midtown
what’s inside 2
PAPER
in & about list of happenings in midtown
A PUBLICATION OF MIDTOWN MANAGEMENT DISTRICT • houstonmidtown.com
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mark your calendar midtown meetings and events
shine forth... preserving midtown’s landmarks
read. write. speak.
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warm cookies, warm heart
rally on! helping hands in midtown
projects… capital improvements who do i call
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eatsdrinks • kublai kKhan’s • proof bar + patio
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art calendar a list of midtown art events
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surprises... on eagle street
a listing on the national register
lookinside
midtownmap
Definitions with midtown meanings...
plan•tain
a hybrid banana plant. A perfect fried accent to the platter of two large portions of Grilled Quail, Black Beans and Spanish Rice served at Gloria’s Restaurants.
pep•pero•ni
A hard, highly spiced Italian sausage. One of 24 choices to top a NY style, thin crust pizza at Luigi’s Pizzeria. (Did we hear they were BYOB?)
pas•try
flour dough made with shortening and used for the crust of pies, tarts, etc. Obviously, Mr. Webster never walked into Dolce Delights or he’d have found more meaning in the word!
1st qtr 2013
The Houston Met Taking the Lead in Midtown
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f you’re going to be a nationally recognized dance company, then the facility in which you train must mirror that same intent. For years, the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company (Houston Met) had wanted to take the step toward a bigger, better building. The space they have rented continuously for the last 20 years at 1202 Calumet, was also known for its earlier occupant, the Delia Stewart Dance Company. While enrollment increased, the building’s structure left no room for expansion. Window air conditioning units that barely supported a small class in the summer could not keep up with multiple classes that were filled to capacity or space constraints where popular classes were cancelled to make room for other classes. The same was true with unyielding flooring that was far from the ideal that Executive Director Michelle Smith wanted for her students. Formerly with the Fort Worth Ballet, Smith knew the building inside and out, first as the studio and company manager of the Delia Stewart Dance Company and on through the birth of the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company in 1995. For Smith, the Houston Met’s move to Midtown is a dream come true. “We can’t wait to be in our new building,” explains Smith, grateful for the help of Midtown businessman Ian Rosenberg in presenting the opportunity of 2808 Caroline back in 2011, a location prime for reinventing. “We love Ian’s aesthetics – what he’s done with 13 celsius and then again with Mongoose versus Cobra – taking what’s here and making it better, which essentially brings the whole neighborhood up.” Smith says proudly. “The building is perfect for us. We are earthy! We are so New York!” Beautiful Harlequin Floors will be incorporated into the Caroline Street location, giving dancers the opportunity to perform and train to the very best of their ability, concentrating on their art. The premier flooring, the same used by Houston Ballet and Ballet Austin, is respected around the world for its series of interlocking tongue-and-groove panels, that eliminate slipping and irregularities in the surface, providing a perfect plane for dancers.
then&now
Plans for the interior walls and doors are as unique as the flooring. Vintage windows were rescued from a to-be-demolished Heights home and will be repurposed as interior windows between the parent viewing area and the performance floor. A reflective mirror film will be applied to the window glass allowing the children to see their smiles and steps while proud parents watch unobtrusively from the other side. The building’s existing garage doors are being replaced with large windows allowing for natural lighting into several studio spaces. Since 1995, the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company has presented 17 seasons of contemporary dance. Their upcoming performance, The Vessel, will premiere April 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. at the Cullen Theatre, Wortham Center. This full presentation of dance explores the senses of sight and hearing through original works created by resident choreographer Kiki Lucas and special guest choreographer Peter Chu. Lucas will collaborate with composer and multimedia artist Ben Doyle on a piece that examines the sense of hearing, while Chu will delve into the sense of sight. The inspiration for the show was born from an idea that Marlana Photos by Ben Doyle Doyle, Artistic Director of Houston Metropolitan Dance, and Lucas had to create a dance performance focused on the five senses, of which they decided to choose sight and hearing. Doyle was acquainted with the services provided by The Center for Hearing and Speech, as the dance teacher for a deaf student. Her colleague and friend, Michael Douglas, a speech-language pathologist, certified auditory-verbal therapist and former Director of Intervention Services at the Center helped her explore the sense of sound. Douglas’ student at The Center, Bailey Flowers, was an aspiring ballet dancer at the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center. Bailey’s passion for dance led Doyle to weave Bailey’s experience and the work of The Center into the creation of The Vessel. In an effort to fully incorporate the sense of hearing in her piece,
The Pig Stand...
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were their own inventions. But never in a pig’s eye would you have dreamed it would disappear. The iconic restaurant chain he Pig Stand’s “oink-othat began in 1921 licious” pig sandwich was the met its bankrage in the 1920s. Hungry ruptcy demise patrons went hog wild over in 2006. In time, something new called “curb service”, South Main Baptist a “drive through” and a state-ofChurch (SMBC) the-art neon pig that marked the acquired the propaddress. erty that bordered Those days you could eat high on their beautiful the hog with a $.30 hamburger or Romanesque sancPhoto courtesy Story Sloane Gallery tuary. In the past end up fat as a pig after making your decade, SMBC constructed a new Youth Center near the area. People way through The Pig Stand’s chicken fried steaks, onion rings and still come and go; just for different nourishment. Texas toast, three popular menu items today that the chain claims
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