COMMENT OF THE DAY: LOOKING FORWARD TO MISSING YOU TOO “It’s weird to think that Rice Village had, at various times, a porn theater, a reggae bar, and a former gas station converted into a barbeque place called the Poor Man’s Country Club. A lot of the funkiness has gone, but that’s what the residents in the vicinity want. It’s an upscale neighborhood–and that tends to push out some of the more marginal businesses. But new funky neighborhoods are always coming into existence, so while I mourn the disappearance of great, unique neighborhood businesses, I welcome new ones elsewhere. Who knows — 20 years from now, Radical Eats might be a beloved neighborhood institution in a gentrifying neighborhood.” [Robert Boyd, commenting on Po’ Boys Priced Out of the Village]
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The porn theater was right next door to a toy store. You could easily find a place to park. Rats crawling over the power-lines at the Gingerman. Now I avoid the area like the plague. ugggh. No soul. Just what Houston neeeds, another walkable strip mall.
Actually, the neighborhood hasn’t changed much. It’s still a mix of students in garage apartments/duplexes/fourplexes and wealthier homeowners in the near vicinity of The Village. What has changed? Commercial real estate prices and ownership of the original arcade.
Yes, and there were also strip clubs in West University itself (now the Marquis II bar) and across Bissonnet from West U (the parking lot next to Cleburne’s Cafeteria and the strip center that used to be where the HEB/Buffalo Market is now).
Places people want to live get expensive. Imagine that.
I wouldn’t mind the “walkable strip mall” aspect (I like the roof-top parking, for one thing) if it had shops you might not find in any given mall. At least Rice Village still has G&G Model Shop, the Gingerman, and Dromgoole’s (the last time I checked). But it seems like the rest of it is being colonized by generic chain stores.
Hasn’t West U. gotten significantly wealthier in the past 25 years or so? Not to mention that part of Braeswood between Kirby and Greenbriar. There are still plenty of students living in garage apartments and duplexes, but it also seems like most of the modest houses in the area have been torn down and replaced by much larger ones. This is kind of a gut feeling, but to me, it seems as if the area within about a 1 mile radius of Rice Village has gotten quite a bit more prosperous in the past 25 years or so.
Just to be absolutely clear: there were two porn theatres at the same time in the early 80s. The Village, of course, but also Art Cinema roughly where Cafe Chino is now.
Antone’s isn’t really funky… I wonder if the commenter has ever eaten there? More like original (to Houston) and unique. Freebird’s or something like that is funky. I think the local residents would have liked it a lot more if it had a national name brand and mega advertising campaign to draw them in.
My Sicilian grandmother used to shop at Antone’s thirty years ago because it was the only place you could get imported Romano cheese. Then finally the major grocery stores discovered ethnic food…
I just have a broader definition of “funky.” And yes, I have eaten there many times, and ate at the old San Felipe and Voss location many, many times when I was a young’un.
Fast and Cool Club.
I loved the Fast & Cool
The “Old” Antone’s, better known as the original Antone’s was on Taft. Te failure of Antone’s is just revenge for the children of the original owner that years back sued their very own mother in a money grab for the company name, so that they could go off to the area grocery stoires and sell the “Original Antone’s Po Boy.” Serves them right, I had long since los the nostalga for Antone’s.
Rice Village is exactly where a River Oaks Theatre clone (Landmark?) should be located, showing highbrow and/or foreign films.
The Rice Village area is where Houston’s best-educated live, and, I believe, the proper venue would thrive there.
Somewhere over in that Sonoma/Hanover wasteland would be fine, or around the NW quadrant of the Village.
I suppose that even an Alamo DH would be acceptable with the proper programming.
(Yes, I know about the Rice MC, but…)