C2Ag93

Wow, thanks JLWM, fantastic find. Now I'm convinced that the route was: 1 - University to Main (videos show the motorcade leaving Rice Stadium on the University side, the news article clearly says they took Main to go to Rich Building, and the videos show them heading toward downtown) 2 - Main to Pierce (as was suggested, and your map clearly shows there was no way to jump on today's 59) 3 - Pierce along 45 feeder and on to 45 (the news article clearly says they took the Gulf Freeway) 4 - Reveille / 35 to Westover (your map shows the importance of 35 as a thoroughfare, and the video shows them arriving to the Rich Building on Westover) Since the news article didn't name 35 as being on the route, I was thinking it was supposition as well. But I just don't think by looking at your map they would have exited the Gulf Freeway anytime before 35 and I see no reason they wouldn't have taken 35 on the last leg, especially since they arrived on Westover. Good sleuthing, but I am 100% convinced now. I'll drop in if I ever hear form the Secret Service history department, but not holding my breath.

One caveat to note from my post above. On another forum, someone posted a reply regarding the leg of the route - turning off Main and getting on 59 to connect to 45. I have a message out to the Secret Service history office, perhaps they will confirm that leg of the route. But the poster suggested that the elevated part of 59 (or perhaps 59 completely) didn't exist at the time of Kennedy's visit. If true, for that leg, he perhaps stayed on Main to Pierce and Pierce to the 45 feeder street. All other portions I am quite confident in.

Okay all, I have an answer! JFK Visit – September 11-12, 1962: Arrived Houston International Airport (now Hobby) at 6:15 PM Stayed evening at Rice Hotel 909 Texas Ave, Houston, TX 77002 (Sept 11, 1962) September 12: Left Rice Hotel 9:34 AM Motorcade travelled down Main St to University Dr, to Rice Stadium at 9:58 AM (route per El Paso news article, pasted below, and video shows the motorcade arriving off University) Presidential address at Rice Stadium 10:15 AM to 10:30 AM Travelled to the Rich Building, arriving 11:10 AM: University to Main (per video and El Paso news article) Main to Hermann Dr to San Jacinto to Highway 59 (Main per El Paso news article and video showing them headed toward downtown, educated guess on turning on San Jacinto) (Unsure if there was a way to enter 59 directly from Main, today you need to go San Jacinto to 59 feeder to get on 59 easily, but the elevated portion of 59 today was likely how it was in 1962 – it's been that way since as long as I can remember) Highway 59 to Gulf Freeway (Gulf Freeway per El Paso news article) Gulf Freeway to Reveille St / Route 35 (Gulf Freeway per El Paso news article, Reveille/35 is listed as a main route on the MSC map) Reveille to Westover (educated guess, but Roundup notes they turned into the Westover entrance, and video clearly shows them arriving on Westover) (Futher evidence the route information above is correct: The El Paso news article details as to time of arrivals and departures match extremely closely with the official JFK Visit minutes AND the article notes a "10 mile drive" from the stadium to the Rich Building – the route described above is exactly 10.7 per google maps, the author back then would have rounded and been just slightly less precise. Also, the article notes the speed of the motorcade would be judged by the crowds. If they took only streets, such as OST to Telephone, it would have taken a lot longer than 40 minutes to get to the Rich Building – Google maps says it's only 18 minutes by the route above on today's roads, but it makes sense they would have taken time going up Main to 59, and time on Reveille and Westover near the Rich Building. Even today, it is likely more like 25-30 minutes with some traffic to take the above route.). Departed Rich Building for Houston International Airport 12:39 PM

Hello all - This may not be completely architectural related, but I am somewhat of a pass-time historian about NASA's early years in Houston. I am trying to find out the actual route of the motorcade route for John Kennedy’s visit to Houston in 1962. He had two visits, one in 1962 (to visit NASA and delivered his famous speech at Rice University) and one in 1963 (just before he was shot in Dallas). Obviously, I am interested in 1962. Surprisingly, I have tried more obvious avenues of finding this (internet searches, postings on social media groups, contacting the JFK library, etc.) to no avail. I have an email into what I believe is HPDs history department. I know that he stayed at the Rice Hotel, and through pictures and common sense, it seems to get from his hotel to Rice University, he went down Main to the Med Center. It would be great to verify. But what’s really hard to find and what I am more interested in is the route he took to go from Rice University to the NASA location then known as the Rich Building, which is today Ambox (6040 Telephone Rd, Houston, TX 77087). NASA was in temporary locations before the JSC was opened in 1964. I know through a detail itinerary found online he went straight from Rice University to the Rich Building, then from there to what is today Hobby Airport. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Some years late to this party, but here you go... https://uhcl-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10657.1/860/JSC-org-11-05-002.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y And https://uhcl-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10657.1/859/JSC-org-11-05-001.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Actually, found it. Congrats to whoever guessed a Mercury above. It is clearly a 1963 Mercury Monterey 4 door. Thanks all!

Okay all... I found a much better picture of the car I am trying to identify! All you classic car buffs, please help me out! What make, model and year is this?

Actually, scratch that... I dont think it's the same car in the 1970 photo. Looks different when you compare the fuzzy pic of the back end just a couple posts up.

I deleted a pic here, apparently the wrong car...

Hey @mollusk, I saved this thread link and stumbled across it this morning again. Totally missed this post a while back, but it's a great thought. May have unraveled the final piece of why they did this.

No, but some friends of theirs did. I was reconstructing a bio of their time during the NASA days, and details are sometimes fun to find and document, as it sheds further light on what life was like for them. And @cowboybud... thanks! Not sure how the heck you were able to find that! What's interesting is it kind of shows how far flung Houston was even back in 1967. Their friend's wedding was near downtown, and they went there for the reception. Of course, they all worked down in Clear Lake at NASA. So guess it was normal back then too to be all over the place. Houston is massive.

Does anyone remember the Hawaiian Village on South Main in Houston? It was apparently a reception venue for weddings and am curious to figure out what the street address was for a bio I am writing. Google didn't turn up much. I do know it was in existence in 1967.

Man! Thanks all for comments and suggestions. I'm not a student of classic cars, so had no idea there were so many close possibilities. I discovered the back end of it in another photo. Guess if I really want to solve this one, I'll need to scour through boxes of pictures again. From memory though, they simply didn't take pictures with their cars. It's hard to really say what make and model it is from these. My cousin mentioned she thought Mom drove a Valiant. But the problem I see with that is (as someone pointed out) I too don't see the second part of the angled feature on the fender just above the wheel well. But then if it was a Ford, I don't see molding. I hadn't noticed that the rear wheel well was lower than the front. But then it looks like the Valiant and the Ford guesses both had that. Someone asked... No, my parents weren't dedicated to any one brand, so I can't assume that early-60s car was an earlier model of a later one I knew as a kid. Good thought, but parents had Cadillacs, Cutlass, mini-vans, etc. I'll be sure to post whether I figure this out somehow! Or get a clearer picture.

Hmmm... My cousin's note said she thought it was a Valiant. When I look at detail pictures of Valiant's I don't see the second line just above the wheel well. Guessing it would have been a 1962 or 1963 model.

Hello all - I know this isn't about Houston architecture, but I have posted other times on this board seeking help about historic Houston and people seem extremely knowledgeable here and helpful. I am still exploring my parent's history in Houston in the 1960s, and am wondering if you can help me figure out what kind of car they drove, down to the model year. I have a note from a cousin as to what my mom drove in high school, and suspect what she told me is what I see I the photo. But I don't want to venture the guess so as not to taint you in your guess. But I can say my mom graduated high school in 1963 and the photo below was taken in 1968, and I have reason to believe the car in the photo is not a new car (so, it's likely an early 60s model). Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Well... no sooner than I posted that did it dawn on me the "F" in the photo must be Foleys! LOL... Pretty sue that's it looking at old photos... leaving up anyway in case this is a fun memory to share about the NASA parade...

Hello all - I realize there is VERY little to go on here, but wondering if anyone can help me figure out where exactly this is downtown. It was July 1962 when the Manned Spacecraft Center moved to Houston. There was a parade downtown to celebrate. My grandmother likely took the photo, as I found it in a box of her pictures. My dad had moved to Houston with NASA (but they didn't know him yet). It would be fun to know the exact block they were standing to watch the parade and take this photo, but would need to be able to identify the building across the street (pretty plain looking):

Hi All! Thank you so much to everyone that took the time to comment on this thread for me! I wish I had known this time in my dad and mom's lives. We effectively lost my father when I was 13, so I never really got the chance as an adult to learn what it was like for them in the 60s and the Space Race. And I guess you just don't think about asking your other parent (mom) after so much time had passed. She passed in 2015, and only after have I gotten interested in reconstructing every detail I can about their lives during the space race. Thanks so much for unlocking what "the Towers" were (I am sure the poster that suggested the one on Holcomb was right!) and the mystery of what "Houston 1" was on my dad's NASA papers. I am sure the postal zone theory is right. I may even drop into Tel-Wink at some point. I have no evidence at all that dad, or mom and dad, ever ate there. But it would make sense at least my dad did once or twice. From April 1962 to around March 1964 he lived literally walking distance to it (1/4 of a mile) while he worked at the temporary NASA facilities (Houston Petroleum Center on 45 near Telephone) and the Rich Building (now Ambox) on Telephone Rd. In my research, I have stayed away from "conjecture", but it's seems to me a certainty he would have eaten there at least once! This site says it was relocated to its present location in 1962 (so, right around the time my dad moved there). http://telwink.com/

Correct. When the Manned Spacecraft Center (now known as Johnson Space Center) first moved to Houston from Virginia, it was temporarily in buildings all over the area around Gulfgate Mall and Hobby Airport. This was from late 1961 to March 1964, when the MSC was finally built and opened on NASA Rd. 1. Flipbook on the temporary MSC - https://uhcl-ir.tdl.org/handle/10657.1/860

Regarding the Postal Zones, many thanks all! But I'm still perplexed by my dad's use of "Houston 1". See the attached snips. One is from his NASA paper. He was working in the temporary Manned Spacecraft Center buildings on I-45 near Gulfgate Mall (specifically, the Houston Petroleum Center near I-45 and Telephone). That was 1963, so the "Postal Zone" theory may work. It's still weird he would have done that on NASA memos (e.g. I don't write zip codes on my work memos, but then people had just moved to Houston from Langley Field in Virginia, so maybe it made more sense for them). Then, there was a NASA news release mentioning him in 1967, and the NASA publicity office also used the "Houston 1" reference. I asked the NASA History Office, and they had no idea why it was used.

Hey all - I have a follow up question. Perhaps you can FINALLY solve a puzzle that has been bugging me since it was presented. My father worked for NASA. Not a lot of people know that when the Manned Spacecraft Center first moved to Houston from Virginia, it was located in temporary buildings all around the Gulfgate Mall area for three years before the permanent site opened in Clear Lake. While my dad worked at the temporary site, he would address his memorandums as "Houston 1". People at NASA I have asked don't have a clue why. But I just noticed looking at the pictures for the Towers Motor Hotel that in the first picture near the address, it says "Houston 25, Texas". Was there some scheme back in the day to use this numbering for areas of town? I thought MAYBE it was simply the last two digits of a zip code, since the 77025 code is near West U. But the Towers would have been outside of that. Same for Gulgate Mall (77001 is just north of downtown, the temporary NASA locations would have been in 77087).

Thanks you guys! My cousin had a complete guess (he wasnt sure, simply googled) that it was this: https://www.houstontowers.com/ It was built before 1965, but its a complete guess and my gut says it wasn't it. It looks like it was simply a house for a while, that someone redeveloped into a B&B. EspersonBuildings - I think your guess is the best I've heard so far! It makes a lot of sense! It would have been only a couple miles and a straight shot down the street from church (St Vincent de Paul) and their homes in West U, then only a couple miles to the movie up Sheppard. The only thing, of course, that gives me pause on it being the right guess is what I see in the pictures. Mom, Aunt Lilian and others she mentions going likely wouldn't have frequented a "motor hotel" to eat. Not saying they were "high class", but they were the types to don nice church clothes and go see a show like the Sound of Music, so guessing they would have done a true restaurant than what I am imagining by the latter pictures. But if you recall it being more like a nicer hotel in its "heyday", then I think you nailed it. And I did find this on it, makes me think that even though the name was "...motor hotel", it was a nice place to eat: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Houston-Texas-Towers-Motor-Hotel-Multiview-Vintage-Postcard-K40166-/142122913604 Twinsanity02 - Thanks so much. I wondered the same thing, whether it was the Shamrock. It was also close to where they lived and would go to the show. And mom and her mother were into ballroom dancing, and I recall them mentioning the Shamrock as a landmark. It opened before 1965, so it is a possibility. But in googling, I don't see any connection between the use of the term "the Towers" and the Shamrock, so I don't think it is it (unless someone else alive then can inform us otherwise).

Hi All - I am documenting my mother and father's lives during the 1960s, specifically around the Space Race (as dad worked for NASA). Interestingly, I have some letters my Mom wrote in 1965. Both Mom and Dad have passed, so I cannot ask them. And I bounced this question off some cousins who may have known, to no avail. In the May 1965 letter, my mom makes a short reference to going to "the Towers" for breakfast (no other description). It makes me think "the Towers" was a hip place to get breakfast on a Sunday. They went after church in West University and before seeing the Sound of Music, which was playing in the Alabama Theater on West Alabama (Upper Kirby area). Does anyone of that generation recognize what "the Towers" may be in May 1965? It was well-known enough for my mom in a letter to her mom (who was in Europe at the time) to mention going to "the Towers".