glzuma

I hazily recall a place called "The Sweetheart of Texas Saloon" right there on Richmond. Went there a few times in mid 70s. I want to say that we saw Wheatfield/St.Elmos there. Does that ring a bell with anybody?

The Agora was an interesting little music venue located in the Windsor Plaza shopping center back in the late 70s/early 80s. It just felt very strange going to a retail strip center for a concert. The layout and seating was unconventional, too. That said, one of my most favorite concert experiences took place there in 1980. We saw Emmylou Harris and her Hot Band when she was at the early peak of her popularity. She always had exceptional musicians in her band and this was at the time when her voice could melt you down with it's purity. It was a beautiful evening. Please share your favorite Agora moment.

The former Gaylynn Theater in the NE corner of the parking lot has most currently been home to the Alphonso Crutch Life Support Center Charter School. It has stayed on "Life Support" by ripping off the Texas taxpayers for many years. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7088076

I remember going to Gateway. At that young age, it seemed to be a long, scary trip down to the bubble in the deep end. Probably still long and scary at this old age. Once there, you couldn't take the pressure to your ears very long. Wasn't there a swimming pool similar to Gateway located on Long Point back in the 60s/70s?

Here's a bit of personal Meyer Speedway trivia. When I took Drivers Ed at Westbury HS in 1970, we would attend the classroom phase at the school, of course. But for part of the Behind The Wheel phase, we would load up in a van and drive to Meyer Speedway, aka "The Range". The Drivers Ed cars were located there and we would proceed to practice basic driving skills to be followed by real street driving. The temptation was everpresent to kick it on the straightaway, knowing it may be the only chance in your lifetime to be on a racetrack. However, if your speed began to exceed the acceptable limit, one look from the coach would quickly shatter your AJ Foyt fantasy.

This was the early 70s now, but..... Hirsch Brothers Clothing in the Memorial City Mall was a great place for unique, one of a kind shirts. Warp and Woof Clothiers in the Village had an extensive selection of jeans. Mid 70s now.... I can't remember where I bought those high waisted baggies (slacks), but I know I got the platform shoes to complete the outfit at The Wild Pair in the Galleria. Everybody wanting the most outrageous shoes did.

Liberty Hall was a small concert venue on Chenevert that was formerly an old movie theater. It was located near downtown (close to St. Joseph's Hospital). Great place to hear all types of music in an intimate setting back in the 70s. If you were around back during it's heyday, please share your favorite Liberty Hall story. Here's mine. I was listening to KPFT one Sunday afternoon (had to be 74/75) when it was randomly announced by the host that he had " 2 tickets to see Willis Alan Ramsey at Liberty Hall tonight" for the next caller. I scrambled to the phone and was the lucky next caller. I think B.W. Stevenson opened with a set, then WA came on. The room was about half full and we were sitting in metal folding chairs on a concrete floor about 15 feet away from him. It was almost like a house concert. He sang his whole album and it was one of those magical, musical moments. Just a man and his guitar, taking us as far as we needed to go.

I remember hearing the radio ad for Ebenezer's regularly on KLOL (101) in '72. It was kind of funny as I recall. They claimed it was the place where "boozers bedraggle" at night and was located "on Converse between Willard and Welch". Well, we just had to check that out. So after the Jethro Tull "Thick As A Brick" tour concert that year at the Coliseum, we went to Ebenezer's. It was kind of weird for us suburban Westbury boys to go to a restaurant in an old house in Montrose. Very weird. But I remember that it was upstairs (still weird) and once we sat down, it was OK. Not like your typical restaurant, but OK. I think some hippie chick/patchouli scented/earth mother served us. We had burgers and beer as we allowed our eardrums ample recovery time from the concert onslaught. Can't remember if the food was any good. Didn't matter, it was the experience we were after. I think that's the only time we went there. P.S. concert trivia - the opening act for Tull was a new group that had just come out called the Eagles. We thought they were pretty good, but kind of a mismatch in genre with Tull.

I met your grandfather in the late 60s when I was a young baseball player and he was a coach. He used to hold summer baseball clinics at Westbury HS. He was well respected as a coach that really knew his baseball. The kids would listen and do whatever he said. Through the eyes of a 13-14 year old, he came across as a little stern, but that was a coach's professional persona in those days. Even so, he seemed to be a nice man that cared about kids. When I arrived at Westbury as a student (69-72), he was the assistant principal. His style of handling discipline was always direct and to the point without getting angry. Everybody appreciated the fact that he didn't need to yell or berate them to be an effective administrator. I remember he came on the speaker one day to address the whole school about dress code. Girls were starting to wear semi-revealing clothing such as peasant tops, mini-skirts, etc. He announced that the girls needed to "cover it up" because "Even a monkey likes to peel his own banana". We thought that was great. I was a member of the Rebel Guard---10 guys who guarded our mascot, Johnny Reb. One night before our football game with Bellaire (our arch rival) we stole the Bellaire Cardinal mascot from one of their "Birdkeepers" homes. Probably not a good idea to break and enter, but a fantastic capture for the ages, nonetheless. Their principal was furious (but probably even more embarrassed), calling Coach Pepper and threatening to press charges. Coach called all of us into his office and asked where the Bird was. No one said anything. He said "Well, I guess I'll have to suspend all of you then" as he grabbed his pen and discipline referrals. What a great bluff! He couldn't really suspend any of us without evidence and he had nothing. But we knew Coach as a man that could do just about anything he said he would do. We caved in and confessed. He said if we gave the Bird back, he would keep us out of trouble. I think he really admired the fact that we were able to steal their prize possession, but he wasn't going to tell us. You could just see it in his eyes. It was the perfect way to handle the situation.