A Perfectly Cromulent Blog

I think this town could use another Starbucks

Or at least another chain bookstore:

Three Houston landmarks, including the Landmark River Oaks Theatre and the Bookstop in the former Alabama Theater, have been declared endangered by the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance.

The alliance has learned, spokesman David Bush said Friday, that two buildings in the River Oaks Shopping Center could face demolition within two years.

The center is controlled by Weingarten Realty Investors, a Houston-based company that owns and manages about 300 retail properties in the southern United States.

A Weingarten spokeswoman would not confirm the company's plans for the shopping center.
[...]
The GHPA has repeatedly tried to discuss the buildings with Weingarten Realty but has been rebuffed, Bush said.

But a half-dozen tenants of the River Oaks Shopping Center told the Houston Chronicle that a Weingarten's leasing agent informed them of plans to raze parts of the historic shopping center.

The first domino to fall, they said, would be the River Oaks Shopping Center building at the northeast corner of Shepherd and West Gray. Erected in 1937, the curved art deco building is "of national significance," architecture historian Stephen Fox said.

Three Brothers Bakery co-owner Robert Jucker said that when he confronted the leasing agent about rumors the building was to be demolished, she confirmed them, and told him that it would remain standing through the end of this year. "But she wouldn't give me that in writing," he said.

The bakery, located for 17 years in the strip between the Black-Eyed Pea restaurant and Jos. A. Bank clothing store, is on a month-to-month lease, Jucker said.

A number of River Oaks Shopping Center tenants — including owners of Archway Gallery, Chase's Closet and Laff Stop — said that a Weingarten's leasing agent told them the Black-Eyed Pea building would be replaced with a multistory Barnes & Noble.
[...]
Opened in 1939, the River Oaks is Houston's oldest functioning movie theater.

I saw Bubba Ho-Tep at the Landmark River Oaks and got to meet Bruce Campbell that night as well. The Thing That Walks Like A Man and I sat with Joe R. Lansdale and his famlily, marveling in their unmistakeably East Texas grooviness.

That fascinating tidbit aside, when you can go to any of our dozen or so megaplexes and see Little Man on six screens (and have it sell out five of those), preserving one of the few theaters devoted to independent films would seem like a no-brainer. Especially one on which, as far as my experience goes, audiences tend to shut the fuck up and turn off their cell phones. When a city of over four million can barely support three theaters of this kind, however, all bets are off. And with the exception of special screenings like the aforementioned, the LRO doesn't sell out that much.

The Laff Stop is another story entirely. It used to be the only game in town, but then the Improv showed up. Now, big acts go to the Improv, and really big acts play the Verizon Ampitheater.

But don't believe me, check out the coming attractions for the Laff Stop:

Tom Wilson (Biff from Back to the Future) - July 26-29
Bert Kriescher (Fresh Baked Video Games) - August 2-5
Robert Wuhl (Arliss) - August 10-12
Josh Blue (the hippie nutbag from Last Comic Standing) - August 16-19
Robert Kelly (one of the guys on Tourgasm who isn't Dane Cook) - August 30-Sept. 2
Godfrey (the 7Up guy) - Sept. 20-23

And it goes on like this.

The Improv's strength of schedule isn't that much more impressive, but they do have guys like Dave Attell, Pablo Francisco, and Jim Norton coming up (guys who used to play the Laff Stop, it should be noted). And both clubs are suffering from big names like Lewis Black and Dave Chappelle moving on to even larger venues.

In addition to the two segments of the River Oaks center, the preservation alliance placed the art deco Alabama Shepherd Shopping Center on its endangered list because of fears that Barnes & Noble would close the Bookstop if it built in River Oaks. Weingarten also controls The Alabama Center.

Responding to questions via e-mail, Barnes & Noble Inc. spokeswoman Carol Brown wrote that the company had "made no announcement of plans to build in the River Oaks Shopping Center." Brown wouldn't say whether such plans existed.

She also said the chain had no "immediate" plans to move from the Bookstop location.

In 1989, Bookstop won national attention for its creative preservation of the Alabama movie theater, built in 1939. Nine years later, Barnes & Noble bought the Bookstop chain.

Ironically, B&N probably duffed that hand-off when they allowed the Bookstop to keep its old name. In a city with two Starbucks less than 150 feet from each other and Pappasitos as the most popular Mexican restaurant chain, they should've realized that masquerading as an independent bookstore wasn't going to cut it. Now, we stand to lose the best travel book and magazine section in town for the 30 tomes on London and the 20 copies of Maxim and Us Weekly available in your average Barnes & Noble.

I like the aesthetics of the Alabama shopping center as well as anyone, but Cactus lost money and Whole Foods moved on to greener pastures. The Bookstop can't anchor that site in its present incarnation, which is too bad. It was also too bad the Ale House couldn't hold its own against a goddamn Border's Bookstore parking lot, but that's Houston.

Don't worry though; I'm sure the Cingular Wireless store and Curves franchise will be just as pleasantly quirky in their new building.