FOR SALE: EARLY MODEL ASTROWORLD 
Sure, AstroWorld shut down 5 years ago tomorrow — and the site still lies vacant. But Ed Henderson, builder of the original model of the amusement park (shown at left with his creation 43 years ago), is looking for a buyer who’ll preserve and restore it. The recently recovered 8-ft.-by-10-ft. construction goes on display for 6 weeks beginning this Saturday night at Bill Davenport’s Optical Project gallery on 11th St. near the Heights. The model was originally displayed in September 1967 at Foley’s Department Store Downtown. “After the park’s opening, the model resided in [Judge Roy] Hofheinz’s private model room on the Astrodome’s 9th level. When Astroworld was being dismantled in 2006, the model was found in a warehouse, sawn into six irregular pieces and covered in dirt.” Davenport, who’s already spent a while cleaning up the model, tells Swamplot he can’t decide if the $3,000 asking price is “expensive for a big project in need of restoration or unbelievably cheap as a unique piece of Houston history, or both.” [Optical Project; previously on Swamplot] Photos: Bill Davenport
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Tag: Norhill
BRICK ON THE INSIDE Before his dog Teddy runs off with it, new Norhill resident John Whiteside finds a convenient doorstop solution: “None of the doors in my house close. Well, the closets do. But the actual doors into rooms – no. . . . It is a little more crooked than most Heights houses (which are always a little crooked, unless they’re new, in which case they will be crooked soon as the shitty modern constructions settles in). I would like it if the doors latched, but I’m not going to deal with that until I am sure there are no additional foundation repairs in the offing. This is normally fine because it doesn’t really bother me if I’m peeing and suddenly the door comes in and Teddy strolls in. ‘Hey, whatcha doin’?’ However, on Saturday I had people over for a little housewarming open house, and I realized on Saturday afternoon that guests might not enjoy Teddy visits during personal moments quite as much. What to do? Why, a doorstop seemed like the ideal answer. I looked around the house for a suitable heavy object. Then I had a great idea; there’s been a pile of red bricks sitting outside next to the air conditioning unit since I moved in. Solid, compact, easy to slide over in front of the door, and kind of rustic – the perfect doorstop!” [By the Bayou]
What would Courtney Barton consider the oddest item in her old bungalow at the corner of Melwood and Julian?
Hands down, the horse leg! People are freaked by it. And when they find [out it’s] real, they really cringe. I couldn’t help but add fuel to the fire, so I hung a John Derian plate above the leg that has a picture of a horse’s head on it. That little area of the den makes me laugh.
Then there’s that guinea pig genetics poster. Those pieces and more are featured in the latest issue of online-ish magazine Refueled, an “alt-country style and design” journal. Photographer Cheryl Schulke shot the design blogger’s Norhill Historic District home back in February, not long before Barton and her husband held a notable garage sale, packed up just a few of their worldly possessions, and decamped to Kuala Lumpur.
A few more scenes from the Refueled shoot, including a few pics that didn’t make the mag:
The Fiesta on the corner of Studewood and 14th St. in the Heights still has “a couple more years” left on its lease, but Weingarten Realty has put the property up for sale.
The 28,466-sq.-ft. grocery store sits on a 1.76 acre site. Also included: 2 neighboring lots off Algregg St. used for parking and a third with a bungalow-turned shop on it.
There’s a lot of junk for sale in this tiny Norhill storefront: Thermoses from the 1970s, a bouffant-hairstyle catalog, a 1967 Delta Zeta sorority photo, hand-painted cans of Campbell’s Soup, and — writes Kelly Klaasmeyer in the Houston Press — “what is possibly the world’s largest extant collection of macramé owls.”
Who would want any of this stuff? Even the owner wants to be done with it:
[Bill] Davenport decided to get rid of stuff because of a move. “I had to move all my junk over from storage, and I thought, ‘Oh no, this can’t go on.’ I had to look at everything as I unpacked it.” As a result, he started thinking that maybe he didn’t need all of it.
Davenport and Francesca Fuchs, both artists, bought the 4,320-sq.-ft. 1930 commercial building at 1125 E. 11th St. (off Studewood) more than 2 years ago. After 16 months of renovations, they recently moved in upstairs with their kids. And Davenport opened Bill’s Junk in one of the retail spaces downstairs:
Touring the Heights after the hurricane, Katharine Shilcutt Gleave is surprised to discover the front porch of Fitzgerald’s still intact. And Mimi Swartz spots these recycled yard gingermen leftover from Christmas, pressed into window-protecting service.
A few more of their photo finds from the Heights, Woodland Heights, and Norhill:
Can’t decide whether to buy a beauty salon, a small corner store, or maybe a bungalow? Why not get all three, in your very own North Norhill mixed-use compound? We’ll even throw in a garage apartment!
Just listed with Greenwood-King: a two-bedroom, one-bath bungalow at 1017 E. 16th St., a small store building next door, and a separate converted garage apartment. Downstairs in the garage apartment is a beauty salon with six stations, currently renting — sez listing agent Amanda Anhorn — for $500 each. The apartment upstairs goes for $500, and the shop on the corner has rented for $500 too.
Current owner lives in the bungalow and works out of the beauty salon.
All on a 8900-square-foot Norhill Historic District lot that fronts North Main. Continue reading for more photos — and the asking price — of the North Main Beauty Compound!
