Houston Lodging Project

Not being able to bare feeling uncomfortable undermines your argument that you are well-equipped to fight fascists.

You sound like MAGA. Sore loser who cannot face the facts.

We elected Orangeface. Twice.

Residential Hotels and Boarding Houses Working Victorians had little use for kitchens

This is a post from 2021 about residential boarding. In April, I will posting a four-part series about Rusk House, a hotel which operated from 1856-1866. Please consider subscribing to the What Are Streets For e-mail list.
bnjd.substack.com/p/residentia...

Fortunately, JR's athletic achievements are common knowledge now. It's more remarkable that he excelled even in the face of persistent abuse.

ICYMI: while people in MSP fight to keep MnDOT from rebuilding I-94 in our already polluted neighborhoods, people in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center are being muzzled in their efforts to keep @mndot.bsky.social and their consultants from turning 252 into a highway. ***SHAME***

Eugene Thomas Heiner, Houston Architect, The Early Years His Early Life (b. 1852) and Early Works (1878-1882)

The biographies on Houston architect Eugene Heiner are pretty thin, so I added my own:
bnjd.substack.com/p/eugene-tho...

I am so tired of the "Space City" moniker. NASA has such a small impact on the local and regional economy. It could be worse, though. It could be Oil & Gas City. A sector that has a bigger impact than NASA and is even cooler is the Texas Medical Center. We should figure out a way to feature that.

It's land speculators who drive state and regional transportation policy. I am hoping that someone does historical research on the real estate investments of members of the Texas Transportation Commission. Bob Lanier and Ned Holmes are two names that come to mind.

Turner was a pleasant surprise on active transportation. After reading about his entreaties and messaging to the Transportation Advocacy Group and his vow to fix all the potholes, I was afraid he would be a Road Warrior. He was the opposite.

a drawing of a yellow circle that says i want to read all the books Alt: a drawing of a yellow circle that says i want to read all the books

📚 Interested in reviewing books for the Journal of Southern History? Please update the editors about your fields and interests by filling in the form here: thesha.org/book-reviewe...

Cycling in the South New Orleans, Galveston, and Houston

There is not much published about the history of cycling in the 19th-c South--and nothing about Houston--so I am posting in few brief articles this year. Here is the first:
bnjd.substack.com/p/cycling-in...

Current and forthcoming in the JSH www.thesha.org/contents

A Fourth Ward Neighborhood Lost A freeway, office towers, and parking took its place

This 4th Ward Houston NH was thriving in the 1890s and early-20th-c. I know less about the neighborhood in the 1940s and the 1950s, leading up to "urban renewal." But this is one representation of a NH that was obliterated by I-45 and a parking garage.
bnjd.substack.com/p/a-fourth-w...

Amazon created their own delivery service of contract drivers. Amazon is the Uber of delivery services. UPS needs to be efficient because they manage their own fleets and they have union wages to pay. I have seen three Amazon vans on my street stopped at once. Inefficient!

Honor his memory by repealing parking mandates in your city and state.

It's not hubris. It's evidence based.

Cabrito (barbequed goat) is a popular dish in Northern Mexico, described as "cabrito en birria" (goat with a goat consomme). I have ordered birria tacos and I love them, but I didn't understand what they were. I asked and I was told that the meat was beef and it was served with a consomme.

Where is the counterfactual? Right or wrong, these are explanations for characteristics of MAGA voters, not for characteristics of MAGA leadership.

Just as with basketball and hockey, we should also count assists.

I will finish reading the linked article later, but thanks for sharing and thanks for the reminder about mn streets. I love to see people researching and writing about their cities and neighborhoods. You just made my day.

Lost South St. Anthony Park South St. Anthony Park’s homes, businesses and even a church disappeared for Highway 280. What was lost, and what still survives?

Just when you thought it was okay to use Saint Paul highways as quick routes through eternally dumpy (non-suburban) (other people's) neighborhoods, you get schooled on more of @mndot.bsky.social's actual, city-people-hating lies and community-crushing destruction.

I wonder about the pros and cons of NH-based churches as opposed to people shopping several geographically distant churches in search of a fit in terms of affinity. Communities of place instead of communities of interest. I have no firm thoughts about this.

We told them about Trump's lack of security for his whole first term, and MAGA did not even bother to offer a shrug.

What does knowing about this situation help? We allowed Trump to have access to the levers of power. What else would we expect?
We could not afford to fail and we failed. Game over.

The Grifter-in-Chief

I remember about 15 years ago a prognostication questionnaire circulating among financial analysts, one of which asked out of a list of bankers (Jaime Dimon was one, IDR the other three) would be prosecuted. That was the easiest prediction: zero.

Houston and Suburban Sprawl Not caused by lack of zoning and regulation

One reason that I deny that "urban" should be equated with "cities": Houston and many cities like Houston are not urban.
bnjd.substack.com/p/houston-an...

JSH Vol. 91, No. 1 -- February 2025 -- is also now live on Project Muse @projectmuse.bsky.social

muse.jhu.edu/issue/54191

I have not read this report yet, but Litman is one of my favorite transportation analysts.