Houston, 2019 (photos) (condo, homes, school)

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

Yay - more great pix! I love the light on pix 71, 82 and 90 in particular.

Thanks. Nothing in here is in chronological order, but the last two (82, 90) were taken within minutes of each other.

That was on St. Patrick's Day. It was Sunday. For Sunday, downtown had more foot traffic than I was expecting to see. Not to say it looked like Michigan Avenue or something, but yeah. There's actually a little bit of stuff down there to actually go to and do on a Sunday besides the usual handful of spots that have already been around.

71 was a few days later on another shoot, at Eleanor Tinsley Park, shortly after leaving my old H-town photowalk buddy's pad on Taft. It was on that hike that the dude in the truck tried to pull his Permit Patty move on me. You watch out for them weirdos with the cameras now, heard?

One of my objectives in this was to get a look at some of that stuff over there in its state before they blow up the Pierce Elevated. That's the elevated stretch of I-45 that goes through downtown, and an anti-redevelopment albatross in general for the blocks around it. Some people are going to miss it a lot more than they probably should. That's one part of Houston that will definitely be better off going forward.

Only other one here with a story behind it, such as it is, might be #29. That building used to house a shop where I worked some 2-3 days a week around 2007-08 when I was starting to post the photo threads here. So, pretty much, everything urban photography-related I've ever done - anywhere - started right there in the 'Trose. The Curve. 1400ish Westheimer.

[Pine to Vine]

^^^ What makes No. 71 interesting to me is the silhouette of the guy on the right side of the photo.

It’s obvious from your photos that capture the essence of the city that you love Houston. I know some here think that when you’re critical of the city’s shortcomings that you somehow hate the city. Actually, the opposite is true. If you hated Houston, you wouldn’t care enough to even consider ways the city could improve. Instead, you’d be living the life in Chicago and never look back. Even more important, you wouldn’t spend your time taking photos and posting them for everyone’s enjoyment. At least I understand, even if one or two others don’t.

Anyway, you jogged my memory that the Pierce elevated is slated to come down. What a great move by the city to remove the boundary between the CBD and Midtown. I predict great things from that.

Merry Christmas!

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

^^^ What makes No. 71 interesting to me is the silhouette of the guy on the right side of the photo.

That human scale.

It’s obvious from your photos that capture the essence of the city that you love Houston. I know some here think that when you’re critical of the city’s shortcomings that you somehow hate the city. Actually, the opposite is true. If you hated Houston, you wouldn’t care enough to even consider ways the city could improve. Instead, you’d be living the life in Chicago and never look back. Even more important, you wouldn’t spend your time taking photos and posting them for everyone’s enjoyment. At least I understand, even if one or two others don’t.

I think they understand, just that they may not always express it. You definitely do.

Anyway, you jogged my memory that the Pierce elevated is slated to come down. What a great move by the city to remove the boundary between the CBD and Midtown. I predict great things from that.

Elevated freeways tend to be killers of everything right around them. First, the freeway separated the neighborhood it was built through, then you have this hulking ribbon of concrete that serves as a psychological barrier. The Pierce is especially bad because there is no way off south of McKinney Street, so all those streets below it south of there are really hard to get to from the freeway system.

It's not just a Houston thing. It's an everywhere thing. You see it in Chicago. The expressway near the Loop (the one with the trains on it downtown) is depressed so the cross streets go over, like it should have been along the Pierce. New fresh development all along for the most part by the Loop/West Loop. But the elevated strip of I-290 (the other 290 over here) leading into Congress Parkway is elevated, and the blocks right around it are kinda dumpy like those bordering the Pierce. That's no coincidence.
Same with the elevated section of the Kennedy Expressway cutting through the middle of Avondale up this way. It's a dump there too, the blocks right around it. It kinda looks like the intersection of 59 and, say, Beechnut or Gessner. They'll probably never blow that up, though. The gridlock during the construction would be something else.

Merry Christmas!

And Merry Christmas to you, and to all




And to all a good night


Hoooo ho hooooooooo

Gonna go get the Red Ryder and shoot my eye out now. Nice, warm Christmas Eve for this part of the world. Great day for photos.

<3



Untitled by James Fremont, on Flickr

[cheryjohns]

Soooooo many great pics. Congrats! I love them!!!!

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Elevated freeways tend to be killers of everything right around them. First, the freeway separated the neighborhood it was built through, then you have this hulking ribbon of concrete that serves as a psychological barrier. The Pierce is especially bad because there is no way off south of McKinney Street, so all those streets below it south of there are really hard to get to from the freeway system.

It's not just a Houston thing. It's an everywhere thing. You see it in Chicago. The expressway near the Loop (the one with the trains on it downtown) is depressed so the cross streets go over, like it should have been along the Pierce. New fresh development all along for the most part by the Loop/West Loop. But the elevated strip of I-290 (the other 290 over here) leading into Congress Parkway is elevated, and the blocks right around it are kinda dumpy like those bordering the Pierce. That's no coincidence.

Same with the elevated section of the Kennedy Expressway cutting through the middle of Avondale up this way. It's a dump there too, the blocks right around it. It kinda looks like the intersection of 59 and, say, Beechnut or Gessner. They'll probably never blow that up, though. The gridlock during the construction would be something else.

In the 70s, cities turned their backs on the dirty rivers that flowed around them. Unfortunately, this was during the time when the interstate highway construction was in full flower and cities in large part decided to run their highways along side their rivers. Philadelphia was another city that followed suit, running its interstate routes on the front of not one, but 2 rivers. I76 runs along the western bank of the Schuylkill River and I95 runs along the western banks of the Delaware River. Even worse, a deep cut was made with I95 further severing the city’s connection with the Delaware.

Fast forward, the city was able to reconnect with the Schuylkill by creating a greenbelt with a hike and bike trail that runs from Center City to the museum area. From there, it connects with an established trail that runs 25 miles to Valley Forge and beyond.


(my pic)

https://www.schuylkillbanks.org

Meanwhile, a master plan has been adopted for all development on the Delaware with an aim to reconnecting the city with the river where it was founded in 1683. Funding is in place and planning and environmental assessments are wrapping up for a 2021 groundbreaking to cover part of I95 in the heart of the city: https://philly.curbed.com/2017/6/10/...-cost-timeline

I realize this is a thread about your pix of Houston, but since it’s mostly a dialogue between us, I thought you might find this interesting since we we went down the trail of the Pierce elevated. Great news that it’s coming down!

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by jfre81

26.
Untitled by James Fremont, on Flickr

Blue Tile Project was featured on today's Channel 11 HTown60 special at 4 pm.

34.
Untitled by James Fremont, on Flickr

Did you press the red button?

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

Blue Tile Project was featured on today's Channel 11 HTown60 special at 4 pm.

Way cool!

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

Did you press the red button?

Nah, but it says something that I'd rather have posted this from an art fixture along the bayou, than the actual landmark

I didn't actually go down there this time, felt no real want to. But it looks like they actually built an open road across the complex from Kirby to Fannin right north of the Dome, such that you can actually walk up to it without going through the fence like you used to. Since it looks like it's going nowhere anytime soon, it's not like it won't be there when I am again.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Nah, but it says something that I'd rather have posted this from an art fixture along the bayou, than the actual landmark

I didn't actually go down there this time, felt no real want to. But it looks like they actually built an open road across the complex from Kirby to Fannin right north of the Dome, such that you can actually walk up to it without going through the fence like you used to. Since it looks like it's going nowhere anytime soon, it's not like it won't be there when I am again.

Big Bubble is behind the Wortham Theater Downtown. Reviews say that it's out-of-order right now. I haven't pushed the button since a year or two before Harvey.

https://goo.gl/maps/XHuH3Yc5kRd5CKjV7

How did we go from Big Bubble in Downtown to NRG suddenly? What was going on near NRG before you left? I thought you were segueing to the pedestrian bridge over Kirby connecting the Texans training facility with the football stadium.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

Big Bubble is behind the Wortham Theater Downtown. Reviews say that it's out-of-order right now. I haven't pushed the button since a year or two before Harvey.

https://goo.gl/maps/XHuH3Yc5kRd5CKjV7

How did we go from Big Bubble in Downtown to NRG suddenly? What was going on near NRG before you left? I thought you were segueing to the pedestrian bridge over Kirby connecting the Texans training facility with the football stadium.

No, I was looking (on the internet, not physically in Houston] around the Google Maps/Earth 3D view around NRG, and it appears there is some kind of road connecting McNee/Holly Hall (I think those are the two) and passing along the north side of the Dome.

For the first time, it at least has the look to me like you could just ride down to the Red Line station there and go walk up to the Astrodome. But no, it was probably around the 2011 Final Four that I last made a semi-hearted attempt to actually get in the dang thing.
Just put it out of its misery.

Other than that, it doesn't look like a whole lot has changed along S. Main/Fannin/Kirby etc.