We took advantage of a lull in the rain to go see what’s going on over at Rice. Turns out to be not much. RUPD reports all Italian cypresses are still standing and we were able to confirm. I saw a Harris County Emergency Corps vehicle gong the wrong way on the loop. The sign in front of Lovett Hall fell over:
We ran into Mark Ditman, head of Housing & Dining, who swears everything is fine:
And I just like the way this looks:
Bonus: The Avalon Diner was full up this morning with a cheerful crowd. As always, a beacon of light in a dark world. Nobody knows what’s going to happen next so try to follow their example and be flexible.
Thank you so much for these updates!
What the Avalon Diner be?
Classic neighborhood diner. Fried eggs, cheeseburgers, chocolate malts, meat loaf, etc.
Where be it?
Rice Village?
Orient it for me by reference to the Main Street Theater and/or The Gingerbread Man (if those classical institutions still exist.)
BTW, did you know that The Gingerbread Man once featured — I believe the original — stripper in the Village, after that house had ceased to be a residence and commercialized. All Rice male dorm residents knew the times of the shows and took study breaks accordingly. Some of them even continued reading during the lady’s initial “walking music” warm up.
“Ubi sunt …”
It’s on Westheimer near River Oaks, sort of across the street from St. Ann’s Catholic Church.
I was not aware of the stripper in Rice Village. Those were the days!
Hoping everything stays fine, albeit water-logged, over the next few days. Thank you, Melissa, for giving up part of your Saturday for your loyal readers.
Now you tell me!
Freshman Orientation in 1949 didn’t say a word about the Gingerbread Man.
It was just a residential house in1949
Nothing on that side of the street then except homes.
No apartments, no shops, NADA.
I did NOT see Rice Village until 1952-3, It was barebones small stores.
I believe the Glass Hat opened while I was at Rice.
Village Cafeteria, Shoe Repair, Cleaners, I don’t think Alfred’s had appeared. The Times Bldg. was probably there.
In the 60’s there was a strip joint in the Village called the Athens Bar & Grill (maybe Athens Strip) on Kirby. It had a mural of the Parthenon on the front wall.
Classy!
Classy and very appropriate, inasmuch as the Parthenon was a temple to the Virgin Athena.
I have often wondered why some seafood restaurant did NOT have a mural or fresco to Aphrodite Arising from the Sea. I envision it in the oyster bar.
I think there was also an Athens Bar & Grill downtown, in my Rice years.
It had some of the earliest, if NOT the only, belly dancers in town.
I never went there.
(I am an unreconstructed leg and thigh man myself.)