11/12/12 1:43pm



Also making
an appearance in this morning’s Demolition Report: the crumbs of East Montrose’s short-lived but storied MuffinMan restaurant. Back in the wacky late summer of ’10, the four-square-turned-duplex at 2310 Converse St. played host to what proprietor Jason Perry modestly claimed to be “the greatest penis shaped muffin restaurant Houston had” (Note: Perry’s description referenced the shape of the muffins, not of the building or its rooms; a 6-ft. sign he posted on the front lawn announced to his neighbors his earnest contention that a “four inch muffin is better than an eight inch cock.”)

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

11/12/12 8:30am

Photo of Sky Lobby, JPMorgan Chase Tower: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

11/09/12 2:35pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BOOING A DEBAKEY HIGH SCHOOL FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONS MOVE TO THE OLD SHAMROCK HOTEL SITE “Any biomedical educational institution gains considerable strength by being closely associated with TMC. There’s a much higher credibility and visibility factor. And as a bonus, students may be visited by Glenn McCarthy’s ghost.” [Chef, commenting on Headlines: Houston Club Shacking Up with Plaza Club; Galveston’s Port of Call Dreams]

11/09/12 1:17pm

The verdicts handed down this week in the court case connected to a dispute between the owners of 3 bars carved out of the former Settegast Kopf funeral home on Kirby Dr. at Colquitt, their landlord, and residents of the subdivision that surrounds it are a tad complicated. As a result of the jury decisions, neighborhood homeowners are now asking the judge to force 2 of the bars — Roak and Hendricks Pub — to stop selling alcohol. One of the jurors in the case offers Swamplot readers a detailed explanation of the decision:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

11/09/12 8:30am

Photo of Gables Tanglewood: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

11/08/12 3:56pm

DEEP INSIDE MISSION CONTROL At last, that in-depth, exhaustive tour through the Johnson Space Center’s Building 30 that you’d been waiting for — coffee bars and tiny women’s rooms included: “The corridors look like they should exude the odor of decades of cigarette smoke,” space-travel fan Lee Hutchinson writes, “but the federal government’s ‘no smoking’ policy has been in place long enough that most smell faintly of stale coffee instead.” Bonus: Every console in Apollo-era Mission Control explained — or close enough. [Ars Technica] Photo: Steven Michael

11/08/12 2:38pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HIPSTER-YUPPIE CONFUSION “at some point a few years ago, long after the hipster refrain should’ve been dead, all the suburban folks started referring to yuppies as hipsters and i don’t think it’s ever gone back. hipsters don’t own homes and they’re certainly not up to speed on construction/real estate in houston.” [joel, commenting on Comment of the Day: Who Dare Oppose]

11/08/12 1:16pm

Some design elements here — including the thin-look St. Joe brick, tubular pediments, and Morse-code glazed-brick accents — look an awful lot like a couple of buildings at Rice University that César Pelli designed in the 1980s. But according to the agent, this home is the work of local architect Richard Fitzgerald — from 1992. It’s in Colquitt Court. The niche neighborhood within Upper Kirby is tucked north of Richmond Ave. just west of Greenbriar Dr.; this slice of it has has unusually deep lots by Inner Loop standards. (This property goes back more than 220 ft.) With the garage in front, the mid-sized home leaves plenty of backyard scenery — plus a somewhat secret garden.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

11/08/12 8:30am

Photo of Constellation Field, Sugar Land: Real Estate Bisnow