Category Archives: Elsewhere in Houston

When one encounters the headline Downtown could get high-tech pay toilets in the daily fishwrap, there are two questions that leap to mind right away: One, how many toilet-related puns will the story include, and two, how many times will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As with the Super Bowl, visitors who came in for the MLB All Star Game left with a positive impression of Houston. Out-of-towners here for the All-Star Game last week had an overwhelmingly positive experience, according to a new poll … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Damn. I’m quite fond of the farmers’ market, and I hope it can bounce back from this. Tiffany and I were driving home from a wedding shower in Kingwood yesterday (our first trip anywhere without Olivia – Tiffany’s mom babysat … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I had no idea there were this many organized tours of Houston. FRENCH travelers with one-day layovers in Houston typically have low expectations of the city, noted Lucette Rieger, an independent tour guide. “They’ve heard there’s not much here,” she … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Seventy-five million. Houston cleaned itself up so quickly after five days of All-Star Game festivities that when commuters arrived in downtown Wednesday morning, the city looked like it did last Wednesday — only it was $75 million richer, and Main … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As long as we’re talking about attracting people to a city’s downtown, I’ll mention this op-ed from Sunday by Rice prof Stephen Klineberg, who talks about why suburban Anglos are expressing more interest than before in moving back to inner … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The main thought that occurs to me as I read this article about Conroe’s attempts to bring a little life to its downtown now that an archaic anti-alcohol law has been lifted is that the Conroe Chamber of Commerce had … Continue reading → Continue reading →

WiFi comes to Minute Maid Park. Of course this means realtime baseball blogging is hot on its heels. What a great country we live in. Continue reading →

The local news has had a field day with the nursing mothers’ protest that took place yesterday at the Galleria. They came with strollers and diaper bags, lifting up their shirts ever so slightly to champion mothers’ rights to breast-feed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I may be a staunch defender of Houston as a place to live, but even I will never claim that it’s one of the more scenic places in the world. This is not to say that there aren’t interesting things … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Say goodbye to Town and Country Mall. The long-awaited demise of Town & Country Mall became a reality on Wednesday for the few tenants still left operating in the 20-year-old property, which never seemed to hit its stride. The mall … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Great news for my neighborhood: an old industrial area just north of I-10 will be redeveloped as commercial property. A major shopping center is being planned for a long-overlooked industrial site just west of downtown. Property Commerce, a local retail … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So now that Phoenix has passed (or is on the brink of passing) Philadekphia to become America’s fifth-most populous city, how long until they catch up to Houston for #4? During the 1990s, Phoenix grew by 34 percent, or 340,000 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Major League Baseball’s summer All-Star Game and related events in Houston will give Texas an $85.6 million boost, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn predicted Wednesday. “The 2004 All-Star Week events in Houston will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The latest Houston Area Survey shows that more people are moving back to the city and away from the suburbs compared to recent years. This increased interest in urban living is being driven in large part by Anglos, Republicans and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This might be the first boxing match ever for which I’d be tempted to do a pay-per-view. Rice University’s Malcolm Gillis, president of one of the world’s leading centers of wisdom and knowledge, intends to fight two-time heavyweight boxing champ … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Of interest to Houstonians: Sieve City is a project by a couple of Architecture grad students at Rice who want to know how far from your house you walk. Don’t know what they ultimately plan on doing with it, but … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A little plug for my neighborhood here, which is hosting a Home Tour this weekend. Come on down and see some interesting houses built before evil soulless developers like Bob Perry got his hooks into Houston. You can buy tickets … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Houston has cracked Travel & Leisure’s list of America’s 25 Favorite Cities for the first time. We may be at the bottom of that list, but by Gawd we’re on it. You can see the list and how we fared … Continue reading → Continue reading →

About 70% of Super Bowl visitors polled said they would recommend the city to others based on their experiences during their visit. Jordy Tollett, the president of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he commissioned the survey to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is a pretty neat site for those who think it’s nothing but a concrete jungle around here. Be sure to check their little Flash movie about what you can find near here, too. Now of course, the 24-county area … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Meet Cheri Hambrick, the first female trail boss in the history of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. “She runs a very clean operation and makes it easier on the committee,” said Yance Montalbano, chairman of the Trail Ride Committee. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Though I’ve yet to see a mention of it anywhere other than in the Chron, the Houston Press got four letters this week which condemned it for the loss of Tim Fleck. Maybe I oughta try and track him down … Continue reading → Continue reading →

That’s our school board. Houston school board members unanimously agreed Thursday to accept $115,000 in charitable donations that will be funneled to an educational software company founded by Neil Bush, the brother of President Bush. A watchdog group and legal … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And now one of our esteemed County Commissioners is in full panty-bunch mode over Janet Jackson’s boobie. Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack wants to make sure there’s no more such misbehavior in a county-owned building. Radack said Tuesday that he … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s an interesting rumor for you, from political analyst/gossipmeister George Strong: And the hot rumor of the day is that Tim Fleck is in discussions with the local paper to join it for his Insider column. Fleck is a well … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Time for an Astrodome Redevelopment Update. The Astrodome Redevelopment Co. has asked the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. to extend a deadline for its plan for a space theme park in the dome until after the Houston Livestock Show … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Two final indications that things must have gone reasonably well this week. One is Rich Connelly’s Super Bowl diary, in which he actually seems impressed with the downtown party scene in spite of himself. As bizarre as it may seem, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I believe we can now officially answer affirmitively when asked whether or not it was worth it for Houston to host a Super Bowl: Apparently, doing so has made Dallasites envious. Listen, Houston is one of my favorite places. How … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Finally, the Chron gets some letters regarding its overview and review of some of the better strip clubs in town. I was beginning to get worried that no one would bother to work up a head of froth for me. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve taken a few dozen deep breaths now, and I’m doing my best not to let a pampered media pretty boy like Bill Simmons annoy me. He’s probably the kind of guy who shows up as a friend-of-a-friend at a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We haven’t even played the Super Bowl yet, but NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue seems suitably impressed with how things have gone so far. “I want to thank Houston for all they’re continuing to do to make this game a great … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You have to hand it to the Chron, they take their job as Houston boosters seriously. What else can you think about their overview of Houston strip clubs for visitors, complete with capsulized reviews of seven specific clubs? I suppose … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I can’t help myself. I’m caught up in Local Family Hosts Jimmy Kimmel Mania! The satellite feed was fuzzy in Los Angeles when Jimmy Kimmel announced the Houston-area family he would be staying with during Super Bowl week, so the … Continue reading → Continue reading →