WEINGARTEN: WE’RE SAVING THE ALABAMA LETTERS 
Weingarten Realty is preparing reporters for a photo op in front of the Alabama Theater at 2922 S. Shepherd Dr. now being outfitted for a Trader Joe’s. The letters spelling “Alabama” that the company had removed earlier this week from the original tall totem sign in front of the 1939 Art Deco theater that the company recently gutted and leveled will soon be returned intact and unscrambled, a spokesperson promises. The letters are being painted and the neon lighting hidden inside them is being replaced. Expected homecoming date for the letters: sometime between June 13th and June 16th. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Jay Rascoe
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Tag: Signage
COMMENT OF THE DAY: JUST REFRESHING THE LETTERS ON THE ALABAMA SIGN “Yes, they will re-install them. BLAAAAM!” [marmer, commenting on Taking Down the Letters on the Alabama Theater Sign]
Going on now: “The owner of the company taking down the Alabama theater sign letters says ‘the plan’ is to restore them and put them back,” tweets the Chron‘s Nancy Sarnoff, who was no doubt sent several urgent messages from passers-by wondering what was happening to the totem on Shepherd Dr. just north of West Alabama today. And an email property owner Weingarten Realty sent to Preservation Houston says that’s legit: “We are replacing the neon and painting the Alabama letters. In order to paint the letters we are removing them and will re install them.â€
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SANDWICHES TOOK THEIR IDENTITY A point of History: Quiznos “Q†logo established in 2004. NewQuest Properties was founded in 2001, and has only had its current logo. [Houstonian, commenting on What To Expect at the Sign of the Q]
Pulling into the Pei Wei parking lot on FM 1960 just north of 290 for lunch yesterday, Swamplot reader David Hollas came upon “a whole bunch of commercial real estate signs that reminded me of that tasty sandwich place called Quiznos.” Looking closer, he realized the signs belonged to Houston commercial real estate company NewQuest Properties. Hollas notes “the logos are nearly identical.”
Photo: David Hollas
These signs, in versions specially designed for both taller and shorter readers, are now posted on the north side of the recently revamped Buffalo Bayou trail just before it ducks under Memorial Dr., a reader informs Swamplot. Just in case the message isn’t clear: This trail is a bike route. Two sets of double signs are posted, for trailgoers in each direction.
Photos: Swamplot inbox
A graduate of the crape myrtle school of chainsaw insta-pruning appears to have gotten a little creative with the oak trees surrounding the Burger King at Yale and the 610 North feeder sometime over the last 2 weeks. The oak trunks are still standing tall, but all its broccoli-like heads have been knocked off. Is this the work of a rogue landscaper, or a concerted action meant to send a message to any other oaks that dare raise their leaves near power lines, feeder roads, or fast-food signage? “Its the most bizarre thing, and one can only presume it will get more odd appearing once they start to sprout out,” a Swamplot reader notes. “I know there are regulations to plant parking lot trees, but I guess there are none to make sure that they remain? There must be a story behind this odd act, but I can only drive by and drop my jaw each time I see it.”
More closeups of the oak hackery, and a “before” view, courtesy of Google Street View:
Workers began taking down the engraved stone Stanford Financial Group sign embedded in the facade of the company’s former headquarters building at 5050 Westheimer last Friday, reader Andrew Tyler reports with this tweeted photo. Federal law enforcement officials raided the building and Stanford Financial offices in Galleria Tower II almost 3 years ago; company founder Allen Stanford was arrested 4 months later. In July of 2010, Woodlands-based Black Forest Ventures bought the 3-story, 71,000-sq.-ft. structure across the street from the Galleria for $12.5 million.
- 5050 Westheimer [Black Forest Ventures]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Black Forest Mix, Comment of the Day: Inside the Stanford Financial Group Offices at 5050 Westheimer, Westheimer Office Building and All: Allen Stanford Says Sell!, Feds Now Raiding Stanford Financial Group Offices in the Galleria
Photo: Andrew Tyler
ATTACK OF THE TRAFFIC-SIGN ZOMBIES 
All-things-automotive blog Jalopnik takes uh, credit for the continuing wave of streetside zombie warnings gracing local newscasts nationwide, two-and-a-half years after the publication of their original how-to: “[There’s] no reason to demonize us here at Jalopnik. . . . The reason road signs are still being hacked is because hapless lowest-bid Department of Transportation contractors aren’t protecting their screens from zombified hordes with a simple Master-lock. And we’ll continue to spread that important message until they secure their damn signs — no matter how much the idiots at local news stations call us a ‘hacker website.’ They’re stupid enough to think that’s some kind of an insult. That said we still must remind you kids not to try this at home.” [Jalopnik; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Fox26 Viewer Amy
Denver Hopkins tells abc13 he’s the brilliant mastermind who spent 30 seconds at an open, unlocked keyboard attached to a downtown electronic construction sign over the weekend, changing the message from “Poop” to “;> LOL.” What harsh punishment will the Texas Dept. of Transportation seek to inflict on this sign hacker? He turned himself in this afternoon to the TxDOT offices at I-10 and Old Katy Rd. to find out. TxDOT spokeswoman Raquelle Lewis told Chronicle reporters yesterday that messing with the sign carries a fine of “up to $500.”
- Accused construction sign hacker turns himself in [abc13, via Miya Shay]
- Downtown traffic sign becomes butt of joke [Houston Chronicle]
- Previously on Swamplot: Comment of the Day: Catch Me If You Can, Sez ‘Poop’ Hack Perp, What Dirty Little Secret Was This Downtown Sign Hiding?
Video: abc13
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, SEZ ‘POOP’ HACK PERP 
“I BROKE NOTHING!!!! THERE WAS NO LOCK!!!! THEY’RE TRYIN TO COVER THEIR A$$3$!!!! THAT’S CRAP!!!! But seriously, let them try to find me. I guarantee they won’t. I’ll give you a hint. I bounce around the world 9 times before I actually connect to the internet. If they wanna try to track my IP, they’ll be in for a long and hard journey. Also, as for cameras, I’d love to see the video! Bring it on! When you do things that can get you in trouble, you can’t be afraid of the consequences.” [theguythatdidit, commenting on What Dirty Little Secret Was This Downtown Sign Hiding?]
Note: Updates below.
Successive photos of the results of a hack made to the lighted construction sign parked across from the Hogg Palace on Louisiana St. just north of Prairie over the weekend. The pic above shows the message displayed on Sunday night. What’s so funny, really? Maybe something to do with the message on display the night before:
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
We’ve got some answers to your questions:
- Downtown: The mystery of the missing Houston Pavilions signs (shown — or rather, not shown — above) is solved . . . in rather unexciting fashion. The development’s management office explains the lettering is being painted, and should be reinstalled in short order.
- Bellaire: Noting that other lots just west of Bellaire High School have a similar shape and size, subprimelandguy provides a matter-of-fact explanation for the triple-deep lots on the south side of Maple St.:
Mimosa (and the adjacent smaller lots on the south side of Maple) ends short of the Loop simply because that was the edge of the Bellaire Oaks subdivision when it was developed in the 50’s. The larger lots are in a different subdivision likely developed by a different developer, and of course at that time the Loop didn’t exist for Mimosa to extend out to.
None of you took the bait on the reader’s second question: Should a triple-size lot always command a triple-size price?
And what about that monument to eternal redevelopment at the corner of Washington and Jackson Hill?
Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.
- Downtown: A reader wants to know why the backlit signage that used to be attached to those fancy Houston Pavilions multi-story hole-in-the-middle bridges over Fannin and San Jacinto streets Downtown is — gone! “You can see the remains of little black studs that supported the letters. Probably not a big deal at all, just something I noticed the last couple of trips [and] thought I would share.”
- Bellaire: From just outside the Loop, we have interest in the “extremely long residential lots” on the south side of Maple St., just east of S. Rice Blvd. (Map here.) Each property, bounded by a storm drain to the south, is the equivalent of 3 lots deep, a curious reader notes. And asks: “1) Why does Mimosa end before W. Loop? 2) Is a triple lot property 3x the value of single lot? What shapes their value?”
One more puzzle for you to solve:
Whose idea was it to make the new standard-issue Texas license plates look like cheezy souvenirs from some island celebration vacation? Well, this should fix that: Here’s Houston graphic designer Craig Minor’s new no-nonsense version, intended to look especially sharp below the front grille of one of those mean wader pickups comin’ right atcha. And hey look, it’s bilingual!
Minor’s Texas plate redesign was commissioned by Fast Company blogger Ken Carbone, a mean graphic designer himself. But it isn’t just Texas’s new plates he’s picking on — recent license-plate design is namby-pamby all over. He groups recent plate designs into 3 categories: the acceptable, the unfortunate, and the “so bad it’s good.” Carbone showcases his own improved version for New York, and gets other designers to draw up improvements for Illinois and California:
