A commenter named Jamie fills in the details on this “Stairway To Nowhere” — which also appears to include a ramp — found on the corner of 18th and Ashland streets in the Heights. Blogger Viula of The Heights Life, who snapped the photo, is curious about where the stairs came from:
“They really struck me as part of a time gone by in the Heights,” she writes.
And what a time it was! Reports Jamie:
Almost a year after shutting down all its operations, Finger Furniture — or at least another company using the same name and run by the same family — is open again. Owner Rodney Finger is claiming the newly renovated 600,000-sq.-ft. facility at 4001 Gulf Fwy. at Cullen near Eastwood is now the biggest furniture store in Texas. And that’ll likely be true for a bit longer — until the warehouse portion of that million-sq.-ft. Rooms To Go on I-10 past Katy opens in another month or so.
But at 200,000 sq. ft., Finger’s showroom is 5 times the size of the one at Rooms To Go. And then there’s that museum inside:
Soon to be a rather graphic novel: Yehudi Mercado’s story of crime, lust, and pepperoni in Houston’s hot-Rocketing summer of ’94.
Ever order from Turbo Pizza on Buffalo Speedway? Gotta recommend the Meat Madness Big Freak.
“Like all good Americans, we were pleased to learn that Sam Hopkins is finally getting some belated semi-official recognition in the form of a Texas Historical Commission plaque on a corner of Dowling Street in Third Ward, a thoroughfare named in honor of the Confederate-Irish barkeep who headed off the Yankees at the Pass in the service of the effort to keep Lightnin’ Hopkins’ forebears enslaved. (Pardon our “presentism,” but, man, history is just so damn ironic!) This is a good thing, of course–the plaque, not slavery–and temporary culmination of efforts that at least to our knowledge began with a long-ago suggestion by the late City Councilwoman Eleanor Tinsley (to whom it was most assuredly suggested by someone else) to rename a street or part of a street after Hopkins. Unsuccessful as it was, this always struck us as a sweet gesture, since Tinsley didn’t seem like the kind of gal who’d have listed her self as a friend on Lightnin’s Facebook page, if he’d lived long enough to have one. . . . But the plaque is not enough. Just recently, a small swath of the home turf on and around Hillcroft Avenue was designated as the Mahatma Gandhi District . . . Our understanding is that this designation–made visible by placement of small signs, in the shape of a Hindu temple and bearing Gandhi’s likeness, atop the regular street signs–was the result of a private fund-raising effort. . . . Can anyone apply to so designate a district? And if so, where is the Lightnin’ Hopkins District? A memorial sign on Dowling is good and appropriate, but it sort of ghetto-izes the man, who . . . “embodied the country-come-to-town spirit” of our big hick burg better than almost anyone we can think of, except for its namesake, the illustrious Illiad-spouting farmboy and drunkard.” [Slampo's Place]
At the end of a long article chewing over the possibility that Shell Oil might move out of its longtime Downtown office-tower home, real estate writer and promoter and longtime mustache-wearer Ralph Bivins finally reveals why he likes One Shell Plaza so much: Long ago, the 50-story concrete building with the travertine facing saved him and his brother-in-law from a possible night in the slammer.
A few decades ago, the Houston Police Department employed some officers who had a sore spot against guys with long hair and other suspected hippies. Anytime, you could get pulled over because having long hair and a mustache was “probable cause” for HPD to make a traffic stop. I was in the passenger seat late one night when my slightly shaggy brother-in-law got pulled over in the Montrose area. Even though we were doing nothing wrong, the policeman gave him general hassle, scrutiny and in-depth questioning.
A former auto parts store converted to a house of worship for the local congregation of a Nigerian-based church burned in the early hours of New Years Day, in a fire begun from a candle at the altar. The facility at 9430 West Bellfort, which backs up to Braeburn Valley West, was completely destroyed, except for some metal siding. Congregants, who are now holding services in a northside restaurant, have vowed to rebuild. A few days earlier, in the gated enclave of homes just north of Rice University known as Shadowlawn Shadyside, another fire struck a $12 million mansion with some history behind it: “The home was designed by New York architect Harrie T. Lindberg for William Stamps Farish, the founder of Humble Oil, which was one of the companies that eventually became Exxon Mobil Corp. According to a biography of [Howard] Hughes, the mansion at 10 Remington Lane was where Hughes married Ella Rice, the sister of Farish’s wife.” [abc13; Reuters]
Swamplot reader Superdave, a self-proclaimed “Google Earth junkie,” is grooving on the program’s recently extended time travel feature:
In the most recent update of the free software, they added a feature where you can view aerial images from previous years, which is cool. At first they only went back 5 years or so. However, today I noticed that they’ve added imagery from December 1978 for nearly the entire Houston area.
I was numbstruck as I zoomed around and realized how substantially different this city is after our rampant growth over the past 30 years. I even got kind of sentimental seeing all those rice fields out west, where I grew up. I also felt a conflicted sense of relief that we’re in an economic downturn that will kind of apply the brakes (I’m sick, I know).
How’d the area around the Astrodome look 30 years ago?
What lurks beneath the new 24,000-sq.-ft. Spec’s Liquor going into the former Linens ’N Things in the Weslayan Plaza Shopping Center, at the corner of Weslayan and Bissonnet? “Sources on site said build-out of the space held a few surprises. For example, work on plumbing led to the discovery of an entire street running beneath the original building, complete with curbs.” [West University Examiner]
Blogger Maritza Valle grew up in Southbend, next to the Brio Superfund site, just west of San Jacinto College’s South Campus:
I lived in a toxic waste dump when I was young.
Yes, let it sink in like the waste sank into our ground and somehow contaminated the water.
When I was young, I can’t remember how young, my mother and I moved in with Gamma, my maternal grandmother. Maybe I was about 7 because my brother was there too. I still remember the address: 11606 South Arbor, Houston Texas 77089. It was a subdivision, pretty new, with a nice school just around the block, and our house had a back yard opposite a huge field. Every once in a while, men in weird space-suit looking outfits would come out and mess around with the ground, which concerned me because there were cows out there, and then leave. . . .
What’s so special about this forlorn and blue bungalow just west of the Westheimer Curve? It’s the now-former home of Taurian Body Piercing, the shop where — in late January 2004, Janet Jackson’s stylist purchased a now-famous breast-shield nipple ring. A few days later, near the end of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show in Reliant Stadium, Justin Timberlake gave the sunburst-shaped piece of Montrose nipple jewelry a good half-second of international media exposure; at least that part of Jackson’s wardrobe didn’t malfunction.
What’s happening to this former armory, having served its forces so well in the Culture Wars, five years on? Taurian recently moved to that Warehouse District tucked below I-10 Downtown — it’s now cohabitating with Epoch Tattoo at 1306 Nance, down the street from the Last Concert Cafe. And the bungalow?
Lauren Meyers, archivist of would-be Houston, digs up an earlier plan for a building at 4500 Bissonnet, on the corner of Mulberry St. in Bellaire. That’s the vacant property long in the possession of legendarily delinquent Wilshire Village landlord Jay H. Cohen, where Matt Dilick, the man who now apparently controls it, is planning to build a 2ish-story stucco mild-West meets retail-Tuscan strip center and sell off the rest of the land.
Back in 1946, Cohen’s father, who had developed the Wilshire Village Apartments on West Alabama and Dunlavy 6 years earlier, planned a 122-home subdivision on the 30-acre strip between Avenue A (now Newcastle St.) and Mulberry St. with a partner. And at the southern end of the property, facing Richmond Rd. (now Bissonnet St.), a sweeping, low-slung modern structure spanning Howard St.: the Mulberry Manor Community Center, designed by Houston architects Lloyd & Morgan.
Meyers quotes a Houston Chronicle report from September 1, 1946:
“Last I lived inside the loop was 17 years ago in Midtown…before it was chic. I lived behind an 8 foot chainlink fence topped with razor wire. My friends called it “the compound” but I never ever had a problem.” [Tex, commenting on The Front Porch Gang]
Nancy Sarnoff hears word that the owners of the 100-year-old Teas Nursery at 4400 Bellaire Blvd. near Newcastle are hoping to sell off the property for single-family homes: “The Bellaire business will be relocated, sold or liquidated, according to Tom Teas, president and manager of the landscaping division. Plans are for the nursery company to redevelop the five acres of land itself and then sell lots to builders. The project will start in January.” [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
“. . . The building was the original Weingartens grocery store. Then in the 1960’s /1970’s it was the Texas Opry House. Then in the early 1980’s it was the Parade Disco (yes,the Parade Disco of New Orleans Bourbon Street, fame or infamy, depending on how one looks at it). The place rocked . . . Monday nights was punk rock night and it was real punk, not the poseur “punk”. But Friday & Saturday nights was gay disco. Some of the best music ever. Then the Menil converted it into [Richmond Hall] . . . it houses Dan Flavins awesome light sculpture.“ [Tim, commenting on Chipperfield Sculpts the New Menil: Goodbye, Richmont Square]
From MarkWBennett (Mark W. Bennett): RT @StephStradley: #FF @houstonpress "Blog Stars" @kuff @lmayes @thebloggess @houstoncalling @swamplot @htownchowdown @bluejeangourmet & me
From steveneparker (Steve Parker): A good explanation of the the major light rail issues: RT @swamplot Where the New Light Rail Lines Are Stuck http://tinyurl.com/yj579v3
From texaswatchdog (texaswatchdog): Can anyone help rescue the ex-presidents buried in the mud in Pearland, TX?: http://twurl.nl/hmxdjj h/t @swamplot
From StephStradley (Stephanie Stradley): #FF @houstonpress "Blog Stars" @kuff @markwbennett @lmayes @thebloggess @houstoncalling @swamplot @htownchowdown @bluejeangourmet & me #nice
From icemanhorns84 (David Crowl): I would support this RT @swamplot Extending Metro’s Main St. Rail Line to Fort Bend County http://tinyurl.com/yzvfygp
From smurfing74 (Irfan S): I heard from someone in pearland that they decided to not put obama's bust their for fear of vandalism. So sad. @swamplot
From melindamerola (Melinda Merola): Did it. RT @swamplot Coming Soon to San Felipe: Winetopia http://tinyurl.com/yzd7jb6From melindamerola (Melinda Merola): Edit: I *love* Swamplot! RT @swamplot The Houston Press Sez Some Nice Things About Us http://tinyurl.com/yhjre5o
From FoodPrincess (Joanne Witt): +2 RT @she_eats: Congrats @HTownChowDown @BlueJeanGourmet @texanschick @swamplot @lmayes named Houston's best bloggers: http://is.gd/aM9GCFrom FoodPrincess (Joanne Witt): +2 RT @she_eats: Congrats @HTownChowDown @BlueJeanGourmet @texanschick @swamplot @lmayes named Houston's best bloggers: http://is.gd/aM9GC
Comment of the Day: Sandman Brought Me a Dream
“I live near the Sandman Center, what some people erroneously call Shepherd Square (Shepherd Square is @ Westheimer; Sandman is @ Richmond), and this sort of thing is exactly what our neighborhood experienced during the heyday of the late 90s when the ‘in’ scene was concentrated at Richmond and Greenbriar with 8.0, the Pig Live, Guava Lamp, and all the others. Drunk people wandering up and down the streets looking for their cars, unable to remember which residential street they parked on, yelling to each other, peeing in your yard, leaving their beer bottles in your yard, etc. Add to that the fun of having your cement lawn sculptures thrown through your windows, as some of my neighbors experienced.
The only remnant of the chaos of that period is the road humps on Colquitt and West Main, although at one time I believe those streets had ‘no parking this side of street’ signs, or “no parking midnight to 6AM”, or something like that.
Be patient; in a couple of years the ‘in’ scene will move to someone else’s neighborhood, and your property values will triple. Ours did.
But hey, I once found a $20 bill on the sidewalk while I was on my way to the post office.” [GoogleMaster, commenting on What It’s Like to Live on Center St.]