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Memories Of Before The Southbelt


Paul1956

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I know there's another section for Historic Houston, but I wanted to share some memories about the old Fuqua, Beamer, Hughes Road area specifically. I'm sure the moderator will move this if needed.

We moved into old Kirkwood in 1968. At that time, Beamer road did not connect to Fuqua at all. There was a two lane road one stoplight east of the current Fuqua/Beamer intersection, and it rambled though a field and tied on to Beamer near Dobie. And Beamer actually ENDED after the third street in old Kirkwood. To get to Hughes Road, we had to drive back to 45 and ride the feeder.

We had some family friends who moved into a NEW HOUSE on the first street of Sagemont, Sagewood. Seems like forever ago. For years, there was a little league park at the end of Sagewood.

In '68, the only building at I-45 / Fuqua was an open air honky-tonk called 'The Breezeway'. I remember that it had a HUGE KIKK boot shaped sign out front and you could hear the kikker music playing loudly as you drove by. There was also a large unmarked metal building next door that I heard was where fireworks were made. No idea if that was true or not.

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We moved to Southbelt in 1974 when I was 5. I graduated Dobie in 1987 so I saw many of the changes you speak of. 'The Breezeway' - My uncle got arrested there in the early 70s.

As far as that first street there was a house that looked like a castle. That was a pretty big deal to a five year old.

Remember the 4 gas stations that were tore down to build BW8? The Shell actually sold fishing tackle.

I remember what a big deal it was when they finally connected Scarsdale to Beamer. And I also remember when Dixie Farm was Choate and was made of shale.

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Yes, I went to Dobie with one of the kids whose family owned that house. His Dad was an architech (spelling?), which made sense. It sure stood out on that street. Could see it easily from I-45.

And yes, I well remember those four gas stations, and the rumor that "one of these days there's supposed to be freeway through here". Whenever I go back over there I'm still blown away how much the area has been paved over. I can't get use to BW8 soaring through there, and how much traffic there is now.

For a very short while, I could actually look out our patio door in old Kirkwood, and see a family friends house on Sagedowne.

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My family moved to Sagemont in 1971. There was a short street named "Southbelt" connecting I-45 to Hughes road, and everyone had to drive on it to get into Sagemont. Many years later the beltway came right through where Southbelt was, and I was amazed that such a long term plan had actually been implemented.

Southbelt was tiny, with houses on one side and a field on the other. I remember the Texas Commerce Bank that was among those houses, and I remember a little temporary flea market kind of deal at the intersection with I-45. They had Bonnie & Clyde's death car there, or so they claimed.

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For the first couple years that we lived there, I could look out my bedroom window and see the orange glow of the Dixie/Brio refinery flame tower in the distance. It lit up the whole sky at that time. We could even smell it on occasion. It was many years later before their secrets came out.

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We moved to Southbelt in 1974 when I was 5. I graduated Dobie in 1987 so I saw many of the changes you speak of. 'The Breezeway' - My uncle got arrested there in the early 70s.

As far as that first street there was a house that looked like a castle. That was a pretty big deal to a five year old.

...

I remember that house, with the castle-like third story extention on the roof. I still turn to see if it's there when passing by, even though I know it's been gone for a while.

I also grew up with the smell of Fall cold fronts mixed with the Sinclair refinery stinch. It sat directly to the North of my neighborhood. And you could also see the flame flares burning frequently. A couple of times the windows shook. That was Oak Meadows. The rich people, I thought lived further out, in the "Sage-named" nabes. Had some good friends in party yrs. following high school that were from those areas, they attended Dobie.

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Is Hall road still there? I remember when Hall road was the fastest way to get to Telephone, to go into Pearland. This was long before there was any connection to Green Tee. Hall road was just a dirt road, through low flood zone, with a few farm houses scattered along there. It was littered with junk washing machines and trash all along the way.

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Is Hall road still there? I remember when Hall road was the fastest way to get to Telephone, to go into Pearland. This was long before there was any connection to Green Tee. Hall road was just a dirt road, through low flood zone, with a few farm houses scattered along there. It was littered with junk washing machines and trash all along the way.

Hall Road was a great place to pick shrooms. Even after they started building the Beltway feeder roads through there. I don't know if there are any pastures left out there today.

We moved from Beverly Hills into Kirkmont. We were across the street from where the Beltway is today. The easement where the Beltway is now was a great shortcut to Beverly Hills Intermediate via Beamer.

As a kid I was always intrigued by the graffiti, zig-zag packages, and beer bottles in the handful of abandoned concrete pipe culverts that were scattered around the Beltway easement. I was too young to know what was going on there, but old enough to know something was going on in those culverts.

I also recall the high-voltage towers that ran down the easement. I believe there were two kids electrocuted right outside our neighborhood while I was young. You can imagine that my parents drilled into my head not to climb on those towers. After seeing a video of what people look like after getting electrocuted...I didn't need to be warned again!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remember when the main post office for the whole SB area was on Old Galveston Road, near the Genoa subdivision. We went through Genoa to get to the post office and I remember an abundance of rough looking biker bars along the way. The TELTON lounge was there for years, but across from it was a very rough looking bar that used to be a two story house - I believe it was called 'Franks', but I'm not sure anymore. I remember that there was always a bunch of choppers out front any time of the day or night.

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  • 11 months later...

My parents moved to Sagemont back in 1970. I came out in 73. Split time between houses on Kirkhill, Sageforest and Sagedowne.

The Breezeway was a stretch in my memory until I saw the post which mentioned the KIKKer sign. Instant recall.

Does anyone remember the temporary fire station in Sagemont? It was abandoned when they built the permanent station and became the hang-out for the older kids. We were too scared to go in. We would ride our BMX bikes, shoot BB guns, and watch the older kids on dirt motorcycles tear it up and smoke it up back there.

I do remember the kid getting electrocuted in the high voltage lines as my house backed up on the ditch where the lines ran.

How many folks remember the skate park? I think it was near Choate Rd and Gulf Freeway. Or the go-cart track that was near the flea market?

Can anyone name the pizza place that was located in the strip mall that had Safeway on Hughes and South Belt?

Those gas stations at the Gulf Freeway and South Belt had the flags during the gas crunches of 70s.

There also was an indoor roller rink I think near the baseball fields off Choate Rd, near the Brio Waste Site. Can anyone confirm?

Is the C&D burger place still there? My dad would cut the coupons out of the South Belt Leader for our Saturday burger.

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  • 7 months later...

There was a large metal building near the Breezeway Club. It was the old Alpha Fireworks plant. It moved there from Houston after the original location had a fire.

They used to have a big fireworks display every New Year's Eve and we'd stand out in our front yards in Genoa and watch.

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Interesting to read about the area - I live off of Fuqua and I can imagine how undeveloped it was not too long ago (still lots of cattle around). Hall road is still there - it runs east from Telephone and I *think* continues almost to the new Monroe extension. Target et al took over the road but it continues on the east side until you either take Carmalee to Blackhawk or go to the Beltway. It picks up on the south side of the beltway until it almost hits Blackhawk.

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I remember Hall Road being a dirt road through a whole bunch of cow pastures...when I was a kid I had no idea we lived near Pearland, as it seems there weren't much access to Pearland from Sagemont/Beverly Hills. Maybe we just had no reason to go there.

Anybody remember the Skate Ranch on Blackhawk? I drank many suicides at their snack bar. Skated to Johnny Lee's "Lookin for Love", did the bunny hop and the hokey pokey there. I never had the money to play the hottest new game around, "Tron", but it was pretty sweet to watch.

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Anybody remember the Skate Ranch on Blackhawk? I drank many suicides at their snack bar. Skated to Johnny Lee's "Lookin for Love", did the bunny hop and the hokey pokey there. I never had the money to play the hottest new game around, "Tron", but it was pretty sweet to watch.

skate ranch was on almeda genoa...the blankhawk one was something else and it kills me i can't remember. for some reason kirkmont is coming to mind but i know that wasn't the name but i know i'm thinking back to 1980 or 81

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skate ranch was on almeda genoa...the blankhawk one was something else and it kills me i can't remember. for some reason kirkmont is coming to mind but i know that wasn't the name but i know i'm thinking back to 1980 or 81

That road has several names now..before it crosses I-45 it's Edgebrook, then it's Clearwood until it crosses Fuqua, then it's Blackhawk. Why so many names? Couldn't find any other reference on historic aerials for Blackhawk, maybe you guys can give it a try.

When I think of that whole area, I always think of the Bullfrog, a club in some apts. off of Old Galveston Road and Edgebrook. It was a very popular club in the '70's, but that was before my partying time. The Diamondback Saloon was a popular club in the '80s, after the urban cowboy craze hit, was located close to Almeda Mall.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I haven't lived over there for many years, but my parents still do. It's changed so much - it's all concrete now. The whole area was

still pretty much wide open spaces when I escaped Dobie in '75. The whole Southbelt area seems so congested and compact now.

But I do remember....

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  • 1 year later...

The entire area from Almeda-Genoa south was ranchland when my family moved to Genoa in 1955. Humble Oil, now Exxon, operated the Friendswood Oilfield and for a brief period in the early 70s it was one of the more productive oilfields in the world. Friendswood started getting more development in the early and mid 60s. Before that it wasn't much but a Quaker church and a supermarket called Baker's that didn't sell alcohol or cigarettes. Humble Oil had some campgrounds for local Boy Scout troops, called Humble Woods, and I spent many a weekend camping there.

Before the development of Sagemont, there was Beverly Hills. The post office was in Genoa. The kids went to Jessup and Genoa elementaries, South Houston Junior High and High schools. In fact, my older sister spent a bit over a year at Pasadena High before South Houston High School was built.

Before Sagemont was built, there was an old building that would now be located in the middle of Beltway 8, just east of the Gulf Freeway. It was an orphanage of some sort.

That's all the memories I can call up for now.

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Zephyr, I know someone has talked about that orphanage in that location, before. Great to hear another story. I remember Genoa, used to cut throught those back roads, behind the drive-in, by the post office...led to Old Galveston Rd.

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I have tried to dig up stuff on Beverly Hills and Eastridge Terrace but haven't had much luck. There are remnants of Beverly Hills brick entrance markers (off of Kingspoint toward Almeda Mall and also by Atkinson Elementary) but only one has the B and H left on it.

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Zephyr, I know someone has talked about that orphanage in that location, before. Great to hear another story. I remember Genoa, used to cut throught those back roads, behind the drive-in, by the post office...led to Old Galveston Rd.

That was probably me. I remember the building being on the inbound side of the freeway. It was diffenently some type of orphange because it had playground equipment out front. (you know us kids could spot a swingset or slide from a mile away, and going 60 miles an hour).

Anyway, it had a sign that read Dyer Home on the front gate. I remember that because that's the same name that appears on the smaller HISD stadium next to Delmar.

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http://www.houstonar...-old-orphanage/

post # 16...Plumber, u did talk about it, Dyer Home. Maybe near Ellington AFB, but closer to the interurban/ Gulf Frwy? Must be sitting in Brazoria County. Can't find any records in the block books (harris co.) or maps.Stilll looking.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/texas/txu-pclmaps-topo-tx-friendswood-1955.jpg

can you tell where it would be from this 1955 Friendswood map? Ellington Field is interesting, so detailed. Guessing the Home was near the Humble Camp?

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I grew up down the street from the Gulfway. We could sit in the front yard and watch the movie. One night we got creative and had a kid sneak in to hook up a Radio Shack 2-way radio to one of the speakers. It worked through about 3/4 of "Cheyenne Autumn". I suspect a security guard found it.

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http://www.houstonar...-old-orphanage/

post # 16...Plumber, u did talk about it, Dyer Home. Maybe near Ellington AFB, but closer to the interurban/ Gulf Frwy? Must be sitting in Brazoria County. Can't find any records in the block books (harris co.) or maps.Stilll looking.

http://www.lib.utexa...dswood-1955.jpg

can you tell where it would be from this 1955 Friendswood map? Ellington Field is interesting, so detailed. Guessing the Home was near the Humble Camp?

I'm guess west of the Humble Camp, and on the east side of the Gulf Freeway. There's a T-shaped mark there and that could be it.

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I just tried to post an aerial shot of that bldg, from Historical Aerials. Apparently, I don't know how to, properly. Can someone give me a simple lesson on how to share from the site?

I found another pic of that bldg. Wanted to share it with u. Did it face I-45 South, close to the road? I think it was the t-shaped place. Was gone in the 1973 aerial.

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I just tried to post an aerial shot of that bldg, from Historical Aerials. Apparently, I don't know how to, properly. Can someone give me a simple lesson on how to share from the site?

I found another pic of that bldg. Wanted to share it with u. Did it face I-45 South, close to the road? I think it was the t-shaped place. Was gone in the 1973 aerial.

Yes, it faced I-45 South. But like I stated in my earlier post (thank you Nena), I remember it being close to (just south of) an overpass, presumably present day Scarsdale.

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http://www.historica...66021&year=1964

I figured it out, somewhat...Historic Aerials photo, 1964, by 1973 it's gone. In the photo., The T-structure (Dyer Home?) sits just north of Old Choate Rd.

When I look at it in modern-day setting on GoogleEarth, the old location falls on the east side of I-45, opposite a travel-trailer park (west side of freeway), and in between two businesses.

The (East side) left bldg. (also T-shaped) business is for sale or lease, in GoogleEarth, at least.

It once had truck trailers covering the "home" property, if that was indeed the exact location of Dyer Home.

The old t-shaped bldg. would have sat just east of where the billboard stands, if you are interested in the exact location.

Maybe plumber2 can verify the location by the 1964 photograph.

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