Down in Houston

I've been spending a lot of free (and not-so-free) time lurking in the Historic Houston forum on houstonarchitecture.info. Much of the Houston I grew up with has been torn down or remodeled into something I can't recognize, so it's nice to read these posts that confirm my memories weren't all just one big hallucination.

I was especially taken with this wonderful postcard tour of Telephone Road on the southeast side of town. I wonder if that's supposed to be Grady Gaines blowing sax on top of the old Jimmy Menutis club that used to be at the corner of Telephone and Wayside? Most of these buildings were already gone or really run down by the time I got to Houston, but some of them still stand today.

Last night, I went to the library and checked out Down in Houston, a history of Houston's blues scene by Roger Wood with photography by James Fraher. I remember reading reviews of the book when it came out in 2003, but I never had the chance to read it.

I guess August just puts me in a Houston frame of mind.