Willy the Texan

I used to work at the Marriott Astrodome Hotel on Braeswood in the late 1980's. A few random memories: I seem remember the employee cafeteria was run by a nice woman by the name of Irene, I believe. The cafeteria was named after her for her many years of service and called "Irene's Cantina". She made the best spicy dirty rice and all the lunches were free! I remember Ford Motor Company showing off their new Ford Capri convertible in the ballroom. I also remember how the hotel booked a group for a local dog show. For better or worse, we were a pet friendly motel by then. The Accounting office was located right next to the kitchen dishwashing equipment and HR by the back dock. There was a really nice old style pub in what appeared to be an old house around the corner, but it appears to be gone on google maps. I sure wish I could remember the name of that place. Was sad to recently research the hotel, only to find it had been demolished many years ago. I checked the satellite image and see that the ground is still undeveloped and a few palm trees are left as a reminder.I did some research and found a Houston Chronicle article from March 30,1994 which said, "An Astrodomain hotel group has bought two more hotels in the area, giving the organization six near the Astrodome.A joint venture of Patriot American of Dallas and Gencom Interests of Houston purchased the 285-room Residence Inn by Marriott-Houston Astrodome, 7710 S. Main, and the 330-room Ramada Hotel Astrodome/Medical Center, 2100 S. Braeswood.The Ramada, which operated as the Marriott Astrodome until a few weeks ago, was purchased from Host Marriott" Thanks so much for reading my post!