Tag: Comments

Again, some terrific comments on Swamplot this week! Take a tour of Houston’s real estate landscape with these:

• Willowbrook House of a Thousand Blessings
  From Miz Brooke Smith: “Yikes. I’d like to make the current owners sit in the Rothko Chapel for 30 minutes and see if they explode.”
  From Carol: “They’ve got a crucifix over one toilet and not one but two Virgin Marys over the other. Perhaps they have intestinal issues and they’re looking for a little help.”
• Making Room for a Strip Center on Heights Blvd.
  From kjb434: “The heights is part of the original suburbs. It was planned by developers that came in and clear cut a forest. Then filled in natural streams with not only dirt, but land fill (trash). Then they laid out streets in a generic pattern and put up spec homes that mostly looked the same (for some reason they are historic now).”
• Park Memorial: Just Sitting There
  From Brad: “The contract has been signed and the price (which I cannot tell) is OK. Some folks will make a bit, some will lose a bit. The assessment to band-aid fix the place was $50K EACH. That is the state of disrepair at PM. I know, I owned one.”
• 17 Problems with Royce Builders: Lavish Spending, Loose Keys, Roaming Rats
  From surviving: “i see the john speer home is up for sale, doesn’t that say just about everything that needs to be said? royce was a great company and i was always treated fair. i look forward to finding another place to work that i can have just as much fun as i did at royce.”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Office Managers
  From margo: “I want to smell it! I want to own it!!”
  From Laura: “All I know is that when they do sell it, there needs to be a blender madness cocktail happy hour, complete with fondue and a bowl on the counter for everyone’s keys. This house isn’t in Houston, it’s in my dreams!”
  From marmer: “Thank goodness it doesn’t hurt to be wrong, or I’d be in the hospital by now.”

Y’all have ways with words. Here’s some of what you’ve been saying in the Swamplot comments sections this week:

• Ninfa’s Just Means Restaurant
  From kjb434: “If it wasn’t for the crappy franchises, I would have never know about the original restaurant on Navigation.”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Open to the Fire
  From movocelot: “I’ve been looking at The Neighborhood Guessing Game long enough to know that if it looks like archetypal Woodland Heights home, it isn’t.”
  From Laura: “Wow and wow with all the wood. That weird Swiffer woman in the commercials would love this place!”
• Solving the Bare Walls Problem
  From Scott Bodenheimer: “Penises are beautiful but that bedspread is hideous.”

Without the brilliant comments of our readers, Swamplot would be . . . uh, comment-free! So much better that we get stuff like this, no?

• Turnberry Tower: Turning Away?
  From Howard Hughes: “If they don’t kill it, their heirs will.”
• Daily Demolition Report: Hewitt Down
  From Zippy_Slug: “I used to live down the street from that house on Crocker.. I don’t really think they need to tear it down.. Just push it over.”
• Big and Green
  From RWB: “I want my green 9,000 sq. foot house to have a garage big enough for my hybrid Hummer, my biofuel Winnebago, and my solar-powered Sherman tank.”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Entry Bridge
  From marmer: “. . . just to be clear: ‘vomitus’ means either the material vomited or the act of vomiting. It is not an adjective, and there is no such word as ‘vomitous,’ however tempting it may be. It was used colorfully but incorrectly as an adjective by Westley in his final speech to Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride. I don’t know of a simple one-word adjective meaning ‘makes me want to throw up’ except perhaps ’emetic.’”

Some of our commenters have been on a tear lately! A few reader quips from the past week:

• Daily Demolition Report: Destruction at the Place Vendome
  From Robert: “I don’t know who is killing the great apartments of Europe, but are they for hire to kill a few by me?”
• Styling the Bistro Vino Condo Tower: Low Voter Turnout
  From kjb434: “What’s wrong with the faux modern, Mediterranean, etc. designs? Why does every project have to meet some unimaginable architectural standard? If every new building or structure met this standard, then there would be truly no unique and great buildings. Having a sea of average designs only make the better ones stand out more.“
• Weekend Open House Tour: North Edgemont and Vassar Place
  From Robert: “A pretentious acquaintance bought a hideous stucco faux-chateau McMansion in that area. Of course you have to be polite & say it is nice, which of course it would be, as the centerpiece of a Florida amusement park.“
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Off Center
  From Robert: “Toile fabric, pastel-ish pale greens, yellows, and oriental china blues. It is unmistakably the bastion of some waspy we-need-more-fiber-in-our-diet and a memo that Laura Ashley went out with the Clintons type of location.”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: At a 90
  From K: “This will probably out me as a total WASP with a perverse love for all things 1980s, but I heart that entire house. I HEART IT. It looks clean — it looks like it smells clean — yet it looks inviting. I want to curl up inside of it with a book and never leave. Go ahead and mock me… :D”

Swamplot commenters rock! So we’re back with a weekly roundup of your best stuff:

• Royce Builders: Back in Business?
  From John: “The calf trick would be much cooler at staff meetings than the barking toilet was.”
• Weekend Open House Tour: Any Takers?
  From Sam Houston: “If you stop, the hurricanes win!”
• Daily Demolition Report: Oriole Flight
  From Shannon: “Forgive my newness to your blog, but they aren’t really destroying these beautiful old houses are they???”
• The Royce Home To End All Royce Homes
  From karen: “OK, I guess MEYERLAND! Oh, this wasn’t the neighborhood guessing game?”
• Inside the Messiest Apartment in Houston. Ever.
  From AptBiz: “. . . Imagine an active colony of 37 inbred cats living with an elderly woman in a one-bedroom unit. Imagine a ledge of dried feces physically adhering the bed to the side of the wall, or the layers of newspapers over feces four inches thick over the carpet floor. Imagine half-inch-long ticks crawling up the interior walls. Imagine a congealed puddle of vomit that was acidic enough to partially disolve or melt some exposed carpet.”
• Mosaic Rumor: Second Tower Going Rental?
  From Mosaic Man: “I did find out that tower two is going rental and that the developer has leased units in tower one that were NOT ow[n]ed by investors.”

So much info and action in the Swamplot comments sections! Some highlights from the past week:

• “Dude, What Gives?”: Cafe Artiste’s Disappearing Act
  From vox: “If you’re in the neighborhood you’ll notice that the new owners have finally painted over the last of the Cafe Artiste murals. We heard that the same folks who own/run Shade are opening a new, upscale restaurant there to be named ‘Sofia’. The new business should open in the next month or so.”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Game Room
  From Brad: “TEXtured ceiling, Longhorns and Lone Stars on the stair kickboards, horned trophies galore… lemme guess, a black 1970 Firebird in the garage to drive Sally Field across the state? This is Burt Reynold’s Smokey bachelor pad? There is even a kid’s bedroom for when Daddys L’il Girl is home for his vistation with dad.”
• Discovery Tower Discovery Green Discoveries
  From Jim: It’s kind of freaky how none of the people in the video are moving until we get to the building’s front door, where some of them are moving and others aren’t. You can almost imagine the conversation in the office upstairs: ‘Miss Reynolds, the mannequins are back.’”
• The Rumors Circling Around Royce Builders
  From GoogleMaster: “If you can’t come up with $3500 at the drop of a hat, you have no business buying a house. Wait till something important needs to be replaced, like the A/C or the roof. Or the washer, dryer, and refrigerator all decide to die in the same month. That $3500 will seem like a pittance. BTW, my house has a little bit of a lean, too, but that’s because it’s 70 years old. Perhaps you meant lien?”

Keep up the good work, Swamplotters: Lots of great lines, conversation, and info in the comments sections this past week! Here are a few standouts:

• IKEA Checkout Gets Some Sexy
  From Chris: “I particularly enjoyed the W. Gray Kroger attack because so few people seemed to pay attention. Like it was such a part of the grocery shopping experience…”
• Washington Ave.: Extending The Core?
  From Jimbo: “Hey, if they want to build the Getty on the Washington corridor I’m all for it but I don’t think the views are going to be able to compare.”
  From Nick: “Just heard from a local business owner that a large portion of this lot has been purchased for development by HHN Homes (http://www.hhnhomes.com/). This is presently not listed as an upcoming or currently available project. I would imagine that they would/will sell or lease parcels off, as its a big chunk of land, and develop whats left.”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Organized
  From jeremy: “It looks like the awkward love child of a recent romance between an IKEA/HGTV lovin’ young couple and their 60’s era house that their parents left them before moving to Florida.”
• Daily Demolition Report: Ciro Down?
  From Tim: “If they plan on demolishing us they might kill about 50-100 people. Anyone need a catering?”

No open house tour this weekend . . . but let us know if you see any you like. In the meantime, enjoy these fun comments posted on Swamplot over the past week:

• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Something Fishy
  From Pat: “The Dalai Lama needs to use these photos in his Powerpoint presentations — SEE what happens if you concentrate too much on acquiring stuff?“
• Mosaic Rumor: Second Tower Going Rental?
  From MLN878: “What is the big deal with renters vs buyers? Every high-rise in Houston has renters. If you know one that doesn’t please tell me the name.”
• Venue-Appropriate Stucco Repair
  From Chris: “If the crack doesn’t spread any further you all will feel pretty silly.“
• Daily Demolition Report: Living Improvements
  From Pat: “I can’t let the passing of the State Grille go uncommented-upon. I remember its previous incarnation fondly — it was The Black Angus, and the restaurant’s name was emblazoned in three-dimensional, hammered-on lettering across the side of the building. Every so often, some wag would steal the ‘g.’ Truly, inside of my middle-aged female body beats the heart of a 13 year old boy. It would crack me up every time. The disgusted proprietors finally took to painting the “g” onto the side of the building in the appropriate place. Ahh, Houston landmarks.”

Just a few of the notable contributions from Swamplot readers this past week:

• City Shuts Down Gables of Inwood; Park Memorial Condos Next?
  From John: “. . . the problem is that 80% of the parking is directly UNDER units. So if the parking is in danger of collapsing there are some people that live right above the garage that may be a bit incoveniened if their homes go crashing through the floor.”
• Bennigan’s Rides into the Sunset
  From IJ: “I’ll mis eating the Monte Cristo. I will not miss the writhing agony of allnight heartburn that followed.”
• Antique for Sale: Heights Theater on the Block
  From Neil: “Are you sure this hood isn’t Citibanked yet?”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Draped
  From karen: “I was all like ‘finally, an old ranch from Old Braeswood!’ until I got to the conference rooms and then the pool. Not Old Braeswood!”

Swamplot had more than 100 comments from readers this week. Thanks, everybody! Here are a few favorites:

• Pearland Town Center Ready To Open: Pull on Up!
  From Brian: “For 1300 a month, you can have the “downtown feel” in…wait for it… downtown!”
• Those Aren’t Live Oaks on Kirby Anymore
  From EMME: “Not every street has to be an expressway. Why not leave Shepherd as the expressway for the area and leave Kirby alone as a scenic drive?”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Marble Steps
  From Chris: “It’s like the Home Depot ceiling fan section with all the different options, except that you have to walk through the house to see them all.”
• City Shuts Down Gables of Inwood; Park Memorial Condos Next?
  From Bernard: “The land under their units is so valuable that brokers are telling them that a land sale to a developer will bring them all a substantial premium over the market value of the units sold to residential users. How do you think they enticed 95% of the condo owners to sell out?”
• Enter the Pipe Wrench: The MainPlace Movie
  From Highlander: “I half expected to see Darth Vader choking some generals in that board room…”

Your comments make Swamplot much more tasty! Try these bites from the past week:

• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Stuffed
  From karen: “I can’t believe how many houses were built in Houston between 1950 and 1970. It’s like a population explosion happened at the same time that central a/c was invented.”
• InnerLoopCondos Wants To Know: Would You Prefer Ugly, Pretentious, or Simply Out of Place?
  From Chuckles: “I agree with littlehands…If they put the mountain in that’d kickass…then maybe they wouldn’t need the indoor ski arena…”
• Help for the Huntwick
  From Robert: “The dregs of the apartment business that couldn’t get hired anywhere else would end up there, for awhile at least, but the lunacy of the organization ultimately would drive most sane people away.”
• Snow Mountain, Texas: Indoor Skiing in Houston
  From laanba: “Part of me wants to make fun of this and the other part of me wants to go skiing.”
• The Osteens’ “Leopard-Skinned Luxury”: Fancy or French?
  From Miz Brooke Smith: “What are they trying to do, re-create the Garden of Eden? If so, the tiger-skin chair is a no-no.”

Swamplot loves comments! You make ’em, we rate ’em. Here are a few of the best from the past week:

• Man Living in Billboard: No Film at 9
  From Dirty3rd: “The place might be a bit drafty, but the views!”
• Grace Community Church and the Giant Crosses on I-45
  From Evan.mintz@gmail.com: “I wish a Catholic church were doing this, then we’d also get an awesome giant Jesus attached to the cross.”
• Finding Hidden Value in the Tremont Tower
  From Nancy: “Dismissing consumers who have proof of fraud has put our entire nation in danger of severe deep recession.”
• Spring’s Eternal Hope: Release from Houston ETJ
  From Eric: “. . . why do people here in the south love to have two names for everything! Why not just call it Klein (small in German), or Spring – what the “old town” was named after. Perhaps they can call it Small Spring, Texas. Or even better – Sprung, Texas.”
• Weekend Open House Tour: Glenbrook Valley
  From Robert: “It is not an area for everybody. But if you are going to live close to town in Houston, with our no zoning you better be used to the block by block adventure of good areas next to bad.”
• Parting Shots: Houston Starbucks Farewell Photo Album
  From Jessie M: “. . . are they good for anything else besides another coffee shop? If they couldn’t succeed there, will a mom and pop one?”

Hey, great comments this week, everybody! Here are a few favorites:

• Finding Hidden Value in the Tremont Tower
  From RWB: “Tremont Tower has plenty of value for me. Amusement value. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.”
• The New Regent Square: Details and Drawings
  From Elouise A. Jones: “Ugly brick without the proper pigments is very dull, depressing and flat. Unfortunately CVS has put it all over Texas. So have the corner banks. It’s not too late guys to reconsider your choices. Think Texas vernacular, please. Overhangs and trees, clean lines, and don’t forget the sky and good lighting, park benches, birds and a place to water your dog.”
• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Open Bar
  From Ryan: “They really want to be artsy. The statue of the horse on the breakfast table is an interesting way to go about it though, as you have to look under the horses belly and around its junk to talk to someone on the other side.”
• White Oak Tower: It Was All Just a Bad Drawing
  From Corey: “Leave the single-use, single-family-only building to the dying exurbs. A nice mix of land-use has been and will continue to be the strong suit of the Heights.”

Just a few of the many entertaining comments Swamplot readers contributed this week:

• Neighborhood Guessing Game: Hearth and Home
  From GoogleMaster: “The tilted cross on the mantle, the dead animal skull with uneven horns, the all-white paint job reminiscent of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — where do you find these things?”
  From Karen: “I’m so damn addicted to this game that I am posting this from a business trip in Moscow.”
  From margo: “I do think the house is in Garden Oaks. Balding person lives there, Nixon shampoo in the bathroom.”
• Head of the Titans: Cosmopolitan Pissoirs on Post Oak
  From Miz Brooke Smith: “The juxtaposition between the grandiose buildings and Mr. Davis in unbuttoned shirtsleeves waggling his hands like a TV furniture salesman seems in keeping with the weirdness of the whole enterprise.”