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Firebird65

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Everything posted by Firebird65

  1. Yes, I remember Marco's. I liked their location on the North Freeway across from Greenspoint. That restaurant does certainly appear to be the sole surviving descendant of what was once a chain of about 15 or so locations. Marco's Mexican Restaurants had a location at that address. The name of this place is Marco's Mexican Bar and Grill, but that may just be so that people know it also serves alcohol. The original chain was run by a Pakistani named Bombaywaya. He went bankrupt in 1999 and another company - Watermarc - took over the chain. In the mid 2000s they began closing locations. I moved to the westside and there was one on Westheimer near Hwy 6. But the quality had gone way down. I'm guessing someone took over this final location between 2006 and 2010, when the website you listed came online. I can't find a story about any change of ownership. I see a poster named Montrose1100 believes the original chain couldn't compete today, even in pristine condition. I beg to disagree. I think if they had the same standards they had in the late 1980s, they'd do very well. They were a nice step up in selection and quality from Casa Ole and Monterrey House. Not on par with the Original Ninfa's but going there meant a trip to the east side. I'd say they were, in their prime, on a level with the modern Los Cucos/Los Gallitos chains.
  2. Wow, what a great shot! OK, I hope this isn't a dumb question. It seems more like common sense to me. Why has the Battleship Texas been kept in water? Why couldn't it have been placed in a permanent dry dock for display after the 1989 restoration? Seems to me that the brackish water has been part of the problem leading to its deterioration. Obviously everything is going to eventually deteriorate no matter what we do, but at least keeping it dry seems like it would solve a part of the problem. IIRC correctly something like that was proposed back in 1989.
  3. Well, I'm about 14 months late, but better late than never, right? The Fairway Foods Lucky 7 originally started in the early 1940s as the Airline Food Shop. That's the picture in mkultra's photo. It was not a very large store at all by today's standards. Maybe no bigger than a convenience store. Melvin Iio bought it in March 1951. I can't tell when the name changed or when it became part of Lucky 7. This 1951 ad simply lists Fairway Foods as one of "These fine Lucky 7 stores [are] under new management." Chester used it as a place to sell his produce since he and his brothers had a farm down the street on Gulf Bank. In 1956, Melvin builds a bigger store on the same site. That's the store everyone out there over 45 years old is familiar with. When Melvin passed away in 1968, his older brother Chester tool over running the store until thieves robbed the place and murdered him in 1983.
  4. Greenspoint Mall's owners need to get with a Hollywood movie studio to use the rotting corpse as a prop in an action movie a la the 1985 Chuck Norris flick Invasion USA. Have terrorists or aliens "attack" the mall and blow it to smithereens. Maybe include the Astrodome in the movie too and put two aging ladies out of their misery in a spectacular and profitable way.
  5. There are as many of these Images of America books as there are stars in the sky. They're not just limited to Texas. It's an awesome idea that gives amateurs a chance to get published in a way not possible before and a way for folks to learn local history, even in areas where nothing world changing happened. Writing was the easy part of this project. I had pretty much everything I needed 5 years ago thanks to all the tips I got on here and independent research. The toughest thing was the images. I did the text and my partner found the photos. He had already done an Images of America book on Humble so he had lots of connections at the Texas Room downtown. But even once he had the photos, then it was a question of whether they were of high enough resolution to be put into a book. A lot of otherwise good pics were left on the floor because while they looked good on a computer screen, they couldn't cut it when printed. They were either too dark or too grainy or not sharp enough. After all the postings and interactions I'm so happy now that the people who shared my journey of discovery can now enjoy the fruits of all that work. To all who have ordered, thanks for your support. I'd love to read your reactions once you've had the chance to go through it.
  6. The East Aldine Management District ordered $5,000 worth of books. I assume Amazon probably gives volume discounts, so that could mean between 200 and 250 copies. I suspect they're the ones who depleted Amazon's stock. As the author, I'm sure not complaining about that! I also went on an advertising blitz on Facebook. There are lots of Aldine related pages on Facebook. As mkultra states in another post, it is available from other retailers. I know Barnes and Noble has it. And, of course, the publisher itself (Arcadia) has it. I did see that used copy for sale. It was like that on the first day. Weird, huh? .! If you want one, I hope you're able to get it and I appreciate your interest.
  7. Hi all, Hope this isn't a violation of the rules. I used to post on here a lot about the history of Aldine. Thanks to all the knowledgeable posters on this board and some personal research, I was finally able to put together the history of the area. I partnered with a MacArthur graduate who found lots of great pictures and together we published a book about Aldine as part of the Images of America series by Arcadia Publishing. The book was released yesterday (Jan. 16) and is now available for order. It's called Around Aldine and is available on Amazon (link in the title). I'm not posting this to make money, rather to let those who posted to and with me over the years who said "You ought to write a book" know that I did!
  8. Wow, I'd completely forgotten about that Don's Western Wear.
  9. Dueitt's (the proper spelling) was located at 8024 North Freeway, just north of Canino, so you were pretty much dead on. I once looked it up for someone on Facebook. About the only thing I could find was a help wanted ad for waitresses from Jan. 8, 1956. There's no earlier mention of it. During that search I went to Historic Aerials and it wasn't in the 1953 photo, so apparently it opened sometime between 1954 and January 1956. The last want ad they ran was on Jan. 22, 1974. I haven't been out that way since my mom died two years ago. But according to Google Street View somebody was building something fairly large on that site as of the photo, which was taken in February 2020. Anyone been by there recently?
  10. Weird how this board was a rocking place when I was doing research of the history of Aldine schools and the local area. Now that I've found pretty much everything this is to find and can answer questions definitively, the board has dried up.
  11. The copyright goes to the new company, so yes, they'd still be in effect. But it's not like this is for commercial purposes. Plus you'd think they'd be pleased someone was admiring the covers enough to share nearly 40 years later. Anyway, the chances of some stuffy SWB lawyer patrolling this site for copyright violations are about as infinitesimal as the Houston Texans reaching the Super Bowl under Bill O'Brien. Those covers were cool, weren't they?
  12. Throughout my 53 year life, I'd guesstimate I've eaten at Whataburger perhaps 300 times. I've eaten at Sylvia's perhaps 150 times, and Whataburger had a good 25 year head start on them. We started going there not too long after her original restaurant opened in 1998. And we followed her when that restaurant moved to Westheimer at Dairy Ashford. One year I know we ate there an average of at least twice a month. We went there so often that they just stopped asking what we wanted to drink and just brought it when we walked in the door. I've had most of her enchiladas and oddly enough, the only one I didn't like was the basic, run of the mill cheese enchilada. LOL! Usually that's what I order to test a Mexican restaurant the first time I go. I figure if you can't make a basic cheese enchilada., you can't make anything else. My favorite Sylvia's enchiladas are the Hidalgo with red sauce, the El Paso, the Mexico City and the Morelia. When I go for lunch though, I get the carne gusiada. It's the best I've ever had, and I've had lots of carne guisada. Theire rice used to be the best I'd ever had too. But unfortunately they've changed the type of rice they used, going to a shorter grain and it's just not as good. Two or so years ago, Sylvia closed her Westheimer restaurant. We've been to the Eldridge one several times, but not nearly as much as before. Perhaps a dozen times in two years. The Eldridge one is a little far. Oh well.
  13. You should. My wife and I went there once. They had the greatest waiter ANYWHERE. The place was packed, absolutely packed, and there was exactly and totally one waiter. Yes, one waiter. And that's all they needed. This guy was awesome. No one, and I mean no one, was dissatisfied. He didn't seem to move at any kind of lightning speed. Yet he had time to chat with us for a moment, our drinks were always filled, our plates were cleared promptly and we didn't have to wait for a check. Utterly amazing. Oh yeah, LOL!, the food was outstanding, too. I had the snapper veracruz and it was awesome. I forgot what my wife had, but I do remember she loved it.
  14. Yes, that is correct. It was a whimsical and eclectic kind of place, hence the full name Bobby McGee's Conglomeration. And the waitstaff did dress up in costumes. I never ate at the place, but a friend of mine worked there and I did go in once or twice to wait for him when he needed a ride home from work. He would come out in his costume. IIRC it was kind of a 1920s kind of outfit, but after 34 years now, I stand to be corrected. Obviously, considering the costumes, singing and decor, a lot of the workers were current or former drama, band and choir students and my friend was in all three in high school, so he fit right in. As I never ate there, I don't know what kind of food they served. I'm guessing it was... wait for it... a conglomeration of many different things, trending towards Bennigan's/TGI Friday's fare. Maybe someone who actually ate at the place will someday fill us in.
  15. I've been to one in Corpus Christi several times over the years and for a while, my niece lived a block away from another in San Antonio. They're good, trust me. Not as good as a Nathan's, but then what is. I prefer Wienerschnitzel to James Coney Island (or whatever they call themselves now). That's not meant as a swipe to James Coney Island. Both are good. I just prefer Wienerschnitzel to James Coney Island. Like I prefer gold to silver. But if you gave me a truckload of silver, you wouldn't hear me complain one bit about not getting gold. You win either way. So whether you have a Wienerschnitzel dog or a James Coney Island one in front of you, you have a pleasant experience ahead. I'm headed down to Corpus this weekend. If I can, I'm going to stop at one. I'll be thinking of you when I chow down.
  16. Thought you wanted to know about the restaurants on Dyna in the 1980s? I offered to help earlier in the thread. There's never been an IHOP on Dyna. There's a Denny's down I-45 at Aldine-Bender.
  17. Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, one of my friends worked summers at the Bobby McGee's Conglomeration (the restaurant's complete name) and the Walgreens in the same Deauville Shopping Center. In each case, he worked very long and late hours. I believe one of the Aldine Roundup yearbooks had an ad for Bobby McGee's. I wonder if I can find it and post it here?
  18. Aw man, you beat me to it. LOL! I remember going by this course as a kid when we went shopping at the Sears on Shepherd and Crosstimbers. Been awhile since I've been that way, and with news of Sears again closing stores (West Oaks), does anyone know if that Garden Oaks Sears store is still open? According to the Sears website it is, but you never know about Sears. They may have laid all the web staff go.
  19. Couldn't tell you. No idea. Deauville is a somewhat unique name. Seems reasonable to me they could well be related. Wouldn't surprise me.
  20. I made a few changes to #8 on your spreadsheet. I used to have the exact opening date and the grand opening ad for Randall's #8, but didn't keep it as it didn't relate to my research. It didn't help that it was a very poor-quality pdf. There was also a "planted" story in each newspaper talking about the store and giving the name of the first manager. I found the Randall's grand opening ad while looking for the opening date of the Deauville Theatre. The Randalls either opened the week before or the week after the cinema in July 1975.
  21. It appears to be sometime in the mid-1950s. I am looking at a March 10, 1955, edition of my school's newspaper and one ad for Bob's Typewriter and Adder Clinic (a repair shop) at 8917 Jensen has a phone number of ME-9621. Yet there is also an ad for KAE Film Service at 2817 Luell (about two blocks south, at Luell and Jensen) and their number is given as OX4-7853. About half the ads have 6-digit phone numbers and the other half has 7-digit ones. In 1955, north Houston outside the city limits was just kind of massed into one large exchange with several different prefixes: MElrose, MUlberry, MYrtle and OXford. But there was no rhyme or reason. Aldine ISD's offices on Aldine-Westfield had a MElrose number, but the junior high next door had a MUlberry number. Sometime in 1955, that whole area became HIllcrest (442 and 447) or HIckory (443 and 444). There is one business with an HI listing in this paper and it has a 7-digit number. Perhaps as exchanges were created, they were converted from 6-digits to 7-digits? Unfortunately, I was at the Metropolitan Research Center a few weeks ago looking up when the HIllcrest telephone exchange started. But I didn't think to look at 6- vs 7-digit numbers, only the two-letter prefixes. If only I had seen your post before going! While I'm on the subject of phone numbers, if anyone is interested, starting in 1963 HIllcrest's HI2 is noted on phone book maps as Aldine and HI7 as Airline. For HIckory, HI3 is shown as Bammel while HI4 is called Westfield. I noticed as a kid my parent's phone bill said Airline on it. In 1964, 449 is added to Aldine. In 1967, 448 is added to Airline. 445 is added to Airline in 1972. 440 is added to Bammel in 1972. This is another subject entirely, but 77037 (my old zip code) was one of the original codes assigned in 1963. 77088, however, was not added until 1972. If anyone knows when 77396 (Humble) began, or where I can find out, I'd be appreciative. The Houston phone books never listed this zip code. It's north of IAH and west of Humble along FM 1960.
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