News & Politics
December 1, 1988
The Line
Visitors to the Harris County Jail resign themselves to the hours they must spend waiting in line to get fifteen precious minutes with an inmate.
1988
Business
December 1, 1988
Zoom at the Top
What kind of woman gets her own skin-care company, a place in Nouvelle Society, and the second-most-eligible bachelor in the world? Meet Georgette Mosbacher.
News & Politics
December 1, 1988
Making the Grade
In Dallas, people call the new superintendent of schools the Messiah. Now all Marvin Edwards has to do is prove they’re right.
Business
December 1, 1988
The Battle of the Bubbles
One man’s obsession with kicking Perrier in the derriere.
Style & Design
December 1, 1988
True Stories
What happens when ordinary people put on extraordinary clothes?
Business
December 1, 1988
$3,000,000,000
Now that he’s got it, what does Ross Perot plan to do with it?
Politics & Policy
December 1, 1988
Can Ross Perot Save America?
One day in 1962 Ross Perot read Thoreau’s insight that the “mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” The country hasn’t been the same since.
Food & Drink
December 1, 1988
The Pleasure of Their Companies
Three Texas caterers turn the tables on the ordinary holiday gathering–they roll out the red carpet and bring on the food, but you feel like it’s still your party.
State Secrets
December 1, 1988
State Secrets
The newest threat to Houston mayor Kathy Whitmire is an old face; an investigation of an acid leak turns sour; a Texas congressman may take over the banking committee.
Sports
December 1, 1988
Kick ‘Em Back! Kick ‘Em Back! Waaay Back!
SMU’s fall socer season had cheerleaders; it had a band; it had pom-pom girls. What it didn’t have was excitement.
Roar of the Crowd
December 1, 1988
Roar of the Crowd
The sounds of country; the life and death of the bay; the interpretation of our state’s history.
Reporter
December 1, 1988
Texas Monthly Reporter
San Antonio media indulge in self-flagellation over Henry; Dallas goes gaga over Tom Cruise; Hoston thrills to a Pearl of a blues singer.
Music
December 1, 1988
Sax to the Max
A Houston bellhop by day, tenor saxman Grady Gaines has come out of retirement to bring back the trademark sound of a great rock and roll band.
Media
December 1, 1988
Brave New World
On temporary assignment, a newspaperman sees that when it comes to TV news, what you see is just about all you’re going to get.
Behind the Lines
December 1, 1988
Behind the Lines
Texas With Tumors?
News & Politics
November 1, 1988
How Houston Beat the Bust: Real Estate
The resurrection of a former “see-through” office building. How a land developer diversified—into Jaguars. And secrets of the “vultures” who buy up, fix up, and fill up troubled Houston apartments.
News & Politics
November 1, 1988
This Water Is My Water
Cool, clear, and pure, it’s the bounty of the Edwards Aquifer, and if something isn’t done to limit pumping by Hill Country farmers and a thirsty San Antonio, it may also be dry.
Texas History
November 1, 1988
Compadres de la Revolución
Though the leaders of Mexico’s revolution all lived short and violent lives, a handful of those who rode with them have survived to a ripe old age in Texas.
Business
November 1, 1988
How Houston Beat the Bust: Branching Out
An entrepreneur captures customers in public rest rooms. A high-tech plant moves from oil to medicine. Space and biomedical manufacturing are finally off the drawing boards. And a former union boss becomes a bingo mogul.
Energy
November 1, 1988
How Houston Beat the Bust: Energy
Engineer Saba Haregot’s love affair with Houston (it’s not just all those job offers). How natural gas is helping to reinflate the economy. And a shuttered plant that tempers oil pipe opens up.
Energy
November 1, 1988
How Houston Beat the Bust (Sort Of)
This story is from Texas Monthly’s archives. We have left the text as it was originally published to maintain a clear historical record. Read more here about our archive digitization project. Once Texans thought the boom would never end. Then they thought the bust would
Style & Design
November 1, 1988
Honorable Toys
Godzilla lives! Just ask any Texas collector of Japanese action figures.
News & Politics
November 1, 1988
The War Zone
When crack comes to a neighborhood, it infiltrates, it corrupts, and it destroys—and there is nothing the cops can do about it.
Style & Design
November 1, 1988
Can You Take a Hint?
Heloise, America’s best-known homemaker, has a dirty little secret: she hates to clean house. If you hate it too, she’s convinced that you need her more than ever.
State Secrets
November 1, 1988
State Secrets
The worst school districts in Texas—and how they got that way; where have all the bankers gone?; why Dukakis fell beind in Texas.
Sports
November 1, 1988
Mojo Madness
The Permian Panthers provide the best entertainment between Dallas and El Paso, and nobody enjoys the show more than Jerry Swindall.
Roar of the Crowd
November 1, 1988
Roar of the Crowd
Women, children, parents, teachers.
Reporter
November 1, 1988
Texas Monthly Reporter
Hieromania, the burning curiosity of glyphies; Post time in the race for Houston’s new gossip columnist; an unlikely car and an unlikelier trailer; the parking garage from hell.
Energy
November 1, 1988
Texas Primer: The Drill-Stem Fence
A lot stronger and more hospitable than barbed wire, this is one of those good fences that make good neighbors.
Politics & Policy
November 1, 1988
Power Play
Houston Lighting and Power’s purchase of a Canadian cable TV company may come as a shock to HL&P ratepayers.
Behind the Lines
November 1, 1988
Behind the Lines
Duked and Bushed.
Books
November 1, 1988
Hasty Copy
Dan Jenkins’ latest takes a tough-cookie journalist out of a thirties movie and puts her into a chase through Depression-era Fort Worth; Sarah Glasscock populates her fictional Alpine with a cast of real characters.
Politics & Policy
October 1, 1988
It’s the Way We’ve Always Done It, Sir
How the Pentagon really works, as told by a Texan who tried to make it work a little differently.
News & Politics
October 1, 1988
Worked to Death
The allure of Galveston Bay is not natural beauty but the determination of nature to survive ugliness.
Music
October 1, 1988
One Brick Shy of a Load
Not your run-of-the-mill pickers and singers, these performers are determined to carve out new territory.
Music
October 1, 1988
The Fall of Country, the Rise of Country
As Nashville pandered to the lowest common denominator, Texans found a new audience hungry for old traditions.
State Secrets
September 30, 1988
State Secrets
It’s beef against chicken in the war of weights.
Roar of the Crowd
September 30, 1988
Roar of the Crowd
Battling a ferocious foe.
Reporter
September 30, 1988
Texas Monthly Reporter
Corpus Christi learns to grow through adversity; Houston gives Percy Foreman a rousing send-off; Austin ponders the mystery of the misappearing shoes.
Sports
September 30, 1988
Texas Primer: Football Hand Signals
From “Hook ‘em, Horns” to “Peck ‘em, Owls,” the Southwest Conference is football’s most hospitable habitat for hand jive.
Health
September 30, 1988
Medicine and Miracles
After learning that he had cancer, the author began a search for a cure that took him far beyond medical expertise.
Food & Drink
September 30, 1988
Nights of Wine and Roses
Thanks to adventurous chef Michel Bernard Platz, the flowers at Dallas’ L’Entrecôte are as likely to be on the menu as in a vase.
Tacos
September 30, 1988
Tempest in a Taco
Taco Cabana pioneered patio dining—a winning formula of Tex-Mex food and margaritas in the open air. When competitor Two Pesos introduced its look-alike layout, the lawsuits started to fly.
Feature
September 30, 1988
Good-bye, Kenny Rogers, Hello, Wagoneers
When it’s hot, it’s hot! And country music is hot tonight at your nearest dance hall, beer joint, or record store.
Music
September 30, 1988
The Good, The Bad, and The Country
In the small world of country’s New Traditionalism, George Strait and Steve Earle still manage to be worlds apart.
Behind the Lines
September 30, 1988
Behind the Lines
To Preach or Teach?
Books
September 30, 1988
The Old West, the New South
In Anything for Billy, Larry McMurtry trounces the Western myth; Frederick Barthelme, in Two Against One, casts a cold eye on a self-desdtructing marriage.
Politics & Policy
September 1, 1988
Texas Primer: Bush vs. Bentsen
Eighteen years after their Senate race determined the course of Texas politics, their rivalry may determine the course of national politics.
Style & Design
September 1, 1988
Hot Pots
How did bluebonnets and cacti get that glazed look?
Sports
September 1, 1988
Football? What’s the Big Deal?
As much as I hated playing football, I hate watching it more.