Tag: Houston Heights

Houston Heights
11/04/13 1:30pm

A Close Shave with Eviction for Wes Anderson’s Favorite Houston Barber Shop

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Houston Landmarks, Leasing, Retail
10 Comments

That little 84-year-old barber shop spot at 219 E. 11th St. in the Heights featured in Wes Anderson’s movie Rushmore has survived an eviction scare. Proprietor Doug Dreher tells the Houston Press‘s Dianna Wray that a Saturday-night email from the building’s landlord, J. Conti Interests, assured him that Doug’s Barber Shop wouldn’t be kicked out: “Dreher remembered dropping off the October rent check before going out of town for a few weeks. When he got back to town, just before the end of the month, he was notified that his business, located at 219 East 11th Street, was being evicted in two weeks.”

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10/15/13 12:00pm

Comment of the Day: Bursting Your Housing Bubble Bubble

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Housing Data, Quicklink
29 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BURSTING YOUR HOUSING BUBBLE BUBBLE “Your fears of a bubble being caused in this manner are unfounded. The sales of older homes (by Houston standards at least — still less than 10 years) have shot up in just the last 9 months. Sure, we always need to guard against bubbles, but I don’t think an EaDo-specific bubble is occurring, and certainly not because there aren’t existing single-family homes. Teardowns of existing, livable (leaving out the shotgun shacks) single-family homes have started (here, for instance). In the place of the teardowns are multiple townhomes. There are some examples of irrational exuberance on the part of the developers, like the $500,000 asking price for the townhomes bounded by Nagle/Capitol/Delano/Rusk, but the recent high appreciation occurring is not out of line and has only been occurring for a few years, whereas places like the Heights and Rice Military have seen prices increases for many years, all without any neighborhood-specific bubble. Midtown, too, has avoided a bubble-then-crash and they have an even smaller stock of single-family homes yards than EaDo.” [eiioi, commenting on Comment of the Day: East Downtown, Brought to You by Montrose] Illustration: Lulu

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Brookesmith
10/15/13 11:05am

A More Permanent Home for Heights Snoball Slingers

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Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Retail
8 Comments

Looks like MAM’s House of Ice will be opening inside this 780-sq.-ft. former paint supply liquor store at 1040 W. Cavalcade — just in time for winter! This spot is a bit east of where the sky-blue dessert trailer usually parks at Rutland and 20th. Why here? The owners explain to Eater Houston that they “‘tried really hard not to go into a strip center because [they] wanted to have green space’ so that families could go out, extend blankets on the green and enjoy the outdoor picnic tables.” HCAD records show that this new lot comes in at 3,500 sq. ft.

Photo: Eater Houston

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Bayous and Waterways
10/03/13 3:30pm

Here Comes More Greenway Mileage for White Oak Bayou

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Houston Heights, Parks, Spring Branch
15 Comments

Construction began yesterday on a new 1.35-mile segment of hike and bike trail on White Oak Bayou, the first of 5 planned sections that will more or less formalize the route that some trail users have taken it upon themselves to blaze. Eventually, the $3.4 million that the Bayou Greenways project will spend here will create about 11 miles of off-street passage from Hollister Rd. in Spring Branch to Downtown.

But first things first: This new segment will span Shepherd and Durham and W. 11th St., where, as this rendering from SWA Group shows, that charred MKT railroad trestle will be replaced with a snazzy new one — somewhat to the chagrin of John Nova Lomax, you’ll remember, who’s on the record lamenting the yoga dads and their ilk that that char might have once scared off.

Rendering: SWA Group

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Commercial Real Estate
10/02/13 12:00pm

The Retail That’s Replacing the Razed Heights Baptist Temple Buildings

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Demolitions, Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Retail
10 Comments

Here’s an early rendering of the retail center that might be going up in place of the 2 demolished buildings that once belonged to the Heights Baptist Temple Church. Developed by Braun Enterprises — also responsible for the transformation of the former Harold’s in the Heights on the corner of Ashland and 19th into a new Torchy’s Tacos and the Heights General Store — the retail center, as rendered, would cozy up to the corner of Rutland and 20th and provide parking in the back. Though the old Harold’s building was able to be restored, Dan Braun tells the Leader that that was impossible with the 2 Baptist Temple buildings, which were “[r]oofless and covered in asbestos.”

Rendering: Braun Enterprises

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Houston Heights
10/02/13 11:00am

Heights Good Dog Holding the Whole-Grain Mustard a Few More Weeks

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants
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HEIGHTS GOOD DOG HOLDING THE WHOLE-GRAIN MUSTARD A FEW MORE WEEKS Well, we had been told it would happen in September, but Eater Houston is now reporting that the non-mobile version of that purveyor of encased meat Good Dog won’t be opening at the former Big Mamou spot at 903 Studewood in the Heights for at least a few more weeks: “[T]hey’ve seen some delays and are waiting on ‘things that are out of our control,’ presumably permits and other city-related issues. . . . [Owner Daniel] Caballero says they’re hoping to be open ‘definitely in October.'” [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Eater Houston

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Houston Heights
09/26/13 12:00pm

Now Serving: Torchy’s in the Harold’s in the Heights

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants
18 Comments

The fake graffiti has been removed, and the neon signage switched on: Torchy’s Tacos opened its 3rd Houston location earlier today inside the former Harold’s in the Heights store on the corner of Ashland and W. 19th. The others are in Rice Village and on S. Shepherd. Torchy’s is occupying about 3,400 sq. ft. in the mod men’s retailer, sharing the rest of it with the Heights General Store. (Which isn’t yet open.) There aren’t any restrictions on the tacos or guac at this new location, but because this area of the Heights is dry, if you want a beer to wash your tortillas down you’ll have to join Torchy’s private Firewater Club.

Here’s a look at some more neon:

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Comments
09/18/13 1:30pm

Comment of the Day: How To Work Around the Houston Heights Dry Zone

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Houston Heights, Quicklink
10 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TO WORK AROUND THE HOUSTON HEIGHTS DRY ZONE “Can someone explain to a non native Houstonian how this ‘private club’ thing works? So you can’t sell alcohol in some areas, but you can if you’re a ‘private club’? So what’s to stop anyone that wants to open any regular type of place that sells booze to call themselves a private club?” [Cody, commenting on Putting the Finishing Typefaces on the Heights General Store] Illustration: Lulu

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Uncategorized
09/16/13 4:45pm

Putting the Finishing Typefaces on the Heights General Store

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27 Comments

New signage is up, it appears, on the Heights General Store at 350 W. 19th St., and an executive chef has been named: Antoine Ware, who’s been cooking at The Hay Merchant. The store, whose logo gives a typographical nod to its predecessor here at the corner of 19th and Ashland, Harold’s in the Heights, will include a market, restaurant, and bar. (Though it’s in a dry area, a private alcohol “club” will be put into practice to sidestep that restriction.) The opening is set for October.

Photo: Heights General Store

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Comments
09/16/13 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: The Coming Flood of Flood Insurance Premium Hikes

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Flooding, Houston Heights, Insurance, Quicklink
21 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE COMING FLOOD OF FLOOD INSURANCE PREMIUM HIKES “If flood insurance becomes as expensive as predicted by the Chron article, it would make large parts of Houston financially uninhabitable. Folks owning property in the Heights now have even more reason to be pleased with themselves.” [Chef, commenting on Headlines: A PAC for the Astrodome Plan; A Kibosh on Free Rail Rides to Texans Games] Illustration: Lulu

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Comments
09/13/13 1:00pm

Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Drying Out North Shepherd

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Houston Heights, Quicklink, Shady Acres
18 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: DRYING OUT NORTH SHEPHERD “In a perfect world, the ‘dry’ restrictions from the Shepherd/Durham corridor would be removed, yet the residential areas to the east would stay dry, and Shady Acres over to Ella would also be dry, except on 19th and 20th. This would spur commercial development onto the more high traffic streets, and let the others with their 18′ wide pavement and drainage ditches stay residential. But hey, it’s Houston, so not gonna happen. I think commercial businesses from out of town still are unaware of the income growth around the Heights and are using old demographic numbers. A new strip center took the place of one of these used car lots up at 22nd and Shepherd last year. It has yet to be more than 50% leased out. I think it holds a precious metals buyer and a pay by the month cell phone store. It’s going to take a few more years, and some better income surveys before there’s a rush to develop this corridor.” [ShadyHeightster, commenting on A Guide to North Shepherd’s Auto Parts]

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Comments
09/11/13 12:05pm

Comment of the Day: The Coming North Shepherd Transformation

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Houston Heights, Quicklink
22 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE COMING NORTH SHEPHERD TRANSFORMATION “I live off N. Shepherd and it is hideous, but I think that restaurants and bars will be replacing those car lots over the next ten years if the economy holds. It’s already happening: Feast and the Down House owners are teaming up to open a Thai place called Hunky Dory between 18th and 19th. I saw another large car lot has closed nearby and is for sale. There is too much money in that area for it to be Houston’s Hooptie Bazaar.” [John Nova Lomax, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Houston Can’t Keep Up] Illustration: Lulu

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Demolitions
09/10/13 1:00pm

Bringing One Down on 10th St.

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Houston Heights
3 Comments

Note: Story updated with “after” photo, after the jump.

You can almost see the poor thing quivering: A reader sends this photo of the last few minutes of the life of 219 W. 10th St. in the Heights. The 2,311-sq.-ft. home, dating to 1920, showed up in the Daily Demolition Report on Friday, and it appears that the dirty deed was done earlier this week. This 6,600-sq.-ft. lot is on the corner of W. 10th and Allston, just a few very narrow blocks up and over from those sites where Trammell Crow says it is going to build 2 Alexan apartment complexes.

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