e streeter

i just took several trains through the northeast. here are the rates for purchasing a month ahead first and the day before and length of trip washington dc to philadelphia - $34 vs $49, 2 hours philadelphia to nyc - $34 vs $49, 1.5 hours nyc to boston (took the acela) - $75 vs $99, 3.5 hours (it would have been cheaper and an hour longer to take the regional) even if a flight would have technically been shorter, it would have taken a lot more time getting to the airport at least an hour early and then the plan probably being delayed, etc. i was able to take an earlier train to nyc because i got to the train station early and there wasn't a fee to take the earlier train.

i just spent 2 weeks traveling through the northeast on trains and it was great. it was so nice to sit in a comfortable seat with leg room and being able to walk down the aisle and not bump into elbows and shoulders. i purposely took this trip to take trains. i have traveled on trains through europe and wish i could take a train to go to dallas or san antonio. i know i could get there faster on the train than flying with all the plane delays. you have to get to the airport over an early to get through security and then you hope and pray your flight is on time (last time my flight to dfw was 2 hours late), then it is about 30 minutes from the time you land to taxi to the gate to get off and then get your luggage. all in all from the time i leave my house to get to my destination in fort worth it is usually 4 hours. i can drive it in 4.5. i try to drive whenever possible, but sometimes my trip up there is so short, that i fly in hopes that my flight will be on time. and now that it gets dark earlier, i really hate driving so long in the dark. after my first trip to europe that i took trains, i came back and took the train from houston to dallas, it took longer than if i would have driven, but i enjoyed it. i know that my parents would rather ride even a slow train than drive to fort worth to see their grandchildren. driving takes too much out of them at their age. just think where we would be if we had built the high speed rail in the 90's. i don't understand why the northeast has such great rail service and we have zero in texas. i am a native houstonian and according to popular folklore am married to my car and would never ride rail, that is the furthest thing from reality. i promise you if they build it, people will ride it.

anyone have a photo of the meyerland sign when it fell during hurricane carla? i remember walking around it when i was a kid.

i remember a cafeteria in meyerland in the 70's. was it a wyatt's or a thornhill's? and nothing better than going to madding's and getting a vanilla coke.

springsteen mentioned liberty hall the other night (4/8) and he said he charged a $1.00 the first night and $5.00 the second. now i know he spins tails when he talks about the old days, but i was wondering if anyone has their ticket stub from his 74 liberty hall shows? btw - he played saint in the city for all the old timers from liberty hall and what great dueling guitars between him and little steven at the end.

i went to kindergarten across from the nabisco factory in the early 60's at sacred heart dominican college. of course back then the school windows were opened and most days the classroom would smell of cookies. i also remember getting cookies from there (wonder if they were the broken ones). hated it when we got fig newtons, just not appealing to a 5 year old. those are some of the best memories of my childhood, mainly due to remembering the smell of the nabisco factory. i am pretty sure the land is owned by the texas medical center now. i hope they keep this an the old prudential building standing and renovate them and not tear them down.

i started my oil and gas career in 1982, but in dallas at arco. the first sign of trouble was the voluntary retirement in 1985, after that it was lay offs about every other year. i also think the windfall profit tax was a huge disincentive to drill wells in the early 80's. and just shook my head when they talked about bringing it back last year. fortunately congress never got their act together and the natural market of supply and demand brought the price down without government interference. don't know about the housing market in houston in the 80's, but i know that the market crashed in dallas because of flipping, especially condo's along lake ray hubbard. most of it was paper flipping and many s&l's went under. it used to be impossible to keep up with bank names as most of the texas banks were bought up my national banks, which were bought up themselves. our office used to be across from the "old republic bank building", because that was the name we were all familiar with. i also bought a house in the 80's at double digit interest rates and actually took a transfer in 1984 and let my company take it off my hands and they kept me whole. didn't buy another house until 1997, 5 years after i moved back to houston just before the market took off again. i too look at what is going on today as a second act of the 80's. it is sad that we didn't learn lessons from the 80's and many are repeating the same poor choices. glad there are a few that have learned from the past and are doing fine through this latest downturn.

before my sister graduated high school, my mom would take me shopping with them and i would get to go to the fun stores. one was called dk's on hillcroft. they had great hip huggers (i didn't even have hips back then) and monogrammed purses. once my sister went to college, i started making my own clothes.

how about kip's big boy (in some states it was bob's big boy)? i remember as a kid trying to eat that double decker hamburger, which was before mcdonalds came up with their big mac. we would go to the one on westheimer and bellaire. i googled it and their are still big boys on the west coast, around the great lakes and some other states. nothing near texas.

it was on bissonnett near hillcroft. i think the football stadium is still there but the F.U.N. name is no longer used. i think it was for 5th and 6th graders. they had drillteams and cheerleaders associated with each team. in 6th grade i was raiderette for the raiders who were mostly red elementary students. we had very cool uniforms and had silver glitter on our tennis shoes.

when did playland park disappear? i don't remember playland park, but further up/down mainstreet was kiddie wonderland which we went to in the 60's. i sometimes wondered if the poor horses were going to make it around the track. kiddie wonderland made it to the 90's before it was demolished.

a very cool link, thanks. i looked up my parent's house in post oak manor and it was an empty lot in 1957. over the years you see less house and more trees.

i remember the grocery store at the sage on beechnut and 610 where you would put your groceries in a bin on a conveyor belt and then you would drive around and pick up your groceries instead of having to cart them all the way through the store. used to always get our school supplies at sage. another one of their billboards clark kent saved at sage - super man!

thanks for the picture. one of the unofficial top 50 bootlegs is from liberty hall 1974 along with his interview on KLOL. he always mentions liberty hall whenever he plays in houston. liberty hall and armadillo world headquarters in austin were the first venues outside the northeast that bruce and the e street band played in the early 70's. liberty hall was also where he premiered the fever after KLOL asked him about the song on the radio. boy i wish i could say i saw springsteen and the e street band in 1974 at liberty hall. too young and sheltered then. it would be 6 more years before i really heard his music and i have seen 50 shows and counting. yea i am a boss fan, notice my name - e streeter.

i remember being able to sometimes hear it from house in post oak manor. the whirring of the cars if the winds were just right.