Home construction 1965. Also saw the Sharpstown Clock on ebaydidn't buy it either, but saved it to my computer Great photos indeed Max. Jones Fried Chicken wasserving spicychicken-and-rice long before the Halal Guys arrived in Houston. I, too could have been in that Clock pic (but was probably at Gene's Model shop!!). Does anyone have photos of Sharpstown center in the 60's? Greater Sharpstown has evolved over the years into three distinct corridors: Chinatown, Little India and the area now anchored by the PlazAmericas Mall (formerly Sharpstown Mall). It was built in Sharpstown Industrial Park Section 12.[3]. It is true that sometimes transitional neighborhoods are like bad drunks, they have to hit rock bottom before they want to go into rehab! It includes some history of the origins of Sharpstown. Sharpstown was affected by the Sharpstown scandal. The scandal combined with a set of apartment complexes that became run-down ensured that Sharpstown became a neighborhood surrounded by crime by the mid-to-late 1990s. [citation needed] Crime increased in the 1990s with the deterioration of area apartment complexes. Two decades of growth have taken a family, who immigrated to America, from a small space in Sharpstown to a high-profile spot in The Galleria. I was just a little kid, but I remember seeing those "wierdos" at the school. The $32M was for 4 developments, 3 new and one old. I also went to Strake Jesuit so I knew Bellaire before it became Chinatown West. Nick Patel, owner/manager of Collision Plus Inc. at 7628 Bellaire Blvd., located roughly 500 feet from the intersection, said since his family opened the business in 1992, they've seen a good number of accidents, rollovers and illegal turns. And the had a stage there? The mall remained successful throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Addis Ababa also offers a traditional Ethiopian coffee service, which can be booked in advance. Sharpstown Mall was Houston's first enclosed mall and Houston's first air conditioned mall (opened 1961). As a publicity stunt, Sharp donated homes on Rowan To the far east was Bellaire HS. If I remember correctly we had 635 graduates that year. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, The Unsettling Reality Of Fitting Room Cameras In Malls, The Daraz Mall: A Popular Shopping Destination In The Heart Of The City, Different Ways To Get To Ontario Mills Mall, Yorkdale Shopping Centre: Torontos Premier Retail Destination, Is Your Shop In A Mall Profitable? prominent middle to upper middle class? Adding a business to Yelp is always free. HOUSTON Do you remember the last time you went to your nearby shopping mall? In 2002, the mall was sold to a new owner who renamed it Sharpstown Center. I think if Sharpstown were to change the names of its still surviving neighborhoods to anything that didn't have the word Sharpstown in it, buyers would consider it. The success of the first phase led Sharp to expand the development, and by the early 1970s Sharpstown had become one of Houstons largest and most successful planned communities. Mall Hmmm. a car that could go back in time!! Dream Merchant - A Look Back at Houston's Weird Retail Past. Her response was, "that was your class?" Unfortunately I see bulldozers in it's future just like AstroWorld R.I.P. Sharpstown's drive-in theatre was the Lowe's Sharpstown on Bellaire Blvd. They totally gutted Neff over the summer and took out all the windows and are replacing them. (Apparently the astronauts were not allowed to accept the homes.) Sharpstown Country Club Estates is a set of two Sharpstown is a great place. Old "Sharp" himself may have even donated the land for this purphose ?? Pittman said the intersection's new street lights, traffic signals, bus transit shelters and pavers will not be standard city structures, but custom items similar to those found in downtown and Uptown Cotswold projects. What are the best vegan friendly restaurants? A fourth anchor, Sears, was added in 1962. Lindale Park still offers an inner-loop location & quaint architecture in that range. Therefore, Sharpstown's nice clothing stores, big name department stores pulled out, leaving it with many privately owned urban clothing stores, shoe stores, etc. We went there all of the time just to kill time cause my family was pretty new to Houston and did not know too many people in town. The mall's decline began as many of the nearby apartment complexes, once dominated by young professionals and single adults, became notorious as residential arrangements for low-income dwellers, which in turn resulted in an increase in criminal activity. Posted September 13, 2004. 713.777.1111 info@plazamericas.com 201 I have yet to go to the South Park location so this new location on 59 andmore, What a great find. In the 1949 City Directory, Frank W. Sharp is shown residing on Meadow Lake Lane, just off San Felipe and Weslayan. "They will improve access to the whole area, and set the tone for the area as a gateway," Schiller said. The Best 10 Restaurants near Sharpstown, Houston, TX - Yelp I don't even know how many 'original' stores exist. I just got your email that you sent back in January. I'd go back just for that. Oh no. The mall itself opened in 1975 with a two-story floorplan, anchored by Joske's on the west end and Sears on the east end, with the freeway frontage, and featured 60 stores and a food court, with its most notable architectural feature being an unconventional main entrance on the Bissonnet Street side of the mall; this entrance housed an elevator I live in Westbury and have seen some homes pop up near here that are part of this disturbing trend to ruin the vintage look. Beginning in 1979, construction of a second floor began (effectively doubling the mall's store count to over 200) and the mall was extensively renovated from its original 1950s appearance to better compete with Westwood Mall and the Galleria. I can recall that the floors in the mall were done in these small red circular tiles with the railings and metal stairs painted brown. Lucio Vasquez is a newscast producer at Houston Public Media, NPRs affiliate station in Houston, Texas. Weekend evenings, the place turns into a dance club and bar. In the 1970s, the mall was expanded to include a fourth anchor, JCPenney. [8] Also during this time, a third anchor in JCPenney was added as well as a food court in the former Battelstein's department store. Don't know their names. I have to admit that felt awesome that we were still talked about! Whats the biggest shopping mall in Houston? We used to eat at the Del Taco that's a sandwich shop now. #ItsOpen Do you have any favorite memories of this place? Powered by Invision Community. I see the "Conquistador." It is owned by Simon Property Group and managed by its Simon Malls division. But we moved to Rowan St near the intersection of Waldo in 1965. I told her what we had done to Mr. Jackson when we graduated. The arrival of railroad lines in the late nineteenth century, as well as Houstons development as a port city, aided the citys rapid growth. I'm not sure I spelled it correctly. We like it best inside a cheese-fattened pupusa with a mound of crunchy, tart curtidopickled cabbage and carrotson the side. My assumption for Sharpstown High School being placed where it was is that it could not be further out West (it would be nearly in Alief) and besides, few homes were built past what is now Corporate Drive. The food camemore, The ambiance is outstandingtables in honeycomb, not noisy. First Colony clipped it the hardest. WebSharpstown Sections 1, 1A, 2, 3, and 5 form the original sections of Sharpstown. For people in the $125,000 to $175,000 price bracket, there are other options that a lot of people will find more attractive than Sharpstown. PlazAmericas was the name given to it in 2014. I guess that's never possible. The mall remains open, but several stores and restaurants are closed or empty. Because of its extensive retail space and a diverse selection of stores, the Galleria is an excellent place for Houstonians to shop. Cities occasionally need to make certain improvements to their infrastructures to help economic. 20, said the pilot project will set the tone for roadway improvements to rival those those in the downtown and Galleria areas. 1.1 miles. The bid calls for the installation of four new left turn lanes; custom transit shelters, streetlights and traffic signals; landscaping in the medians and at the intersection's corners; and storm water drainage improvements. They were new. Since I lived across from the school, I recall watching all the kids with beards, long hair, hippies I tell ya! Sharpstown is a bad word in many people's minds. You guys have brought back so much memories for me while living in sharpstown back in the 80's- neff, sharpstown middle, sharpstown mall, the theater next door, astroworld, fame city and so much. A neighborhood staple since the area was anchored by the still-new Sharpstown Mall, this friendly taqueria has even retained the same colorful dcor over the decades. This ensured that Sharpstown would be connected to the heart of Houston, and that deliveries to the new mall would also be reliable. Worked there for a few years during the early 80's. The video has gathered over 80,000 views, with viewers flooding the comments Sharpstown is a neighborhood in southwest Houston, Texas, United States. Where to Eat Right Now in Sharpstown | Houstonia Magazine Faux wood over the walls, old glass cases to showcase things, and a 1987 calander of a woman in a bikini holding a fish. Or, is the concentration in the neartown areas and the Heights (where I live) getting in the way? [9] In 1993, the mall underwent a $50 million renovation,[5] with the largest addition being a new ten-screen Cineplex Odeon movie theater. I also went to Strake Jesuit so I knew Bellaire before it became Chinatown West. By 1970, Sharpstown Center had 57 stores and was fully leased. There is one Sharpstown realtor who has been saying for years, "Sharpstown is the next Bellaire." Get me a coke!". WebBasically the Sharpstown mall used to be the most popular mall in Houston, regularly doing significantly more in sales than the Galleria. The Changing Face of Houston: Sharpstown Then and Now You can still see the original 1955 plaque for the time capsule at Sharpstown Park at Bellaire and Mary Bates. Anyone know where I can find some? During this time, Sharpstown Mall also had to compete with West Oaks Mall for customers out of Fort Bend County. I grew up at Greenspoint Mall! I think that is Mr. Terhune - who I remember fondly from my parent's Sunday School class. Do you think the Harwin strip contributed to its downfall? Copyright 20042023 Yelp Inc. Yelp, , and related marks are registered trademarks of Yelp. The light has turned green for improvements aimed at increasing the Bellaire-Fondren intersection's safety, mobility, aesthetics and reducing flooding along Fondren. Sharpstown Middle School (formerly Sharpstown Junior High) was originally a consolidated junior and senior high in the beginning around 1971 to 1974. But it won't come until people are priced out of Oak Forest, Westbury, Lindale & the like. This sit-down restaurant tucked underneath the food court at PlazAmericas Mall offers a vast selection of Honduran favorites, from fluffy baleadas on the all-day breakfast menu to coconut milkbased conch soup and hearty platos tpicos, along with strong, inexpensive margaritas. It said that ''After nearly 40 years of serving you in Sharpstown, the Finnger Furniture Company is closing our Sharpstown Mall location''. Fred Schiller, general partner of Arena Place, which encompasses two, 20-story office towers, the Arena Theatre and a nine-story parking garage at 7322, 7324 and 7326 Southwest Freeway, said the improvements will have a major impact. Back then, their electronics section was the bomb. What are the best restaurants with outdoor seating? Trust me, the food is life-changing. When Sharpstown Center opened, it was located on the edge of Houston's southwest suburbs. The mall is located on the northwest corner of Interstate 69/U.S. Trust me. Sharpstown is actually a fascinating piece of Houston history. Contact Us. The Grandview Avenue Shopping Center in Ohio opened in 1928, followed by the Highland Park Shopping Village in Texas in 1931. At the time, the neighborhood was recognized as the largest subdivision in the United States, with its own mall and a golf course. The noodles were perfectly cooked, mandu(steamed dumplings) were juicy.more, SeafoodCajun/CreoleChicken Wings$$Braeburn, You can get seafood anywhere in Houston. Notice in the aerial photographs how far down Hillcroft it extended. What did people search for similar to restaurants near Houston, TX? Yes, the "Beatles" etching was on the Waldo side of the school. I'm waiting, too. Good Time Charlie's was the place to be. Churros y Crepesis conveniently located right next to Huaraches La Villa in the PlazAmericas food court, so save room for dessert. Finally, Sharpstown also had to compete with a redeveloped Meyerland Plaza, whose remodeled JCPenney location would serve as an anchor for the reborn shopping center. In 2006, the mall was renamed Sharpstown Mall. Pittman said the next three projects will improve Bellaire Boulevard between Mary Bates Drive and U.S. 59, and the Bellaire and Fondren Gateways at U.S. 59. 3. When I was a LITTLE kid I'd go there with my Mom and "Mr. Sam" would always give me a piece of bubblegum. Houston is now a top business, biomedical, and entertainment center in the United States. 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