COMMENT OF THE DAY: LOCAL EXPERTS “Wow, these comments are amazing…quite obviously you aren’t the target audience for a renovated Heights bungalow. Not to sound like Jeff Foxworthy but if you don’t like subway tiles, craftsman style, small (to Houston) homes or high prices per square foot you aren’t a good person to guess on the price of a house in the Heights. Similarly I wouldn’t make a guess on a Katy home because I wouldn’t ever have the desire to live there. . . .” [Wannabe, commenting on Swamplot Price Adjuster: The Heights of 2-2ness]
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tag: Comments
COMMENT OF THE DAY: TRYING TO CLEAN UP IN THOSE MONTROSE BUNGALOW BATHROOMS “I can’t tell you how many bungalows, Victorians, and other 1910-1940 houses I’ve looked at in Montrose in the past year where the remuddlers have totally destroyed the character of the bathroom with the ultra-trendy stone floor and walls with the disgustingly unsanitary jetted whirlpool tub.” [GoogleMaster, commenting on Swamplot Price Adjuster: The Heights of 2-2ness]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT I LEARNED EARLY IN THE HOUSTON REAL ESTATE BIZ “In 1993, I was with a firm that looked at buying many of the run down apartment complexes in Greenspoint. Our intent was to renovate them, thinking that the many class A office buildings contained many potential residents. Greenspoint was an enigma: awful multi-family and beautiful office development. You don’t often see the two side by side like this. When we got into town and started touring the area, we immediately saw the two critical falacies of our plan: 1. we needed to own and renovate all of the multi-family to turn the neighborhood. One holdout property would serve as a sanctuary for all that was bad about Greenspoint. Unfortunately, not every property was available for purchase. 2. Some of the properties, in particular those developed by Fred Rizk, were functionally obsolete. For example, sliding glass doors opening directly into parking lots–no way to easily dress this up. We never spent much time on the deals after that. On a more positive note, my boss at the time corrupted my by taking me to the St. James Club, and since that time I have considered it the best strip club ever.” [LandMan, commenting on Waiting for the Renaissance: What Could $32 Million Buy at Greenspoint Mall?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE NAME OF THE GAME “I drove past this place just this morning, saw the sign and at first thought it was a sex-toy boutique. It is across Kirkwood from a Chinese restaurant disturbingly named Spicy Panda. Not too terribly far away near Harwin is yet another oddly named eating place, Them Hung. Which brings us back full circle to the Loving Hut.” [Miz Brooke Smith, commenting on Loving Hut on Kirkwood: Expanding the Cult of Fast Food]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THAT MIDCENTURY MODERN HOUSE HAS NO GARAGE “The lack of enclosed garages on Post-war Modern homes has more to do with architects designing homes around the occupants and their lifestyle – in other words, the car was provided a resting place (sometimes covered, sometimes not) but the garage was likely seen as an excessive element to the Modernist spirit. More significantly, the consumer culture – a.k.a. conspicuous consumption – was not as rampant in the 1950’s and 60’s as it became in the 70’s, 80’s and beyond. All one needs to do is to review total square footage dedicated to storage/closets in Modernist homes in contrast to contemporary homes – this exercise is further validated by looking at storage/closets in pre-WW2 homes. Tiny. Take a look at a typical contemporary garage and you’ll find a plethora of things [previously] not commonly found in a garage prior to 1970. The garage has primarily become a storage room – and in its worst case, even the car is pushed out of its designated shelter. To live modern is to live with the essentials.” [JAH, commenting on Behind the Westminster Wall, Still Modern After All These Years]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THOSE FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS WITH THE CHICKENS “. . . I feel obliged to disagree with the comparison between Lone Star [Poultry] and a train. We’ve never smelled chicken or been bothered by truck noise or anything. I heard from some old-timers that Lone Star used to be a problem but neighbors complained and it’s no longer an issue. Our interaction with Lone Star has been nothing but positive…one of the truck drivers had to make room for a load of chicken and gave us a whole sack of cabbage as we were walking by.” [Katie, commenting on Hangin’ with the Large and Lonely Homes of Bammel Lane Park]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN HOUSTON WAS RIGGED “The Astrodome is ~1 mile north of the old Pierce Junction Oil Field. Most of the area is industrial, but there are homes along the perimeter of the field where Glenn McCarthy, who later built the Shamrock Hotel, made his first millions. Here’s a link to a 1956 TIME magazine article about the field and issues regarding growth of Houston versus industrial development. If anyone reads the article, I believe the dump it refers to is now a golf course. There are methane candy canes all around it. This is to say nothing of the Humble area. If anyone can find any old aerial photos of Humble online, let me know. I’ve seen them in the past and would like to do an overlay of current use versus prior use.” [J Wilson, commenting on House Shopping in the Chemical Discount Zones: Finding Houston’s Less-Toxic Neighborhoods]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: PARALLEL PARK OR LOSE IT “It is one of those skills that tends to go away if you don’t use it. Back in the day I could zip right into a spot with six inches on either end of my car on one try; all these years of Houston living have made that a LOT harder!” [John (yet another), commenting on Swamplot Award Winners Converge as Phoenicia Moves in Next to Discovery Green]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YE OLDE DYNAMO WAREHOUSE SOCCER STADIUM AND EMPORIUM, NIXED “. . . we met with the architects Wednesday before the game. Received assurances that the design will be modern and eye-catching. Someone suggested the possibility of sticking with the red-brick warehouse motif, and that was summarily dismissed. Not gonna happen.” [Nord, commenting on Dynamo Stadium Is Just a Sketch]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SWAMPLOT READERS, SHOW US HOW YOU LIVE “My abode rather resembles the interior of Brian O’Neill’s pub – lots of green, old curiosities and dark wood, but not the square footage. Some friends more accustomed to large bright spaces say a Hobbit would feel right at home.” [Hellsing, commenting on Richelieu Style: The Patterns of Shepherd Park Plaza]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: REASON ENOUGH TO STRIP OFF THE WALLPAPER “There was a time when people didn’t have quite enough stimulation to totally tax their brains, so, they covered every surface of their environments with color, texture & pattern. Today we just multitask like Quakers on crack and, so, choose to return to minimalist architecture/surroundings. (It seems like a trend but it’s just self-preservation.)” [movocelot, commenting on Richelieu Style: The Patterns of Shepherd Park Plaza]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CLEARING THE AIR AROUND CLEAR LAKE CITY “As a resident of the area, I’m very interested in your comment about ‘knowing what was going on around and within Clear Lake City before Exxon developed it as a community…’ Are you aware of anything specific that might raise concerns, or is this just a baseless consumer scare?” [C.T., commenting on Comment of the Day: Clear Lake City Cleans Up Nicely]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE TOWER THEATRE, BACK TO THE FUTURE 
“But if we don’t get the sign from 1955 to 1985 before the lightning storm, Annise Parker will never be born!” [Evan7257, commenting on The Tower Theatre Puts No Name in Lights] Photo: Swampot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GAME BIRDS OF THE SOUTH BELT “There is a gun range close to 288 and Beltway 8 that has about 10 Peafowls (just found out only the male is actually called a Peacock) running wild. It’s crazy to be shooting your gun and right next to you is a curious bird that is completely unphased by the banging of the pistol. Very beautiful, LARGE birds that are used to being around people and guns! Very strange!” [AJ, commenting on The Feral Peafowl of Nottingham Forest]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU SEE A WORN-OUT FOURPLEX, I SEE A WEST GRAY BAR WAITING TO HAPPEN “Looks like a great place to relocate the long dead but sorely missed Aquarium [Lounge]. Connect two. Demolish two for for parking. Win. Take a look behind the front room addition at Kenneally’s and you’ll find a building nearly identical to these: obsolete for housing, but many other uses.” [Bernard, commenting on Lovebird Hideaways: 3 Out of 4 Fourplexes on West Gray]