Went to the Boat Show at NRG and saw the dome. I guess I either never noticed or cared, but it is an absolute sh/t hole

Last game I saw in the dome was A&M / TCU in the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl. Seemed pretty functional at the time. Not great under modern standards, but the dome was the dome.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 is really what did it in.

I'll never understand wtf the leadership in Houston was thinking.

You had Hurricane Katrina come in a destroy an entire city. A bunch of folks were all crammed in the Superdome in NOLA. It was clearly a humanitarian disaster and a huge logistical problem.

Now what I'll never understand is WHY the leadership in Harris County and the COH decided to take a humanitarian crisis and make it even worse by trying to move evacuees inside the Astrodome itself.

It seems like there was a huge misunderstanding by leadership in Houston who somehow decided that since the Superdome got destroyed in the storm, that they could step in an improve the situation by bussing folks 350 miles west and cramming them in ANOTHER DOME.

Just because you have an unused dome, doesn't mean that you need to use an unused dome.

How that got decided really blows my mind.

You had a bunch of folks who were traumatized, needed medical care and so forth, instead of spreading them out to churches, schools and convention centers where they could get immediate care, the city leaders decided to stuff them right back in another domed stadium.

WTF was going on? I'll never understand how that decision was made to put a triage area inside a domed stadium. It really is wild when you look back on it.

It really was more about creating a media spectacle rather than helping folks that needed help in an efficient manner.

Jesus, people, Scantron posted a link to a new song.

The AhHa style music video got me a little emotional sorry ...in any event, 14-years later this Dome thing still a thorn in my side.

WTF this is long. I went to the hideout in the dome well after Katrina but before smoking was banned in bars and it was still fun.

drumboy said:

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I went to the hideout in the dome well after Katrina but before smoking was banned in bars and it was still fun.

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That was a fun memory. Smoking and drinking with rough old urban cowgirls on the floor of the Astrodome.

Social Media Influencer said:

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drumboy said:

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I went to the hideout in the dome well after Katrina but before smoking was banned in bars and it was still fun.

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That was a fun memory. Smoking and drinking with rough old urban cowgirls on the floor of the Astrodome.

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And all those port-a-potties all over the floor. Those times couldn't be beat.

Remember there was a huge deal when I was a kid about nickel beer at Oilers games.

Got out of hand ... apparently.

Hot 'n Smoky Hot Dogs with mustard and onions. Whole place smelled like stale beer and popcorn. Feet would stick to the floor. Giant f'ing billboard Marlboro and Budweiser signs. The place had character.

Went from that, directly to a ballpark named after a company that no one was quite sure what the hell they even did.

When Enron Field opened until the end, there was an Enron stock ticker sign at field level!

An actual LED sign that showed what Enron stock was trading at inside the stadium.

Remember going to Enron after it opened and thinking the place had the look and feel Walt Disney World.

**** was wild.

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Remember there was a huge deal when I was a kid about nickel beer-flavored-water at Oilers games.

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FIFY.

1:16 of video they slip in a pic of the Alamo dome?!?

Also looked like Carlos Correa ended up in there as well.

Ronnie said:

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1:16 of video they slip in a pic of the Alamo dome?!?

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Holy carp you're right. More than once.

And yes, the food at the dome was better than MMP. The baked potatoes were outstanding.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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What kind of spicy mustard did they use at the astrodome and where can I buy some?

That spicy mustard would light you up.

Also, who manufactured the hotdogs called 'hot & smokeys' and do they still sell those dogs somewhere today?

One of those hot and smokey dogs with onions and spicy mustard would light your ass up.

It's a shame everything is so slick and gayed up now.

I miss the old school dome. The place had character and grit.

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Me and my buddies did a "Hot Smokey Challenge" once back when we were in college. The goal was to eat one Hot Smokey every full inning for 9 innings... two of us made it to 5.

Two things about this... one: it speaks to the relative affordability of concessions back then, and two: yes, I'm an LOLfat.

I miss the Dome... spicy mustard, Hot Smokeys and all.

You related to the East Bernard Hlavinkas?

Judge Hofheinz used to have his own suite located in the outfield in the astrodome complete with a bowling ally .

He also had the entire top floor of the hotel across the street by 610 loop as his party headquarters. The name has changed over time. Might be owned by crown plaza now. I had been up there one time and saw crazy stuff where all the socialites from all over the world partied in Houston and charged up to $2500 a night in the early 1970's.

I toured it about 1998 with an employee. From what I remember he had a space age room like a two story Astro themed nightclub, that was two stories with kitchen, in party room on the floor was a baseball diamond and on the wall was a scoreboard. Anytime someone was on base the floor "base" lit up. And the score board on the wall would keep balls, strikes, hits, runs. This was all tied into the score board at the astrodome. It even had a smaller exploding scoreboard with the same things happening that were experienced across the street.

Now it gets a little weird. The rooms where people stayed including Elvis, Sinatra, and many, many other famous people were very extravagant. From my memory there was a Tarzan room painted with jungle theme, green shag carpet, a medieval room with furniture from some German castle, huge bed and huge king chair, and there were many other rooms. Also a circus themed room. There were other rooms that were crazy as well like a Chinese room.

There was one thing in a each room that nobody knew about and that was a peep room where you could enter from the adjacent room and spy on the other room. Very cleverly hidden, big enough to put a camera in there and film, big enough for two people to be in. This was obviously not published anywhere but they are there.

Here is an article about the rooms in the hotel.

https://www.papercitymag.com/real-estate/roy-hofheinz-private-penthouse-celestial-suite-astrodome-hotel-peek-inside/

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/The-hotel-suites-at-the-top-of-the-Crowne-Plaze-12227040.php

https://vault.si.com/vault/1994/08/16/chapter-two-home-in-the-dome

If you ever get the chance to see it do not turn it down.

It blows my mind that the Astrodome was allowed to fall into disrepair.

The dome was a historic building, And it was also a culturally significant building.

It seems like one of the biggest screw ups of all time to not have done what was necessary on the front end. Spent the money. Whatever it took. Teardown the whole thing and rebuild to modern standards

I don't understand why there was never a workable solution.

Makes no sense and seems like the ultimate level of incompetence.

Its unbelievable to think about how bad of a decision that was.

An iconic, world famous and culturally significant building was allowed to go to waste.

Use covid money to fix the Astrodome.

Houston's most culturally significant building has sat abandoned since 2002.

No more money for foreign wars; rebuild Astrodome to original specifications.