gonzo1976

Houston Arts and Media and Story Sloane’s Gallery will be co-hosting the first annual Houston History Book Fair & Symposium on Saturday, Nov. 13, at the historic Heights Church of Christ at Heights Blvd and 16th Street. The event runs from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., and admission is free. It is the only comprehensive symposium event dedicated solely to the history of Southeast Texas.

There are plenty of authors committed to attending this inaugural event, and all will be there throughout the day selling and signing their various books on area history. Every half hour throughout the day, a different author will speak in the church library about the topic of their work. There will also be a panel discussion, sponsored by Arcadia Publishing, at noon in the main event hall during which four Arcadia authors will answer questions and discuss the process of researching and preparing a book on local history.

The event is designed to be a fun way to draw attention to Houston’s history and raise awareness for ongoing HAM projects such as their HAM Slices of History videos, the Neighbor to Neighbor Oral History Project, and the multi-volume Historic Schools of Harris County. It will be the first time that HAM’s new full length documentary "Houston: A Nation’s Capitol" will be available on DVD.

All attending teachers with ID will receive a free gift of historic posters courtesy of Story Sloane’s Gallery, a photo gallery specializing in images of our past with an emphasis on Houston from the early 1900s till the 1980s. More information at http://www.sloanegallery.com

Door prizes will be awarded throughout the day. Attendees are encouraged to stay and listen to speakers as long as they like.

Here's a schedule of speakers:

10:30 – Carol Vance - "Boomtown D.A."

11:00 – Bill Hobby – "How Things Really Work: Lessons From a Life in Politics"

11:30 – Naomi Carrier – "Go Down Old Hannah"

12:00 – Arcadia Publishing Authors Panel Discussion, Main Hall

Four Authors on preparing your book on local history: Brian Davis (Lost Galveston), Ron Goodwin (African-American Houston), Sallie Gordon (Courtlandt Place), Anne Sloan (Houston Heights)

1:00 – Ed Cotham – Four Gulf Coast Civil War Titles

1:30 – Kurt Voss - "Elissa: The Tall Ship of Texas"

2:00 – Jim Bevill – "The Paper Republic"

2:30 – Michael Botson – "Labor, Civil Rights & the Hughes Tool Company"

3:00 – Doug Weiskopf – "Rails Around Houston"

3:30 – Dwight Watson – "Race & the Houston Police Department: 1930-1990"

http://www.houstonartsandmedia.org/book%20fair.html

Why am I mentioning this? Well this event was partly my idea so I'd like to see it become an annual event. I'll be there all day so drop in and say hello!

In the last couple of days it's been demolished.

I just contacted the Sig Byrd in Colorado to inquire if he was the grandson of this Sig Byrd. His reply was...

"Indeed, I am the grandson of Sig Byrd. I, too, am a writer. Guess I have a love of

words in the ol' genes.

I've also heard my grandfather's book is quite popular in Houston these days.

Right now I live in Boulder, CO, and I have not been back to visit

Houston in thirteen years. In fact, I haven't lived there since the early eighties,

although I did live in Austin for six years in the nineties."

I gave him the HAIF link. Maybe he will respond with some more info on his granddad.

His book is popular, but unfortunately, it's out of print. Oh it can be found online, but that's about the only place to find it.

However, a few months back I purchased a copy of Byrd's book at an estate sale for 25 cents. I already had one copy of his book, but no way was I going to pass up getting another copy at that price.

I haven't decided what to do with it. Maybe I'll give it away on the blog.

- Dollie Garrett Richardson, 42, was found viciously beaten in her house in the 5200 block of Hancock on April, 17, 1944.

I've been meaning to write about this one. It would show up in the "unsolved murder" stories well into the 1950s.

http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/

JR's site has some great links this month, including an old schools downloadable book, a new UH Houston history link - digital photos site, and an article on Sakowitz...thank you JR Gonzales.

My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it.

Neat, I can see Astroworld and Colt Stadium

Sure do! You can find them all over here.

http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/sigman_byrd/

One thing I haven't been able to find is a photograph of the guy. Chron and Press files don't have pictures of him. The best I could do was this scan from an article that appeared in the Press after the Texas City explosion.

I doubt it was censored. The originals would almost certainly be available for viewing at the Texas Room.

I was wondering why poisoning wasn't listed under suicide. I always find that manner of suicide appearing in the papers. Maybe I just missed it.

"Carrying a dirk"

That's something you don't hear too often.

JR Gonzales of the Bayou City History blog in the Chron has come across some old tapes of a Marvin Zindler produced and hosted crime report program from the early 50s on KATL (the original call letters on 1590). He's publishing a series of articles on it this month complete with audio clips.

It's great stuff for history buffs and radio buffs.

Thanks for passing that along. You haven't heard anything yet! I should have the next post up on Monday.

There are some other, non-Marvin stuff I'll post after I run through "The Roving Mike" this month.

In all, there's about 8 hours worth of audio I'm dealing with here.

Speaking of the Gulf Bank area, does anyone know where the old Humble tanks used to be on U.S. 75? I'm working on an upcoming blog post that has a reference to the Humble tanks north of Houston.

I was thinking it's that Exxon facility south of I-45 and Gulf Bank today, but I wasn't sure.

The old Chicago Stock Exchange building. Awful what happened to it.

The same thing happened to the old St. Joseph Maternity Building. The building was demolished and a portion of it was used as the entrance to the park that sits on the site today.

Anya Tish Gallery on Montrose isn't too large of a venue..

http://www.anyatishgallery.com/

Went there once for a reception.. Don't know much more about it other than: DON'T TOUCH THE WALLS!.. heh

Thanks! I'll check that out!

Why limit yourself to a facility dedicated toward that.

Why not consider a trendy bar or coffee house.

25 photos is not much, and I am sure someone would love to host an "event" at their business if you can guarantee some sort of compensation with lots of paying customers/gallery goers.

I could go up to 40 photos. It's just that space becomes an issue at that point I guess.

The focus of the exhibit is on an individual (the photographer in this case) so I'm not sure if a bar or coffee house is the best place to stage a photo exhibit like this.

Can anyone out there recommend any galleries here that can host photo exhibits? I've checked a few here in town but they're either closed at night/weekends, or too small or way too big. I'm looking to display at least 25 photos with some added elements to the exhibit.

It's part of a project I'm working on that has a tremendous local history bent to it.

Thanks for your help!

J.R.

Good stuff. Kinda reminds me of the store at Cypress Top, without the lunch counter.

I just call the freeways by their numbers, unless I'm trying to be real specific in regards to directions or locations.

I've never heard anyone call 288 the South Freeway, or 59 the Eastex Freeway, or I-10 East the Baytown East Freeway (though I like the BEast nickname).

In the late 1950s, the city of Houston annexed Oak Forest and Kathryn Smith Elementary. Apparently, there was some kind of law at that time that said anything in the city had to be part of HISD, so AISD had to cede Oak Forest and Kathryn Smith Elementary to HISD. That law must have been recinded a few years later because I've seen articles from the time Acres Homes was annexed in the 1960s or 1970s that said AISD would not be forced to cede that area.

Smith was still part of Aldine by 1958. I've seen a picture that shows a black family being rejected from admitting their children to the school.

You are so right. The restaurant had no windows, the red vinyl chairs with placemats built into the tables. Remember the chip baskets with the maple sugar candy at the bottom? I do remember the Sound Warehouse, too. Do you remember Victoria Station?

No memories of Victoria Station though it sounds familiar. And yep! I remember the chip baskets, too!

I'll check and see if we have any Greenspoint Mall photos sometime.

My apologies. Back up there in my original posting I intended to include the HPost's own morgue archives, which were extensive.

As far as I know they still exist, but I don't know if the public has access to them. That's a question to ask somebody in charge at the Chronicle's morgue.

The public doesn't have access to the Post or Chronicle archives. There just isn't enough staff to accommodate outside researchers.

And, yep, the Chronicle has the Post morgue, including clip files and photos. The HPL only has the negatives.

I get more reaction from the Then & Nows than any other blog posts I do. If I could, I'd do one every week!

Great that J.R. was able to share those Chron photos with us!

It was my pleasure!

The Google Images/Life magazine collection also has some color photos of the monorail available for viewing.

Remember University Savings by Fajitas and Monterey House?

Over the last 30 years, I'm sure my parents and I have spent enough money at that Monterey House to keep it in business. I remember it looking very different back then (no windows if I recall correctly, dimly lit) compared to today.

I also remember the Sound Warehouse next to the Scooby Doo (later a BBQ?) restaurant. Eventually the Sound Warehouse moved across the freeway to the newer shopping center.

I heard there have been some delays and/or disputes. I seem to recall work won't be complete until after 2009.

There's also a name discrepancy between those two street markers on Cortlandt/Courtlandt in the Heights.