Michelle C

When you say singles bars, are you talking about the pressure cooker clubs? If so Houston had a few of them. The Cedar lounge was the most popular located on Airline drive just down the street from Dance Town USA. Mostly frequented by men that worked evenings they would show up there around noon time. The women that showed up there were mostly house wives and probably a few single women looking for a man. I was once there with a friend looking for her boyfriend and the place was very dark. You had to be in the place a few minutes to get your eyes adjusted before you could see. they had a juke box or a band and the dancing was fun but all the men were intent on going home with someone before about three in the afternoon. Just for the record, my friends boy friend never showed up. Had he walked through the door we would have seen him at once but he could have never seen us. So their relationship was saved for another day. There were a couple of more in town but I did not know the name of them.

I found this shot of downtown in my archives from 1950 it is not Ford related buy was taken that same time as the one of Earl McMillian Ford's old downtown location. It sat directly behind the Earl McMillian dealership. It is the Ineeda laundry, it sat on Smith Street and bordered by Rusk and Walker streets on either side. You can see old Jeff Davis hospital in the background as well as the Houston Coliseum. I can't remember for sure where all the smoke was coming from. In the back of my mind I am thinking it was possibly Ed Sacs paper company.

I scrolled through hundreds of pictures but was unable to find it. I did however find many other things of interest.

Please do post the picture of the pre renovation period you have. Having been raised in Houston I love Houston history of the fifties, sixties and seventies. Here is another photo of Ivy Russell Ford at 2120 Main.

The Earl McMillian store at 7115 old Katy Road. Earl McMillian at 8920 Jensen Dr.

Yes, another old Ford dealership, I had forgotten about it. Osborne Apple later became A. C. Collins Ford. They have since moved from the old location to Beltway 8.

I have that very same picture. Do you know the location? That is the old Weingartens store at Yale and Eleventh St. in the Heights. The location later became a Top Value stamps redemption center. I have no clue what it became after the redemption center moved out. According to Google maps it is now a Lola eatery.

Yes, it was on the south west corner of Louisiana and Rusk. This picture taken from atop of a near by building and you can see the dealership. That will be Louisiana running in front of the Orleans hotel and Rusk running beside the dealership. You can see the downtown Houston public library in the back ground. The picture was made Aug. 29 1950

Acamarillo, Jack Roach never took over Raymond Pearson, I think you are confusing the Jack Roach store at Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet. The two buildings looked a lot alike. When I first saw the picture I thought it was the Jack Roach store too.The Pearson dealership was located at Leeland and Austin streets near downtown. I am adding a picture of the back side of the Pearson dealership. Pease street is directly behind the building and Austin street to the side of it. Another picture of the front taken from Austin and Leeland. A third picture as it looks today from Austin and Leeland. One more of the dealership as it looked in 1957.

The Ford plant at 3906 Harrisburg was not only a parts plant but they also built cars there as well. It was one of two Ford assembly plants in the state of Texas at the time. I am not sure when it closed down, either in the thirties or forties. I have the same picture in my archives as in the link.

I was raised in the fifties in Houston and remember a lot of the old Ford dealerships. My dad worked for Ford Motor Company and called on all of them and others around the state of Texas. I was always fascinated with Jack Roach because they was probably the oldest one in the city of Houston. I am not sure where the original dealership was located. The earliest one I can remember was on Broadway street. I know that they later moved down the street to another location still located on Broadway. Later they moved to a new location on the corner of Bissonnet and Buffalo Speedway about 1953 give or take a year. I also know at one time they had a location on Westheimer and Yoakum on the east end of the Tower Theatre complex. If any one has pictures of any of the dealerships, please post them. Earl McMillian was another old Ford dealership that was located down town on the corner of Louisiana and Rusk, they later moved out to Katy Road and eventually changed the name to Don McMillian. Others I remember are Raymond Pearson, Tommy Vaughn, and Ivy Russell. Earl McMillian's downtown store, the cars shown are on Louisiana street. The other is Jack Roach Ford on the corner of Westheimer and Yoakum next to the Tower theatre.

Jack Roach Ford is the oldest Ford dealer ship in Houston. The started in either 1921 or 1923. My dad bought a new Ford from Tommy Vaughn in 1957. The dealer ship was then located on North Main, so I know it had to be after 1957 when they moved to Shepherd.

The old Weingarden stores located at Washington Ave. and Shepherd and at 11th and Yale in the Heights are still standing. Yale and 11th. Shepherd and Washington Ave.

I was in that building many times when it was the Stampeed Ball Room. I met my husband there.

I too used to go to Playland park. We also went to the stock car races in the back. My dad and I was there that fateful night in 1959 when a car crashed through the fence during the time trials killing three people outside the entrance near the concession stand, We were only about a minute from being at that very spot. As a couple of you mentioned the fortune teller. She was creepy as all get out and I avoided her like the plague.

I was in the ninth grade at Lanier Jr. High when it happened. We could hear emergency vehicle after vehicle coming down Woodhead in front of the school. The teacher would not let us stand up to see what was going on. The school went on a lock down protected by Some of the bigger foot ball players from the school holding bats at the main entrance door, the other doors were locked. My mom was called by a personal friend from the sheriffs department asking if I was still going to Poe. She informed him that I was now in the ninth grade at Lanier. He them told her what has happened at Poe. The deputy hadn't seen me in years and was not sure just how old I was at the time.

Vans Stampede Ball Room was located on Richmond at the corner of Richmond and Loretto one block down from Mandell. It was an old Weingardens grocery store at one time. It later became Make Mine Country Ball Room. It was a totally separate place from the Van's Ball Room just off Shepherd. Here's a bit of irony for you, I met my husband at the Stampede in 1969. If I remember correctly Phil's Cafe was still on the corner of Mandell and Richmond at the time. I know it was still there as late as 1968. It was sometime about 68 or 69 that it moved to Portsmouth between Greenbrair and Shepherd.

By 1981 it is almost gone but is still visible from the air. By 2002 you can hardly see it anymore.

By 1966 you can see the high school is there or being built. It appears in the pohto that the bleachers are in need of repair from this 73 picture.

I checked some aerial images and found that Meyer speedway was under construction as early as 1957. By 1962 you can see some bleachers are starting to appear.