Firebird65

Glad you liked it!

Yes, I remember Marco's. I liked their location on the North Freeway across from Greenspoint. That restaurant does certainly appear to be the sole surviving descendant of what was once a chain of about 15 or so locations. Marco's Mexican Restaurants had a location at that address. The name of this place is Marco's Mexican Bar and Grill, but that may just be so that people know it also serves alcohol. The original chain was run by a Pakistani named Bombaywaya. He went bankrupt in 1999 and another company - Watermarc - took over the chain. In the mid 2000s they began closing locations. I moved to the westside and there was one on Westheimer near Hwy 6. But the quality had gone way down. I'm guessing someone took over this final location between 2006 and 2010, when the website you listed came online. I can't find a story about any change of ownership. I see a poster named Montrose1100 believes the original chain couldn't compete today, even in pristine condition. I beg to disagree. I think if they had the same standards they had in the late 1980s, they'd do very well. They were a nice step up in selection and quality from Casa Ole and Monterrey House. Not on par with the Original Ninfa's but going there meant a trip to the east side. I'd say they were, in their prime, on a level with the modern Los Cucos/Los Gallitos chains.

Wow, what a great shot! OK, I hope this isn't a dumb question. It seems more like common sense to me. Why has the Battleship Texas been kept in water? Why couldn't it have been placed in a permanent dry dock for display after the 1989 restoration? Seems to me that the brackish water has been part of the problem leading to its deterioration. Obviously everything is going to eventually deteriorate no matter what we do, but at least keeping it dry seems like it would solve a part of the problem. IIRC correctly something like that was proposed back in 1989.

Well, I'm about 14 months late, but better late than never, right? The Fairway Foods Lucky 7 originally started in the early 1940s as the Airline Food Shop. That's the picture in mkultra's photo. It was not a very large store at all by today's standards. Maybe no bigger than a convenience store. Melvin Iio bought it in March 1951. I can't tell when the name changed or when it became part of Lucky 7. This 1951 ad simply lists Fairway Foods as one of "These fine Lucky 7 stores [are] under new management." Chester used it as a place to sell his produce since he and his brothers had a farm down the street on Gulf Bank. In 1956, Melvin builds a bigger store on the same site. That's the store everyone out there over 45 years old is familiar with. When Melvin passed away in 1968, his older brother Chester tool over running the store until thieves robbed the place and murdered him in 1983.

Indeed. That entry is clearly a primary school.

Thanks for ordering. Glad you liked it!

Greenspoint Mall's owners need to get with a Hollywood movie studio to use the rotting corpse as a prop in an action movie a la the 1985 Chuck Norris flick Invasion USA. Have terrorists or aliens "attack" the mall and blow it to smithereens. Maybe include the Astrodome in the movie too and put two aging ladies out of their misery in a spectacular and profitable way.

There are as many of these Images of America books as there are stars in the sky. They're not just limited to Texas. It's an awesome idea that gives amateurs a chance to get published in a way not possible before and a way for folks to learn local history, even in areas where nothing world changing happened. Writing was the easy part of this project. I had pretty much everything I needed 5 years ago thanks to all the tips I got on here and independent research. The toughest thing was the images. I did the text and my partner found the photos. He had already done an Images of America book on Humble so he had lots of connections at the Texas Room downtown. But even once he had the photos, then it was a question of whether they were of high enough resolution to be put into a book. A lot of otherwise good pics were left on the floor because while they looked good on a computer screen, they couldn't cut it when printed. They were either too dark or too grainy or not sharp enough. After all the postings and interactions I'm so happy now that the people who shared my journey of discovery can now enjoy the fruits of all that work. To all who have ordered, thanks for your support. I'd love to read your reactions once you've had the chance to go through it.

The East Aldine Management District ordered $5,000 worth of books. I assume Amazon probably gives volume discounts, so that could mean between 200 and 250 copies. I suspect they're the ones who depleted Amazon's stock. As the author, I'm sure not complaining about that! I also went on an advertising blitz on Facebook. There are lots of Aldine related pages on Facebook. As mkultra states in another post, it is available from other retailers. I know Barnes and Noble has it. And, of course, the publisher itself (Arcadia) has it. I did see that used copy for sale. It was like that on the first day. Weird, huh? .! If you want one, I hope you're able to get it and I appreciate your interest.

Hi all, Hope this isn't a violation of the rules. I used to post on here a lot about the history of Aldine. Thanks to all the knowledgeable posters on this board and some personal research, I was finally able to put together the history of the area. I partnered with a MacArthur graduate who found lots of great pictures and together we published a book about Aldine as part of the Images of America series by Arcadia Publishing. The book was released yesterday (Jan. 16) and is now available for order. It's called Around Aldine and is available on Amazon (link in the title). I'm not posting this to make money, rather to let those who posted to and with me over the years who said "You ought to write a book" know that I did!

Wow, I'd completely forgotten about that Don's Western Wear.

Dueitt's (the proper spelling) was located at 8024 North Freeway, just north of Canino, so you were pretty much dead on. I once looked it up for someone on Facebook. About the only thing I could find was a help wanted ad for waitresses from Jan. 8, 1956. There's no earlier mention of it. During that search I went to Historic Aerials and it wasn't in the 1953 photo, so apparently it opened sometime between 1954 and January 1956. The last want ad they ran was on Jan. 22, 1974. I haven't been out that way since my mom died two years ago. But according to Google Street View somebody was building something fairly large on that site as of the photo, which was taken in February 2020. Anyone been by there recently?

Weird how this board was a rocking place when I was doing research of the history of Aldine schools and the local area. Now that I've found pretty much everything this is to find and can answer questions definitively, the board has dried up.

The copyright goes to the new company, so yes, they'd still be in effect. But it's not like this is for commercial purposes. Plus you'd think they'd be pleased someone was admiring the covers enough to share nearly 40 years later. Anyway, the chances of some stuffy SWB lawyer patrolling this site for copyright violations are about as infinitesimal as the Houston Texans reaching the Super Bowl under Bill O'Brien. Those covers were cool, weren't they?

Throughout my 53 year life, I'd guesstimate I've eaten at Whataburger perhaps 300 times. I've eaten at Sylvia's perhaps 150 times, and Whataburger had a good 25 year head start on them. We started going there not too long after her original restaurant opened in 1998. And we followed her when that restaurant moved to Westheimer at Dairy Ashford. One year I know we ate there an average of at least twice a month. We went there so often that they just stopped asking what we wanted to drink and just brought it when we walked in the door. I've had most of her enchiladas and oddly enough, the only one I didn't like was the basic, run of the mill cheese enchilada. LOL! Usually that's what I order to test a Mexican restaurant the first time I go. I figure if you can't make a basic cheese enchilada., you can't make anything else. My favorite Sylvia's enchiladas are the Hidalgo with red sauce, the El Paso, the Mexico City and the Morelia. When I go for lunch though, I get the carne gusiada. It's the best I've ever had, and I've had lots of carne guisada. Theire rice used to be the best I'd ever had too. But unfortunately they've changed the type of rice they used, going to a shorter grain and it's just not as good. Two or so years ago, Sylvia closed her Westheimer restaurant. We've been to the Eldridge one several times, but not nearly as much as before. Perhaps a dozen times in two years. The Eldridge one is a little far. Oh well.