel right at home.” [Hellsing, commenting on Richelieu Style: The Patterns of Shepherd Park Plaza]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: REASON ENOUGH TO STRIP OFF THE WALLPAPER “There was a time when people didn’t have quite enough stimulation to totally tax their brains, so, they covered every surface of their environments with color, texture & pattern. Today we just multitask like Quakers on crack and, so, choose to return to minimalist architecture/surroundings. (It seems like a trend but it’s just self-preservation.)” [movocelot, commenting on Richelieu Style: The Patterns of Shepherd Park Plaza]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CLEARING THE AIR AROUND CLEAR LAKE CITY “As a resident of the area, I’m very interested in your comment about ‘knowing what was going on around and within Clear Lake City before Exxon developed it as a community…’ Are you aware of anything specific that might raise concerns, or is this just a baseless consumer scare?” [C.T., commenting on Comment of the Day: Clear Lake City Cleans Up Nicely]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE TOWER THEATRE, BACK TO THE FUTURE 
“But if we don’t get the sign from 1955 to 1985 before the lightning storm, Annise Parker will never be born!” [Evan7257, commenting on The Tower Theatre Puts No Name in Lights] Photo: Swampot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GAME BIRDS OF THE SOUTH BELT “There is a gun range close to 288 and Beltway 8 that has about 10 Peafowls (just found out only the male is actually called a Peacock) running wild. It’s crazy to be shooting your gun and right next to you is a curious bird that is completely unphased by the banging of the pistol. Very beautiful, LARGE birds that are used to being around people and guns! Very strange!” [AJ, commenting on The Feral Peafowl of Nottingham Forest]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU SEE A WORN-OUT FOURPLEX, I SEE A WEST GRAY BAR WAITING TO HAPPEN “Looks like a great place to relocate the long dead but sorely missed Aquarium [Lounge]. Connect two. Demolish two for for parking. Win. Take a look behind the front room addition at Kenneally’s and you’ll find a building nearly identical to these: obsolete for housing, but many other uses.” [Bernard, commenting on Lovebird Hideaways: 3 Out of 4 Fourplexes on West Gray]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CLEAR LAKE CITY CLEANS UP NICELY “Is there a discount [for homes near chemical plants]? Hell yes! And it’s for lots of reasons: 1) real or perceived pollution, 2) real or perceived high crime, 3) low elevations, 4) higher property insurance rates, 5) fewer nearby white collar jobs, and 6) living there indicates to snobs that you’ve got a low social status. Most of the discount is unwarranted, but it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Look at Clear Lake City; parts of it are only about 1.5 miles from the nearest chemical plants. It was developed upon depleted oil fields and is adjacent to still-active fields. (It was developed by a subsidiary of Exxon!) It’s adjacent to an airport. It has a low elevation. But all that stuff is out of sight, out of mind, and so there’s no stigma.” [TheNiche, commenting on House Shopping in the Chemical Discount Zones: Finding Houston’s Less-Toxic Neighborhoods]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BRING THOSE TV CAMERAS TOO CLOSE AND ZZZZAP!!!! 
“It’s actually a bug-zapper to bring Wayne [Dolcefino] … he is attracted to the glow of money being spent on anything other than polyester suits and Golden Corral.” [PaxMcKatz, commenting on IAH’s New Welcome to Houston Sign: We Hope Your Splashdown Was Pleasant]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE 15,000-ACRE BEAST AT CEDAR CROSSING “It’s an industrial park that is about 6.5 miles across (the distance between Allen’s Landing and the Astrodome, or UH and Hobby Airport). It has its own wharves, it’s own freeway (purpose-built for all intents and purposes), is rail-served, and is adjacent to the RWJ Airpark, which has a 5,111-foot runway suitable for general aviation activities. It’s not Hillwood’s Alliance Texas. It’ll never be an air cargo epicenter. But it doesn’t need to be. Wharves and railheads aren’t synergistic with air cargo. It’s truly amazing, in so many respects.” [TheNiche, commenting on Courting the Smiths: We Don’t Care Who You Are, But Please Please Like Us!]