Do you like to drink beer? Do you hate to exercise? If so, Brian O'Neill's Pub in Rice Village has a fitness plan fo you. O'Neill's is touting what it calls Houston's "first an only pub-sponsored running club" with weekly gatherings that begin tonight. The event is pitched as a 5k fun run/walk around Rice Village, sponsored by the Houston Racing Triathlon Club. The runs will take place every Tuesday night at Brian O'Neill's, follow......

• A cold front that will be preceded by a storm system is expected to drop temperatures this afternoon. Don't forget your coats and umbrellas. • Two suspected Conroe drug dealers were shot during a sting involving the Montgomery County sheriff's office. The sting occurred in a busy shopping center parking lot and an officer was nearly hit by the suspects vehicle. • Police in the Rice Village area are on the lookout for......

Kermit, you’re wrong. Jeff Kaplan, owner and founder of New Living -- an eco-friendly home supply store, is out to show us that in fact it’s quite easy being green. But, honestly Kermit can’t be blamed. Times have changed and surely back in the ‘80’s being eco-friendly wasn’t such a piece of cake. New Living, the “Healthy Home Essentials” store will open in the Rice Village sometime early this week, and offer customers the......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. The $199 PC Dwight Silverman reviews the Everex/Google $199 PC whose target market includes low-income and first-time PC buyers. The Kids Are Alright The Houston Business Journal covers the emergence of Gen Y's in the modern workforce and the specific needs of this generation of workers. Must Be Jelly Cause Jam Don't Work Like That Have you heard of Jelly? "Jelly is an every-so-often casual coworking......

A recent phone conversation with Houstonist's doctor went like this: Doctor: Houstonist, your tests came back and everything looks great except for your cholesterol. Houstonist: Cholesterol? Really? Doctor: I'm not sure how much you know about cholesterol levels, but what we're shooting for is under 200. Yours is 250. As you can imagine, this has major ramifications, especially for someone like you. Heart disease is the number one killer of women. . . . .......

::OpMom Web 2.0 Launch Party at Benjy's:: Three things we love: Moms, Web 2.0, and Benjy's. Can't go wrong here. And Houstonist has your ticket to this private launch party. Unless you've been living under a Web 1.0 rock, you are probably aware that Houston has recently been a hot bed for Social Media Startups, as Brad Hem reported this weekend. One of these ventures, the locally-based OpMom, tonight celebrates their own jaunt into Web......

You may not know the name Robert Hodge, but you soon will. Hodge, acclaimed mixed media artist, and member of the successful Houston band, The F-ing Transmissions, prepares this week for a solo art showing at H Gallery (327 W. 19th), "Turn Off The Radio". On the heels of an acclaimed showing at Rice Village boutique, Premium Goods, and being hand picked to participate in the recent traveling KSwiss "Sneaker Pimps" featuring Redman and Bun......

In our Retailist weekly feature, we share local places to satiate your shopping needs and feed your consumerist tendencies. Have a great place for us to get addicted to? Email us and let us know! Fashionistas, don't feel bad, this one kinda snuck up on us, too. And so glad it did. Earlier this year, after attending an event at Chloe Dao's Rice Village boutique, Lot 8, we made our way over to Mi......

City Council voted yesterday to sell the 2400 block of Bolsover (between Kelvin and Morningside - we can't Street View it yet, but here's the Google Map) in Rice Village to Lamesa Village Ltd., a mixed use developer, for $1.5 million. Many residents expressed practical concerns about traffic and parking, but some were also bothered by the city selling public land for private profit. Lamesa Village Ltd. plans to build a development called Sonoma, which......

While running along Montrose Ave this morning, discovering the sidewalks (and subsequent ankle-twisting cracks) of a neighborhood we have often admired, but of recent become a resident, we got an upclose look at many of the establishment we have visited many a time, yet on foot were allowed to explore a bit more. In the effort of being visionaries, we've decided to name this strip of road SoMo (or South Montrose, for you slow pokes.)......

More information in the story of Sonoma, the giant mixed-use development being planned for a two-block site in the Rice Village: The Chronicle reports that the city has released the appraisals for the 2400 block of Bolsover Street, and there's a little bit of variation between the two — about a half-million dollars' worth, to be specific. The appraisals — for $913,171 and $1,460,340 — pertain to Lamesa Properties' plans to buy that stretch of......

Trade in the Houston heat for a little of the lustful kind with Noel Coward's Design for Living at the Main Street Theater. Design For Living has extended its run an extra month (always a good sign!) until July 1st. Here's a little taste of what to expect: "The actual facts are so simple. I love you. You love me. I love Otto. Otto loves you. Otto loves me. There now! Start to unravel......

Remember that one time in France when you spent hours sitting at a quaint candlelit corner table with a great meal and a bottle of wine? Yea. That was awesome. Too bad France is so far away. But wait. That meal last night wasn’t in France? It was in a strip mall in Houston? Get out. Seriously, Café Rabelais, camouflaged in a very humble strip section of Rice Village, is a departure from the ordinary.......

Today’s Photo of the Day comes from flickr user and Houstonist photo contributor phototainable. It's the Houston Shoe Hospital on Kirby in Rice Village. Since 1906, they've been doing what they do best...fixin' shoes. Does anyone know where their original location was? If you know, leave us a comment. Disclaimer: Houstonist does not have the answer but we would really like to know. If you have a passion for Houston and photography, consider joining......

The big billboard on Kirby read, "Best Business Lunch." Well, Houstonist had some biznats and we needed some lunch, so off to Benjy's we went. Sandwiched between Antone's and a Scottish pub on the outskirts of Rice Village, Benjy's is in a great space that makes for trendy digs without the hassle of finding parking. Houstonist has been to Benjy's twice before - once for brunch and once for dinner. Both experiences were fairly unmemorable,......

The Houston Farmers' Market might be moving into new digs, according to Stories from a Houston Life. Rumor has it that the popular Rice Village-area market could be making the jump to the stadium parking lot at Rice University as early as April 3. We loved how prominently Houston's farmers' markets are featured in Hot Town, Cool City and we're excited to see them expanding. The Rice Village Houston Farmers' Market is currently housed in......

The last time we brought you Social-ist, we nearly ended up on National TV. Keyword being "nearly." But thanks to the damn terrorists, our appearance was shelved. We swear! Some people's priorities! Last night Houstonist scoped out Houston's own Project Runway winner Chloe Dao's Rice Village shop, Lot 8, for a Dress for Success fundraiser. From our count, most of the boutique's namesake, the eight Dao sisters, were in attendance, including sister Sydney, who can......

Houstonist makes the “long” pilgrimage to the outer-outer loop on Bellaire for our Vietnamese fix, so a hot spot in Montrose would rock our world. At first glance, Hollywood Restaurant (2409 Montrose Blvd) may seem like a video store by the same name, but keep reading the sign and you’ll see that it’s a Vietnamese restaurant…and a Chinese restaurant…oh, and as an afterthought, it’s also a French restaurant. The florescent, multicolored neon sign gave the......

Ruggles Grill (907 Westheimer) is a die-hard veteran among Houston restaurants. Houstonist used to frequent Ruggles for special occasions and celebrations. With the opening of so many good restaurants in Houston in the last five years, and the establishment of the casual and laid-back Ruggles Café in Rice Village, it had been years since we’ve returned. Recently, Houstonist dined at Ruggles Grill to bring back the memories. And sadly, the memories were infinitely better than......

So there has been a continual push and pull around the new development by Randall Davis in the Village - funny advertisements, approval from the city for street abandonment, and the loss of some neat shopping places. Sonoma, however, is apparently still in the works despite growing concerns. That's right - for all of you million dollar hippies (or $30,000 millionaires), your residence in wait may be within reach (yes, Mr. Davis is taking......

Some breaking news from KHOU: There's a lot of development going on in Montrose, and it's causing traffic problems! Well, gee — seriously? You mean that townhomes, large apartment blocks and midrise residential development aren't what the neighborhood was built to support? You learn something new every day. KHOU's report quotes City Councilwoman Sue Lovell, who worries that the flurry of development in and around Montrose could have an adverse effect: "I have never......

When you're looking for love in all the wrong places, look to Russia, with love. Yes, vodka. We can't think of a better way to celebrate the God-awful, Hallmark-created, pseudo-holiday than with large amounts of Vodka. And thankfully, one of Houstonist's favorite theater companies, Infernal Bridegroom Productions, has come through for us. Tonight, they host their "Vodka & Valentines Party" at Ovations in Rice Village. The party will feature sweets, eats, and---do we seriously have......

A lot of local and regional shows this week. Galveston’s Mardi Gras begins this weekend, with lots of local bands on tap. You’ll also find some good jazz at Brasil and Kelvin Arms tomorrow night, and with Orange is In at Notsuoh Saturday night. Evan Dando and The Lemonheads are finally touring again, arriving in Clear Lake Thursday night. Saxophonist Boney James plays downtown on Saturday. Did we miss something? Let us know. Here’s......

I have a huge problem. I’m a big Bears fan (and a huge White Sox fan, but I’ll let that slide for the time being as to not open old wounds), but as this weekend approaches, I realized that I have nobody to watch The Game with. For years, I would be watching The Game with a few dozen other sweatpants-wearing, brat-eating, true Chicagoans — and for the first time in my first month as......

Via Off the Kuff, Rice Village-area residents are a little ticked off by a sign advertising Sonoma, the residential component of the proposed Piazza mixed-use development just off Rice Boulevard. You remember that, right? It's the $100 million, seven-story behemoth for which a block of Bolsover Street will be closed, with 225 condominiums, 100,000 square feet of retail space and an underground parking garage. But according to the Examiner, it's not the size of the......

Hoist a pint, go home with a hound (aye-chihuahua)- or thinking of rescuing one. The Ginger Man Pub is the place to be on November 11th from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., especially if you are interested in Animal Rescue. Besides, what goes better with a pint of your favorite beer, ale or lager than, (yep - that tired old line - again) a warm fuzzy! The sad fact is that some people dump......

With voter turnout generally decreasing each year, some government bodies are looking for incentives to get people to vote. In Arizona, they’re trying a million-dollar lottery for voters. In Houston, we had the free flu-shots at some locations for the elderly, until that was shot down. Houstonist doesn’t need an incentive to vote – we educate ourselves on the issues and then go to the polling station to cast our vote. However, we like Under......

Despite protests from a handful of Rice Village residents and tenants, City Council voted yesterday to move forward with abandonment of the 2400 block of Bolsover Street in the Village to make way for a multistory retail/residential development. Construction could begin in the spring on the project, which would include about 100,000 square feet of retail space and between 230 and 250 condo units costing a half-million dollars apiece. It's not clear exactly what the......

Many may know Rice Village as a unique shopping area with a variety of stores, many different restaurants and cuisines, away from freeways and without big box-type establishments. Long time tenants are worried, though, that impending development in the area will run them out due to higher rent, which has increasingly occurred in the last few years. As reported by the Chronicle's David Kaplan:For 58 years, the quirky store has fit snugly in Rice Village,......

The sportsfan in us loves Two Rows (2400 University). This small chain offers friendly atmosphere, big TVs, and microbrewed beer of every conceivable color, flavor, and sort. The selection of handcrafted brews changes daily, so you never know what you're going to get, but try the Osage Golden Wheat (light, refreshing, and served with a slice of lemon) or for something a little heartier, the supersmooth Route 66 Amber Ale. Kick back with your beer......