nm5k

Memories for the area just out side the loop in zip coeds 77096 77035 & about 1/3 of 77025

Willow Bend on the West side of the train tracks where the baseball field about 5 to 7 yrs ago their use to be a place that sold plants there still is a old brown metal building that still stand

 

South Main & Willowbend there use to a golf course wierd thing about it it was so close to the street bet a few times people driving by got golf balls through there window

#1 When the dino's roamed the earth, that was the site of Mel's Bar B Q. 

It burned down if I remember right, and was the plant store a few years later.

#2 I worked as a caddie there 2-3 times in the early 70's.

Not sure how I got it in my head that there was an indoor pool.. Maybe I was confused to the location

being as it was so overgrown at the time. I can see from the older pictures that you could loop around

the driveway without stopping even in the old days. So I guess what I thought were carved out driving

trails in the overgrown grass, were actually tracings of the original drive that looped around the garden

area, or whatever it was, east of the house. I think it was the summer of 1974 when we went there.

I remember I was driving the first car I had back in those days, and I'm pretty sure I was 17 at the time

as I remember that summer pretty well.  In the 1973 archive image, it doesn't look as overgrown from the

air as it actually was that next summer we were there. I vaquely remember we went there one night late that

summer, and the police came and ran everyone off. I think that was the last time I went there.

And I guess it was 2 years later when it burned down. At that time, I didn't have any real clue as to it's history.

But even in it's run down shape, I could tell it must have been a pretty fancy place in it's day.

The grass and weeds must have been 3 ft tall when we were there. It was pretty thick as I recall.

Hard to believe it's been 40+ years since then.. Where did all the time go... 

Used to go to a place called the "Diamondhead" club?? I believe it was.. Back in the mid-late 70's..

I think that was in the village or nearby.. We used to go there on cheap pitcher night and

drink mass quantities of golden beverage while watching bands like Allan Haynes, and such..

Didn't really spend much time in the village area other than that.. I do recall seeing Eric Johnson at

the old Tower theater back in the mid-late 80's or thereabouts.

Best I can tell from the various sources, they seem to think the oak has been there since around

the beginning of the cemetery founding. Which was the 1870-1880 range.

So... if it's from 1870, I suppose around 143 years.. That's a pretty long time for a typical oak tree.

It's getting so heavy on the ends of the branches that they have a few cables, supports and such

to hold it up in spots. 

Noticed another had posted some images from Glenwood. I have a few I took around the

beginning of last year.. I'd like to take some more if I ever get around to it. A few notable

graves I haven't got to yet.

That monster tree is something else. I don't think I ever posted these here, but if I did and

forgot about it, sorry about the dupe.. 

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem13.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem14.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem15.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem16.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem17.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem18.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem19.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem20.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem21.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem22.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem23.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/cem24.jpg

***If anybody is still visiting this site and has access to the Westbury60.jpg picture that has been mentioned on this site and the Plane Crash in Meyerland site, could you please post the picture again.***

 

Is this the photo you're talking about?   http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=2490

It probably is.. But the original is a higher resolution.  Which is this one..

You should be able to click on this one to see full res. Well, maybe not after

posting it..

This is the full res link..

http://home.comcast.net/~disk300/westbury.jpg

Good pictures.. Some of those are real good for looking through an aircraft window.

I notice Southwest Maryland One parked in that "taking off for Austin" picture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6kGMYtkdVg

I snap a few of them when I'm in the neighborhood. I'll usually sit behind the fence

near Telephone and catch them going into 12R.

Shamu..

Spirit of Kittyhawk

Regular ole 737-700

Stone was anchoring at KHOU then, and a guy named Jerry Dale was Lasher's backup and weekend weather guy. When Lasher died, Dale was promoted into the full time weather job. /quote]

They show him in that video. They said he was the "voice" of KHOU, which I assume

means he was probably the one that announced the station ID's, etc..

Was Sid the one that was known for "ta-da-da-dum-ta-dum Presidio, Texas!" when announcing the hottest spot on the map or was that someone else?

Yep, that was him.. According to what I found when I did the search to verify the date,

that happened not long before the 10 PM news was to come on. One source said he was

out in the hallway.. They said Ron Stone came on to give the announcement, and then they cut

to a three stooges cartoon.. I'm not sure if that's right or not... Seems to be a

weird choice of programming to put on right after announcing something like that.

But maybe that's all they had ready to go at that moment to fill the air.. ??

I also ran across another obit about his wife. She died just this year. I think Feb 2011,

or thereabouts.

Sid Lasher.. I'd forgot all about that guy. Been so long..

I still remember the night he died right before the newscast

was about to start. I was thinking it was probably about 1970-71,

and a quick search showed it to be in 1971.. 40 years ago..

Note how primitive the weather map was back then.

What is now the dollar store at W.Bellfort and Chimney Rock was a Weingartens in

the 60's and 70's.

I think it started that way. Also remember the drug store in the same center was

a "Dugans" drug store if I have the name right.

http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2009/12/old_photos_maps_and_more.html

University of Houston is now sharing (on-line) some of their Houston History archive photographs. I think you guys missed this link, the first time I pointed it out. I spent hours looking at those photos. Thanks again to Bayou City History Blog. for bringing it to my attention.

Some good ones in there. Some of those are the oldest decent pictures I've ever seen

of Houston.. IE: 1850's-60's..

I'm not sure if this has been posted before but there is a Facebook group called "Anyone remember Westbury Square" with some neat pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67579610630

Dang.. Hunter Chapman and Paul Findley.. I knew those two..

The speedway is the now dirt oval on the rectangle of

darker colored dirt west of the stadium. And just east of

W. Airport which is the N/S road in the center of the picture.

Butler Stadium was there a good amount of time before the

speedway closed. I'm not sure when the stadium was built,

"I seem to recall it says when on the entrance sign"

but seems it was like about 1966 or so.. ??

I marched at football games there when I was in the band

at Westbury, and that was the 73-74-75 range.

Edit.. And now that I think about it I ran track and cross

country meets at Butler when I went to Johnston Jr. High.

That was the 71-72+ range.. So Butler has been there a while.

The baseball diamond was not there yet at that time. Or

at least I don't recall it..

DING! DING! DING!

The Double Eagle on Gasmer, right across from Westbury High School. Pinball, foosball and air hockey. Awesome. Didn't last too long though.

I also remember, maybe after the Double Eagle shut down.... another place that opened up right down the street... right before Gasmer split into S. Willow.... by the little convenience store? Could be wrong... after all it was the 70s.

I went to all those places. Also don't forget "Ernies" on Chimney Rock.. Was in the center across Gasmer from Westbury H.S.

I remember that was the summer of 1975 when they were open, and I lived across the street in the Madison Apt's.

That was a wild summer.. :/ I remember we pretty much partied non stop the whole summer. I remember one night this

guy from Atlanta Ga. came by, I guess with someone else we knew. He had been hitchhiking across the country and was

passing through Houston on his way to CA. I remember we all spent the night inhaling adult beverages and by daylight

he had talked me into going with him. At 8 AM, I was on the road to CA. We left out on 90a, and hit 36 to I-10..

The first night I ended up out near Junction TX. The next night I was in Tucson AZ.. Two days later I was in Barstow CA..

We made pretty good time for hitchhiking.. :/ We also ran into some girl from N.C. and she traveled with us most

the rest of the way.

We toured around CA. for a while, camped in Yosemite for a week. Yosemite was a non stop party in the mid 70's.

Kind of like Memorial Park on a Sunday Afternoon except much bigger trees.

I even ran into other people from Houston when I was there.

I remember being in the bay area for a few days. Stayed in Berkeley. Went to the U.S.C there to check out the

seismic recorder in the hallway.. :/ Noted that all the taxicabs and most of the houses were painted psychedelic

colors. Stayed at one house for about three days, until one day we were sitting around and one of the guys

that lived there asked me if he could massage my feet I decided Berkeley was not my type of place and promptly

hit the road again that very night. Went across Nevada and Utah on I-80, which was like traveling on the moon.

Camped on the Bonneville Salt Flats one night. Into CO. and Steamboat Springs. etc, back down I-25 into N.M. and

down to El Paso. Back to Houston on I-10.. I remember I left El Paso at 6 AM, and got a ride in an old

Willys Jeep.. It must have held about 8 gallons of gas because we had to stop several times. Also, I think it's

top speed must have been about 52 mph.. I didn't get back to Houston until 1:30 AM where they dropped me off

at the McKee Street bridge. I was gone a total of two weeks. Went back to the pad at Madison Apt's, and partied

for a few more days. Then 4th of July, 1975... We went to the hill at Westbury Square to watch the fireworks

show. During the show, a fire developed at the Madison Apt's.. We could see it from the hill.

Betcha can't guess who's apartment it was.. :/ yep, it was ours.. This guy we knew fell asleep in the

arm chair that was in my bedroom with a cigarette, and caught the chair on fire. Almost burned that

whole section of townhouses down..

I forgot where I went after that.. Yep, the summer of 75.. Not for the timid or faint of heart..

BTW, I think the first place I really got into foosball was at the Sir Pizza next to 7-11 on Burdine

and Chimney rock.

You all are making me hungry with all this vintage burger talk.

I forgot all about Kings.. Went there a few times.

When we walked or biked down to Kings, we would always

also hit Westbury Yamaha and drool over the latest and

greatest mini bike, or bike. At one time, they had a store

facing Bellfort that sold the little Benelli<sp>? 50cc

mini-motorcycles. We thought those were the cats meow

back then, but of course couldn't afford one..

We would ride off on our pedal powered models..

I went to Brittains all the time as it was real close.

I still remember my usual order I think.. A #5..

Which was a burger with bar-b-q- sauce. I always got

that one.

I went to the Burger King on Post Oak when it looked like

that. I remember you walked in and went to the left where

the line looped around to the counter. But the first Burger

King I ate at was in Overland Park KS, when I lived up there

in the mid to late 60's.

I think it opened about 1965 or so. And I think it also

looked about the same as that one.

If I remember right, when I first went to the Post Oak BK,

a whopper was 55 cents. That was around 1970.

But seems to me I remember a 35 cent whopper way back

in my memory banks from the mid 60's.. :/

Yes. I tried finding some old photos of the Brocksteins building, in hopes that perhaps a good shot of the Domain Privee might be in the background - but to no avail. The only shot I have found is the Houston Chronicle burn photo posted last week. I'd love a better shot of what the place looked like in it's hay-day.

I think the best overhead shot taken while in operation is the one on page two of this

thread. The post by "emscougar" has a link to it. You can clearly see the lawn art, etc.

I think it was one of the pictures in a collection from another site. "Bailey" maybe?

I forgot.. Anyway, it's the best picture I've seen of the place so far, and I think it

was still open when that picture was taken.

....Not sure how it stays in business with the church just a few feet away. I thought there was a state or city or both law about alcohol service within X feet of a church....

I imagine because the Cozy Corner was there years before the church. The Cozy Corner

has been there since the 60's. I never gave it much thought, but I'm guessing the

church came along in maybe the late 80's at the earliest. Might have been in the 90's.

So obviously the church knew what they were getting before they moved in.

I used to go to Cozy Corner some in the 80's or so.. Along with Classic Era which

was in between Bull and Anchor and China Cottage in the square.

But it was a totally different crowd from what is there now.

Cozy Corner has always been fairly quiet as far as bars go. I bet

they have had very few police calls over the years compared to some

other places. So I don't think they have had many complaints from

the neighbors around that area.

The Cozy Corner is one of the oldest businesses in Westbury I bet.

It's up there on the list anyway..

It was there when I moved here in 69, and wasn't brand new even then.

They have had a few owners through the years, but it's always been open

all through those years basically unchanged. Except for the porch, which

I hadn't even noticed yet, it's not a lot different than it was 40 years ago.

I doubt you will see me there much.. I rarely go to bars any more..

Heck, I rarely drink any more.. I might toss back a couple of cold ones

when I'm up at my get-away place up at Lake Eufaula OK, but that's about it.

Up there, I'm out in the woods, so if I start barking at the moon, no one can

hear me..

That is a cool picture. You can see where Old Main Street intersects on the right. What is the structure immediately to the west of the theater?

That's Brochsteins I'm pretty sure. I don't know how long they have been at that location,

but they have been around since 1935 according to their website.

I vaguely remember a girl at school who I think her dad owned that company.

That was at Johnston Jr. High about 1970 or so.. Actually a friend of mine knew

her a lot better than I did.. We once rode by there on our bikes one day and

he mentioned that her dad owned the place.

http://www.brochsteins.com/

If you look at more recent pictures, you will notice a mass of buildings across

from the old gambling joint on Old Main. That is pro-mark, the drum stick people..

They have been around quite a while. I remember I often used pro-mark drumsticks

when I was in the band at Johnston.. That was 30+ years ago..

A lot of new companies seem to be springing up around there. One on top of the old

gambling joint site.

I imagined it was some sort of 30's gambling casino. There was always something going on late at night in the 60's because I could see comings & goings after the drive-in went dark.

Your imagination is quite accurate! Because that's exactly what it was.

But.. It closed in the early 50's, and the owner "Jakie Freedman" moved to Vegas and

started the Sands casino.

In the 60's I imagine it was abandoned as it was in the early 70's when we

used to go in there. So the comings and goings were most likely people

going in there to party, drink beer, etc..

That's what we did..

Of course, I guess it could have been legally occupied in the 60's, but

I sort of doubt it judging by the condition of the place in the early 70's.

There is really not much left on the grounds to indicate what was there.

It was all bulldozed and mowed flat, and a fence placed all around the land.

Now, I think new buildings have gone up on the site.

But... unless they have been recently been removed by the new builders,

there is one trace of the old place left. On Old Main, you can still see the

old cement curbs to the entrance of the driveway.

Back when we used to go there, there was also another regular house

a bit farther to the east on the same side of the street, closer to main.

It was lived in back in the 70's. But there is not a trace of it now.

There is at least one other thread about then place, and maybe more..

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...mp;#entry277740

Sure wish someone would describe seeing Evil Knevil there! That must have been a blast!

I saw him there. As I recall, he made the jump. He would do a lot of trick

riding stunts before the big jump.

Or at least they were fairly tricky back then..

I think I also saw some other copycat jumper there too one time.

He was fairly young. Forgot his name. Think he was from Houston.

I like the "then and now" pictures.. IE: the one of Lyons and Jenson..

Where did all the buildings go.. Looks like a different city..

About the only thing I can see that might be the same in each is the

storm drain by the curb, and the man hole cover out in the street..

No one has mentioned Kevin Perry's Guitar Shop, his second location was tucked away next to Village Inn Pizza Parlor and behind the Bull 'N Anchor. He is still one of the area's best luthiers and is now out on the north part of Hwy 6 with an original employee...

Hummm... I guess he improved since I used him.. I had him do some work on a 59 Gibson

about 20-25 years ago when he was in the square.

Was not totally pleased. I had it in to have two frets replaced. Well, he did that ok I suppose,

but he didn't dress the frets, or if he did, he didn't do too good a job..

Also, he mounted the bridge wrong when he put it back together. It was all goofy...

Didn't play right at all.

I took it to Rockin Robin to see what they thought, and they chortled like lost

school children when they saw the lack of fret dressing, etc.. They also clued me

in to how the bridge was on wrong.. I had them redo it, and it was fantastic after that.

So I can't say he did anything to really hurt it, but I had to pay another shop to have

it redone right.

But like I say, that was a long time ago, and maybe he was just starting out back then.

Robin did very good work back then. Course, they also build their own brand of geetars too,

or did back then.. I guess they are still around, but haven't checked lately..

This topic should be merged into the other numerous dome related topics.

As far as memories for us it was always the:

1. Hundreds of ball games we went to see with friends & their dads and little league teams as a group.

2. The Tractor pull and crash up derby events

3. Grand finally (as we grew older) was seeing The Rolling Stones Concert in 1981. Was it the Start me up Tour? I know they were with ZZ Top & The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Seems like all the party animals in town went! Still have on 8mm film (and my concert jersey).

I'm pretty sure I went to that show.. I used to hate the dome for concerts though.

If there is a venue in town with worse acoustics, I haven't been there yet..

The sound has always been fairly horrible at any dome concert I ever went to.

From the website for Bailey Architects:

Looks like mid-1980s.

I remember that TSO...

A bit of obtuse trivia... The "pixie stick" man that poisoned

his son at Halloween once worked at that TSO I'm pretty sure.

In fact, he might have done my glasses way back when

I first went there. I think he worked there at that time,

back about 1969-1970.