Hey, recovering longtime Swamplot readers! A special request: We’re putting together a list of this site’s best stories, and we need your help. If you were asked to give a quick snapshot of Swamplot by providing examples of this site at the top of its form, what individual posts would you point to?
We’re asking: Which were your favorites? Which ones were especially funny? or made you angry? or changed the way you looked at Houston? or voiced something previously unspoken about a part or aspect of the city that you were already familiar with? or sparked really interesting discussions? Or maybe have a special resonance now — beyond the immediate goings-on pictured and outlined in our original writeup. We want to know what stood out to you.
How to find stories . . . if your memories are hazy? There’s a search box near the top of this page (near the bottom on mobile) where you can type in keywords that might tickle your memory. Or use the Google. Or click on the tags that show up to the right of each story (at the bottom on mobile) to surf by topic. Or if you’ve got a ridiculous amount of time on your hands, go right ahead and scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the “Next Page” button — and keep repeating until you get back 12 years.
Let us know your picks in the comments section below, or — if you’re a little more shy about it — in an email to our tips line. We’d like to publish a list of what you come up with.
Photo of Hardy Yards: Marc Longoria
The Swampies. Where else could the Humping Bungalow get its well-deserved recognition? All was lost after the swampies disappeared.
Favorite title: “Beaver Behind Bark Bites, Broken Branches by Buffalo Bayou.”
I still laugh about this one – http://swamplot.com/relief-in-alief-the-condo-hard-sell-gets-results/2011-02-14/. Please be careful what you leave out before the realtor takes pictures!
I have to say this one, since I sent it in on the tipline – http://swamplot.com/inside-the-westlake-forest-house-of-too-many-houseplants/2014-05-06/
And for nostalgia sake, this is the post that got me following Swamplot regularly – http://swamplot.com/shocking-documentary-photos-from-the-idylwood-bedbug-invasion/2011-03-01/
I’m sorry to see things ramp down. It was a great run and you will be missed!
Hate this! Don’t go!!
My favorite Swamplot posts?
WELL. any that were about my blog, Cote de Texas, of course! I was always thrilled when you wrote about my blog. The comments were usually on the mean side, but that was ok. I enjoyed reading what people actually thought, thinking I would never read them. I was always so thankful for your attention and humbled that you actually read my blog now and then.
I hate to see you go, I’ve enjoyed the past decade immensely. God speed.
Joni
Just poking around, I found the one about John Nova Lomax’s walk down Bellaire:
http://swamplot.com/walking-on-bellaire/2007-06-01/
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And his walk down Westheimer:
http://swamplot.com/where-the-westheimer-sidewalk-ends/2010-04-26/
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Nearby the Bellaire post, there was one telling us what Swamplot is all about:
http://swamplot.com/about-swamplot/2007-06-20/
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The earliest post I could find, rather an odd one to start off with, is this one:
http://swamplot.com/in-a-paved-paradise-no-need-to-put-up-with-a-lot-of-parks/2006-06-28/
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My favorites that I can think of are about houses that I actually looked at in earnest while house-hunting. I looked at the LBJ house several times and even went to an open house after it was remuddled:
http://swamplot.com/former-lbj-stomping-ground-knocks-off-50k/2011-06-15/
http://swamplot.com/the-plan-to-flip-houstons-lbj-house/2012-07-25/
http://swamplot.com/taking-a-few-more-shots-at-houstons-lbj-house/2013-02-06/
http://swamplot.com/price-grows-again-on-lbjs-montrose-crash-pad-newly-planted-with-fake-grass/2016-09-19/
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I really liked this charming bungalow on Fairview, except for the real estate agent that ignored us and the overwhelming smell of diaper pail during the open house. I wrote a very long comment that stayed up for just a short while before it was removed. Regardless, this post still has 86 comments on it:
http://swamplot.com/price-adjuster-your-cherryhurst-neighbors/2009-09-21/
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While searching for “Hawthorne,” I came across the 2014 Swampies in which the giant apartment fire at Montrose at W. Dallas was linked:
http://swamplot.com/heres-that-dramatic-video-of-the-last-second-rescue-at-the-axis-apartments-fire/2014-03-26/
Wow, it’s been five years and the lot is still empty.
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While searching for “Fairview,” I found a couple of articles about a crazy person who lived with the decomposing corpse of his mother:
http://swamplot.com/oh-thats-just-mom/2010-10-21/
http://swamplot.com/the-montrose-apartment-where-mother-passed-away-but-lingered-for-a-while-anyway/2010-10-22/
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And, of course, anything involving the Tremont Tower is a winner:
http://swamplot.com/tag/tremont-tower/
Neighborhood Guessing Game! all of them
All the battles on the fate of the Astrodome on the comment section was epic, and a high water mark on Swamplot. Nothing in Houston touches a nerve to Native Houstonians like our beloved Astrodome. Yes, she’s old, run down and utterly useless, but she’s ours and we love her. Nothing is more totally Houston, than the first Air Conditioned Arena, the inventor of artificial turf (forever AstroTurf), the longest bar, the largest scoreboard and an engineering marvel. The Eighth Wonder of the World! In a city that would has zero appreciation for its history and no respect for Preservation, voted to save the Astrodome. We saved the dome from demolition. Thanks Houston for saving the old lady.
Def Neighborhood Guessing Game!!
Gentrifying Jesus sightings..
Swampies!!!
My one scoop! http://swamplot.com/?s=westheimer+barnes+and+noble&submit=Search Barnes & Noble leaving Westheimer Crossing
Anything Bork-related will always have my heart.
http://swamplot.com/kirby-dr-wendys-renovation-crews-chop-down-north-blvd-street-oaks-overnight/2014-10-29/
Started the Kirby Tree crusade, and subsequent City wrath – which then worked it’s way north to when the trees on upper Kirby were also removed.
The huge fights between the condo tower that had renters throwing stuff on patrons of a local bar. those were good.
2520 Robinhood versus the world. What started out as a innocuous story about condo residents doing a little direct action against noisy neighboring bars turned into a court battle that Swamplot may not be able to discuss (swamplot won).
Also appreciated the coverage of the Art Guys, especially the walk along Little York.
Evidencing my base sense of humor – the multiple posts about the “hard sale” in Alief was the first thing I thought of.
But honestly, I’ll miss everything. Swamplot was as much a part of my of my diet as my morning protein shake. It has great data and great takes on Houston life. I’ll miss the Daily Demo data complete with witty titling. I’ll miss the headlines with what seemed to be the most interesting, local, and mostly non-violent news items. I’ll miss the absurd home listing photos.
It has been quite a run. Swamplot became an oft-cited, go-to source. Even the local media started picking up stories from the site. It was plagiarized by a real estate agent. It engendered the furor of one of the Robinhood’s most colorful residents (Mark Theusen, not Robert Durst). So many stories. So much comment discussion. It’s been great.
Thank you!
The Garden Oaks, Deed restrictions enforced?
Sorry to see yall go
Old School — Hans’ Bier Haus was there before the condos were even built, and it’s illegal to assault people by throwing things at them off your balcony.
I agree, The Swampies will be missed. A close second was the groundswell of opposition to the cutting of the trees on Kirby, close to the Westpark T intersection.
Thanks for your great suggestions, everyone! Keep ’em coming!
@Old School: There’s nothing we’re not allowed to discuss except for the amount of money that was paid us as a settlement.
Right there with Timbergrove Walker, all the stories related to the cut trees and Wendy’s
http://swamplot.com/wendys-kirby-dr-drive-thru-memorializes-the-corner-oak-trees-its-owners-chopped-down-illegally-with-new-commemorative-plaque/2015-01-27/
Sad to see y’all go.
just a few off the top of my head:
The lamentations and fury over the Heights Wal-Mart
Investigative reports over late night tree cut downs
Astrodome arguments
And of course “Bork” still makes me laugh
When Vinod Ramani finally lost a breach of contract lawsuit – Greatest post of all time
Given my proclivities, it should be no surprise that I relished the items concerning UT’s precipitous purchase of land in southwest Houston, with the intention to build……something.
A post on the messiest apartment in Houston is what first drew me to Swamplot. http://swamplot.com/inside-the-messiest-apartment-in-houston-ever/2008-09-23/ At a time when my landlord made me feel bad for my housekeeping habits, I realized it could be worse – a lot worse. I tuned in almost daily for snarky commentary and insights on what’s happening in Houston real estate. Having lived in Montrose my first decade in Houston, I tracked the migration of Komatsu and his brethren as they wreaked havoc across Houston. The closest the excavators got before I lit out for Alief was right up the road when phase two of the Fairmont Museum District kicked off construction. http://swamplot.com/poop-science-comes-to-fairmont-museum-district-apartments/2013-03-18/ Swamplot is also where I found out my complex was on the state’s shit list right after I renewed my lease there. http://swamplot.com/state-orders-montrose-apartment-owner-to-get-rid-of-the-crime-or-shut-the-place-down/2013-10-25/ Thanks for everything Swamplot. I’m gonna miss it.
I can’t believe this was 10 years ago, but the “infinity poo” at the Bayou on the Bend apartments. I still laugh at that.
Tampico Heights!!!!
I loved how much mileage Swamplot got from the oak tree scandal on Kirby, when the owner of Wendy’s and Burger King illegally chopped down all the trees! I still refuse to get a fast food fix there…
http://swamplot.com/a-moment-for-skyward-contemplation-at-main-st-s-city-code-enforcement-building-as-the-end-nears/2016-11-22/
The teardown of the code enforcement building had many people writing of the evil that happened there. I send in the photo with the stained glass ornament.
The Ashby highrise wars.
EarthQuest Adventures!!!
The 5th ward driveway that ended in the middle of the road. And the day after it was posted, a reader got a picture of someone crashing into a light pole next to it. This or the townhomes that collapsed during construction due to high winds.
No other news source followed the demise of the Wilshire Village apartments so closely, straight through to the eventual construction of the Montrose H-E-B and the demo of adjacent Fiesta, followed by the new apartments across the street, resulting in a full-on land use switcheroo of apartments and grocery stores from one side of the street to the other! http://swamplot.com/tag/wilshire-village/
Houston and it’s sidewalks….
http://swamplot.com/power-to-the-pedestrians-sidewalk-utility-poles-of-the-east-end-line/2012-10-01/
Swamplot Awards and HAR listing photos.
Eleven years later and the Allen House / Regent Square block is still empty:
http://swamplot.com/the-new-regent-square-details-and-drawings/2008-05-27/
The design cliches. I will see Minecraft houses for the rest of my life, and sadly the painted brick flip remains supreme in my neighborhood (Shepherd park/candlelight plaza
http://swamplot.com/favorite-houston-design-cliche-the-official-2014-ballot/2014-12-11/
TONIGHT’S AREA FLOODING SYMPOSIUM CANCELLED BY AREA FLOODING
http://swamplot.com/tonights-area-flooding-symposium-cancelled-by-area-flooding/2017-01-18/
That Blood Red Stuff in the Bayou May Not Be Spring Branch’s Biggest Problem Right Now
http://swamplot.com/that-blood-red-stuff-in-the-water-may-not-be-spring-branchs-biggest-problem-right-now/2016-05-06/
Fatigued Metal Strips Now Jumping From the Top of The Susanne Onto the W. Alabama St. Sidewalk Below
http://swamplot.com/fatigued-metal-strips-now-jumping-from-the-top-of-the-suzanne-onto-the-w-alabama-st-sidewalk-below/2016-02-24/
Mecom Fountain Now Being De-Restored, Sealed in Protective Cocoon Layer
http://swamplot.com/mecom-fountain-now-being-de-restored-sealed-in-protective-cocoon-layer/2016-05-19/
Thank you for featuring HISD’s Lantrip Elementary as it expanded its outdoor garden space thanks to grants, including one from Keep America Beautiful. Many of the trees planted by the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (about 5 years ago) are in full bloom for the first time.
Neighborhood Guessing Game
This one kept me laughing for years, every time I hear a new Randall Davis project announced….
http://swamplot.com/heres-a-first-entry-in-an-impromptu-what-randall-daviss-new-downtown-condo-tower-will-probably-look-like-design-competition/2014-10-22/
InTheHeights: Speaking of “Humping BUngalows”. Have you seen the HumpingHotel? i.e., the huge highrise they’re building behind La Colombe D’or in Montrose? Looks a bit silly
Urban Jungle Survivalist: You were a tenant at 1901 Richmond? We still run that place. Hard to strike a balance between gutting units and totally redoing the building and jacking rents, and keeping a nice basic affordable place.
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We try.
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The issues I had with the city were mostly due to the previous owner. It took a while to shake out everyone that was there and to re populate
Actually, I often felt that the headlines themselves were the stars!
And a few were close to genius, over the years…
“Fatigued Metal Strips Now Jumping From…..” Just a recent example. Will miss.
Chron can’t write an accurate headline, much less a sidesplitter, btw. Not all that easy.
DDraper: Ah, reminds me of my favorite. When they were blowing up the first home in Houston that had air conditioning. The headline was something like:
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“First home in Houston with AC being demo’d to make way for the newest home in Houston with AC”
After this past week we’ll mention the post on Houston’s chemical hazards. Pity you won’t be here to help us update that.
http://swamplot.com/from-hwy-6-to-galena-park-a-map-of-your-neighborhoods-nearest-dangerous-chemical-facilities/2016-10-31/