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Destruction marks new paths in the SE Texas retail wars

Sometimes you have to admire destruction. Certainly not the kind meant for harm such as a terrorist act or actions by combatants. Take a look at the below photo that I took today, for example:

The wrecking ball makes its early strikes on the old Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas. A new H-E-B grocery store will be built here. Foto x damn x eight feet deep
The wrecking ball makes a strike on the former Baptist Hospital in Beaumont.

This could easily pass for a hole from a cruise missile at a site of hostilities such as Syria.

But alas, this a demolition job taking place at the old Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas, located on the corner of Eleventh and College streets in Beaumont. What many call an eyesore now since the hospital moved its site down College to the east is being torn down to build a large H-E-B grocery store. When the new store is built the company will shut down its two smaller stores, one a couple of blocks south on Eleventh and another in North Beaumont on Lucas Drive, according to the Beaumont Enterprise.

Though I wouldn’t call this demolition job a beauty the destruction does help one appreciate what it takes to build a relatively large building. I say relatively, it being (for now) a six-story building. The pictured building was completed in the late 1940s or early 1950s. I would imagine it took quite a few folks to build it with likely much more difficulty than it would to construct a similar building today.

The story about the new store says that company officials indicated it will be slightly more than half the size of the H-E-B Plus located on the more affluent West End of Beaumont in the midst of the “Shopping District.”  The “Plus” is a pretty big grocery outlet and anchors a small strip shopping center. Company information indicates that the large store itself is about 124,000 square feet so perhaps the new store might end up at 75,000 square feet mas o menos. Plus many of its larger stores have areas for other retail outlets for lease so who knows how large a shopping center will be developed?

One of the biggest shopping centers in the “Golden Triangle” (Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange) which was built before the area’s first mall, Parkdale Mall, was finished in 1973 is Gateway. It is only a couple of blocks north on Eleventh Street from where the new store will stand. Gateway seems to be holding its own with Beall’s and Conn’s still going strong, plus the remodeled Jason’s Deli, which is the site of the growing chain’s very first restaurant. But a few other stores have gone hither over the years at Gateway.

How successful the new H-E-B will turn out will be interesting to watch. It will have mostly inner city patrons although it not far from either of the city’s two largest hospitals, Memorial Hermann Baptist (which was the previous Baptist Hospital) and Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital (which was previously just St. Elizabeth Hospital.)

Oh, Gateway’s outlasted the Gaylynn Shopping Center, which was a little ways up North Eleventh Street. The Gaylynn pretty much was swallowed up by St. Elizabeth. The other big shopping center on the other end of the county, in Port Arthur, remains, after Central Mall came along although that older strip center is a shadow of its past. I still remember the TV jingle for the old shopping center still hanging in there on Twin City Highway:

“Come to Jeff-Jeff-Jefferson City, where there’s everything under the sun.”

Also, it shall be a rather instructive lesson in mid-20th century-to-early 21st century retailing how Gateway Shopping Center continues in the future along with perhaps a new retail center located around the new H-E-B. I’ll try to keep an eye on how long it takes to raze the old hospital should anyone care, or not!

 

 

 

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American comes to SE Texas: Will its new paint job & updated eagle follow?

Commercial air service returns to our local airport next month when American Eagle begins flights between Jack Brooks Regional Airport (BPT) and Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW). Whether this will bring American’s “new look” or its oldest, I suppose we shall have to wait and see.

American has just unveiled its new look with a new logo. Perhaps it is because the airline has taken a new order of Boeing 777-300ERs for delivery so they figured it might be a good time to repaint its old fleet as well. As the airline’s chief commercial officer explains:

AMERICAN AIRLINES NEW LOOK
“Just drop me off at that next mountain top, Cap’n!” A new paint job and logo for American Airlines. Could there be new fares to match?

“Our new logo and livery are designed to reflect the passion for progress and the soaring spirit, which is uniquely American,” said Virasb Vahidi, American’s CCO. “Our core colors — red, white and blue — have been updated to reflect a more vibrant and welcoming spirit. The new tail, with stripes flying proudly, is a bold reflection of American’s origin and name. And our new flight symbol, an updated eagle, incorporates the many icons that people have come to associate with American, including the ‘A’ and the star.”

There is nothing like an updated eagle to get your motors running. Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles and the wonders the updated eagles have done the team in recent years.

But seriously it is nice that we are finally getting an airline to our little airport even if one has to fly to D-FW first, no matter where they are going. It would have been nice to have an airline that flies to Hobby or G.H.W. Bush in Houston, a 20-30-minute flight from Brooks. Continental, under the guise of Colgan Air, did that. But Colgan quit the friendly skies as part of its parent firm’s, Pinnacle Airlines, restructuring plan.

I am not sure but I would think the public relations folks for the Jack Brooks airport, owned by Jefferson County, Texas, did not write this little factoid in BPT’s Wikipedia page:

“Jack Brooks Regional Airport has the distinction of being the only destination that Southwest Airlines has ended scheduled daily service to (1980), and has never returned.”

Ouch. And I don’t know if that is a fact, Jack. I don’t know why anyone would lie about such a matter. Then again, in Wikipedia, anything’s possible.

One attraction of the new airline is that with the initial flights, at least, it doesn’t seem as if they’ll clean out the old bank account. Since I don’t talk regularly to American, or any other airline for that matter, I have no idea what they are up to with what seem to be reasonable fares (certain March and April round-trip, no extras, flight from Beaumont to El Paso via Dallas, for $223 plus tax (and check bags, and seating INSIDE the plane rather than on the wing … ) Check it out yourself if you are interested. Surely there’s a catch. After all you have to find someway to pay for a new paint job and an updated eagle. Of course, with my bank account at the present time, a bag of Munchos would wipe me out.

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Say goodbye to football. Hello to hand-shaking sock puppets!

Football season is over. The Houston Texans, my team, got drubbed by the New England Patriots. A drubbing is only slightly better than getting beaten like a rented mule, a fate that befell the Texans last month when they likewise traveled to Foxboro to take on the Pats. Perhaps the Texans should have dwelt upon their last thrashing.

Plenty has been said about last evening’s game, that both spoken and written by professional homers and haters alike. Those of us, like me, who don’t know their ass from third and long about football have their opinions as well. We all know what they say about opinions.

I was hoping a team would be left that I could root for but it didn’t happen this time. I hate both the Patriots and the Ravens equally. I liked the 49ers once upon a time, but under the West Coast Harbaugh, no more. I have nothing against the East Coast Harbaugh. I also know big media is salivating over the possibility of the Harbaugh Brothers matching up, the 49ers and Ravens, for a Super Bowl match. I wonder if the San Fran coach would shake his bro’s hand after the game?

One might suppose I should root for Hot-lanta since a couple of local kids are playing — DE Johnathan Babineaux of Port Arthur and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon from my birthplace of Jasper, Texas. Nothing personal, I just hate Atlanta teams. I went to Atlanta once when I was in the Navy. Don’t remember a whole lot about it except getting lost and hearing an AM radio band the next morning, a Sunday, full of more Holy Rollin’ preachers than you could shake a spared rod at. But Atlanta sports teams just piss me off. I think “Chipper” (Don’t Call Me ‘Larry’) Jones of the Braves baseball team is to blame. I never really liked that boy.

Oh, I probably will watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, although the ads have gone into a downward spiral lately. Maybe I will just find a good book instead or perhaps put on a sock puppet show. Yes, John and Jim Harbaugh starring in: “There are no shaking hands at the OK Corral!!”

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Hell, I don’t Noah, you build the ark? Well, moo to you too!

Earlier this week in Southeast Texas we had rain to the extent of an old saying I grew up with: “It rained like a cow pissing on a flat rock.”

Now what that designates exactly, I’m not sure. I would imagine a cow letting its urine rip on top of a flat rock would involve quite the spray from around the rock. I can’t honestly tell you. I lived twice for a total of some three years in a farm house surrounded by cows and a couple of old bulls. Never did I see any of them peeing on a flat rock although they certainly had no qualms about letting any of their bodily functions work tremendously. But inherent in the old saw is that if the rain is heavy enough to make some ol’ timer comparing the deluge to cows pissing then it must in the very least be unusual.

With that said, we are in for more rain. The National Weather Service is predicting that at least 60-to-70 percent of its forecast area will be splattered like the proverbial cow’s pee on Saturday night into Sunday. And at least 20-to-30 percent of the area is in for the possibility of rain through Thursday with mostly chilly temperatures. Aw come on! If it is going to “chower” at least we should have some snow? ¿No? Well, the cows probably wouldn’t like it.

Keep all your cows — not to mention your powder — dry.

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Houston at Foxboro: Tom Terrific or the terrorizing Texans?

If you listen to a lot of sports media — and really, I don’t — then you might think about just skipping Sunday’s AFC divisional title match between the Houston Texans and the New England Patriots. After all, the 12-4 Texans were beaten like a dirty rug in their 42-14 ass-whooping from the Patriots on a Sunday night in December in Foxboro. That’s heavy on the “Patriots,” “Sunday night,” “December” and “Foxboro.” New England is invincible on Sunday nights in December in Foxboro. Not to mention the Patriots ship is piloted by none other than “Tom Terrific” Brady. Why Brady is not only the best quarterback in NFL history. Brady can save young children and puppy dogs from ultimate doom. He is the ultimate, handsome, thoughtful QB of lore.

But one could bet heavy that Terrific is not merely brushing off his trillion-dollar lapels symbolically over the Texans. That is even though a great deal of sports media, even some hometown jock yackers, say Schaub, Foster, Johnson and Watt as well as the rest of the gang are playing with a fork stuck up their collective butts.

Really says though that the best argument to made for Houston’s stature in the NFL is its record. The naysayers say the Texans beat lightweight teams. Horse hockey. Having played and won 12 games is a feat in the big leagues no matter whether you slice it length-wise, cross-wise or julienne.

Some of the same media types who were insisting the Texans would win the Super Bowl this year now say the team is pretenders to the throne. That is mostly due to having lost four games to four, well at least three, very good teams.

Sure, Houston has problems that plague them like all teams. Not nearly enough success in the red zone is one shortfall. Everyone knows the Wade Phillips defense is a holy terror. Brady spent part of his time practicing for Houston last time by having someone wave a tennis racket in front of him to simulate the ball-whumping of monster defensive end J.J. Watt. However, one would have thought Wade left part of his squad at home. One could as well sense a lack of confidence in QB Matt Schaub last week in the win over the Bengals last week. But that wouldn’t seem terribly abnormal since it was his first playoff game. Hopefully he can elevate his confidence this second time around.

Finally, I have seen some great plays out of Houston’s special teams squad. Whereas earlier in the season I would hold my breath a little too long when a kickoff came toward Keshawn Martin. He appears more sure of himself and appears to exercise better judgment on whether he should stay or should he go on kick returns. It’s a good thing to learn for a young special teams returner who plays wide receiver. The rookie out of Michigan State is 5-11, 190. I’d love to be 190 again. Hell, I’d love to be 5-11 again. But when one is running against people who get paid to knock the living donkey dust out of you, Martin definitely can be low hanging fruit.

Rational me thinks New England by a touchdown this Sunday afternoon. The real me believes though. So I believe Houston will upset the Patriots 34-24. We will just have to wait and see how terrific Tom Terrific and his gang of merry men really are against a Texans team who still feels a sting from that beating in December.