Castle-like house under construction

Construction crews are working on a Riverside Terrace house with an unusual, castle-like design that has drawn a lot of attention in its neighborhood.

HAR data show the 4,861-square-foot house at 2309 Wichita sold in April 2014 for between $250,000 and $285,000.

The strange-looking Riverside Terrace home has five bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, 2 turrets, and a separate garage apartment on the property all on a plot nearly 4,900 square feet in size.

Yes, turrets. Plus there is a great view of Downtown Houston from its highest peak. Heck, it’s got a great view of the whole city.

You can easily see from SH-288 as you drive into the downtown area. It’s the tallest house in the area.

Looking like something out of a Tim Burton movie, it attracted plenty of visitors and a handful of vandals who wanted to get a closer look inside.


According to the Houston Area Realty site’s sale report available online, the house sold for between $250,000 and $285,000, but neither the realtor nor (real estate developer Nick) Ugarov would disclose the exact sale price.

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Marvel Studio News

Since Marvel Studios first started making movies, President Kevin Feige had to report to Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter. This is something that he had to do even after Disney bought Marvel. But that has all changed now. According to THR, Feige will now only have to report to Disney studio chief Alan Horn, which is a good thing for Feige, Marvel, and the movies they make.

A Disney spokesperson told the site:

"Marvel Studios is taking the next logical step in its integration with The Walt Disney Studios, joining Pixar and Lucasfilm in centralizing many of its film-related functions in Burbank, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D’Esposito continuing to lead the Marvel Studios team reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn."

This is going to make Feige's life so much easier. Perlmutter is described as a "low-profile billionaire who has contributed to Marvel's reputation in Hollywood for frugality and secrecy (as THR reported in a 2014 feature, he attended the premiere of Iron Man in a disguise to go undetected and once complained that journalists at a press junket were allowed two sodas instead of one)."
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Starbucks set to serve beer, wine at some stores in The Woodlands

This fall, the popular spot for getting that morning caffeine fix may also become the place to go after work to wind down with a beer or glass of wine.

With its latest business initiative, Starbucks Coffee Co. is introducing Starbucks Evenings - where it will serve craft beer, wine and small plates - and three Woodlands area locations will be among the stores launching the new service this fall.

The Starbucks on Grogan's Mill Road at Sawdust Road, the one at Woodlands Parkway near FM 2978 and the one at Kuykendahl Road and Louetta Road in Spring will be included in one of the first waves of stores to feature Starbucks Evenings, as the company gradually rolls out the concept to its thousands of U.S. locations. Other area stores expect to incorporate the evening menu next year.

As part of the evening menu, the stores will offer an assortment of wines that was developed by the company's in-house sommelier, craft beers selected by regional popularity and small plates, such as bacon-wrapped dates, truffle mac and cheese and chicken sausage and mushroom flatbreads.

The evening menu will start at 4 p.m. and will range from $6 to $14.

Full Article

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UT removes Jefferson Davis statue

AUSTIN - The University of Texas at Austin on Sunday morning removed a statue of Jefferson Davis from its main mall, over the objections and amid ongoing legal action by Confederate groups.

Students and others cheered as the larger-than-life sized bronze statue came down, just as the campus' historic clock tower stuck 10:15 a.m. Some even sang a few bars from fictitious band Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye."

The move was made just days after state District Judge Karin Crump shot down an attempt by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to block the statues' removal. The removal took about an hour and a half; the statue will be refurbished and relocated to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, also on UT's campus.

Full Article

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Morgan Hotel in San Antonio

Things to know about the Emily Morgan Hotel in San Antonio

The lobby was once a morgue. The top floor, a crematorium. And that cozy, romantic fireplace — well, it's lit by a pilot light that once fueled the crematorium. The fabled ghost stories haunting the Emily Morgan Hotel are all inspired by its history as a Medical Arts Building.


Long before San Antonio's iconic Gothic tower on Alamo Plaza had five-star nobility as the "official hotel of the Alamo," it was an office building for doctors and dentists, built on a site that was once a marble rock yard.

1. Long before it became “the official hotel of the Alamo,” the Emily Morgan Hotel was established as the Medical Arts Building.
2. The Gothic-revival skyscraper, the tallest in San Antonio when it was first erected.
3. In the Gothic style, gargoyles cut along the building are contorted to portray a medical affliction.
4. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Alamo Plaza Historic District in 1977. This photo was taken in 1928.
5. The hotel takes its name from an enchanting woman whom legend has it kept General Santa Ana distracted during the Battle of San Jacinto — inspiring the story of the Yellow Rose of Texas.
6. The champagne bathtub overlooking downtown San Antonio is one of the luxury perks of this five-star hotel. A more posh take on the hot tub, this one fills the water with tiny, champagne-like bubbles

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