A year of avaricious Arabs, belligerent bovines, convincing Connallys, dubious degrees, elusive Elvises, furious firefighters, George's goofs, hassled Hunts. Ingenious inmates, jilted judges, knotorious Kneppers, loose locomotives, migrant moose, normative nerds, overcautious orchestras, preposterous pythons, qualmish queens, rampant roaches, Sue Ellen's swimsuits, targeted transvestites, upset umps, vetoed Virgins, wanton Willies,
Take two Aspern: one a world premiere by the Dallas Opera, the other the Henry James novella on which the opera is based. Which is better for you?
Through shrewd buying and aggressive marketing, Fort Worth-based Pier 1 has transcended its old head-for-the-home image and emerged into the new age a more profitable company.
The case against conspiracy.
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.
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.
In Dallas, people call the new superintendent of schools the Messiah. Now all Marvin Edwards has to do is prove they’re right.
One man’s obsession with kicking Perrier in the derriere.
What happens when ordinary people put on extraordinary clothes?
Now that he’s got it, what does Ross Perot plan to do with it?
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.
State Secrets|
December 1, 1988
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.
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
The sounds of country; the life and death of the bay; the interpretation of our state’s history.
Reporter|
December 1, 1988
San Antonio media indulge in self-flagellation over Henry; Dallas goes gaga over Tom Cruise; Hoston thrills to a Pearl of a blues singer.
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.
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
Texas With Tumors?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Godzilla lives! Just ask any Texas collector of Japanese action figures.
When crack comes to a neighborhood, it infiltrates, it corrupts, and it destroys—and there is nothing the cops can do about it.
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
The worst school districts in Texas—and how they got that way; where have all the bankers gone?; why Dukakis fell beind in Texas.
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
Women, children, parents, teachers.
Reporter|
November 1, 1988
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.
A lot stronger and more hospitable than barbed wire, this is one of those good fences that make good neighbors.
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
Duked and Bushed.
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.
How the Pentagon really works, as told by a Texan who tried to make it work a little differently.
The allure of Galveston Bay is not natural beauty but the determination of nature to survive ugliness.
Not your run-of-the-mill pickers and singers, these performers are determined to carve out new territory.
As Nashville pandered to the lowest common denominator, Texans found a new audience hungry for old traditions.
State Secrets|
September 30, 1988
It’s beef against chicken in the war of weights.
Roar of the Crowd|
September 30, 1988
Battling a ferocious foe.
Reporter|
September 30, 1988
Corpus Christi learns to grow through adversity; Houston gives Percy Foreman a rousing send-off; Austin ponders the mystery of the misappearing shoes.
From “Hook ‘em, Horns” to “Peck ‘em, Owls,” the Southwest Conference is football’s most hospitable habitat for hand jive.
After learning that he had cancer, the author began a search for a cure that took him far beyond medical expertise.
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
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
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
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
To Preach or Teach?