COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE WORD FROM SOMEWHERE WAY ABOVE WESLAYAN 
“Yes [it] is an awesome building. You just see a mock up pic. I’m working here. And I see no back yards. Only empty concrete back patios, lol. Anyways, you people in this area drive nuts. That’s the reason for the congestion! Stop slowing us down. 30 weeks of heavy noise to go.” [Rudy, commenting on The Numbers on That 35-Story Tower Planned for Weslayan and West Alabama] Illustration: Lulu
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Tag: Comments
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WITHOUT THIS KIND OF JEWELRY, THE HOUSE WOULD BE NAKED 
“You have to look at Lick & Stick stone from the perspective of ‘given the low budget, what would have been an alternative?’ and most of the time it would be nothing, just bare stucco. So, on some level it’s better [to have] something than nothing.” [commonsense, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Ragged Left] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: KEEP HOUSTON OBLIVIOUS 
“In a real way, Houston is way more weird than Austin. Austin has a younger, more counter-culture population but all that has become mainstream anyway. Houston, on the other hand, is weird as in strange or unique in its ability to freely and quickly remake itself based on economics, not by committee. But instead of Houstonians embracing this uniqueness, we groan how we should be like Boston, NY, etc. and moan about not preserving buildings (I am in this group), this one going up in an inappropriate spot etc., that one not being architecturally congruent. But it’s like we’re living in a huge sand painting with things we see getting constructed and others destroyed constantly, which is the beauty, reality and terror of existence, the wabi-sabi beauty of impermanence. Austin is a peace symbol, Houston is actual war.” [Dana-X, commenting on Comment of the Day: Why Montrose Ain’t the Worst Place for a Bar from Austin] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY MONTROSE AIN’T THE WORST PLACE FOR A BAR FROM AUSTIN “[I]s there some magical mysterious essence of Houston that a person from Austin couldn’t possibly understand? Or vice versa? Inner loop Houston is just like inner (loopless) Austin. Suburban Houston is just like suburban Austin. You can rest assured that Doc’s, designed to appeal to the South Congress crowd in Austin, will also adequately accommodate the unique needs and wants of the Montrose crowd.” [heyzeus, commenting on Austin Bar Doc’s To Remedy Montrose Wendy’s Wreckage]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: A RIVER OAKS HOME’S HIDDEN HOLLYWOOD HISTORY 
“Believe it or not, somewhere in there are the bones of a 1950′s flat-roofed modern house designed for the Fondren family by Eugene Werlin. It was used in the movie The Thief Who Came To Dinner.” [BenH, commenting on Headlines: A Big New TV in Reliant Stadium; The River Oaks Mansion with the Biggest Pool in Houston] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: TRYING TO GROK THE BIG HOUSE “The $14.5 million house only has three bedrooms in 11K square feet of house — does that mean the rest of it is the 8 bathrooms and 4 half baths? A million-gallon pool would be what kind of water bill? Their current taxes are $98K with homeowners and over-65 exemptions on an HCAD valuation of $5 million, so what would taxes be for an under 65 if they end up selling it for $10-ish million?” [Heidi, commenting on Headlines: A Big New TV in Reliant Stadium; The River Oaks Mansion with the Biggest Pool in Houston]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT THE FATE OF THE ASTRODOME SAYS ABOUT HOUSTON “This whole Dome debate is more than a just a property tax issue that people want to paint it as. If you really distilled it down to a single point, well then I guess it is. However, it incorporates debates on size of government, government accountability / effectiveness, a city identity crisis, preservation, nostalgia, optimism vs pessimism, and cronyism. One could actually make the argument that in this one issue, we’re trying to figure out what it is to be a ‘Houstonian,’ what the future of Houston is going to be, and if it’s worth saving our past. This has been so fascinating to me because of all these issues are being hashed out whether consciously or unconsciously. This whole saga is definitely worth writing a book over. I guess we get to decide how that book ends (or continues?) in November.” [DNAguy111, commenting on Commissioners Decide To Let Voters Decide on Convention Center Plan]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOW HOUSTON CAN SPEED THINGS ALONG 
“Can we replace the HOT lanes with hyperloop tubes? Who wouldn’t pay $5 bucks to travel from The Woodlands to Downtown in 5 minutes? It’d be cheaper than gas! That’d be a game changer.
How about a hyperloop tube to Galveston? Think of how efficient evacuation would be with an on coming hurricane.” [Thomas, commenting on Headlines: Many More Dunkin’ Donuts; Free Metro Rides on Labor Day] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: LISTENING TO THE MONTROSE VORTEX 
“This looks like the tornadic vortex that tunneled through and created the Inversion House and could do the same to any bungalow left in Montrose. I’ve seen some of Renner’s gigantic spheres of the same colorful slats and this seems like the humongous fallopian tube that spit them out. It appears to move faster than the traffic that sits alongside it. I love that the colors reflect the rainbow flags along Westheimer left from the parade. Best of all is that HAA money went to a Houston artist! If I put my ear up to the big end, do I hear the live oaks singing? It appeals to all my senses.” [Mike, commenting on Now Ready To Be Looked At: Montrose “Funnel Tunnelâ€] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BRINGIN’ DA FUNK EAST 
“The East End is getting Voodoo Queen and Moon Tower while Montrose gets a world-class croissant place, Vinoteca Poscól and The Susanne. The funk and character of Houston still exists but has relocated.” [Dana-X, commenting on Voodoo Queen ‘So Close’ To Opening in the East End] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: LONGING FOR LONG POINT 
“how long until the teardown trend crosses to the north side of Long Point?” [anonymous, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Global Warming] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW ETHNIC FOOD BECOMES FINE DINING, IN A FEW SIMPLE STEPS “The pattern in Houston is the same as in a lot of cities: Pricier ‘fine-dining’ establishments are found in city centers and more desirable neighborhoods where rents tend to be higher, while the more interesting but less refined ethnic restaurants open in areas where rents are affordable for their (often recent immigrant) owners. There is a sort of built-in prejudice against paying fine-dining prices for certain types of ethnic foods. One often hears ‘I’m not paying $25 for Thai/Vietnamese/Mexican food.’ We haven’t minded paying high prices for French or Italian food for at least two generations. And Japanese food followed a generation later. Spanish restaurants are commonplace, fine-dining Chinese food can now be found in many markets, and Houston has one of the finest Mexican restaurants in the country in Hugo’s. As 2nd generation immigrants come of age, you often see chefs receive ‘classical’ training, gain experience in the country’s best restaurants, then connect this knowledge with the food they grew up with. I fully expect Houston to have, say, a top-notch fine dining Vietnamese restaurant within the next decade.” [Angostura, commenting on Comment of the Day: Following the Great Chain Restaurant Migration]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FOLLOWING THE GREAT CHAIN RESTAURANT MIGRATION 
“The ironic thing is that surburbanites get made fun of for a supposed lack of urban sophistication, and are portrayed as thinking Chili’s/Applebee’s is the pinnacle of good cuisine.
Now, a lot of ethnic cuisine cannot be found inside the Loop and you need to go to the Beltway to find it (Indonesian, Peruvian, Nigerian, Malaysian) but we get a Chili’s and an evil Chick-Fil-A right near downtown.” [eiioi, commenting on Comment of the Day: How We’re Remaking the Inner Loop] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW WE’RE REMAKING THE INNER LOOP 
“Can we just rename the Washington Ave area ‘Little suburbia’? It’s got a Target, Walmart, sonic, Kwik Kar, Chilis, Chick-fil-a, mega-Kroger, Petsmart, a McDonalds, 4 chain sandwich shops, 2 chain burrito places, and both an IHOP AND Denny’s. All pretty much off of a major 8 lane highway. Put a Best Buy & Bed Bath and Beyond and I’m pretty sure it would be a clean sweep. The only difference being that in the suburbs, the city of Houston doesn’t hand out money to build these kind of stores . . . oh wait . . . .” [DNAguy, commenting on Headlines: Dancing in Midtown; Drinking at UH] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: WHAT RETAILERS WANT, IF THEY CAN GET IT “I do this for a living. Tenants of any magnitude want that parking field in the front. Parking in the rear means liability, and the potential to thwart customers when they don’t see ‘rockstar’ parking. they want as few trees as possible, and the landscaping/irrigation systems to be as lean as possible. they want maximum street signage and building logo signage. the good news is there’s a solution for all of this. land price. it dictates EVERYTHING without one bit of regulation. when land is expensive, the ability to do things with a piece of dirt becomes cost prohibitive . . . and the market will figure it out.” [HTX REZ, commenting on Comment of the Day: Why There’s No ‘Parking in Back’ Requirement]