Imagine: An angry ex has poured garbage all over your new sports car. You haven't slept for months, and your hair has become a bit unruly. What's more, you're hungry, dammit. Well, have we got the place for you. It goes by many names. Call it Pop's Exquisite Bar-B-Q, where you can get a chopped roast beef sandwich for $3.50. Or call it Exquisite Touch Auto Detail, home of the $5.99 car wash. Then again, some people know it simply as Exquisite Touch Barber Shop and Beauty Salon. And as you're sitting there, sipping a Diet Coke and eating link sausages, contemplating what your godless ways have wrought, you'll also find a complete set of T.D. Jake's inspirational videos available for purchase, just in case you decide to turn your life around. If you want to know how this multifaceted venue came to be, just ask Pops yourself. He's usually sitting there in a corner of the shop watching TV. And like the wise old sage he is, he'll tell you: "You've got to do something."

The Galleria is filled with stores trying to sell you stuff that you never knew you needed, but at least there's one whose merchandise can help you learn a thing or two. The Discovery Channel store is, not surprisingly, an offshoot of cable's Discovery group of networks (which includes The Learning Channel and Animal Planet), a group that is home to lots of World War II documentaries and goofily addictive shows like Junkyard Wars, where two teams are locked into a scrap yard and compete to build the best cannon, or amphibious vehicle, or whatever, from materials on hand. The store is a perfect place to go if you have to find a birthday gift for some kid you barely know; there's everything from plush stuffed animals to Pond Scum Soap to informative scale models and astronomy kits. Since it's in the Galleria, by definition it's pricey, but a visit to the Discovery Channel store is a much better option than your standard toy outlet.

We've got a horde of fine club dancers in this town. Somebody's gotta dress 'em. If there were still any raves around, chances are you'd see many shirts out there created by this man. Akindele's brand of clothing, Enjoymusic Enjoylife (EMEL), featuring that all-important musical-note insignia, has been the favorite among energetic clubgoers for quite a while now. Baseball shirts, T-shirts, baby tees -- they're all designed to keep a young whippersnapper comfortable while dancing to all things electronica. Fortunately, if you head out to spots like Hyperia, you can still see clothing bearing the EMEL moniker, and a bunch of kids proud to be sweating their asses off in it.

Don't let the name of the place fool you. K&R Tire is a full-service auto shop. They'll do your oil change while you wait, often in the same amount of time it takes those other franchises that promise you oil, lube and filter in a jiff. The difference is that they don't pressure you into services you don't need. They don't have to. Business is good. You get to know the guys with the dirty fingernails, and perhaps more importantly, they get to know your car. If you're in a hurry, call first. They'll let you know if they can take you right away. And they don't pretend that 20 minutes is the same as 45. If it's going to take longer than they said, they'll come back and let you know, so that you can decide to bring your car back another time, instead of making you reread the same industry magazines in the waiting area.

If you've ever wanted to feel like Alice down the rabbit hole, take a few hours out of your life and go underground here. You can emerge at any number of downtown spots, from office buildings to the Wortham to the Angelika Film Center. If you're smart, you'll take note of the color-coded parking bars to facilitate relocating your car. But who's complaining? Any underground parking lot search, no matter how long, is preferable to running above ground through a Houston downpour in your theater clothes.

This store is heaven for the yuppie puppy. Situated in River Oaks, it's a place where people spend $12 for a bottle of ChampPagne (which is Canadian spring water). The pastry case rivals that of Three Brothers Bakery just down the street. (Sometimes people get confused and go to the dog bakery.) They sell Scottie Biscotti, Ciao Wow Cheese Pizza and SnickerPoodles. Owners can sample the sugar-free snacks. The mini chocolate chip cookies look just like SnackWell's and are all natural (just like SnackWell's) -- but they don't taste anything like SnackWell's. (Trust us -- don't let the nice lady behind the counter fool you into thinking carob tastes like chocolate. It never has; it never will.) Not only are dogs encouraged to come into the store, they are indulged. One wall is lined with snout-high troughs of treats so four-legged customers can sniff and sample everything. The goodies are sold in pint-size ice cream containers. The owners remember every puppy's name and what treats it likes. If the pastry chef is icing a cake, she'll even let your dog lick the spoon.

Best Used BootsA pair of purple ropers from the '80s. A needle-nosed black pair with six impressive rows of stitching on the shaft. A '50s pair of toddler boots with nifty red inlays. White majorette boots with fringe. High-heeled fashion boots from the '70s. Elephant hide, rough-outs, skins from reptiles so exotic that they're probably extinct. Tony Lamas, Acmes, custom-mades and cheapo vinyl crap. Texas, distilled into its signature footwear.

Why buy your "How to Talk Texas" books, Houston skyline postcards and Lone Star flag barbecue aprons at some sterile mall when you can do so in the heart of the city, at the foot of the statue of Sam Houston himself? Those who say downtown is a vacuum for shoppers likely haven't yet discovered this 6,500-square-foot Texana delight located on the first floor of City Hall. In addition to the usual Texas-proud inventory, the shop features snazzy, colorful decor, museum-quality displays, a theater that screens historical films, and informative computer stations all surrounding a larger-than-life bronze representation of the first president of the Republic of Texas.

SGP Racing in Deer Park isn't one of those places you drop off your car for a quickie oil change or brake check. It's the place where serious speed and performance enthusiasts might leave their cars for weeks for engine overhauls, ridiculous amounts of horsepower (600, anyone?) and new computerization systems. Their motto, "Performance, not promises," is apparently true, judging from the abundance of shiny Supras, 300ZXs and Hondas holding court in the SGP parking area any given day. SGP is as much a place to upgrade your ride as to talk noise with fellow adrenaline junkies about adventures behind the wheel. Step inside, and it's like walking into a dream world for modifying your ride-shiny rims, tight front ends and accessories galore. And if owners Mark Gust and Kyle Puckett don't have in stock what you desire, they'll order it for you. Or you can just flip through the catalogs and dream.

It took a while for the folks at this proudly independent music and video store to get a DVD rental section going, even after bigwig video chains Blockbuster and Hollywood beat 'em to the punch. But once they did, theirs turned out to be the definitive DVD section for die-hard movie geeks. Apart from the regular lineup of new and amped-up releases, the store has just about every release from those packrats at The Criterion Collection (practically the DVD industry's preservation society) as well as rarities from Kino Video. But it's the outrageous collection of discs from Something Weird Video, home to such bawdy, campy finds as Blaze Starr Goes Nudist, that may have folks flocking to the store in curiosity. At last, there's a place where you can get the works of Hitchcock, Bergman, Scorsese and Chesty Morgan all at once.

Houston, Texas, a portal city for Japanese anime? Yes, thanks to forward-thinking ADV founders John Ledford and Matt Greenfield. For the uninitiated, anime is Japanese animation for adults, too, not just kids. It's extremely popular in its home country and increasingly so all over the world. Recently spotted at the Video Sellers and Distributors of America conference in Las Vegas, these local boys are pushing the envelope by acquiring cutting-edge anime titles and bringing them to the States. They've been around since 1992, but in the last few years they've really hit their stride.