Michelle C

On 1/2/2019 at 4:30 PM, 57Tbird said:

I also went to Poe, Lanier, and Lamar (1953).  I lived in Southampton near Rice U,  I rode my bike on Shepherd to the Alabama for the Saturday morning kids' movies... usually a cartoon or two, a comedy, and a western (Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, etc.).  After the show I would go to Chris' Coney Island on the SW corner of Shepherd and Alabama and have a couple of hot dogs @ 2/$.25, and then play the nickel pin ball machine there.  Often went with my cousin who lived in the 2000 block of Sul Ross. This was the late '40's. Good times!  Parents didn't worry about their children as much back then.

You were a few years before me. I graduated in 63. I have to agree with you those were some really great years to have lived in the area. I had friends that also lived in the Southhampton area. I had a cousin that lived on Wroxton Rd and a couple of other friends that lived on the same street. Had a good friend that lived at 2224 Albans and several more scattered through the neighborhood. I sometime wish I could go back to those days.

I remember those stores well. We lived at 1525 Sul Ross. I think I frequented all of those stores at one time or another. My favorites were the Walgreens, Alabama theater and the Western Auto. I liked the Walgreens for the same reasons you did. Of course the Alabama theater was a Saturday morning given. The Western Auto kept my bicycle going and later my 55 Ford convertible. It was a great neighbor hood to be raised in. I also remember the Dunlavy Weingartens not very far from where we lived. The local schools were Poe elementary, Lanier Jr. High, and Lamar. Some choose to go to San Jacinto as it was closer.

Rusty, I have that same photo. Its the only one I have ever seen of that particular store. There was no automotive repair work done there, it was only sales. The main store was downtown.

The McDonald and the Prince family were related through marriage. Doug Prince had a number of drive-ins in Houston for years. The McDonald family were from the Angleton  Freeport area. The McDonald's came to Houston and started building drive-ins too. I think the first but not totally sure, but certainly the best location was located at Gray and Main on the north east corner where the current McDonald's is located. There was a Prince's drive in directly across the street where the Greyhound bus station is located today. The chain McDonald's was trying to get into the Houston Marker for years without success. They finally offered the McDonald family enough money and they sold the rights to the name and the property at Main and Gray. I do not know about the other properties that the McDonald family had. I have some pictures of that old drive-in but for some reason the system is not allowing me to post them.

On 6/24/2018 at 10:58 PM, Rpearson said:

My husband is a great grandson of Raymond Pearson. We would love to see any pictures that you may have of his car dealership. 

 

Thank you,

Rachelle 

I graduated from High school in 1963, I went to school with a Ray Pearson, that was the son of Raymond Pearson, I think he went to work for one of  the dealerships because my husband bought a Mercury Cougar from him about 68 or 69.

I sure miss the ole Stampede. I have a lot of good memories from there. As I said in an earlier post, I met my husband there, so it will always be a little special to me.

Another great old dance hall from the late 60's and into the 70's was the Texas Ball Room. It was located in the V at Stubner Airline (now called Veterans Memorial Parkway) and Shepherd or right where Shepherd and I 45 merge. The always had a live band. It was a fun place then had penny a pound night on Thursdays. They has a scale and it cost the guys a penny a pound to get in and the girls was a flat dollar to get in. Wednesday night was free for the girls and cost the guys regular price. Arch Yancey DJ at KIKK would advertise the club and say the girls get in free and the boys know it.

I was raised in the Montrose area on Sul Ross street in the fifties. The book stop was the Alabama theatre. I went to a lot of movies there. I remember a Walgreens, Wacker's, post office and a Western Auto being in that strip center. May have been others in the center, just don't remember.

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2010 at 10:55 AM, 57Tbird said:

I went back and looked again at the same page full of ads (1969), where I found Van's and found this. I didn't remember there being so many clubs in Houston back then. There are dozens in there.

Dee Vickery is now a preacher. She has a ministry near San Antonio. She reaches out to a lot of young people and really doing a lot of good.

Lincoln Street ran from Allen Parkway to Westheimer. It is now an extension of Montrose. Only a short section of Lincoln still exist between Westheimer and California St.

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2015 at 9:52 PM, vw4fun said:

I remember the white sands at Magnolia Gardens when I was a kid.  My parents enjoyed going there many a time.  They saw Elvis when he was there.  I remember going with them around '62 and George Jones was playing there at the time.  During a break I took a picture George Jones leaning on his white '60 Ford Falcon with a broken head light and a Pearl beer on the hood.  He was wearing his cool flat top at the time.  'Ol George was my Dad's favorite country singer.  I'll find that picture and post it on here one day.  

Post the picture of George Jones, we would love to see it.

My family lived on Gibson street just a few blocks from there until 1958 when we moved to the Montrose area. I went to school at Ben Milam and there were several kids from Faith Home that went to school with me. I have fond memories of us playing together. I wish I could remember some names but my mind is slipping as I get older.

On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2015 at 8:40 PM, MirrersTrucking said:

Ok, hang on... When did Lawrence Marshall close and Landmark change names??? Does that mean Ray Childress is unemployed now? Is Mel Farr Ford still around? Also, what is the name of the Ford dealer on 59 that is or was just inside the North Loop?

The Ford dealership just inside the North Loop was a Bayou City Ford. It was a Big Ford truck dealership.

A great Country and Western club was Van's Stampede Ballroom AKA Make Mine Country. Popular in the early 70's it was a really fun place to go. It was located on Richmond just east of Mandel in an old Weingarden store. I think there is an art gallery there now.

I have been to Teen Hall before. Another place that was popular during the era was the Civitan Teen Canteen.

There was a Price's at the corner of Washington and Shepherd in 1958.

Here's an old Price's sign.

I had eaten at the one on Westheimer and 610 a couple of times. I had forgotten about it until this thread came up.

I know we didn't have as many freeways in Houston in the 1960's but I sure liked driving around in Houston better then than I do now. To tell the truth, I liked the whole city better then. If you were on the streets regularly you knew the streets that had the traffic problems and which ones to avoid.

In the early fifties we lived on Lincoln street which is now part of  Montrose Blvd. My cousin and I would walk down to the Tower theatre on Saturday afternoon for movies. About 1955 we moved to the West end on Gibson street near the intersection of Washington and Shepherd. My older cousin and I would catch the bus on Washington to downtown and go to the Majestic. Lowes, or Metropolitan. I was only ten to thirteen years old and scared to ride the bus alone, so I would walk down to the Yale theatre at Yale and Washington. My mom and dad moved to Sul Ross street in the Montrose area in 58 and the theatre of choice was the Alabama theatre.

Class of 1960 for me. I have a good friend here in Smithville that was also in my class of 60. We were both on the city planning and zoning commission here and I kept noticing that there was something about her that reminded me of somebody I knew. I just couldn't put my finger on it. She and I got to talking one day and found out we had both attended Lanier at the same time and we also shared some classes together. All of a sudden it all started coming together. It was refreshing to meet an old friend that I had went to school with some fifty years later in a town that was a hundred and twenty miles away. Sometimes it can be a small world. I still have contact with a few friends that I went to school with at Lanier. The assistant principal was Mr. Stewart. His daughter was a class mate and she now lives in the Brian-College Station area. Mrs. Rubright was principal. My favorite teacher there was Mrs. Chalmers.

I liked it better when it was Buff Stadium.

I found an aerial shot of the intersection of Stubner Airline, Shepherd and I-45, it was probably still US 75 when this picture was taken. The Texas Ballroom sat in V where the white spot is. Stubner Airline was still just as deserted in the late 60's as it is in this picture.

Exactly, right where the Texaco is now located. When I started frequenting the location there was nothing past the TexasBall room on Stubner Airline. It was nothing but pastures and was a narrow one lane street in each direction with deep ditches on each side of the street. I had a boyfriend that bought 1966 Shelby Mustang, he was going to show everyone what it would do. Stubner Airline was virtually a deserted street at the time. He took off and his car got sideways in the road and he ran off the road into the ditch on the left side of the road. It had rained the day before and the ground was soft. He got lucky and the only damage done was to his pride. One of the guys from the bar pulled him out with his pick up.

Probably in the mid to late seventies or early eighties.

I have been sitting here reading about all of these C and W clubs around Houston in the late 60's and through the 70's and never once did anyone mention the Texas Ball Room located at Stubner Airline and I-45 where Shepherd met I-45. The TBR sat in the V between Stubner Airline and the feeder road or Shepherd as it was called from there on south. The house band was headed Ray Bates for several years. Frenchie Burke played with them at the time. Another one of my favorites in the seventies was The Stampede Ball room on Richmond. I also spent many Sunday afternoons out at Magnolia Gardens too.