Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Conquering the city, one whack at a time.
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- Conroe, The Woodlands Now Rank as “Large Urbanized Transit Areas,” with Tripled Population Since 1990 [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Ranks No. 2 in Nation for Construction Job Gains Over Past Year, Finds Study [Houston Business Journal]
- West Alabama Private School’s Alcohol Ban Could Affect Mixed-Used Project at Old Fiesta Spot [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Meet the Developer Behind Downtown’s Second Convention Center Hotel [Houston Chronicle]
- Free Press Summer Fest Brought $14M to Houston Economy, Finds U of H Study [Rocks Off]
- Rare Manatee Sighting in Galveston Canal Draws Crowd [Houston Chronicle]
- San Antonio Mayor Accuses Houston of ‘River Envy’ [Culturemap]
- How Rice University Went from Muddy, Treeless Spread to 4,000 Oaks and Swamp Elms, 80 Buildings [Houston Chronicle]
- Slideshow: Rice Architecture Grads Update Historic Third Ward Row House with Prefab Kitchen-Bath Unit [Culturemap]
- Documentary Footage: The Astrodome in 1965 [HAIF]
- Help the Greater Houston Visitors and Conventions Bureau Update Its List of 15 Iconic Houston Meals [Eating Our Words]
Photo of Williams Tower: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
COMMENT OF THE DAY: EXPENSIVE TASTE “This may be a dumb question, but why is it that the higher priced the house, the worse the interior design? I mean it sincerely. Some of the absolutely, positively, worst interior looks seem to congregate in high priced homes. Is someone trying prove the adage about lots of money, zero taste? Or is it that the interior designers are just so marvelous at sales pitches that their clients will think, what the hell? We are paying them enough, they must know what they are doing! . . .” [Hanabi-chan, commenting on Exploring the Indoor Wildlife in a Pasadena Dead Animal House]
UNBAKING A LONELY STRIP CENTER SPOT 
Saddled with a “terrible” location — a lonely strip center on Barker Cypress Rd., halfway between Katy and Cypress, year-old Ranch Bakery is taking to Kickstarter to raise funds to — break its lease? No — start up a food truck, explains owner John Homrighausen. It’ll be a souped-up delivery truck with “a giant pair of longhorns for the front & a horn that plays ‘The Eyes Of Texas,'” he promises. The spot at 5431 Barker Cypress is good for his catering company, Homrighausen explains, “but an unfortunate one for a retail store.” He hopes to lure fans of kolaches and Big John’s King Kong Ding Dongs to donate a total of $19,965 towards the effort by the end of the month. [Kickstarter, via Eater Houston] Photo: Ranch Bakery
Game for a little house hunting? No guns are in sight, but a tour through this 4-or-5-bedroom, 3-1/2-bath habitat in Pasadena’s Cedar Lawn neighborhood just northeast of Ellington Airport proudly displays the spoils of several safari adventures. Animal attractions lurk in almost every room of the 4,705-sq.-ft. eighties colonial. But not all of them have eyes:
- 2 Weeks Before Opening, 74 Out Of 80 Retail Spots Leased at Texas City Tanger Outlets [Galveston County Daily News]
- Torchy’s Planning Third Houston Location in Former Gugliani’s Space in Rice Village [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Ronnie Killen Transforming Killen’s Steakhouse in Pearland into Killen’s BBB [Eating Our Words]
- Houston’s Distillery Business on the Rise [Houston Business Journal ($)]
- GRB To Market Proposed Downtown Hotel To Lure Convention Crowds To Houston [Houston Business Journal ($)]
- Working to Revive Fifth Ward’s Lyons Ave. Through Community Gardens, Home Renovations, Lot Cleanup [KUHF]
- 4 Believable Houston Stories in Latest Book from ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not!’ [Hair Balls]
- State Fair of Texas’s Art Deco Roots Explored in New Book [Houston Chronicle]
- How To Get a Free EZ Tag for Houston’s Tollways [Click2Houston]
Photo of Mecom Fountain: elnina999 via Swamplot Flickr Pool
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUFFALO BAYOU WILDLIFE “Years ago I saw someone pull a snapping turtle out of that bayou, near the Shepherd bridge. Vicious-looking brute; the snapper was mean, too.” [Brian, commenting on Headlines: Americana Remodeling Plans; a Place for the Houston Blues Museum]
Inspired by the photo tour of sidewalk-blocking utility poles along Harrisburg Blvd. featured earlier this week on Swamplot, a reader wonders if anyone might pay similar attention to the poles left lining the west side of Yale St. in front of the San Jacinto Stone property south of I-10 after the street was widened (and a row of street trees removed) to accommodate a new left-turn lane at Koehler St. for the coming Walmart:
The regional tourism building planned for the northern of the 2 blocks between Minute Maid Park and the GRB will be called the Nau Center for Texas Cultural Heritage, Mayor Parker announced today. It’ll be named after beer distributor and $8-million-donor John Nau; fundraisers hope waving the rendering pictured above will help drum up an additional $32 million to get the thing built. ($15 million more is coming from Houston First, the “government corporation” that runs the city’s convention center, the Hilton Americas Hotel, and several city performance venues.)
The design leaves room for 2 houses dating from 1904 and 1905 and moved to the site last year, the only surviving structures from the neighborhood on nearby blocks named Quality Hill that by the 1930s had vanished — along with its storied reputation for integrity and elevation. The rendering also shows (at far right) the saved-from-scrap 1919 Southern Pacific 982 steam engine parked on the curb across from the East End Light Rail Line along Capitol St. Between the houses and the locomotive will sit the Nau Center’s signature dome entrance, held aloft, the rendering from Bailey Architects shows, by a ring of dainty columns resting at sidewalk level and a circular wall of glass.
- Downtown Management District, Subway Last Tenants To Leave Americana Building in Advance of Remodeling [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Sneak Peek at Burger Guys’ Downtown Location in Former Korma Sutra Spot [Eater Houston]
- Planning Group Names Buffalo Bayou a ‘Great Public Space’ for Design, Amenities, Public Art, Restoration Efforts [Houston Chronicle]
- Replacement Apartment Complex at Law and Bissonnet Will Be Named ‘Allusion West University’ [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
- Near Northside Residents, Businesses Complain Light Rail Line Driving Up Property Taxes [The Isiah Factor]
- West U Begins New Parking Etiquette Program This Month [InstantNewsWestU.com]
- Where All Those Cars Along Harborside Dr. near Port of Galveston Docks Are Going [Galveston County Daily News]
- Houston Blues Museum Campaigning for Permanent Home [Rocks Off]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW THEY DID IT BEFORE AIR CONDITIONING “At the risk of stating the obvious, the reason for the interior corridor windows and clerestory, as well as the central corridor slot with metal grid, is for chimney effect for ventilation in the pre-AC days. Apartments of this vintage often had to resort to innovative ways to get ventilation, like the angled window bays of Wilshire Village. The grid looks like it’s part of the floor of the second floor corridor, which would be perfectly reasonable if you’re trying to create a walkable but air-permeable floor.” [marmer, commenting on Taking on a Rough Midtown Trio]
A NEW TEETOTALING CIRCLE LANDS ON LANCASTER PLACE 
By a vote of city council, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School today became the seventh private school in the city to be granted a 1,000-ft. alcohol-free zone around its campus. Included within that circumference around 1800 Sul Ross St.: the H-E-B Montrose Market that opened last November on the former site of the Wilshire Village Apartments. Last year St. Stephen’s lost a court battle over restricting alcohol sales at the grocery store, though the battle did end up delaying the start of H-E-B beer and wine sales until shortly before New Year’s. The new restrictions will not apply to businesses that already hold alcohol licenses, but they could make a difference to other developments planned near the corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama. [St. Stephen’s; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Divino restaurant, 1830 West Alabama: Gabe C.
It was inevitable that construction of the new East End Line would change the face of Thunderbolt Motors & Transmissions. No more head-in parking out front means customers may have a hard time replicating the closing image of the business’s (locally) famous teevee commercial, 2 versions of which feature a blonde urban-cowgirl type in a Caddy convertible waving her hat in the air as she pulls her (presumably backed-in) convertible onto Harrisburg from one of those spaces.
The 1977 original is shown above. In the commercial’s more recent remake, the head-in parking at 6847 Harrisburg is easier to make out:
