KCB3329 Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Does anyone remember a pigeonholr parking garage around the vincinity of Bell and Travis Streets sometime during the 60's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 What is a pigeonhole parking garage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 i was wondering the same thing - stumbled across this:http://www.djc.com/news/co/11149494.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Ah, thanks. Didn't Houston have an early automated garage, but around where Jones Hall is now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 I found a picture of Bell and Travis from 1979. On the Travis/Bell/Main block there was an old-fashioned looking two-story building with a number of retail stores, but also a sign saying "World's Greatest Garage" on the Bell side. Is this what you were thinking of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCB3329 Posted March 20, 2006 Author Share Posted March 20, 2006 I found a picture of Bell and Travis from 1979. On the Travis/Bell/Main block there was an old-fashioned looking two-story building with a number of retail stores, but also a sign saying "World's Greatest Garage" on the Bell side. Is this what you were thinking of?Yes! It is. Do you happent to have a picture of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCB3329 Posted March 20, 2006 Author Share Posted March 20, 2006 Was this the 2-story brick building across from Polk Street ( Conoco building)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Here are two: It didn't come out on the scan, but on the far left of the top photo there is the "World's Greatest Garage" sign. The bottom is a close-up of the building from Bell & Travis and you can see the "Wo" of the sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCB3329 Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 I remeber this building, but I don't believe this was the garage ( probably a mechanic shop ) but I think it was near the vincinity of this building on Travis Street/ Bell Street. Is this building still standing or has it become another surface lot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Another surface lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neuman Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 The building you're thinking of was 5-6 stories and was demolished in the mid to late 90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 Are you thinking of the garage that was at Travis and Clay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCB3329 Posted March 27, 2006 Author Share Posted March 27, 2006 Are you thinking of the garage that was at Travis and Clay?I'm not sure, but I do know its around the Humble Building. My grandpa remebers not wanting to park there since he was afraid that his car would fall out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Does anyone remember a pigeonholr parking garage around the vincinity of Bell and Travis Streets sometime during the 60's?I remember one of these but from much earlier, ca. the early 50s. I would guess it was on Travis. We would have parked there and walked to Mosk's for Men in the 500 block of Main and Battelsteins shopping for clothes so the location at Bell and Travis would have been quite a hike for a young mother with two little boys in tow. Maybe I'm remembering one further north.From what I have found on line there were two companies that did those mechanized parking systems, Pigeon Hole Parking and Bowser Parking Systems. Here's a link to Bowser's involvement with the Gateway Arch in St. Louis: http://www.nps.gov/jeff/dick_bowser.html. I also found a link to robopark; apparently these systems are still used in Europe and are completely automated.I was like your Grandpa - I had nightmares about our car rolling right off the lift and out the back side of the thing and smashing to the ground. Also, when we stood there and watched, it would seem from our vantage point the car was not lined up with the pigeon hole and I would worry it was going to hit the structure and knock it over. The one I remember was only one car deep, I think, and didn't look very stable to me. I worried about a lot of things like that when I was a little kid.I bet if you went down to the Texas Room at the Library and looked in some of the old telephone directories in the period you're interested in under Pigeon Hole Parking or Bowser Systems you'd find a listing. They had to have attendants to operate them so there should have been a phone. Or look in the Yellow Pages under Parking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCB3329 Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 Does anyone happen to have a picture of this garage? I think that this is the one that I remember from those long gone years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earlydays Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Does anyone happen to have a picture of this garage? I think that this is the one that I remember from those long gone years.I remember the garage well from the '50's, it was in the block behind the down town Foley's store. I believe it operated into the early '60's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted April 29, 2006 Share Posted April 29, 2006 The 1955 City Directory shows Pigeon Hole Garages office at 121 Oil and Gas Bldg. but no listings for garages. The 1959 City Directory shows a Pigeon Hole Parking Garage at 1202 Travis; that would be one block south of the Foley's garage. Those were the only directories available in that time period when I was at the Texas Room. There were no listings for Bowser Parking Systems.I wonder if they had more than one installation around town, even more than one on Travis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earlydays Posted April 29, 2006 Share Posted April 29, 2006 The 1955 City Directory shows Pigeon Hole Garages office at 121 Oil and Gas Bldg. but no listings for garages. The 1959 City Directory shows a Pigeon Hole Parking Garage at 1202 Travis; that would be one block south of the Foley's garage. Those were the only directories available in that time period when I was at the Texas Room. There were no listings for Bowser Parking Systems.I wonder if they had more than one installation around town, even more than one on Travis?I remember only one in Houston...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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