Driving through the streets of West University on Super Bowl Sunday, I saw a variety of pleasing architectural styles. One definitive feature of West U, however, is a certain kind of gas-burning lantern: during the mid-afternoon as I drove, 8 out of 10 of the large houses were equipped with gas-burning lanterns on both sides of their main entrances. This trend appeared within the last 5 years or so, and has become nearly omnipresent along some of the more affluent blocks in the southeast quadrant of this community. Gas lanterns have not become such a fixture throughout Houston, however. In communities such as the Heights, Montrose, or even Boulevard Oaks and Southampton, they appear sporadically at best. West U, however, has taken to gas lanterns at an alarming pace. This is just something I happened to notice on my drive the other day.