John Nova Lomax, in the second installment of his 3-part version of his and David Beebe’s IAH-to-Downtown slog, passes by this rough-and-tumble strip mall just down the street from the Aldine ISD’s W.W. Thorne Stadium, — and figures out why the street is called Aldine Bender:

In one corner lurks a closed down bar called Sassy’s. The doors of this place were open even though it was abandoned. Someone had pulled much of the furniture out of it and left it on the sidewalk out front.

Flanking Sassy’s were a donut shop and not one, but two different Spanish-language chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous. And the piece de resistance was an abandoned Pontiac, complete with flat tire and faceprint in the windshield. A faceprint that went inward toward the dash, not outward from the driver’s seat. Perhaps the rival AA chapters got into a parking lot fracas…

• Sole of Houston: Airline Drive, Part 2 [Hair Balls]
• Imagined History of that Med Center Fountain Plaza [Swamplot]
• Previously in Swamplot: Snuff Is Not Enough: South Post Oak Lubricated Walking Tour, A Walk Down Cheezy Street: Richmond Avenue, Past Its Prime, Southeast Side: A Tour of the Houston Heartland, Long Point, Long Walk, Long Story, Telephone Road Walking Tour: Not How They Sang It Was, Shade, Subs, Plexes and Suds: A Bissonnet Story, Lonely East Side Walking Tour, Walking on Bellaire

Photo of 1215 Aldine Bender Rd.: John Nova Lomax