Westbury Square Developments

[nm5k]

MK, i enjoyed your post; some replies to some of your comments are below:

Dude, if you have that 1960 air photo of Westbury digitized, I would LOVE a copy. I'm an aficionado of the old neighborhood, big time..I have very few pics..

I finally got the full 1960 westbury pix up on my briefcase.. "30 megs of room I get to post junk.."

I won't try to link it to here, as the file is about 1.5 mb, and you really want to see it at it's full res

to get the best detail.

I've tried to date it from

looking at it, and as close as I can tell, I think it was

taken in winter of 1959-60. One reason is our house was supposed

to have been built in 1959, and I do remember the original

A/C permit saying 1959, but I forget what month. In this

picture, our house looks to be done. Another clue is the

shadows, and angle. The picture was taken in the morning,

maybe 9-10 AM ??, and from the angle of the sun from the

east, I would judge winter. The sun is coming more from the

southern hemisphere, where as in the summer, the sun is

more from the due east, or even slightly north position.

So... My guess is winter 1959-60..

It's possible it could be W 60-61, but being they hadn't started

Westbury high yet, I'm leaning to W 59-60... Westbury high was

done in either 61 or 62 if I remember right.

Lots of interesting things..

Westbury Square, or any of the shopping center, bank, etc

is there yet, but it looks like they had just started laying

out the square. Westbury High is not there, but the watertower

is. Note the faint remnants of the old Sam Houston airport.

You can faintly see parts of the runway, and the entry road.

Domain Privee over on old main is still pretty intact as

it was, and you can still see the "star" out in the yard.

Note how it looks like Old Main used to go farther west across

the tracks.

Note.. No freeway.. Post Oak was still the main drag in at

that time. Note the property with trees, houses, roads,

etc n/e of where Meyer Park would be. Is that the old

Meyer place you all are talking about? I guess this is

how it used to look, if it is.. Quite a spread...

The Westbury Centerette at Bellfort/Chimneyrock seems to

be there.. Ditto for the U-totem building on Bellfort..

No jack in the box yet...:/ Remember that jack used to live

at Bellfort/Chimneyrock instead of Bellfort/Post Oak..

Used to be a Baskin Robbins, etc next to U-totem.. The

guy that used to live across the street ran a barber

shop there too.. The building now known as foodarama seems

to be there. The old bowling alley at Post Oak/willow seems

to be there. I think Post Oak Bar-B-Q also.. Actually, I

knew a guy that worked there in jr hi about 1970-71, and

even then , that place had been there like 30+ years

according to what the old owner had said.

So I guess it was there going way back to the prairie days..

Meyer Speedway is there. But no Hillcraft at that point..

They had just started building over the airport..

You can see S.Willow and Gasmer were both there, and they

are also old streets going back to at least the late 30's,

early 40's. They are shown on the 1942 planning map.

Note the prairie north of Johnston jr hi.. Would be houses

there soon. The bayou looks pretty full.. Might have rained

the night before..?? Note the racetrack looking thing near

Main and Hiram Clark..Wonder what that was.. Looks about the

same size as the running track at Johnston...

At that point, the double lane W.Bellfort ended at Mullins.

I know a couple of people that lived on Bellfort at that

point.. I showed him this picture and one had said that some

of the houses, included theirs, had been "model" homes when

that place started.

One still lives there. "The two lived next door to each other."

Note the almost utter lack of trees at all the new houses.

Ours was bare too. Of course, now the trees are quite tall,

and gives the place a lot different look from the air.

The building that held the old 7-11 at Belrose/Burdine

seems to be there. But no Texaco station across the street yet,

nor the Gulf station that would be next door, next to the yet

to be fire station. No apartments yet either..

The last to be built in that area would be the Westbury Square

town homes which would be built when I moved here in 69.

They had just started framing those out when we moved here

and were probably done in 1970 sometime. They were real nice

when they were first built. And it was all open. If you lived

in those townhouses, you could walk around the courtyard

sidewalks around to where it met with the square, and bingo,

you were in the square. Also, that was the route I took to

and from school everyday. Of course, now it's all fenced in,

with gates, etc.. The whole place is basically ruined from

what it used to be. Now it's no different than any other

run of the mill gated apt complex..

Back in the old days, living in the square, or even the townhomes

connecting it, was kinda like living in old Europe..

That was the whole idea from the beginning. Note the way

Village Inn was designed kind of like an old English pub..

Parker School is there, but not the pool yet..

Of course, Godwin and Godwin park were still open land,

and ditto for Anderson School, and Hager park. You can see

how they seemed to have left room for both of those, and

probably was planned into the sub from the beginning.

What I would really like to see is older pix of the same

area from say the 30's and 40's, early 50's.. I'm also looking

for more history of the ownership, etc of the land back then.

I assume most was for farming, rice fields, etc.. I'd like to

know fer instance exactly who owned the land I'm sitting on

back in the old days.. Was it part of a large spread, or maybe

a smaller tract.. Only the shadow, and maybe the courthouse,

archives, etc know fer sure..

I haven't bothered going to any of those yet..

BTW, I hope the word wrap doesn't go flaky on me, and roll my

lines 300 miles long. Some of this I prewrote before I got

online, and just pasted it in..

Oh yea, the url is...

http://briefcase.wt.net/cgi-perl/ListConte...=public&id=

and the file name is "westbury60.jpg". I wish I could just direct link it without

having to go to the menu, but I'd have to put it on my web server, and

there ain't enuff room for it... They only give me a chinchy 5 mb for my

website.. I can barely run a usable website with that..

If anyone wants to post it from another site, be my guest.. I got it

from the westbury civic club website... I tried to find it on there,

but couldn't ...I guess they don't have it anymore, or I couldn't

find it... I checked all their old archives... The page seemed to be

gone..

MK

[Alpha]

What a great picture. It's really strange to see Westbury's water tower and no school right next to it.

I lived in Marilyn Estates - the subdivision just west of Johnston. This picture must be 1959, because Kolter Elementary hasn't been built, and it was open when we moved there in October of 1960.

[57Tbird]

That is a fantastic photo! Amazing to see what the area around my first house, in Westbury South, looked like just before it was built in the Spring of 1961. Many vacant lots. I was on the west side of Landsdowne, between Fontenelle and Firenza. We were really out in the boonies then. Had to go a Burger King on Post Oak, near WillowBend, for our first Whoppers. The races at Meyer Speedway on Saturday nights sounded like they were almost next door.

[stu]

Hello All

I went ahead and posted the Westbury '60 image on one of my servers. it is at http://rootmedia.net/images/westbury60.jpg . thanks for that MK (and Croberts, who had also sent me a copy) A couple of things:

MK wrote "The Westbury Centerette at Bellfort/Chimneyrock seems to be there.. Ditto for the U-totem building on Bellfort..No jack in the box yet..." Right you are, MK. I went back a couple of months ago, and that old pharmacy building with the bright blue mosaic tiles in the Westbury Centerette was STILL unoccupied, and still had the old soda fountain counter I remember cherry cokes at on the way home from from 7th grade at Johnston(I peeked in the window 2006, and it's still an old abandoned pharmacy.) I remember them building that Jack in the Box. They made a big deal on the radio about how you could actually get a burger by driving through the place; Jack was the 1st drive through. Jumbo Jacks were 26 cents; drinks were 10, 15, and 25 cents..

"At that point, the double lane W.Bellfort ended at Mullins." Yup; actually, it went four houses beyond Mullins, to where Landsdown would have met it instead. Mullins ran parallel, but did not go through to all the way to Willow Bayou; Landsdown ran from beyond W. Airport ALMOST to Bellfort, but for a couple of rows of houses which stood between. We used to hang out under that bridge at Willow Bayou and Landsdown after school at Anderson sometimes, skipping rocks on the water, fishing for crawdads, and stuff. I went back there this year, and went under that bridge to show the spot to my daughter, and the view is EXACTLY the same, uh, er, except for the gang grafitti, of course. It was almost but not quite like setting my watch back 40 years.

"The building that held the old 7-11 at Belrose/Burdine seems to be there. But no Texaco station across the street yet," - Ah, that old 7-11. Cokes were 8 cents when we got there, and 2 cents for the bottle. I remember playing as a kid in the excavation when they were putting in the tanks that would hold the gas at that Texaco. I also climbed up the ladder on the inside of that 'Westbury High' water tower too, once, and peered out from the little round porthole at the top of the stem.. It was a scary climb, but worth it, thinking back..

"What I would really like to see is older pix of the same area from say the 30's and 40's, early 50's.."

Apparently the airport was established at some point before 1943. here is an image circa 1949-51 which, as best I can tell, was about at what would be Landsdown and Ludington, across the street where Anderson Elementary is now. (Perhaps it was on the other side of the school, where the park is now.)

Sam Houston Airport was bounded by what would eventually be South Main, Chimney Rock, West Bellfort, and Hillcroft. Here's a 1950 image of a fellow approaching the airport, to the northwest, about to cross over main street.

there's an annoted version of the 1960 map to show where the runways and 'tower' had been, but it is hard to read because of the small file size.. The tripod site where these pics are from is very interesting, if you haven't seen it yet: http://tinyurl.com/k67ld

anyway, thanks for posting. everyone send more if you can.

STU

DFW USA

Edited August 17, 2006 by stu

[57Tbird]

This is making me question the reliability of HCAD's records, however: My house on Torchlight*, which, according to HCAD, was built in 1959, is in the picture, but one a bit farther down the street, which, according to HCAD, was built in 1958, is not. I was trying to see if I could help you date the picture any more precisely, but your guess is as good as (or better than) mine. 1959ish sounds about right.

I agree about the accuracy... rather inaccuracy... of the HCAD dates. They have my old house listed as built in 1964. It was built in 1961...the year I moved in. The house of my old neighbor across the street from me was built in 1960. HCAD has that right, and it is not in the picture. I checked the HCAD build dates of some of the other houses in my neighborhood that are in the picture, and they are listed as built in 1958, which might be a little early. So I agree with the dating of the photo.... 1959-early 1960.

[nm5k]

Hello All

I went ahead and posted the Westbury '60 image on one of my servers. it is at http://rootmedia.net/images/westbury60.jpg . thanks for that MK (and Croberts, who had also sent me a copy) A couple of things:

MK wrote "The Westbury Centerette at Bellfort/Chimneyrock seems to be there.. Ditto for the U-totem building on Bellfort..No jack in the box yet..." Right you are, MK. I went back a couple of months ago, and that old pharmacy building with the bright blue mosaic tiles in the Westbury Centerette was STILL unoccupied, and still had the old soda fountain counter I remember cherry cokes at on the way home from from 7th grade at Johnston(I peeked in the window 2006, and it's still an old abandoned pharmacy.)

I notice the old original "westbury centerette" sign with the clock is still there. That sign was probably

there in 1959. It's pretty old.

\

We used to hang out under that bridge at Willow Bayou and Landsdown after school at Anderson sometimes, skipping rocks on the water, fishing for crawdads, and stuff. I went back there this year, and went under that bridge to show the spot to my daughter, and the view is EXACTLY the same, uh, er, except for the gang grafitti, of course. It was almost but not quite like setting my watch back 40 years.

We had a "bayou" that ran along the rear of the houses across the street. It was pretty much

our playground back when we were young. I remember once we dug a large underground

fort alongside the bayou with a tin roof on it. We used it for a while until the first huge rain.

It was then a nice deep wading pool... :/ I used to catch little fish, minnows, etc, and throw em

in my aquarium along with my other storebought fish. They seemed to get along ok.. They had

guppies, etc in that bayou..

"The building that held the old 7-11 at Belrose/Burdine seems to be there. But no Texaco station across the street yet," - Ah, that old 7-11. Cokes were 8 cents when we got there, and 2 cents for the bottle. I remember playing as a kid in the excavation when they were putting in the tanks that would hold the gas at that Texaco. I also climbed up the ladder on the inside of that 'Westbury High' water tower too, once, and peered out from the little round porthole at the top of the stem.. It was a scary climb, but worth it, thinking back..

I climbed up in that thing one time.. Not sure I remember the porthole though..

"What I would really like to see is older pix of the same area from say the 30's and 40's, early 50's.."

Apparently the airport was established at some point before 1943. here is an image circa 1949-51 which, as best I can tell, was about at what would be Landsdown and Ludington, across the street where Anderson Elementary is now. (Perhaps it was on the other side of the school, where the park is now.)

Sam Houston Airport was bounded by what would eventually be South Main, Chimney Rock, West Bellfort, and Hillcroft. Here's a 1950 image of a fellow approaching the airport, to the northwest, about to cross over main street.

there's an annoted version of the 1960 map to show where the runways and 'tower' had been, but it is hard to read because of the small file size.. The tripod site where these pics are from is very interesting, if you haven't seen it yet: http://tinyurl.com/k67ld

Yep, I'm the one that supplied some of that stuff. IE: the annoted pix, and the approach pix in the

old AG aircraft. That plane was built at that airport by Anderson Greenwood. They eventually got

into the valve, etc biz.. So I guess it would qualify as a Houston product..

I'd lived here since 1969 and didn't know that airport was there until a few months ago. I then

did a search and ran into that guys "abandoned airfield" site. He originally guessed Sam Houston

airport as being east of chimney rock. It was by using the old Westbury pix, and also street

maps, that I came to the conclusion it was really west of chimney rock. I sent him the info ,

and he updated the site with the new location. I'm curious... What makes you think the

airport buildings in that pix are close to Landsdown and Ludington? Is it something you see?

I was thinking those were of the buildings just off the entrance from south main, but am

not actually sure.. One reason that annoted pix is hard to read is because I compressed it quite a bit

to save file size. The original I have is much easier to read.

MK

[Willowisp]

Hi,

Thanks so much for reposting that pic for everyone. I found my house! It's great to see the way my neighborhood used to be. My house borders S. Post Oak, but it's interesting to see how much distance there used to be between my lot and the street. Now it's the lot, a wall, a sidewalk and then 6 lanes.

Jason

[lofiunico]

My family up until recently (the past 5-10 years or so) has been pretty involved in the Westbury area. My mom worked at the candle shop when she was in high school back in the mid to late 1970s. My paternal grandfather owned and operated his business in one of those offices along West Bellfort. Both of my parents lived on Spellman right past the intersection of West Bellfort and Chimney Rock. My aunt and uncle used to own the medical practice on the opposite corner of that intersection. They sold it and I don't really know what's become of it. I often get to hear my parents talk about the square. It's neat to see more of what I've heard so much about.

Edited August 21, 2006 by lofiunico

[Doc Chocula]

Wow!! What a great thread here. I have joined the site today after stumbling upon this conversation while searching for Johnston info. We moved to the Willow Meadows area in 1963. We lived on Silverwood and went to Red Elem, Johnston and then zoned to Madison. Since I was in the class of 74, I must have known MK since I was in the Johnston Band as well. Some of the names are bringing back images of school and baseball buddies. Someone mentioned cross country track which I tried along with my friend David Peverley. It was a disaster. We would stop in the bayou drain pipe and smoke untill the group came back and we would join them for the trip "home".

What an amazing picture you brought to my attention (westbury60). Thank you all for sharing memories of an area that is so hazy in my memory banks. It is bringing those memories into focus and starting to add a little color.

If anyone remembers a Dark Green 1969 Shelby GT500 convertible in the area, it was mine.

Jon Miller

[Willowisp]

Question for those of you in the Willowbend/Willow Meadows/Westbury area around the time of building the 610:

What was the traffic like during construction of the 610? What were the main streets people used before and during that time? I'm guessing Post Oak was "the main drag" as someone had said. It would be cool to hear more about that as my house borders S. Post Oak. Maybe the fences weren't sound walls as they are now and you might remember the 50's Modern houses on the right as you crossed Willow Waterhole going toward Willowbend Ave. That's where we live...

Jason

Wow!! What a great thread here. I have joined the site today after stumbling upon this conversation while searching for Johnston info. We moved to the Willow Meadows area in 1963. We lived on Silverwood and went to Red Elem, Johnston and then zoned to Madison. Since I was in the class of 74, I must have known MK since I was in the Johnston Band as well. Some of the names are bringing back images of school and baseball buddies. Someone mentioned cross country track which I tried along with my friend David Peverley. It was a disaster. We would stop in the bayou drain pipe and smoke untill the group came back and we would join them for the trip "home".

What an amazing picture you brought to my attention (westbury60). Thank you all for sharing memories of an area that is so hazy in my memory banks. It is bringing those memories into focus and starting to add a little color.

If anyone remembers a Dark Green 1969 Shelby GT500 convertible in the area, it was mine.

Jon Miller

[Croberts]

In 1956 I moved to redstart in Willow brook??. I remember that the houses were small, and not really ranch style, though what they were escapes me. They had some interesting design elements. Mine had a patio and a partially flat roof with gravel on it that came off on the patio when it rained. The house was small, and in 1959 we moved to Arboles in westbury.

Most of the fencing was redwood lattice, which turned out to be a bad idea. It did not weather well, and looked ratty after a couple of years.

Post Oak must have been the biggest n-s road in sw houston at the time of construction of 610. I remember the Zindler mansion was torn down to build the freeway (Marvin Zindlers family owned a chain of clothing stores, Zindlers).

Post oak south of braes bayou was rural like, and in westbury there was a large nursery and a dynamite bar-b-que place. When they built 610 it initially did not enterface well with post oak, but in the late 60s or 70s they built the current post oak ramp.

The sound wall you mentioned I do not remember but I was last there in 1979.

[Willowisp]

Hi,

Willowbrook does have mostly small but nice homes. Still, I think that it is a good little area, like Westbury, for people who want to buy a house close to town but can't afford Meyerland (yet?). I hope that good people continue to find this area instead of moving WAY out of town, but as stated before, it's hard to want to live here faced with the idea that if you have kids they will someday go to Westbury High with its reputation as it is right now. And that's a sad catch 22 for Westbury (seems like Sharpstown is probably in a similar situation).

Thanks for the info. It's easy to forget that Willowbend was the edge of town back then and interesting to think of Post Oak as a rural type of road like a Farm to Market road.

I don't know when the soundwall was built, but it's forgettable. Right now it is an issue for us because it is very inadequete for 6 lanes of heavy truck traffic, and big trucks are a main vehicle on S. Post Oak. I think it was put in in the 80s. There are many places where it has been crashed through by cars (drunks mostly). It's up to the owner and their insurance to put the wall back up (not the city). What has ended up happening (probably due to owners' lack of insurance) is that you will get a wood fence where there was a sound wall, so it's kind of a patchwork. Concrete, wood, concrete, different wood, etc... To me, it's obvious that this is the face of our neighborhood and something should be done to beautify it. That means money.

I could go on and on about it, but I'm going to stop here!

Jason

In 1956 I moved to redstart in Willow brook??. I remember that the houses were small, and not really ranch style, though what they were escapes me. They had some interesting design elements. Mine had a patio and a partially flat roof with gravel on it that came off on the patio when it rained. The house was small, and in 1959 we moved to Arboles in westbury.

Most of the fencing was redwood lattice, which turned out to be a bad idea. It did not weather well, and looked ratty after a couple of years.

Post Oak must have been the biggest n-s road in sw houston at the time of construction of 610. I remember the Zindler mansion was torn down to build the freeway (Marvin Zindlers family owned a chain of clothing stores, Zindlers).

Post oak south of braes bayou was rural like, and in westbury there was a large nursery and a dynamite bar-b-que place. When they built 610 it initially did not enterface well with post oak, but in the late 60s or 70s they built the current post oak ramp.

The sound wall you mentioned I do not remember but I was last there in 1979.

Edited August 28, 2006 by Willowisp

[Croberts]

I remember after the oil embargo in the 1970s, when regular went from 29 cents a gallon to $2.50 a gallon, everyone wanted to move "inside the loop". I expect that will happen again, only this time, gas prices are unlikely go down that much. My best childhood memories are from living on redstart, and the houses, though small, were in many ways, jewels. I hope that this time, willowbend will seem to Houstonians to be close to town, and you will experience a boom. If they build the wetland marshes off gasner (sic) for willow water hole, you will have a lot of preserved open space nearby. Cant say anything about Westbury high though.

My 1921 topo shows that there are no roads between brays bayou and s. main, nor are there any west of the n-s rr track to the east of you. Neither willow waterhole nor brays have been channelized yet. There is only 1 house shown west of willow water hole and south of Brays.

[nm5k]

I think you mean the nursury and Bar-B-Q that was

on Willowbend just east of the RR tracks. I remember that

Bar B Q place from when we moved here. We went there

a few times, but eventually it burned down. Post Oak Ranch

Bar B Q is still on Post Oak. They have some pretty good

stuff too. PO ranch has been there a long time. Next

time I'm in there, I'll see if anyone knows when if first

opened. I remember the old owner from the 60's-70's,

and then he sold it to a guy named Moses. He was there

probably through the 80's, 90's. I'm not sure, but think Moses

might have recently sold it to someone else, but I'm not sure.

I remember the Willowbend Bar -B Q having loads of

cowboy artifacts hung up in the dining room.. Hummm..

Now that I think about it, I think the Bar B Q land itself

became a nursury.. At the moment, I think it's unused,

but I'd have to double check. I drive by there quite often.

MK

[Croberts]

When I lived in Westbury South in the early 60's, there was a nursery on Gasmer, just west of Post Oak, and a bar-b-que place at the southeast corner of Post Oak and Benning. Are those the ones you refer to?

Yes, the nursery was huge, and the bar-b-que place was great, it had wonderful fries and chopped beef sandwiches. I believe that there was also a bowling alley and a burger king on that stretch of post oak, and the burger king must be one of the originals. I think the firm (based in miami) started in 65 and that is about the time that we started eating whoppers.

[pineda]

some ads from Westbury's past

[57Tbird]

Yes, the nursery was huge, and the bar-b-que place was great, it had wonderful fries and chopped beef sandwiches. I believe that there was also a bowling alley and a burger king on that stretch of post oak, and the burger king must be one of the originals. I think the firm (based in miami) started in 65 and that is about the time that we started eating whoppers.

I think you're right about that Burger King being one of the originals. I had never heard of them before that one opened. My regular Sunday evening trek was Landsdowne to W. Airport to Chimney Rock to Gasmer to Post Oak to Burger King, just north of Willowbend. Mid-60's... a Whopper was $.35.

[isuredid]

[nm5k]

1965 was about the first time I burger kinged. But.. It was the one in Overland Park KS..

And I do remember 35 cent whoppers. When I moved here in 69, I transferred my

burger eating duties to the one on Post Oak. I think Whoppers had gone up to about

55 cents by then. Course, that burger king is long gone. I just went to the burger king

on Fondren/Bellfort tonight. But two whoppers ran me about 5 bucks plus...

Whataburger has also been around quite a while. I think there is one on telephone rd

or therabouts that has been there quite a long time. It was built before the orange

paint scheme they use now if I remember right. I think it had the weird roof angles,

but was mostly white. But.. I might be confused.. Wouldn't be the first time..

MK

[musicman]

Whataburger has also been around quite a while. I think there is one on telephone rd

or therabouts that has been there quite a long time. It was built before the orange

paint scheme they use now if I remember right. I think it had the weird roof angles,

but was mostly white. But.. I might be confused.. Wouldn't be the first time..

MK

Where on Telephone approximately? i'm drawing a blank. I just remember the A-frame Whataburgers of which a few still exist.

[Vertigo58]

I know a thread for Westbury Square was started but I think I might have been a bit late getting to it. In that thread I mentioned yesterday that for the first time I went back there to visit a coffee shop that just started up a couple of months ago. Yesterday was really the very first time I stepped foot back on their turf. It's weird to see it now, when you remember many things about it then. Today it looks almost like a ghost town to see whats left, yet I believe the coffee shop might bring some extra life back into it! If you wish to stop there for a visit, here is a phone # 713-728-JAVA

When I was a child, the year of 1985 Westbury Square had a Halloween costume contest which I won first place as a home made robot. And today I still have the trophy which is what I wanted to share with this forum. Here are two photos of it which I snapped. Yet I wondered if anyone else here has photos from those costume contest or stories about them.

I guess I could put this on ebay, but it's mine and I wish not to sell

I am a long time Houstonian and know for a fact that Westbury was a prime neighborhood to live and attend schools 80's. That was then Now you couldn't pay me to go near it. The media has either overrated the crime or its just plain out of control. I knew a person that worked placing people in housing after Katrina and thats exactly where he was sending them to live. I will leave it at that. Westbury High was a exemplery school once. I have sympathy for any teacher, student or faculty that have to go there. The cancer has already spread. Divine intervention please! or an exorcism?

[nm5k]

The cancer has already spread. Divine intervention please! or an exorcism?

Here in my house in Westbury, it seems the same as it's ever been. No one

messes with me. I'll give them a free ventilation service if they bust through

my door. The neighborhood I'm in is no more dangerous than it was in the

70's-80's.. Looks about the same too..

As another note on Westbury Square.. I was reading a book called "hairy legged men"..

Naw, just kidding, it was called "sharp dressed men".. A storybook about ZZ top and

their adventures or maybe misadventures at times... :/

I noticed that ZZ Top was "legally" born at 602 Westbury Square, on June 20, 1969.

Being it's been so long since I wandered through there, I forgot where "602" was..

Fer some reason, I'm thinking in the offices above the old pizza place, but I'm not

sure..

Course, in 1969, ZZ Top was Dan M Mitchell, Bill Gibbons, and Lanier H. Greig jr.

MK

[Vertigo58]

Here in my house in Westbury, it seems the same as it's ever been. No one

messes with me. I'll give them a free ventilation service if they bust through

my door. The neighborhood I'm in is no more dangerous than it was in the

70's-80's.. Looks about the same too..

As another note on Westbury Square.. I was reading a book called "hairy legged men"..

Naw, just kidding, it was called "sharp dressed men".. A storybook about ZZ top and

their adventures or maybe misadventures at times... :/

I noticed that ZZ Top was "legally" born at 602 Westbury Square, on June 20, 1969.

Being it's been so long since I wandered through there, I forgot where "602" was..

Fer some reason, I'm thinking in the offices above the old pizza place, but I'm not

sure..

Course, in 1969, ZZ Top was Dan M Mitchell, Bill Gibbons, and Lanier H. Greig jr.

MK

That was hilarious, that ZZ Top notation was good and probably valid in the days when Westbury was still filled with hip rocknrollers. The media sure has it portrayed as gangstas with doo rags, big neck chains, huge oversized (looks like they crapped in thier pants) baggy shorts, exteme tattoes, major extreme body piercings, AK-47's. Basically, if you dont look like an extra from "Cops" you might not fit in. There has to be someone still trying to save the place? You have my sympathy, we have our hip hops to deal with on the east side too. Sometimes I wonder if Houston will ever stop becoming another South Central LA or Oakland. Like the drunkard guy in the old movie "The Bird's" said...It's the end of the world I tell ya!

[Fringe]

I'm new to this site and man does this thread about Westbury Square bring back lots of memories. Especially since I graduated from Westbury HS in 69. I used to hang out a lot at Mr. Fantasy and the Electric Paisley in the 60's and early 70's. Anybody remember the Cheese Man shop? My wife worked there in the 70's -early 80's, as well as Rumpleheimer's in the 60's. (The guy that owned the place was a major assh*le). It was such a great place but the people that owned the square would later sell out to some NYC firm and it went downhill fast. The square started deteriorating rapidly in the 80's and the NYC owners would never even attempt to fix the place up. It's a shame because it was already becoming an historic place.

[TxFireguy]

I think you mean the nursury and Bar-B-Q that was

on Willowbend just east of the RR tracks. I remember that

Bar B Q place from when we moved here. We went there

a few times, but eventually it burned down. Post Oak Ranch

Bar B Q is still on Post Oak. They have some pretty good

stuff too. PO ranch has been there a long time. Next

time I'm in there, I'll see if anyone knows when if first

opened. I remember the old owner from the 60's-70's,

and then he sold it to a guy named Moses. He was there

probably through the 80's, 90's. I'm not sure, but think Moses

might have recently sold it to someone else, but I'm not sure.

I remember the Willowbend Bar -B Q having loads of

cowboy artifacts hung up in the dining room.. Hummm..

Now that I think about it, I think the Bar B Q land itself

became a nursury.. At the moment, I think it's unused,

but I'd have to double check. I drive by there quite often.

MK

The BBQ place east of the tracks was called Mels, I believe. Burger King has come up quite a bit in this thread. now here is a question. Sometime before or after Burger King was built, the Walgreens building at Willowbend and Post Oak had a very similar resturant next door to it. It was not there that long but did have a sandwich I believe was called a Yumbo with ham in it. I know what the name of this place was. Does anyone else know. I know LunaticFringe knows, so don't answer

See you at Rumplheimers...

[Fringe]

The BBQ place east of the tracks was called Mels, I believe. Burger King has come up quite a bit in this thread. now here is a question. Sometime before or after Burger King was built, the Walgreens building at Willowbend and Post Oak had a very similar resturant next door to it. It was not there that long but did have a sandwich I believe was called a Yumbo with ham in it. I know what the name of this place was. Does anyone else know. I know LunaticFringe knows, so don't answer

Oh, Oh, I know!

[nm5k]

Don't remember Yumbo ham-burger, but yea, Mels...Thats the name..Pretty sure.

I also wonder what will ever become of the bowling alley. They have it fenced

up, but it all pretty much looks intact. Been vacant for a long time.. At least

I think it's vacant... I don't know when it was built, but I guess in the late 50's

judging from the way it used to look inside.. It used to have a little restarant

inside at the front.

It seems to be there in the 1960 pix.

MK

[Jermaine]

Wonder what became of that cutie on the right?

[isuredid]

Wonder what became of that cutie on the right?

I think she got married in 1974 and is still married to the same man and still living in Houston. I would venture to speculate that she doesn't look quite the same almost 40 years later, but I don't know her personally so I can't state that as fact

[57Tbird]

I think she got married in 1974 and is still married to the same man and still living in Houston. I would venture to speculate that she doesn't look quite the same almost 40 years later, but I don't know her personally so I can't state that as fact

What was/is her last name?