WHEN HOUSTON HAD A PLAN, AND FUNDING, FOR A DOWNTOWN PEOPLE MOVER 
Digging into 40-some-year-old documents resting comfortably in the Houston Metropolitan Research Center at the Julia Ideson Library, Christopher Andrews pieces together the story behind the Downtown People Mover once planned for Houston. Houston was approved to receive $33 million in federal funding for the project in the mid-seventies, along with 4 other cities, but withdrew its application shortly after Harris County voters approved the creation of Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1978. After Houston dropped out (along with Cleveland and St. Paul), actual downtown people movers ended up getting built in Detroit and Miami. “The City of Houston’s 1976 proposal to the UMTA,” writes Andrews, “called for a 1.09 mile system, composed of 2.25 lane miles of track bisecting the ‘heart of the downtown core,’ stretching from the Cullen Center to the Harris County complex. It was intended to be fully owned, operated, planned and financed by the City of Houston, and was said to garner ‘strong and wide local support.'” A later report commissioned by the city showed alternatives to that north-south route along Milam St., including an elevated line running down Main St. past (and into) the (recently demolished) Foley’s building. [Not of It] Renderings: Sperry Systems Management/Houston Metropolitan Research Center
Sign up for the Newsletter
Quicklink
COMMENT OF THE DAY: RAILROADED 
“Southern Pacific (not Union Pacific, as one writer claimed), demolished this station in 1959. Critics may blame Houstonians for failing to rally and save the building, but the fact is that the modern architectural preservation movement didn’t start until the early 1970s, and even my architecturally hip home town of Chicago let some classic beauties like Louis Sullivan’s Stock Exchange slip away before public sentiment for preservation began to build. The first downtown railroad-station preservation-restoration project did not take place until 1973, when the Southern Railway’s vacant Terminal Station in Chattanooga was transformed into a restaurant and hotel complex.
If anybody has any photos of the interior of the SP station in Houston I would like to examine them for a book I’m writing about what happened to each of the big downtown stations in North America. SP’s Houston Station was designed by Texas’s most celebrated architect, Wyatt C. Hedrick, who also designed the Shamrock Hotel, the T&P station in Fort Worth, and dozens of admired hotels, factories and commercial buildings. Photos of his T&P station are all over the Internet but SP demolished his Houston station before anyone had a chance to make any good photos.” [F.K. Plous, commenting on The Secret Train Station Hidden Downtown] Illustration: Lulu
THE TAKARA-SO APARTMENTS WON’T BE GOING AWAY JUST YET 
Inner Loop property watchers: As other Montrose apartment complexes are knocked down and redeveloped left and right, do your thoughts turn occasionally to the Takara-So? If so, you are not alone: The 77-unit 2-story apartments at 1919 W. Main St., occupying the entire 1.22-acre block also bounded by McDuffie, Hazard, and Colquitt, was sold back in May in an off-market transaction. The complex that once belonged in the portfolio of swindler Allen Stanford is now the property of a group headed by Southern California firm Apartment Income Investors. A cached version of a memo for the investment posted online in advance of the sale envisioned renting out and holding the property for 3 to 5 years before selling it to investors or a developer, and identifies the price as $5.51 million. Photo: Takara-So Apartments
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE GALLERIA’S BEST-KEPT SECRET 
“It’s true; the secret to making a visit to the Galleria tolerable (even *gasp* enjoyable) is to have a secret parking spot that’s always available. Like many commenters here, I hated going there. But when I finally found my spot, I no longer dread going there even on weekends! (Forget about the holidays though . . . ain’t nobody got time for that).
And no, I’m not telling any of you where it is.” [crono_clone, commenting on A Longtime Houstonian’s Guide To Surviving the Recent Onslaught of New Developments and Residents] Illustration: Lulu
THE STARVING ARTIST GALLERY IS GONE, BUT ITS PARTIES WILL LIVE ON ONLINE 
What kind of revelry has Montrose been missing since the end of April, when the Starving Artist Gallery at 2037 West Alabama St. closed up shop? No need to try to imagine, because owner William Loyd and his now legally recognized wife, Nikki Araguz Loyd, documented the mayhem at last year’s blow-out Christmas party at their gallery in the just-released final 2 pretty-much-NSFW episodes of the first season of their web video series, Nikki’s American Dream. They’re called “Bad Santa” (episode 7) and “It’s Only Wednesday” (episode 8). (The gallery maintains an online presence too.) [YouTube] Photo of former Starving Artist Gallery: Swamplot inbox
IS HOUSTON A MELTING POT, A SALAD BOWL, OR A BBQ KOLACHE? 
Chron food critic Alison Cook frames the new Killen’s barbecue brisket-filled kolache from Peña’s Donut Heaven & Grill in Pearland (pictured above at 11601 Shadow Creek Pkwy.) as a mere restaging onto a dinner plate — or in a to-go bag at least — of the larger metropolis’s cultural blend: “Mixing and matching has become our culinary birthright. In the nation that is Texas, Houston — with its port and its flourishing economy and its early influx of international immigrants — has been the leading edge of this trend.
Whereas 20 years ago, the advent of a huevos ranchero kolache at the Kolache Factory attracted a bit of delighted surprise, now the reaction to Peña’s idea of stuffing the TexÂCzech bun with Killen’s sanctified brisket is more along the lines of ‘What took you so long?‘
Indeed, just hours after the brisket kolache was announced to the world, kolache baker extraordinaire Victoria Rittinger was already riffing further on the idea.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Peña’s Donut Heaven & Grill
A HOUSTON BICYCLE MUSEUM ARRIVES IN THE MUSEUM DISTRICT 
The latest institution to roll into Houston’s Museum District is the Houston Bicycle Museum, which just leased the former bank building at 1313 Binz St. (shown at left) from the Holocaust Museum Houston, and is hoping volunteers will help it clean up the space and install exhibits. The structure is meant to house the organization’s collection of antique and classic bikes and related memorabilia. The Houston Bicycle Museum, run by Daniel Boone Cycles owner Joy Boone, has been fundraising to build a permanent home for itself near the corner of Crawford and Calumet streets — a few blocks away. Its new temporary location is one block south of the Holocaust museum and across Binz St. from the parking lot in front of the Park Plaza Hospital MRI facility. Photo: Houston Bicycle Museum
UBER AND LYFT ARE NOW FULLY STREET LEGAL IN HOUSTON 
By a 10-to-5 vote, city council members gave approval this afternoon to a measure that allows Uber and Lyft to operate alongside taxi services in the city. It only took a year-long battle, several vote delays, and (today) a slew of attached amendments covering disability access, insurance requirements, and private contact with customers to be thrown in. [Houston Business Journal] Photo: Miya Shay
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PATIO HOME, A TOWNHOME, AND A HOME HOME 
“As a general rule, Patio Home means tiny yard and 1 to 2 stories and no shared wall. A Townhome may have no yard at all or a small yard but is generally 3 stories plus and may have a shared wall. Now, don’t ask me what the difference is between those and a Garden Home, or City Home, or Urban Home.” [commonsense, commenting on What’s Planned for the Camp Strake Property; Pushing for a Galveston Bay Watergate ‘Compromise’]
A LONGTIME HOUSTONIAN’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING THE RECENT ONSLAUGHT OF NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND RESIDENTS 
She throws in a few traffic tips for good measure (“never take Kirby to south side of 59 unless you have to, especially on a Friday, opt for Alabama vs. Richmond when driving towards town, and my new favorite: never go to the Galleria unless someone pays youâ€) but native-born Houstonian Sarah Lipscomb’s advice for herself and others who feel “like the city is closing in on me” includes a restatement of purpose: “to ensure that Houston, its people old and new, be reminded that there is still a culture here that hasn’t changed.” Which leads her to a quick but still traffic-filled driving tour of 5 longstanding Houston institutions that have somehow escaped demolition (so far), for reassurance. Her picks: Nielsen’s Delicatessen on Richmond (“same sandwiches, same service, same spread” for 60 years); Southland Hardware (pictured above) at 1822 Westheimer; Bellaire Broiler Burger on Bellaire Blvd.; the River Oaks Theater on West Gray (“same seats, same smell, same popcorn; don’t eat it though”); and M and M Vacuum on Kirby. [Slips Photo Blog; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Sarah Lipscomb
DRIVE-THRU BANH MI SPOT WILL OPEN IN FORMER LUCKY BURGER ON RICHMOND BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR 
Les Givral’s Kahve co-owner Qui Ly confirms to Eater Houston’s Darla Guillen that a new drive-thru banh mi joint named Oui Banh Mi will be taking over the keg-shaped longtime home of Montrose mainstay Lucky Burger — as Swamplot reported last month. In addition to the Vietnamese sandwiches, Oui Banh Mi will offer desserts from the Lys’ Oui Desserts spot on Kirby Dr., including macarons, tarts, and pastries. Scheduled opening date for the spot at the 1601 Richmond Ave.: before the end the year. And more locations are planned. The restaurant owners also posted a refrigerator-worthy “artist’s conception” of the renovated corner site (above) to the restaurant’s Instagram account. [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Oui Banh Mi
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A LINEAR PARK TO CONNECT THE MED CENTER TO RICE VILLAGE 
“If the Rice Village wants to be a retail goldmine, it should look outside its borders. My suggestion would be a linear public park that would take the residential properties between University and Dryden between the Medical Center at Travis all the way west to Greenbriar.” [infinite_jim, commenting on Haven Is No More; The Allure of the Suburban Town Square] Illustration: Lulu
GOLFERS AND GARDENERS GET GROUND RULES FOR GRABBING GUS WORTHAM PARK 
The deadline for the Houston Golf Association to raise the $15 million the city says it’ll need to save and restore the Gus Wortham Park golf course at Lawndale and Wayside will be the end of next year, Gail Delaughter reports. If the nonprofit organization can’t meet that goal, the city will have a separate set of fundraising goals set up for the group that wants to scrap the greens and build a botanic garden at the 150-acre site, which lies just a couple blocks south of the coming far eastern extension of Metro’s East End light-rail line. If Gus Wortham golf supporters do come up with the funds, the botanical garden will likely be planned for the Glenbrook Park golf course on the northeast side of the Gulf Fwy. outside the loop. The targets and dates will be encoded in separate contracts the city is putting together with the 2 groups and put up for a vote in city council sometime this month. [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Houston Parks Board
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A BRIEF ANNOTATED HISTORY OF ALLEN PARKWAY VILLAGE’S DIRTY NEIGHBOR 
“Wow, I never knew there was a waste incinerator right in the Fourth Ward. Here’s a handy timeline:
Post-Civil War: Freed slaves construct their own neighborhood in the Fourth Ward.
1917: Camp Logan Race Riots are sparked off when a Houston policeman beats a black soldier in the Fourth Ward.
1920s: Gillette incinerator is built (PDF) right in the Fourth Ward.
1944: San Felipe Courts (today’s Allen Parkway Village) were built next to the incinerator. They were originally intended as public housing for the city (following a New Deal movement for public housing in the 1930s) but ended up being handed over to the defense department to exclusively house white WW2 veterans (PDF). The other motivation was to ‘clean up the slums’ along Allen Parkway for passing commuters.
1964: San Felipe Courts are desegregated following the Civil Rights Act and renamed to Allen Parkway Village.
1970s-90s: Developers advocated for APV’s demolition arguing that the public housing’s costs didn’t reflect the land’s ‘highest and best use.’ Meanwhile, the housing deteriorated due to neglect by the Houston Housing Authority and HUD. Residents organized and protested demolition leading to APV’s rebuilding in 1997.
Today: The city can now cash in by selling a plot of polluted land next to APV now that the Fourth Ward is gentrifying.” [Carpetbagger, commenting on The Best the City Can Get for Gillette; Not Jus Donuts’ Extreme Cakeover] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A GUIDE TO SOUNDING OUT THE NAMES OF HOUSTON’S ACRONYMED SPORTS STADIUMS 
“Just make up a pronunciation. “TDECU†becomes “tuh-DECK-you,†and is the response to “why Grandma, what big fists you have!â€
Likewise, “NRG†becomes “nurg†(a kind of parasitic technician) and “BBVA†becomes “bubba-VUH†(Popul Vuh’s brother from the country).” [Memebag, commenting on Here’s That Downtown View the University of Houston Rotated Its Football Stadium For] Illustration: Lulu
