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FilioScotia

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Everything posted by FilioScotia

  1. I'm weighing in on this discussion for the first time, so I don't know if anyone has offered up the "official" word on the origin of the name "Aldine" or not. Here is what the Handbook of Texas has to say: "ALDINE, TEXAS (Harris County). Aldine is on Farm Road 525, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and the Hardy Toll Road, on the northern outskirts of Houston in central Harris County. It was originally built on the International
  2. There were some slave-holders in the north, but it's not accurate to say that the north had as many slaves as the south. Slaves in the north worked mostly as domestic servants in urban areas. That's not to say that the north was friendlier to slaves. Mais non! Southern slave-owners could always count on the north to catch runaways and send them back. Even the famous Underground Railroad that helped runaway slaves didn't end in the northern U-S. It went all the way to Canada.
  3. Oh. That. Yeah I agree. Other stretches of that same street outside of downtown are still named Calhoun, and my brain still has not accepted that change. Even so, it had nothing to do with political correctness. I'm still trying to figure out what it did have to do with. It's never made any sense to me. OK, so they give the street in front of St. Joseph's Hospital the same name. So? Why? Does this mean Gessner on the west side should be renamed Memorial-Hermann Memorial City Parkway? Hey let's rename Fannin where it goes through the medical center. From now on let's call it Memorial Hermann-Methodist-Saint Luke's-Texas Children's Parkway.
  4. Renamed? From what? To what? It's always been Calhoun.
  5. It's probably out, but it may have been published locally, or self published in limited printings for sale at local gift shops and history museums. Why don't you ask Mr. Aulbach? His email address is lfa@hal-pc.org
  6. Beats me. I guess nobody from the Dunlavy family was around to make a fuss. Recall a few years ago that Lyons Avenue on the east side almost got renamed -- I forget the proposed name -- until members of the Lyons family made a big stink about it. It appears our fearless city council will do whatever they think they can get away with.
  7. I'm something of a newbie, and I'm just now discovering what most HAIF junkies already know.
  8. It's written by local historians, and it's on a website maintained by a group of Houston area computer users. It has probably been around a long time but I just discovered it. Lord I love the Internet. http://www.hal-pc.org/~lfa/Buffalo.html .
  9. You're right. I should not have generalized. I should have said that yes SOME OF THEM care. Not all of them. So far, the MEChA "movement" appears to be limited to some fairly radical students on the west coast, although they claim to have chapters all over the southwest. I was just trying to bring the existence of this group and its stated goals into our discussion, and I did not mean to say or imply that ALL Mexican-Americans share its views. And to answer Gonzo's question, Dunlavy Park WAS renamed. I don't remember if there was a big debate over it, but it's now Ervan Chew Park. There was a brief flap in 1989 over a proposal to rename the Loop 610 bridge over the Houston Ship Channel. Somebody famous had died -- I think it was Mickey Leland -- and County Commissioners voted to put Leland's name on the bridge, but somebody pointed out that the bridge already had a name. It's the Sydney Sherman Bridge, built in 1973. Sherman was a hero of the Texas Revolution and a respected Houston businessman for many years. Nobody ever refers to the ship channel bridge as "the Sydney Sherman Bridge", so many people, including County Commissioners, just forgot it had a name. Maybe we should all start using that name again so people will remember. Back to Mickey Leland for moment, his death triggered one of the most contentious and nastiest periods in Houston city council's history, all because people wanted to rename prominent public structures after him. Democratic National Committee Chair Ron Brown started it when he let it be known that he wanted Houston Intercontinental Airport renamed after Leland, and said it would reflect poorly on Houston's race relations if it didn't go along. A lot of people in Houston took umbrage at Brown's blatant political strong-arming, and the debate on Houston City Council got so nasty that at one point, longtime councilman Jim Westmoreland joked to reporters at the press table that they may as well call it "N--ger" International and make everybody happy. That sorry effort at humor ended Westmoreland's political career, because he lost to an unknown newcomer in the next election. Brown didn't get his wish, but the city did name the new International Terminal for Leland, and Congress named the new federal building at 1919 Smith for him. And if the "naming" issue wasn't nasty enough, the race for Leland's seat in Congress was even worse.
  10. Allow me to erase your doubts. There is an active movement called Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, better known by its acronym, MEChA. The group was organized in 1969 by Mexican-American college students, for the most part, who preferred to call themselves Chicanos and Chicanas. MEChA proudly proclaims that its mission is to reclaim California and the rest of the Southwest
  11. Thanks to all. My question elicited some interesting comments, and I'm hoping to see more. Please though, no comments on mascot names. That's an entirely different debate that may be worth a separate thread of its own. I'm more interested in your thoughts on schools named for people who were famous in infamous causes, such as defending slavery in the Civil War -- excuse me: that War of Northern Aggression. Someone mentioned John H. Reagan, and thanks for that. His name didn't occur to me when I started this thread. And speaking of Confederate war hero Dick Dowling, along with the school named for him, don't forget his statue at the entrance to Hermann Park over on Macgregor. I had forgotten that Robert E's given names were taken off Lee High School a few years ago. Does anybody really believe that makes any difference? It's still Robert E. Lee, whether his given names are used or not. It's like taking the name Henry off the letterhead at Ford Motor Company and pretending the company's not named for Henry Ford. I'm in full agreement with those who say it's wrong and silly to change names on buildings and other landmarks just because they're no longer politically correct with one group or another, in this case African-Americans. That sort of mindless revisionism can get out of control very easily, and it wouldn't be long before Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics would want names like Houston, Crockett, or Travis, or Bowie, or Austin taken off schools they attend in large numbers. You know what? It may well be true that we don't have any controversy over those Confederate names because hardly anybody today knows who those people were, or what they were famous for. See? Nothing's ALL bad. Even historical illiteracy.
  12. At the risk of opening a can of worms, I've wondered for some time how much longer three HISD schools will continue to bear the names they were given many decades ago. I'm speaking of Jefferson Davis High, Robert E. Lee High, and Albert Sydney Johnston Middle School. All over the country various groups and individuals are doing their best to erase all traces of the Confederacy -- i.e. the Confederate battle flag, and schools named for Confederate leaders. For some reason, this hasn't come up in Houston, and I find that surprising. Lee High School has a large minority enrollment, especially African-American, and you would think they would be the ones complaining loudest about the name of their school. On the north side, the enrollment at Jeff Davis High is almost a hundred percent minority -- Hispanic and African-American -- and there too you would expect to hear complaints about the school's name. This is also true for Johnston Middle School, which is named for a confederate general who was killed early on in the Civil War. Three schools -- all with large minority enrollments -- named for men who put their lives on the line to defend the institution of slavery. Any thoughts on why this doesn't seem to be an issue in Houston? I sincerely hope the mere discussion of it won't cause it to become an issue.
  13. Not in the 1960s. You have to go back a lot farther than that to find Roy's buttprints on the County Judge's chair. He served two terms as County Judge from 1936 through 1944, and he was mayor for a time in the 50s. The County Judge you're thinking about was Bill Elliott, a man so mediocre he was beloved by hack politicians everywhere because he made them all look so good. He was County Judge from 1961 till 1975. He was followed by John Lindsay, another mediocrity who served 20 years until the current County Judge, Robert Eckels, who is not a mediocrity, was elected in 1995. Eckels is a politician just like everybody else in government, but he does take care of business. He's afflicted with the odd notion that he should actually do the job he was elected to do. Whoever heard of such a thing!!?? No, I don't think so. Because Weingarten Realty has been doing this same sort of thing for years, long before Lea Weingarten Fastow did her short stretch in the big house. Tearing down and rebuilding seems to be the modus operandi for the current generation of Weingartens. This is the bunch that sold their family patriarch's much loved supermarket chain to Safeway in the 70s. History and tradition mean nothing to them. If something isn't increasing their bottom line they don't want it. Besides, it wasn't Houston that was "mean" to her. Or even the Houston U-S Attorney's office. It was those awful old federal prosecutors from Washington. Nobody from Houston was involved in the prosecution, because so many people in the local U-S Attorney's office had legal, business, and even family relationships with Enron. Even the local U-S Attorney had to recuse himself and let Washington handle it because his wife worked at Enron.
  14. Well, it has been more than 30 years. That's a generation. It happened before the entire generation of today's adults under the age of 30 was even born. It's easy to understand how something as grotesque and horrifying as poisoning your own children on Halloween could spill over into the world of urban legends. I'm not justifying it. Just trying to explain it.
  15. That's because no city action CAN be taken. There is NOTHING Houston City Council can do to stop Weingarten Realty from doing whatever it wants to do with its property. It can only plead with the company to not demolish the River Oaks Theater. Furthermore, the Historical Preservation Board that met yesterday is not a city agency, or even an arm of the city government. It's a private group with no authority, and all it can do is advocate and encourage historical preservation. Houston will never have a preservation ordinance with any teeth in it, because developers are calling the shots at city hall. Developers have always controlled this city -- since it was founded in 1836 -- and if they don't want something to happen, it doesn't happen. They don't want a strong preservation ordinance because it would put limits on their laissez-faire ability to do whatever they want to do. So we can sit around weeping, wailing, gnashing our teeth and wringing our hands till the cows come home over another landmark getting the wrecking ball, but it's not going to change anything. Welcome to Houston. Baghdad on the bayou. How about those Astros?
  16. Is it just a coincidence that West Airport Blvd runs smack into Westbury South precisely where the Sam Houston Airport used to be? I realize Airport Blvd runs intermittently from the Hobby Airport area all the way across the south side to Westbury, but it leads from a big airport on one side of town straight to the spot where an old airport used to be on the other side of town. Coincidence? You decide. (Twilight Zone theme)
  17. Houston outlawed fireworks in the early 70s, after an especially hot, dry and horrible Fourth of July, when more than two dozen houses burned down IN ONE DAY. Investigations showed ALL the fires were started by bottle-rockets and other fireworks that landed on wood shingle roofs. That was the last straw for fireworks in Houston. It's been illegal to sell and even possess them ever since. It took a few more years and more big fires for City Council to finally outlaw wood shingle roofs. That happened in the mid 80s, after the Woodway Square Apartment complex fire. The entire complex at Woodway and Voss had wood shake shingles and it burned to the ground -- hundreds of units. After that, City Council changed the city building code, and said no new houses could be built with wood shingles. Existing wood shingle roofs were grand-fathered, but they could be replaced only with composition shingles. Personally, I don't miss fireworks one bit. They're much too dangerous for children -- ask any hospital emergency room doctor or nurse to describe some of the fireworks injuries they treat. They're also a gigantic nuisance for people who don't enjoy them having to put up with inconsiderate neighbors shooting them off far into the night. Adults who do that, or allow their kids to do it, really need to grow up. Professional fireworks displays are enough for me.
  18. Then there were two polynesian restaurants in that immediate area. I have clear memories of being hired to work at the Dobbs House Luau at 5200 Westheimer just a block away from the Poly-Asian. Was the Poly-Asian owned by Albert Gee? All of a sudden saying "Albert Gee" and "Poly-Asian" together is ringing a bell somewhere in my old brain.
  19. "In 1959, there was a polynesian type restaurant at Sage and Westheimer, cannot recall the name, was before the Trader Vic era. They had a divine (ahem) dish called Celestial Chicken, which was so unforgettable, I continue to this day to make it at home. Cubes of white meat of chicken, breaded and covered in sesame seeds, crisp fried and served on a bed of fluffly white rice, covered with white sauce/gravy. Accompanied by Jasmine tea, a simple, but wonderful taste treat. Anyone recall the name? I don't think it lasted too long." ************************************ I remember that place. I almost went to work there in the summer of 1964 when I was in college. The manager hired me and said report for work the following week, but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to go back to school. It was the Dobbs House Luau, and you're right -- I don't think it survived the sixties. The restaurant was torn down years ago, and several businesses have come and gone since then. I think a big Walgreen's Drug Store now occupies the corner of Westheimer and Sage.
  20. That was Trader Vic's, and I loved it too. It was fun to watch those Polynesian cooks chopping and cutting up your food right there at your table.
  21. The picture was taken in November 1947, only two years and a few months after the war ended. I'm guessing that thousands of bombers and fighter planes that survived the war ended up being sold as surplus, and any number of men who flew them in action bought them and took them home. They were practically giving those planes away after the war, and small private airports all over the country probably had at least one or several parked on the runway. I had a friend in Lufkin back in the 80s who flew P-51's during the war. A few years after the war he bought a surplus P-51, restored it, kept it perfectly maintained at the Angelina County Airport, and he was still flying it on weekends when I met him in 1980. He finally gave it up because of his advancing age and fuel costs. He told me of a national organization of WWII fighter pilots, a good many of whom were still flying -- at that time. Most of them are probably dead by now, and their planes became scrap metal.
  22. So it's completely covered now by Westbury? That's a shame. For the airport I mean. Thanks.
  23. That's a great photo and a great article. I've lived in Houston for more than 50 years and I had never heard of the Sam Houston airport until it came up here on the HAIF. I need a little help understanding the photo though. Can you help orient me? I know that's South Main on the extreme right side of the picture, but which direction are we looking? West? East? I've looked up and down South Main on Google Earth and I can't find any sign of an old airport. Is it the property now occupied by the Butler Stadium complex? Where was it exactly?
  24. Does anybody remember the Pizza Yoint on Spencer Hwy in South Houston? It was a favorite hangout for San Jacinto College kids back in the 60s.
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