12/04/13 1:00pm

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It’s one and done for this wee 1-story, 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom home with 1-bay garage in the Westway Courtyard Homes development of Spring Branch. (This single-minded 1979-built home did opt for twice the driveway, however.) Still, it’s the smallest home among double-decker neighbors. Arizona-style landscaping also sets the extensively “renewed” address apart from others in the community of 329 efficiently proportioned homes located north of Clay Rd. near Gessner Rd. This pint-sized property appeared on the market in late November and has a $81,105 asking price.

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Single Stylin’
12/04/13 11:00am

Bernie's Burger Bus, 5407 Bellaire Blvd., Bellaire, Texas

Bernie's Burger Bus, 5407 Bellaire Blvd., Bellaire, TexasSwamplot reader Dave spots the signs up for Bernie’s Burger Bus in the Bellaire Triangle, giving an actual address (5407 Bellaire Blvd., in the former Christian Community Service Center Sunshine Retail Shop) to the growing vehicle-and-restaurant chain’s previously announced somewhere-in-Bellaire location. Like the other non-wheeled Bernie’s locations, this one will be called a Bernie’s Burger Bus Stop — but Bus Station might be more accurate: Owner Justin Turner told Eater back in September he plans to use the Bellaire spot as a “hub” where production and prep takes place and deliveries go out for all the restaurants — including the new one planned for Katy. And in addition to an in-kitchen table for occasional (non-burger) pop-up dinners, there’s an actual bus planned for the interior. Collaborative Projects’ design will let you pick up your orders as they’re passed through a bus window.

Photos: Dave

Hamburger Transfer Station
12/04/13 10:00am

So far, 4 categories have been opened up for your nominations in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate: Favorite Houston Design Cliché, Best Demolition, Best Houston Transplant, and the Ground-Floor Retail Award. Today, we get to welcome 2 more categories. First up: the Houston area’s Least Recognizable Neighborhood.

“Y’know that neighborhood . . . ? Well, you wouldn’t even recognize it today.” What happens to a neighborhood that renders it unrecognizable — or, more precisely, less recognizable than it used to be? Now tell us where in the greater Houston area you’ve seen something like that take place — and what you’ve seen, specifically. Or what you’ve missed.

Or maybe you’ve got a different take on what recognizability represents? If so, give us an example, and tell us what corner of Houston should take home this award. 

Submit your nominations for the region’s Least Recognizable Neighborhood in the comments section below — or hit us up via email. Your clever interpretation of the criteria for this category will help turn it from a mundane list of places that have seen some changes to an engaging chronicle of the city’s local quirks. Again, nominees need not be located strictly inside Houston’s municipal boundaries: We’ll give you The Woodlands and beyond all the way down to Galveston.

You have until midnight next Tuesday, December 10 to send in your nominations. You should know the drill by now, but feel free to look over all the rules for the nominating process here.

The 2013 Swampies
12/04/13 8:30am

Ice Skating Rink, Discovery Green, Downtown Houston

Photo of Discovery Green’s ice-skating rink: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
12/03/13 4:00pm

Statue of Chief Touch the Clouds by Dave McGary, Reliant Park, HoustonEven the art is getting out of Reliant Park: The bronze Miniconjou chief with outstretched arms that’s stood warily outside the Astrodome since 1998 will likely be skipping town soon and making its way to Oklahoma. The city council of the city of Edmond voted last week to spend up to $90,000 to remove the 18-ft. tall, 20,000-lb. sculpture of Chief Touch the Clouds from its stone base and transport it about 450 miles north; $50,000 of that amount is scheduled to go toward a “donation” to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for the privilege of extracting the artwork. Arizona sculptor Dave McGary, who gave the work to the Rodeo 15 years ago, passed away earlier this year at the age of 55, from a rare form of kidney cancer.

Former Edmond mayor Randel Shadid, who’s been eager to bring more public artworks to the municipality just north of Oklahoma City, tells the Edmond Sun that “a representative from Houston” had told him that the sculpture of a cousin of Sioux warrior Crazy Horse “has been maintained and is in good structural condition.” But the artist’s widow paints a different picture of how the sculpture’s been treated at Reliant Park: that it’s in bad shape and will need to be refurbished. “They never took care of it,” Molly McGary told a reporter from the Oklahoman last week. Edmond city council’s agreement to spend the money is contingent on the sculpture being in good condition.

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Rodeo Astrodome Sell-Off
12/03/13 1:30pm

Earlier today we introduced a new category in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. There are a total of 3 so far: Favorite Houston Design Cliché, Best Demolition and Best Houston Transplant. There’s another new category to introduce to you today: the Ground-Floor Retail Award.

What thing, place, or concept deserves this award? Feel free to nominate a particular instance of ground-floor retail, a particular place that’s lacking such an amenity, or any thing or concept you think is worthy of such an honor. It’s your award to redefine.

To get your favorite on the official ballot, submit your suggestion — along with a smart explanation for why it’s a good choice — in the comments section below. Or email it to us. Just make sure to do so no later than midnight on Monday, December 9. More thorough instructions can be found here.

The 2013 Swampies
12/03/13 11:00am

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The 2-story atrium inside this 1977 Lakeside Estate townhome (top) comes with a fountain feature that’s dwarfed by overgrown plantings reaching toward the skylight. Could extra light bouncing from mirror to mirror downstairs have sent photosynthesis into overdrive?

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Around the Atrium
12/03/13 10:00am

Yesterday we opened for your nominations the first 2 categories in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, both of which have been included in some form every year we’ve run the Swampies: Favorite Houston Design Cliché and Best Demolition. Today, we introduce a brand-new category for 2013: Best Houston Transplant.

Houston is a city of transplants. Not just its residents, but our restaurants, home designs, medical techniques, implants, styles, self-image, ideas. Our city’s distinctive personality comes directly from all the notions and facets and concepts we’ve purloined at some point or other from other places; they’re what make Houston Houston. Returning the favor, so much of the rest of the country has grown to seem more and more like . . . us!

With that in mind, what do you think deserves recognition as the Best Houston Transplant? Is it something we’ve brought to the rest of the world, or something the world has brought to us? Tell us in the comments section below or in an email before midnight on Monday, December 9. As always, more complete instructions covering the nominating process can be found on this page. But don’t forget to tell us why you’re nominating what you’re nominating. And if you use your nomination to give this category a twist, sell your vision!

The 2013 Swampies
12/03/13 8:30am

Sesquicentennial Park, Downtown Houston

Photo of Sesquicentennial Park: Larry Zerante

Headlines
12/02/13 3:00pm

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In the Morgan’s Point Historic District, a 1997-vintage custom home’s water-view windows and width-of-house veranda (visible through the window in the top photo) provide vantage points for some relaxing Upper Galveston Bay surveillance. The waterway is likely to be full of passing activity; the Barbour’s Cut shipping terminal is nearby. The bayside property, designed by Bruce Conaway and built by John Wycoff & Associates, includes an updated 1900 carriage house, which sits closer to the street on this deep lot with a 103-ft.-long private beach and a 400-ft.-long shared pier.

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