rallycat

Don't forget the Two Pesos on Gessner. They had a two lane drive-thru.

The Laufman's was in the little building facing west along Long Point, right? Was dangerously close to buying a Constellation with the tuning fork movement a couple years ago. Was scared off with tales of rapidly disappearing parts. And now my '67 Connie has been sitting at the watchmaker's for a year waiting on a calendar part. Luckily the Cosmic is in good kit. I try not to think about how difficult it is to find watchmakers any more. At this rate I expect to see someone quoting The Rubaiyat.

MK, Mom's was white with the same hubcaps as the one in your family. Black vinyl interior. Erin and I got so tired of being told not to wear shorts in the car during high summer. What else were you supposed to wear? And how my thighs fried on the back seat. She traded it for a Mailbu Classic in booger green that was less car and more rolling disappointment. It was that hideous replacement that first made me aware of nice cars, good cars, and mom's car, lol. Dad had a '75 Fleetwood that he sold to my stepmother's parents in '77 for a mere $200. It was the evangelist model - white paint, white leather, and white carpet with black trimmings. My stepmother got an Eldorado that same year. My most vivid memory is her dropping me late for practice with the Spring Branch Bears at SBHS and telling me to run my punishment laps faster from within that air conditioned cavern. Dad was a notorious speed demon and used to run his AMX on the Katy Frwy well over a hundred mph. He sold it before I was old enough to ride with him. My first car was a '79 Malibu wagon in classic puke yellow from Hub Buick near River Oaks. My friend Richard had a '71 Brougham and one day we ran a race from my house on Stoney Ridge to his on Sleepy Oaks (his parents were renting a sprawling ranch house that had to have been on at least a half acre. Sprawl doesn't even do it justice - the place just kept on going. It was amazing. That house is just a memory now). The look on his brother's face as we narrowly avoided a high speed collision on Beinhorn was priceless. I could easily turn this into a stupid teenage driver topic with my own antics. Like the time at Chapelwood when I jumped out of my car to chase a friend only to find my car gone afterward. Turns out I left it in drive and another friend jumped in and went for a joyride. The Village Police knew me but were never in the right place at the right time. Sometimes they followed me hoping for a slip up. The Delta was probably like Richard's Caddy. He took a baseball bat to it. The impact almost took his arm off. Not a scratch on the car though.

Thank you. Put in my request. Had no idea that group existed. The longer I'm on the topic the more comes back to me. Like the old XX theater and honky tonk that were at Pech and Long Point. You better believe mom never let her wheels touch that parking lot.

I hear you. For me the site is a memory jogger. The details fill themselves in. My mental version of Pencil Thin Mustache. My most familiar part of Memorial is between Chimney Rock and Gessner. Within were a broad range of size and styles. From the Coke Bottle house at San Felipe and Memorial to the colonial heavy area around Knipp Road. Here are two my dad owned. Both on the same street but with different wives.

http://memorialbendarchitecture.com/bend.htm You should enjoy this site then. Have spent way too much time on it myself.

Long Point was one of those streets that features a lot in my life in the 70s. I don't remember much about the strip between the railroad tracks and Antoine. I noticed the other day that Empress Chinese restaurant is still there. Looks about the same as it always has. Ate there once in the 90s. Next door was Speedy's where they had a game room and a go-kart track. From Antoine to Wirt was always a string a cruddy apartments. Mom always advised us to lock the doors through there. I think she figured Sissy Spacek's babysitter and her two youngest were prime targets. Weiner's at Wirt and Long Point is pretty much where daily life started. I had to use historicaerials.com to figure out that the shopping center on the northwest corner was completely torn down. Once upon a time there was a Palais Royale there. I went to school at Long Point Baptist from K through 3rd. There was a huge field on the north side of the property were we all went crazy at recess. I think most school administrators, teachers, and parents would have a heart attack at the mere thought of how scattered we could get out there. The only time anyone showed concern was when a classmate was rooting around in the trees and leaves at the far fence and uncovered 5 copperheads. That scared most of us out of there for a little while. But we had to go back. The trees were way too enticing. Many a recess I had to sit on the side because I wouldn't drink my milk. Hated plain milk then and still won't drink it. Usually the lure of monkey bars and chase would convince me to down that warm stuff so I could head out. I remember one of the teachers there saying war was God's way of controlling the population. Based on that I guess we'd be in a real fix these days. The only teacher's name I can recall is Mrs. Courtney for kindergarten. That was in the 2 story building in front of the church proper. Every day we had to unstack our cots and take a nap. Afterward was punch and cookies neither of which I found thrilling. Warm punch and bland cookies. Still, they beat the ice cream scooper of boiled spinach from the lunch room. The uniform was gray pants and white shirt for the boys (with a clip-on green plaid tie for chapel) and the same pattern green plaid skirts and white blouses for the girls. I still have a scar on the back of my neck from 2nd grade. The library was a room on the 1st floor. We never got to spend enough time there so I remember soaking in the titles of books. Looking back I think most of what we were reading or using for classroom material was from the 50s and early 60s. Down a ways at Long Point and Pech was the Kmart center. That's where my tennis shoes came from. They were in a bin about the middle of the store and part of the process was digging around for my size. Mom was no fool in that regard. As quick as I outgrew pairs there was no reason to be extravagant. The lighting was always dim in there. The place may have only been 10 or so years old at that time but it felt like a cast off relic to me. There were a few stores in the slightly younger strip built on the same lot. Furr's Cafeteria was one of our eating out mainstays. Most times you could find my school's music teacher playing piano for the diners. Talk about a real touch of class for a mid range cafeteria. There was a record store in the corner near Kmart. I was always freaked out by the life size Molly Hatchet display of the creepy looking dark knight on horseback, I think, they kept there. I was convinced MH had to be really sinister to look like that. It wasn't until a summer in college that I actually heard a song from them - Fall of the Peacemakers on a 70s rock station in DC. I had to laugh at myself for discovering they weren't so evil after all those years. The now defunct post office on Hillendahl was where we got all our stamps. At the corner of Pech and LP is the old cemetery which still belongs to the family that once held a lot of the land that became Spring Branch. I've always liked the rock paving they used there. There must be a name for the stuff. Across the street was the Ridgecrest strip center. There was a home furnishings/electronics store there. The Ridgecrest Barber shop was the backup place if I wasn't going to get my hair cut at Northwest Mall. There was a jewelry store at Norcrest and LP. My youngest sister knew their daughter in high school. I think one or both of the parents was killed in a robbery. Maybe that was the teenager that owned her own house on Mooreberry by Northbrook HS. At Moritz and LP was Alfies Fish n Chips. Their logo was a happy guy's head in a stocking cap and flowing scarf. I think part of the original building is still there but has been changed radically. Then right before you got to Bingle was the big bull. Judging by the aerials it has been there since '68. It's a tire store now but was a Mexican restaurant then. The building it fronts is unremarkable which only makes the bull stand out all the more. When it's gone I don't think I'll be able to drive through there anymore. Had my first Blizzard at the DQ just south of LP on Bingle. Cool old school DQ with the covered parking in front. Next door was a skate board park. The DQ is something else now and the Young World day care has been razed. West from there was the Scoggins and Kay women's boutique. Funny how my older sister said she missed it when it finally closed though she never shopped there. There was also a gas station where LP veers left andSpring Branch Drive goes to the right which was an entertaining back route until I got a car with run flats. I think the guy who ran in serve in Korea based on the flags. The station goes back to the 50s in the aerials. Now it's dust. So are the homes I never really knew much about on the lots behind it. There is a strip center at the corner of Campbell and LP 9101 Long Point. Back in the 70s it was occupied by a small, even compared to places like the Kroger (Kroger means better meat) on Kempwood, Lewis & Coker on Memorial, or even Continental Minimax in Town and Country. As an aside all three of those stores seemed cramped and dirty back then. Anyway, I haven't been able to find an old enough listing online to show me the name of this store. I do remember it was the place where I could usually convince mom to spring for Fruit Sripe gum. They also had toy warships that were die cast metal because the things were meant to last. They had small inset wheels on the bottom so that carpet became the perfect off-color ocean for your fleet. Closer to Blalock the old mainstays like May's Fried Chicken and the Hoover repair shop have disappeared while Southern Garden apartments remains. The place was not particularly nice then though not as awful as say the Red Apple or Mount Vernon. Randall's had a decent store at Blalock. The manager was always courteous and the store clean. My first memory of mom asking my youngest sister or myself to get toilet paper are there. She would not say it out loud. Always a very low whisper to go get TP. Oh man, the dirty looks we'd get if we made the mistake of saying toilet paper in a normal voice anywhere away from home. I still remember the teenager lying face down and bleeding in the ditch at Oak Tree apartments. Came out on the short end of a fight between the gels (jells?) and either the jocks or the kickers. I think every kid except me hunted crawdads in the ditches of Spring Branch. The old center at Bunker Hill remains. The pad building has been some sort of fried whatever dispensary since the beginning of time I think. To me the place is classic LP. Relics of the building boom of the 50s that created neighborhood life out of farmland. A lot of it is crap but some of it is charming. As the area re-gentrifies I'm sure much will be razed. If you never saw a movie at the dollar theater or ate at Stockman's you missed out. Also there right before Gessner was a great DQ. Definitely better than watching mid century razing was watching the cars change out over time at the used car place in the same center. If I had the money I'd buy the Royalgate Apartments at 1711 Gessner just to be able to look at them any time I wanted. LP and the surrounding area has a lot in the way of unremarkable buildings that no one would care about should the bulldozer and wrecking ball take them away. But scattered across the landscape of my first years are some real gems. Here is a partial list. 1) 9101 Long Point 2) 1610 Campbell 4) Elizabeth Ring Library 5) 8810 Long Point - formerly Golden Age Retirement Home 6) 1663 Blalock - Ragsdill School where I learned to swim. It looked better when it was red. I really miss Charlie's Burgers (dozens and dozens sold) just a couple doors down 7) Get inside one of the apartments at 9733 Neuens. Was in one a few years ago. A trip back in time to when it was new - that well kept up. Very funky fixtures. 8) the old Der Wienerschnitzel building at Knoboak and Gessner is worth it just for a laugh 9) the Nothing Over $1.15 at Westray and Gessner 10) Dig the roof line at 1636 Gessner - reminds me of my brother's neighborhood (Westbury - and yes, the Westbury UMC is gorgeous enough to convert a soul or two) 11) Mister Car Wash - oh yes. Everything else is just a car wash. 12) Memorial High School - a beautiful place to go to school before the later add ons. I loved going to school there just because you could breathe, you could see more than just school buildings. I told my wife that the library in the Breakfast Club reminded me of MHS's. 13) Memorial Church of Christ on Echo Lane. If Westbury can save your soul. Then this church and Memorial Drive Presbyterian are heaven. Does anyone remember the little house where they had chickens and such on Echo Lane? 14) 730 Marchmont. I lust after this house. Lust!! 14) Mr. Fortenbach's house at the corner of Piney Point and Taylorcrest. Dad once left tire marks all over his motor court. Get a couple scotches in the old man in those days and there was no telling what he'd do. He could intimidate state troopers out of tickets and tell how he once turned brown suede combat boots to black spit polish over night in ROTC. Never did buy that one. Sorry for rambling. Got to thinking about driving the family down LP on New Years Day and finding Spring Branch Memorial Hospital about a third demolished. I was born there one dark and stormy night in 1970. The window to the room is burned into my memory. Mom drove her '68 Delta 88 until '77 and I saw the small dent in the trunk from where someone rear-ended my parents that night on the way to my delivery. For symmetry my sister dropped me on the sidewalk at our house on Cindywood the day I came home. It was a strange feeling to see the place where I was born in that condition. The hospital, like me, had seen better days. Next they'll be tearing down the Ring Branch Library, or me.Though at least there'll be no more visits to scary Dr. Sedotal, who looks like Esther Wolf's son Dr. Wolf in my fevered brain (frizzy hair, shirt open to mid chest and gold chains but minus the shotgun). I better get out here before I start talking about life in Memorial and moaning over the loss of the "haunted mansion" at Strey Lane.

Though we were never allowed to eat there I want the big bull from El Toro d'Oro on Long Point. It's even cooler than the big boy in front of Kip's in Highland Village.

Rong Sing in Town and Country. Panjo's too. Mom never let me get an airplane shaped pizza, lol. Monterey House on Gessner. God help us all if a stray onion bit arrived with my Saltillo Plate back then.

Don't forget the Del Taco on South Gessner. Close to a Chicago style deep dish pizza place. A little bit south of Westpark if my memory is holding up.

She's older and may know better. I'll post some memories in the relevant topics. I have been looking at West Houston archives. It's a little northwest for me. For the longest time Kempwood and Hammerly was the farthest corner of the world for me. Before shuffling along and since Carillion is close to the Woodlake center I'll apologize now if anyone here had a red Alfa Romeo Spyder at the club there one night in the early 90s and found it full of menthol shaving cream.

Ha! Can't believe I said Circus, lol. Before high school Woodlake was kind of exotic for me. One of those places we went to hear and there. Usually passing by to go to the old United store on the southeast corner of Gessner and Westheimer. I think it was United. I remember you'd select your stuff, go pay for it, and they'd send it up front for you to pick up. They had a bit of everything for the home. I was a Spring Branch/Memorial kid and that history is what I look for the most. Every so often I find myself on Long Point and start time tripping. I'll ask my sister about the apartments where IKEA is. She's

Been lurking a while now. West side history almost always interests me. Woodlake III is where I saw the original Star Wars. I remember the club behind the grocery store but can't remember what it was called when my best friend and I went there in the early 90s. We'd go there, drink, maybe gather up the courage to ask someone to dance, get shot down, and drink some more.. There was a tobacconist in the center that was in the little strip building facing west along Westheimer. Dallas Holme(sp) Photography was in a courtyard type location behind the grocery store. I remember her either coming to the Junior League or ROBCS to put some etiquette in our heads. That was around 1983/4. When I was at MHS a friend I convinced our journalism sub that it was okay for us to leave campus to go sell ads. I temember trying to sell space to Lechners. We made a couple sales but when our regular teacher got back she was hopping mad. Hauled us into the hallway and read us the riot act. I was shocked to hear a teacher use the s word, ha ha. There was a Greek restaurant in the center forever. My grandmother spent her last years at the retirement home just east of Woodlake. Think Treemont was the name of the place. Better stop before I get off on fun family stuff. Handy Andy. Forgot about those. I think there was one at Echo Ln and Katy Frwy when I was much younger. The store was in the center where Target and Marshalls are now and was in about the same spot as Marshalls. I remember they had a conveyor belt that delivered the groceries to your car. Mom usually favored the Randall's at Long Point and Blalock or the Safeway where Kroger is now at Echo/Katy. I thought that conveyor belt was the coolest thing. The one at Picadilly Circus in Memorial City Mall ensured I was always willing to take my own tray after eating my way down to the rocket picture on my plate.