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Urban Commando

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    Houston, TX
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  1. I believe this chain (which sadly didn't last very long) was owned by the same company/people that owned Walgreens and Globe Dept Stores. I remember it vividly and the sight of this ad fills me with both nostalgia and sorrow. Usually they were found connected to or right next door to Walgreen's. As a child, my family ate often at the one less than a mile away. Reminded me of the old "One's-A-Meal" or the "Dot" (at least it's still around). I miss such eateries and mourn their loss.
  2. Not meaning to ressurect a long dead thread, but figured this would be a good place to put this information. Aldine ISD has had the old Lane Center torn down. Nothing but an empty area there. Another piece of history gone.
  3. This may or may not help, but water towers that were near airports or in an airport flight path used to be painted in a checkerboard fashion. I remember two of them over off Kirby back in the late 60's-early 70's. I don't know if that was FAA or not, but there used to be quite a few of them around.
  4. If you are meaning the one in Cypress, it was Doug Russell Chevrolet. I remember it because he, along with I.W. Marks and some young guy and his relatively new Gallery Furniture were sponsors of Houston wrestling with Paul Boesch on Saturday nights. The dealership folded and I believe that Mr. Russell is no longer among us.
  5. What police agency was involved? I saw what appeared to be HPD but the police car didn't look ANYTHING like HPD...as a matter of fact, I don't recall any police agency in Harris County that looked like that car.
  6. Yep, the Fiesta is still there in the old GEMCO building.
  7. For those interested, the Saunders/Langley neighborhood is along US 59 behind the Sak-N-Save store and adjacent to Halls Bayou between Parker and Little York. The homes were destroyed by T.S. Allison and I believe the government bought them out,condemned the area, and raised it. The streets were destroyed to prevent them becoming a dumping ground and hang out for illegal activity...although a trip through that area will cause you to debate the success in that. It was and still is a pretty rough area. It will never be developed again and will probably just be let go to seed although a park MAY eventually result from some of it...as is already the case behind the Fiesta across the freeway.
  8. I had thought Sid Lasher died around '74. I do remember watching a distraught Ron Stone make the announcement and that it had happened in studio just before on-air 10PM. They cut to a picture of Sid Lasher and then went straight to the Late Show movie. A long time ago, but I still remember it clearly.
  9. Greenspoint Mall opened in 1976. It was the place to go on the weekends replacing Northline Mall and ultimately causing that mall to slowly wither and die. I remember Hickory Farms having a store there as well as a little of just about everything. Of course, times and the area changed rather quickly. I went to the mall a few months back...it is IMHO on its last legs and reminds me of Gulfgate in its final years. It is a matter of time before it joins Northline Mall as a memory. Like Sharpstown Mall, Greenspoint has its nickname of "Gunspoint" for a reason. That reason, no matter how much someone may come in and try to spruce it up, will remain. In the not too distant future, I expect it to be gone and replaced by apartments, office buildings, and a strip center like Northline and Town and Country became. Again, IMHO and with few exceptions (The Galleria, Woodlands, etc) the era of the big mall is dead in Houston and I highly doubt it will make a successful comeback...especially with all of the Super Wal-Marts and Targets going up every ten miles or so down 45.
  10. To be blunt, I am familiar with this story and it is "supposedly" linked to paranormal activity on Patterson Road between Eldrich and Hwy 6 and the bridges across Langham Creek. I worked in that area for a good long while and drove down Patterson in all kinds of conditions and in day, evening, and middle of the night...in regards to the "ghosts" I would venture to say that the "spooks" that hang around out there aren't ghosts at all, but still QUITE dangerous! In regards to this "Civil War Battle", I find this story to be dubious and more of an urban legend than anything. If there was any fighting around there it would've been between the settlers and the indians or bandits! I seriously doubt ANY military conflict occurred in that area The NEAREST actual Civil War battle was at Galveston.
  11. I think I can answer that question, at least from the late 1970's- through the 1980's. AISD "revamped" G.W. Carver High School in the late 70's early 80's. It became known as Aldine Contemporary Education Center. The school was unique in the area as it allowed students a certain amount of flexiblity with classes, schedules, and work load. The staff was, as you would expect, very small and were hand picked. Classes were small by urban high school standards. As a student, you really couldn't get "lost in the crowd" like the rest of Aldine's high schools. ACE's first principal was Mr. Ralph O. Norman, who later became Principal of Aldine High School. The establishment of this program meant that the students who would normally attend Carver were dispersed out to the remaining high schools in Aldine. Transportation was provided. Carver is now a magnet school within Aldine and the school has undergone significant changes to where it is almost unrecognizable to an original ACE student who attened since day 1 of the program. The state has placed a historical marker outside it's auditorium facing S. Victory Dr. detailing some of its history and the school's original beginnings as part of the defunct White Oak School District. -You can sign me on this issue as one of the original students of this unique school.
  12. Yep, that was him. Sadly, he had a terminal illness and took his own life. A lot of guys in that era became Houston cops because of him. He was one of my heroes. Ken Garnett and Tiny Roman were kind of legends with HPD of that era.
  13. Mary Jane's Magic Castle was on KPRC Channel 2 and was in a similar vein to Kitirik. I believe at one time or another, every station in town had a live local kids show. But Cadet Don and Kitirik seem to be the ones mostly associated with these shows. I am curious about the HPD officer with Kitirik, do you remember who that was? I remember Sgt Ken Garnett. HPD Motorcycle Patrol with the patch over his eye. He was one of the major influeneces for my trying to get into LE work at one time.
  14. I'm afraid so. Not only was the trackage a "derailment waiting to happen" in a lot of areas but a lot of equipment and rolling stock had seen its days as well. Miss Katy was, for all intents and purposes, "operating on life support". For myself, it was heart breaking...especially when watching an MKT GP locomotive barely making speed, even in the open. Of all the railroads operating in Houston at that time (MP, RI, SP, SSW, BN) only Miss Katy and the ATSF could boast the most colorful equipment.
  15. Iron Tiger, The Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad had its Houston yard (the Eureka Yard) smack dab in the middle of the Heights (it could be easily seen from the Dhepard Drive/Durham Street overpasses) and was, in its time, a major economic source for that area. "Miss Katy", as many railfans refer to it, was pretty typical of railroads in Houston that often had its lines run right down the middle of streets in several neighborhoods (Texas and New Orleans aka Southern Pacific did the same thing in fifth ward) with several extremely dangerous crossings. Miss Katy was a railroad that had, quite literally, became a pale shadow barely keeping out of bankruptcy in her later years...the rolling stock and rails showed this. She was partially owned by the Missouri Pacific (MoPac) in her final years. When MoPac was merged with the Union Pacific in 1988, Miss Katy ceased to be, her flag fell, and was gone with scarcly a word and very quickly. Her rolling stock was repainted or sent to the cutters torch. The line from Eureka down I-10 was used by the Union Pacific up until I think the mid 1990's and then was abandoned. It ultimately became part of the I-10 expansion. It you check YouTube, there are several videos on there showing Miss Katy in operation. Several were taken in the Heights back in the day. There are many photos of her on-line, as well. Miss Katy was my favorite railroad. I still miss her and her "John Deere" colored equipment.
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