djrage

The Gaylynn was demolished and the Sharpstown 8-plex was built on the same site. I assume the former 8-plex is what's housing the charter school now?

Gaylynn info (with pics)

Ok this question just took a sudden turn... I've had a curiosity over this building for sometime. Wondering what its original state was.

Recently I took an interest in the old Gaylynn Theater after seeing pictures of it on a couple of old movie theater sites. Cinema Treasures and Cinerama. Both sites have this theater listed as having been demolished and the location being occupied by the now shuttered Sharpstown Cinemas. Thought it was such a shame this place no longer exsited, it looked like a beautiful theater and wish i could have seen it. If I ever did go as a kid I was probably too small to remember it. Well now I don't believe that it ever was torn down, unless someone knows different. I was looking at the picture of the Crutch Charter School from the link glzuma posted, http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7088076. Then compared it to this picture of the old Gaylynn, http://cinerama.topcities.com/gaylynn.htm. First off the over hang, the doors and windows are identical, the columns have been altered but look behind that second column on the left and compare it to the old pic. What pretty much comfirmed it was the lights sockets on the ceiling of the over hang. This IS the old theater. Im glad to see it still standing but sad what its become in the hands of the charter school.

What was this place originally? I tend to believe it was a skating rink, was it?

Don't know anything about Galaxy Golf -- it's not listed in the phone book -- but it's not the 24 Hour Fitness location.

That's down the street in the 5700 block of Richmond. The late great Windsor Theater was at 5302 Richmond, at the eastern-most end of the Windsor Plaza shopping center, almost at the corner of Richmond and Post Oak.

It was shut down for some years, but some entrepreneurs bought it in the 90s and turned it into an entertainment complex they called City Lights.

I have no idea what is there now. Or if the theater building is even there any more. So sad. The Windsor was one of Houston's first Cinerama and Panavision screen movie houses, and showed first runs of many of the greatest movies of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was really grand and expansive on the inside with a decor that would knock your eyes out.

Actually it now houses 24hr Fitness. The address of the Windsor Cinerama Theater is listed as 5078 Richmond Avenue. It closed in 1989 according to Cinematour.com It opened in mid 1990 as a nightclub called Avalon, then DV8. Flipped to Tejano in late 1991. In 1994 it was bought out from previous ownership, I understand they were escorted out of the building. Remodeled and reopened as a multi room nightspot called "City STREETS". During its Tejano days I heard ads stating the address as 5100 Richmond Ave. Not sure why.

Don't know anything about Galaxy Golf -- it's not listed in the phone book -- but it's not the 24 Hour Fitness location.

That's down the street in the 5700 block of Richmond. The late great Windsor Theater was at 5302 Richmond, at the eastern-most end of the Windsor Plaza shopping center, almost at the corner of Richmond and Post Oak.

It was shut down for some years, but some entrepreneurs bought it in the 90s and turned it into an entertainment complex they called City Lights.

I have no idea what is there now. Or if the theater building is even there any more. So sad. The Windsor was one of Houston's first Cinerama and Panavision screen movie houses, and showed first runs of many of the greatest movies of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was really grand and expansive on the inside with a decor that would knock your eyes out.

It was a night spot for a number of years starting in 1990 as Avalon, then DV8. It flipped to Tejano as Zazz in late 1991. 1995 it was bought out and remodeled as a multi room night club called, City STREETS. The address I heard constantly advertised for this location was 5078 Richmond Avenue. For some reason during its Tejano days they would say 5100 Richmond.

BINGO, It was the Houston House Apts. I think. Across form the Tenneco building.

I always wondered why they didn't give The Roxy building a credit for location, that is the spot where Bud, and his new gal go to the Upscale Honkytonk, and dance.

The Roxy? On W Alabama or the old Roxy on Westheimer, which was around about that time. How do you know where that was? I've always wondered what place that was. Info please

Some of you might, might, might remember the DRIVE-IN movie at the end by 610. Was called The King Center Drive-In.

I mentioned in another topic. We saw Blacula there! Had to be around 1972-73 becasue he was like a Shaft dracula dude but was like real hip but bit people. Had platform shoes and a cape. We were one of the very few families that didnt look like everyone else. Not gonna say because everyone will get upset like on that goofy "racism" thread. Hope you all understand. Want to keep peace in the family. In any case it was torn down and is now a Burger King, rats!

I also grew up in this area from 1976-1986.

Recently I ended up back here in 2004 and now live off of Park Place and Reveille.

I remember going to King Drive in. I remember sitting in line along the 610 feeder road to get in and being able to see the movie playing as we waited to pay to get in. I saw "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" there with my parents in the west lot. Also saw "Survive" in 1976 (remade as Alive in 1993) there in the east lot. That one traumatized me, a 6 year old boy shouldn't see someones intestines hanging out.

The Burger King came along a couple of years before the theater closed. That BK closed around 2004.

Suprised no mention of this at all.

from Real Estate Center

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Market News

http://recenter.tamu.edu/mnews/mnsearch.asp?AID=10

$40M sale of Almeda Mall; $80M in renovations planned - 8/1/2007

(Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown: Retail)

[Copyrighted content removed by Editor.]

Sounds like the fire was right at or near the Robert Half International group/Office Team. I was there on several occasions over the last 2 years. Fantastic views of our city for sure. Hope no one was hurt.

No Robert Half/Office Team is in 3 Houston Center and on a much higher floor. I know my ex-wife worked in the office there for about 3 years until recently.

Isn't the burger joint that the kids in the movie " Dazed and Confused" are hanging out at a "Steak and Shake", in Austin on Lamar ?

No its called "Top Notch Hamburgers"

I was really really young to remember when it was around. I only know of it because there is a picture of me on a swing there when I was about 2 years old. I found an article in a google search that it was only around for a year (71-72). Where was it located and why was it only around a year?

Looks like I didn't get too far in my '80's club list before I got distracted looking at old flyers. But here are some from my list:

6400 - ~1987-89 - 6400 Richmond

The Agora - ~1985 - Windsor Plaza

Apocalypse Monster Club (AMC) - ~1987 - Near Ellington Field

Beejay's - 1984-86

Cabaret Voltaire I - ~1984 - 22 N. Chenevert

Cabaret Voltaire II - 1985-86

Cabaret Voltaire III - 1986 - 2524 McKinney - I think the space became the Axiom, then Catal Huyuk (93-94), then Harvey's

Caribana

Confetti

International Club - 200 block Westheimer - Black Flag played there in 1985

Maceba Theater - Husker Du, Butthole Surfers, New Order

NRG - ~1986-88

The Ocean Club

Omni - ~1982 - 1540 Westheimer - D.R.I. played there

Paragon

Phideaux - 5735 Westheimer - Husker Du played there in 1986

Power Tools - Franklin

Red Square

Rock Island - 4700 Main - Known as Paradise Island before it became Rock Island - Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys played there

Therapy

Visions - 1986-88

Xcess - 1988-89 - 5134 Richmond

I didn't get to go to most of these - I was lucky if I got to go to an all-ages show at Numbers. Thought others might remember some of them, though. The Maceba Theater sounded especially interesting from what little I read about it. There seemed to be confusion about where NRG was located.

6400 was 1988-1989

Ocean Club was 1985-1990.

NRG was on N. Shepherd in the Kroger shopping center.

My 80s club experience

First club was Visions on Fondren only went once in 1986.

Numbers a few times starting in 86 also. I saw the Kraftwerk Music Non Stop video... freaked me out, it was the wierdest thing I ever saw. Saw Book of Love that night.

NRG also in 86 once. Very vague memory

Club 6400 late 88. I was there a couple of days before it burned down.

Netwerk, galleria location in 1989.

Im sure there are more just not thinking of it right now

Does ANYONE have pictures from 6400? Inside or out. I cant find anything online

I wish I still had the tapes. I may have one left.

My buddy finally burned a tape to CD from Power Tools. It was from 1998 when Wax Traxx was all the rage.

You should convert those tapes!

Already working on that. Those tapes are almost 20 years old and I discovered one last night thats no longer playable . So I'm taking measures to preserve them now. I've been converting them to mp3 (128k) to fit one broadcast on one disc.

Too many green wafers to say for sure.

I do, however, still have all that music on vinyl!

Oh yeah me too. Never get tired of throwing down some 80s dance mixes on the turntables.

I still have most of the tapes I recorded from the broadcasts.

So when did 93Q go Country? I could have sworn 104 took over after that.

Hard to belive they still have the Q Morning Zoo. They should name it the Q Morning Barn.

Ah-a-Tookie, tookie!

93Q went country in 1991. 6400 was on from May 1988 to September 1989. 104 had The Saturday Night Power Mix Live from The Ocean Club.

You sure your not thinking of when 93Q took over the Decadance broadcast when 96.5 became Mix?

I cant believe they brought the Q-Zoo title back. Its been back for a couple of years but it still sounds wierd when I hear them say it. The morning barn is more fitting. I like that.

Didn't the original 6400 burn down?

Yes it did.

Lizard Lounge (in both cities) is/was weak. It was for the X and Capri Cigs smoking crowd. Cheesedicks.

Maybe the Dallas one has become a bit darker since I was there.

And LOL at 6400! Although you have to give them credit for the 104 broadcasts.

It wasn't on 104 goober it was 93Q.

July 18, 2006, 1:04AM

Dome hotel plan includes 610 exit

Texans officials have 'aesthetic concerns' about a proposed ramp

By BILL MURPHY

Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

A $450 million plan to reinvent the Reliant Astrodome as a luxury convention hotel includes a parking garage and new exit from Loop 610 to keep the facility from interfering with Texans games and performances of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

The 2,100-space, multistory parking garage would wrap around two-thirds of the Astrodome and markedly change the appearance of the facility once dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Astrodome Redevelopment Corp., a consortium proposing the development, favors building a ramp from the Loop 610 feeder road to the Dome.

But Texans officials so far have balked at the proposed ramp, saying they have "aesthetic concerns" about its effect on the appearance of Reliant Park, county-hired consultants said in a report.

"I really believe we will be able to resolve all these issues," said Scott Hanson, president of Astrodome Redevelopment.

A ramp would cost $5 million to $10 million, while the alternate proposal, a tunnel from the Loop feeder road, likely would cost $10 million to $15 million, Hanson said.

Astrodome Redevelopment proposes to build a 1,200-room, upscale hotel, restaurants, nightclubs, retail stores and possibly performance stages. The tentative theme is Best of Texas, re-creating Texas courthouses and town squares.

Astrodome Redevelopment has little choice but to address the concerns of the Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Their contracts with Harris County, which owns Reliant Park, allow them to demand that the Astrodome cease operations when rodeo season arrives or when the Texans play at home.

The rodeo will look to receive a percentage of revenues from at least some convention hotel operations, including the hotel, restaurants and many, if not all, retail stores, said Leroy Shafer, the rodeo's chief operating officer. "It is my assumption that since we have the ability to keep them in the dark, that this will happen," he said.

Such an arrangement isn't unprecedented for Reliant Park tenants. For example, the rodeo now gets a percentage of revenues from Aramark, which holds the concession contract at Reliant Park.

The Harris County Sports & Convention Corp., the county entity that oversees Reliant Park, and Astrodome Redevelopment are expected Wednesday to sign an agreement, called a letter of intent, that spells out each side's willingness to move forward with the project.

It is expected to say that the county is giving Astrodome Redevelopment six months to obtain financing and seven months to reach pacts on issues including parking, the hotel's ramp or tunnel entrance and profit-sharing.

Astrodome Redevelopment needs the letter to obtain financing. It will be given a year from the time the letter of intent is signed to reach a lease agreement with the Sports and Convention Corp.

The letter of intent "will be a major, major milestone," said Willie Loston, director of the Sports & Convention Corp.

There are 8,500 parking spaces at Reliant Park and an additional 17,500 across Kirby and in other county-owned lots. The Texans and the Houston Rodeo opposed sacrificing any parking to the hotel, so Astrodome Redevelopment added the parking garage to its concept.

The letter of intent says Astrodome Redevelopment would lease the Dome from the county for 50 years with an option to extend it another 20 years.

Astrodome Redevelopment would pay $2.5 million in rent the first year the hotel opens. Rent would rise 3 percent annually. The company also would pay the Sports & Convention Corp. 2 percent to 3 percent of its gross revenues.

The hotel would be modeled on Gaylord convention hotels in Grapevine, Nashville, Tenn., and Orlando, Fla. Senate Hospitality, a Nashville-based company that includes former Gaylord executives, would operate the Dome hotel. Gaylord hotels cater to groups that want hotels, restaurants, meeting rooms and convention halls under one roof.

Houston already has a convention hotel, the city-owned Hilton Americas next to the George R. Brown Convention Center. Unlike the Hilton Americas, the Dome hotel would imitate the Gaylord concept and try to attract groups looking for a self-contained facility.

"Prior to seeing the Gaylord Texan (in Grapevine), I thought it was a dumb idea," Shafer said. "After we visited the Gaylord Texan, we began to see it is a different model. But personally, I still have concerns that it will work."

Why is any of this being considered for the Astrodome? It's the ASTRODOME, "The Eighth Wonder of the World". The FIRST of its kind, a HISTORICAL landmark of Houston! It's our claim to fame. It baffles my mind that anyone ever considered demolishing it or even altering it. I dont like the hotel plans.

Wilstax, I can honestly say that THAT scene may have been shot in California. Some of the scenes were done there, like the Trailer Park scenes and stuff. You can clearly see some Mountains in the background of a longshot showing Bud driving into the trailer park, coming home from work.

I havent read further down to see if this was answered already but I know for a fact that the coffee shop/restaurant scene was filmed in Pasadena on Spencer Hwy just east of the Shaver intersection. If your familiar with the area there was a Mongomery Wards (its a flea market now), at the southeast corner there, just east of that is where the restaurant was. Its been torn down since, theres nothing there now. Its a vacant lot between the flea market and a Ryans family restaurant (closed also). If you notice in the scene where Sissy is trying to hitchhike, The MW is in the background... well you see the sign anyway. I was about 9-10 years old when this movie was filmed. Around that time I had an uncle who lived in an apartment complex just passed it. I remember seeing it on the way there. Had no idea it was one of the filming locations, however I did know John Travolta was in town filming a movie, I though that was so cool. (Big fan of Kotter and Saturday night fever) The trailer park was located in California.

wasn't there 2 malibus in the SW Houston area?

Yes. There was one on Westpark @ 59 and the other was on 610 between Hempstead & Old Katy Rd.

Mike Rivest's Ultimate Theatre website lists these theatres. Some of them go back as far as the 1920s. Are what housed the Kirby and the Metropolitan extant?

The Lamar Hotel (which sat on the block bound by Main St, Lamar, Louisiana, & McKinney) housed the Metropolitan along with the Loews State Theatre was demolished in 82. The building that housed the Kirby, I believe, is still there. The theater no longer exists.

at some point they had a little umbrella on the sign too.

I wonder if the sun on the new Gulfgate signs are meant as some acknowledgement or a contrast of the old umbrella. The umbrella (now) representing a dark rainy day (the old Gulfgate) to a sun, representing a sunny new day (the new Gulfgate). Am I reading too much into it?

Has Houston ever had:

Carl's Jr?

Del Taco?

White Castle?

I remember a chain of Chicken Restaurants from the South came in to Houston and left a few months later. It was called BoJangles, I never ate there but on there home page they show a map of the US and there is still a dot there for Houston. Did any of you ever eat there?

http://www.bojangles.com/bojangles/home/day.html

We had Del Taco in the mid 80s. Didn't last very long.

I haven't been able to go by there. Can someone tell me whats happening? Have they begun dismantling the rides yet? Hope someone's getting pictures if they are.

IT'S A GOLF GALAXY NOW?!?!?!? Just did a google search on 5078 Richmond ave.

When did this happen? What idiot allowed this to happen to the Windsor theatre?

When was city streets a tejano nightclub ? I mean, sure, they play country music, but didn't know city streets had turned into that ? I think I could honestly draw a picture of the old Windsor, and scan it on here. I may do that. If we can't find any old pics.

This was before City Streets.

(In case you don't know the history)

It originally opened as Avalon in mid 90. They started doing a sunday night thing called DV8 and that took off so they changed the name of the club to DV8. When the success of that deflated they flipped it to Tejano in late 92 calling it Zazz (it went through a period there in late 93 until 1/94 when they flipped it to an upscale R&B/Hiphop club targeting a black crowd) then back to tejano. Zazz lasted about two years and it got shut down (was never clear on why). The owners of Blue Planet (who once owned club 6400) bought it and turned it into the multi-room venue called City Streets. It's been awhile since I've been in the area. Whats going on over there now?

All I could find was it in the distance of this picture from one of the old Bob Bailey calendars:

Yeah, I've seen that one before.

Subdude, you wouldn't by chance have pictures of the old Windsor theater would you? Always wanted to know what that place looked like. I worked there when it was a tejano nightclub. (still turns my stomach whenever I think about it). Used to always wonder about it when I was there.