COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE CORNER OF HOUSTON WHERE EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE 
“In the late 1980s and early 1990s I lived a few blocks west of this intersection. Since then I visit the area about once a week, usually to eat at one of the restaurants. I’ve often thought someone should fix up that strip center, but I’ve never thought it reflected poorly on Houston’s ‘cityscape.’ This is, after all, the corner of Montrose and Westheimer. This is the place to be for homeless teens. This used to be the place to be to get designer drugs when they were cheaper and safer. This used to be the place to start looking for some sweet ink or other body mod. This is where I was asked to help a gentleman determine the gender of a potential ‘date’ for the evening. The neighborhood didn’t deteriorate around Uchi; the owners of Uchi picked this spot.” [Memebag, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Sights of Montrose] Illustration: Lulu
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I would so totally get that tat if I didn’t pass out at the slightest needle prick.
We call it “Murder Corner” for a reason. Hint: there used to be lots of murders there. Not the greatest part of town to begin with, then yuppies started moving in and made it even worse!
“The neighborhood didn’t deteriorate around Uchi; the owners of Uchi picked this spot.”
Amen to that.
So yuppies < murders. Got it.
Help a gentleman determine the gender of a potential date?? WTF? Honestly, I’ve partied in Montrose a million times and I’ve never had than kind of “experience”. It’s actually pretty tame compared to Chelsea or SF and certainly the freak show that is Berlin. It gets old having gays and the Gayborhood portrayed as some freak show. Sure you have drag queens, hustlers, drug dealers, but straight club areas are just as freakish, just in very different ways. Ever been to a Redneck Honkey Tonk or a club in the Ghetto. Talk about danger and freaks.
Exactly! This “Keep Houston Trashy” attitude is what will propel us into greatness. Nobody really wants to feel safe strolling through walkable neighborhoods. They want to drive over to the cool spot, get wasted, dump their trash and feces on someone’s lawn next to the club, then drive home to their gated, well-manicured suburb — maybe side-swiping a biker along the way. Urban areas are meant to be playgrounds for the partiers.
Dismount off your ..uh…high horse Shannon. No one has said anything that wasn’t true. And why do you assume anyone is interested in all of the hotspots in which you’ve supposedly partied?
In 1990, Montrose was a freak show. I’m not going out of my way to portray it as such. Kids from the far-flung suburbs lined up for miles to cruise Westheimer and look for weirdness on weekend nights. Lots of tranny hookers, lots of drugs and booze, lots of cops. I wonder how many of those teens grew up to use words like “cityscape” …
One would say MURDERING yuppies. But, not me.
The Old Montrose is still there. You can find it on the #’s dance floor any night of the week. Although I would hurry, even the yuppies have discovered this time warp.
“In 1990, Montrose was a freak show. I’m not going out of my way to portray it as such. Kids from the far-flung suburbs lined up for miles to cruise Westheimer and look for weirdness on weekend nights.”
…and beat gay men to death. Those were scary times.
Dammit, Montrose1100, that’s supposed to be a secret!
don’t worry Mr (or Ms.) Freely, as soon as the documentary is done, all the yuppies are going to claim they were always a part of the #s culture.
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It doesn’t matter though, #s isn’t a place of exclusion, everyone is welcome, yuppies too. Come on in, yuppies, claim you’ve been there forever and people will rolleyes behind your back, but you will be welcome to dance on the same dance floor as all the friendly folks of all the varying backgrounds.
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as far as shannon’s comment about montrose, no, it’s not a freakshow any longer, but damn did it used to be a freakshow. as an example, katz deli on a sunday morning at 3am is downright tame, but 20 years ago, that was a place to go and do some serious people watching. montrose is but a shell of anything it was in the past. Seedy dives and neighborhood haunts replaced with trendy restaurants and hot couture.
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Seriously, what’s left of what Montrose was? #s. Shaw tatoo. Katz…. places Shannon would never imagine going.
Michael, yeah, unfortunately, it brought out the worst in some people. It seemed like a recurring story on the news in the late 80s and early 90s…. immature, insecure “people” going into montrose with the sole purpose of beating up anyone they thought fit their definition of different.
Anyone remember The Pot Pie? I lived next door to that. I remember they were open for breakfast on New Year’s Day. The entire wait staff had been up all night at a costume party. Maybe there was coke. They were all in drag, hungover and more bitchy than usual. It was a sublime experience.
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I miss The Pot Pie.
@toasty, Do you mean Katz’s in its current incarnation as Katz’s Deli, or do you mean when it was Tila’s, before it closed down for a bit and reopened across the street from Back Street, which itself used to be much more Ale House-y and less snooty?
Isn’t Montrose becoming less of a freakshow a good sign? Think about it, gays have been becoming more and more accepted in society over the decades and are downright mainstream now, which in turn allowed them to feel more comfortable to spread out and move to any neighborhood in town and no longer have to flee for safety of a specific gayborhood.
i do miss the pot pie……..
i grew up in the montrose…….we had to move to the heights to make room for the yuppies and carpetbaggers……and now we have to move out of the heights to west houston to make room for the yuppie hipsters …….
I wish Montrose was still as edgy as when I moved-in back in 2011…. damn hipster carpet-baggers……
@commonsense: Forcing people to live in a ghetto is a bad thing, but the culture that can be created by ghettos can still be a good thing. I don’t think anyone wants to return to the bad old days, but we experience nostalgia just like everyone else.
Whats a carpet bagger? That went over my head.
@Michael….yes, the 90’s were scary times, thanks for the saying that. Also, I lived in Montrose, still do, at that time, on Hawthorne. Some weekend nights I had to show my driver’s license to go home. Because of the traffic. That was a pain.