Galveston: Today's mopes and dopes

[seamusTX]

Yesterday evening, three adult women roughed up a female bartender while their he-man boyfriend stole the contents of the tip jar in a bar at 9th and Seawall. These criminal geniuses got away with about $15 and were arrested minutes later.

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Also on Thursday, a 92-year-old man was the victim of a strong-arm robbery in the 5100 block of Avenue M½. The robber is described as a heavy-set black man. That should narrow it down.

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Neither area is the pride of Galveston.

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

I think we may be going to Virginia in October.

[seamusTX]

I'm sure Virginia and every place between Texas and there are crime-free zones.

- Jim

[old farmer]

The island is safer than any place off a freeway in Houston. "Neither area is the pride of Galveston."

[WildBill]

Yesterday evening, three adult women roughed up a female bartender while their he-man boyfriend stole the contents of the tip jar in a bar at 9th and Seawall. These criminal geniuses got away with about $15 and were arrested minutes later.

Also on Thursday, a 92-year-old man was the victim of a strong-arm robbery in the 5100 block of Avenue M½. The robber is described as a heavy-set black man. That should narrow it down.

Neither area is the pride of Galveston. - Jim

These guys are giving mopes a bad name.

[threoh8]

... in the 5100 block of Avenue M½.

Saving money on street names?

[seamusTX]

Saving money on street names?

It's a long story. I'll tell it if you really want to know.

- Jim

[WildBill]

Saving money on street names?

It's a long story. I'll tell it if you really want to know. - Jim

Enquiring minds want to know.

[seamusTX]

Spanish cities in the new world were platted with a rectangular grid of streets aligned north-south-east-west. If they could possibly do it, given the geography, they made the alignment with the compass as accurate as they could with the instruments available.

You can still see this in the old part of many cities that the Spanish founded.

They also were fond of giving streets numbers instead of names. Then, as time went by, they would name streets after heroes, prominent people, or events.

That is how Galveston was laid out. The streets are numbered from 1 to the high 80s from east to west, and had letters from A to U going from north to south.

All the streets from A to J have names now (J is Broadway).

The streets near the bay were on a grid of about 100 yards. Before the construction of the Seawall (in the early 1900s) the southern sections were low-lying and subject to flooding, and the city fathers did not want them to become densely populated. The streets there were on a grid more like 200 yards, and each lot was about 10 acres.

After the construction of the Seawall, the surface of the island was literally reconstructed. At that time they added streets halfway between the existing streets in the south, so we got M½, N½, O½, P½, Q½, etc.

Avenues O½ and Q½ cause a lot of grief with misdirected mail.

I don't know why they didn't just give the new streets names like Houston, Bowie, Crockett, etc.

This weird practice spread around the county. A lot of towns have ½ streets. I think I even ran across ¼ in Santa Fe.

- Jim

[WildBill]

This weird practice spread around the county. A lot of towns have ½ streets. I think I even ran across ¼ in Santa Fe. - Jim

Thanks for the education. Maybe they should have gone metric with Q.5 Avenue and O.25 Avenue. Actually, if you know the alphabet and how to count, it makes getting around in Galveston easier than some other cities.

[seamusTX]

I agree that numbers or letters make it easier to find your way around than a bunch of streets named after trees or non-existent geographic features (Hill Street, River Glen Drive, etc.).

However, it seems like every city that has this kind of numbering system has some weird, confusing variation. Chicago has a Fifth Avenue without bothering to have first through fourth or any others.

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

I'm sure Virginia and every place between Texas and there are crime-free zones.

- Jim

Yes.

This is a RV trip and if it all works out, we're gonna' also tourist the nation's capital where it's against the law to shoot, stab or otherwise booger tourists while we're in the 'hood.

[WildBill]

Chicago has a Fifth Avenue without bothering to have first through fourth or any others. - Jim

They must have been jealous of New York City.

[seamusTX]

I could never find out how that street was named. It has been there since before the dawn of history.

Ironically, Fifth Avenue in New York City is the one of the most high-rent addresses. Fifth Avenue in Chicago is in a neighborhood on the West Side where I would not go today without a really good reason, an armored vehicle, and close air support.

- Jim

[snorri]

This is a RV trip and if it all works out, we're gonna' also tourist the nation's capital where it's against the law to shoot, stab or otherwise booger tourists while we're in the 'hood.

Remember to keep your booger hook off the bang switch.