Bayou City History started in 2006 as a way for Houstonian and local history buff J.R. Gonzales to chronicle (no pun intended) the findings of his research. After a year at Blogger.com, the blog moved to the Chron Commons, where it no doubt benefited from the newspaper's extensive archive of photos and stories.
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Results tagged “houstonchronicle”
Monday's edition of the Houston Chronicle reported that the Houston Police Department has been moderately successful in their latest venture to stop crime by curbing…shopping cart theft.
The article sums up the history of the house and its ownership - how Bob Cohen built his dream home, moved from the home after forty years because of declining health, the subsequent buy out (and saga) from lawyer John O'Quinn, then its demise at the hands of Marvin Granit. Granit did provide some comments for the article, which is more than the usual builder/developer schtick of having the PR department come up with a vague and stale one-liner for the public. He expressed his shock at how commonfolk would care what he did with his newly purchased property and threw in a dig relating it to socialism. According to the article, the home would have been exempt from a flood regulation if renovated:
...because the house sits in a floodplain, city regulations would have required the structure to be elevated, a costly and difficult procedure. Only listed historic properties are exempt from this regulation, but Granit refused to seek landmark designation for the house and went ahead with demolition.He would have been eligible for tax breaks from the city as well. So Granit contemptuously bought a one of a kind house that was definitely a candidate for landmark designation in a quotidien neighborhood, but keep an eye on the empty corner lot - it will be interesting to see what Granit's own dream home looks like in the next year or so.
It appears that the Astros are set to sign Craig Biggio's heir apparent: Kaz Matusi. Matusi batted .288 for the NL Champion Colorado Rockies last year with 84 runs scored and 32 stolen bases. Along with Michael Bourn, the two speedsters should wreck havoc for opposing NL catchers. Though the Astros have yet to comment on this deal, the Daily Herald and the Houston Chronicle both report that sources close to the situation have...
Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Indra Vishnampet: Local Entrepeneur Indra Vishnampet who was recently named "Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the Year" by The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce Greater Houston sat down with Purva Patel of The Houston Chronicle and answered a few questions about her local multi-million dollar software integration business which has offices in Houston, Canada and India. Missouri City Not Experiencing "Comcastic" Service Hats off to a group of...
Could Houston be one step closer to zoning? A few days ago the Houston Chronicle reported that the administration of Mayor Bill White has fast tracked an ordinance that could “whittle the proposed 23-story building — and others like it — down to size.” The ordinance would require developers of certain buildings, in certain areas to submit a traffic study to the city for approval. According to the ordinance's language, "certain types of high-density...
It's baaaaack. We can't believe it's been nearly six months since the last installment of the MFA's kick arse series, "Movies Houstonians Love." How the heck did we cope for this long with out it? Must be those doses of Mixed Media that held us over. Tonight marks the return of a new slew of presentations of some of Houston's own professing their love for their favorite flix. This series includes flick pix from the...
Local tech news in a compact, digital format. AIR Houston Names Richard Yoo Chairman From our friends at abc13.com comes this story about local bazillionaire, Richard Yoo, founder of Rackspace and Hush Labs being named chairman of AIR Houston. AIR Houston is The Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR) which hosts a one-day competition in which web professionals team up with non-profit organizations to help design websites for users with disabilities. We know AIR Houston will...
Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Houston, A Top 10 High Tech City According to Popular Science, Houston is ranked #10 in high tech cities. Popular Science ranked cities based on 36 technology indicators as well as expert and staff opinions. The best part of this survey is that Houston outranked Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. Richard Yoo and Hush Labs Richard Yoo and Hush Labs were recently featured in The Houston...
Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. Don't telemarketers and bill collectors know that the long pause when you answer the phone or the (even worse) "please hold for an important announcement" greeting is just a signal to immediately hang up? They're already inhibited by caller id. Why do they make it even harder on themselves? -- Jeff Balke, Houston A lot of things don't make much sense, Jeff. Why...
Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Compaq Gets A New Logo Houston based Compaq unveiled a new logo for the company at a technology conference in India. HP/Compaq has modernized the font and given the trademark Compaq Q a weird new look. Houstonist is still on the fence about this logo. Dwight Silverman over at The Chron covered this story in a Tech Blog post and you can see the graphics he...
In the span of four short years Houston will have quadrupled the number of all-sports radio stations gracing its airwaves. Come August 20, KILE 1560 AM will be renamed KGOW after local businessman and owner David Gow when it signs on with a sports and entertainment talk format. Branded as "The Game," KGOW will enter a saturated market that includes KILT (610 AM), KBME (790 AM), and ESPN Radio affiliate KFNC (97.5 FM) The new...
"How often does the train go by?" "So often you won't even notice." West U residents would likely add "unless wheat spills from the train, gets soaked by inches of rain and then stinks up your backyard" to the above exchange between Jake and Elwood in The Blues Brothers. A Union Pacific train spilled the wheat during an incident three weeks ago, but the clean up was halted due to the record setting amount of...
Houstonist told you yesterday about the alleged "mob beating" that took place in East Austin on Tuesday, June 19th. Today, however, the Austin Police Department (APD) backed off of the troubling story, claiming that their initial press releases contained incorrect information, and that, according to Austin Mayor Will Wynn, "the city played a role in that." Additionally, as new details emerge about the murder, a new troubling element of the story seems to be replacing...
Fine Art of Survivors of The Houston Chronicle Join the Watercolor Art Society of Houston tonight for an artirsts' reception featuring a retrospective exhibit of paintings by artists: Sam Caldwell, Dick DePugh, Van Hetherly and Clyde Peterson (CP Houston). Wine and refreshments will be served along with music from the dynamic young duo, Mood Indigo. The exhibit will run for 3 weeks at the new Watercolor Art Society located. For more information, go to www.samcaldwell.com....
Saturday marks the "piece de resistance" of Art Car Weekend - The Art Car Parade! Houstonist is singing "I Love a Parade" in our very best Ethel Merman voice in celebration of this event (normally, we stick to "There's No Business Like Show Business"). The world's largest and oldest parade of its kind makes its way into downtown on Allen Parkway for the 20th year to an anticipated crowd of over 200,000 people. This year's...
Jack Valenti, the long-time head of the Motion Picture Association of America and Houston native passed away today at his home in Washington. He was 85 and still suffering the effects of a stroke he had in March. Valenti was born in Houston to Sicilian immigrants in 1921, growing up on the still unpaved streets of the 1st Ward. He traced his love of movies to a string of jobs working in downtown Houston movie...
Cross your fingers, folks. This year might be the end of the Chronicle's 106-year-long Pulitzer losing streak. That's right -- the Houston Chronicle is the only newspaper among the country's ten largest to have never won a Pulitzer Prize. However, according to an unofficial leaked list of this year's finalists, Nick Anderson, editorial cartoonist, might end the dry spell. Anderson is already a Pulitzer winner, you see. He's only been with the Chronicle since last...
Houston is a big city with big industry and big city pollution problems. Mayor Bill White, unsatisfied with the pollution-control efforts of our state and national governments, has been trying enhance Houston’s ability to sue polluters itself. Right now, each time the city wants to sue a polluter, it has to get approval by the council. White wants the city to be able to sue companies without going through these steps, and also wants to...
During last night’s Super Bowl, you may have seen the commercials for the upcoming Grammy Awards, where Justin Timberlake is given your average, everyday person a chance to sing with him on stage at the event. Secretly, we thought to ourselves, it’d be fun to win that contest and get Justin to bring sexyback to some old, I don’t know, maybe John Denver, while JT gets his groove on the stage. Well, a local girl...
Hope we're not killing your buzz, Cheech, but your going to have to continue waiting for Mr. Weed to arrive. The Houston Chronicle reported early yesterday evening that an 18-wheeler load of marijuana was seized near Victoria on Monday. The vehicle was pulled over after highway patrol spotted empty Cheetos bags on the dash a burnt out light on the license plate. A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed a payload of over two tons...
If you work or travel through downtown, you may want to take note of this: Earlier this morning, a fire at a CenterPoint Energy substation knocked out the power to northeast downtown. Crews are working on having the problem fixed, but it doesn't look like the power will be restored until after rush hour this morning, maybe later.
Houstonist was still reeling in shock about the demise of The Gallant Knight when yet another step down the path toward destruction of local flavor progress was reported in The Houston Chronicle. The Laff Stop will be moving from its digs in the River Oaks Shopping Center when the current lease expires. Fortunately for Houstonians, The Laff Stop will not "fade into Bolivian" (thanks Mike Tyson) like The Fabulous Satellite Lounge, which closed in 2003...
The Houston Chronicle's Ultimate Houston weekly Reader Picks poll allow folks to chime in opinions on the best of four categories. This week, polls are for ultimate Mexican restaurant, place to hear live music, bookstore, and Houston Texan. Ninfa's on Navigation, McGonigel's Mucky Duck, the Alabama Bookstop, and David Carr are in the lead, respectively. A couple weeks ago we found out that Barnes & Noble is planning to shut down the Alabama Bookstop, after...
In all the outrage over the potential destruction of the River Oaks Theater, another Houston institution that could be bulldozed as well is the neighborhood speakeasy Marfreless.
The Astrodome has been home to many things. It bore witness to the highs and lows of the Oilers and Astros. It has been credited with helping to change the face of men's college basketball and March Madness. People roped dogies, jumped over cars on motorcycles, cheered on Ronald Reagan and promised to kick things in on the floor of the Eighth Wonder of the World. More recently, it has sheltered evacuees during Hurricane Katrina...
The Houston Chronicle and Mix 96.5 hosted an advance screening of the new comedy “You, Me and Dupree” last night at the Edwards Marq*e. We begged and pleaded our way in (and got stuck in one of the dreaded front rows, resulting in a massive neck ache). Any movie that boasts an all star cast like “You, Me and Dupree” gives the audience high hopes. The reviews for the movie, however, brought them crashing down:...