djrage

My first real date was to the Cinerama to see How The West Was Won. I "doubled" with my sister and her boyfriend. I was in junior high at the time.

What was Cinerama? What was the big deal and how did it work? This was before my time. I got here just in time for Sensurround.

In the meantime, Romero's The Courtyard on St. James, a private event facility and lunch-only restaurant located at 1885 St. James Place, will serve many of Jalapenos' most popular dishes.

The catering arm of Jalapenos will relocate to The Courtyard and continue to operate.

I really wish someone would open another club there at 1885 St James Place. It always bugged me that this is what it became after The Ocean Club closed.

tg&Y

ben franklin's

gibson's

the fair

venture

the store that went into half of several of the woolco's...can't remember the name..

Didn't Woolworth and Woolco merge. I seem to remember those names together. Woolworth & Woolco.

An old Woolco still stands at 59 and Little York. Its a Flea Market now. But the doors handles still have the W on them and the logo is still on the floor as you enter. When did they go out of business. I remember a report about them closing their Houston stores but can't remember when that was.

Anyone remember the furniture place Kennedy and Cohen at 610 and Mykawa

Lets see 84 Lumber

I'll think of more....

the blond haired guy for Federated was Fred Rated. brilliant ad agency, huh?

That blonde guy that did the Federated commercials was a disc jockey by the name of Shadoe Stephens. Not sure where he was from but I know he later worked for 93Q for a short period in the mid to late 80s

did Houston ever have Food Lion?

Yup, they were around in the early 90s. Alot of those buildings are still around. My moms lives near one on Blackhawk in Friendswood.

Anyone mention Appletree.

Eagle

Lewis and Coker

Safeway

Albertsons

Levitz

Rice

Gerlands

Kmart

Federated

Globe

Weingarten's

Weiners

The JoJo's on S. Braeswood, 1 block w. of Hillcroft, has been vacant for about 15 years now and you can hardly see the building for the overgrown shrubbery.  The JoJos on Wilcrest @ 59 became a Champs and is now an Exxon station. 

I don't know what ever happened to the Champs - they always seemed to do a good business but the food wasn't anything special.  I only ate at one a couple of times.

I think a lot of the JoJos went into former Sambo's locations.

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Has JoJos on S Braeswood been closed that long? I had a job driving a tow truck back in 2000 I was out there late one night and began feeling nostalgic and remembering the times I walked through there as I was on my way to my girlfriends house. Anyway, I came upon JoJo's and noticed it dark. I parked across the street from it and walked up to the door. There was a notice for the customers on the door thanking them for their business and basically saying they were closed. To the right was a window and I could see in and noticed that all of the tables were set, silverware and napkins placed, salt, pepper ketchup bottles at the center of the tables as if they had been set for the next day. It didn't look like it had been closed long... almost as if they had just closed the night before. Even the grass looked like it had been cut recently. That was the last time I was out there. Anyone know if it's still like that inside or has it been boarded up since?

Ok folks.... let's talk theaters some more!

Does anyone remember a theater inside the Memorial City mall in the 70s or 80s?

I have a vague memory of one with a huge lobby and stairs on the right side when you walk in. The stairs led to the balcony seats I assume.

I remember a red or burgundy carpet also.

Forgive me if the details are off. I was really young at the time.

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I remember a cineplex inside Memorial City mall. The last movie I saw there was Selena.

Man it really trips me out how many of yall are from southeast, I feel like I'm hearin family members talk when I read yalls posts. I'm 3rd generation southeast myself. My grandparents lived in the magnolia/manchester area and my parents were from right there off broadway by milby, sellers bros., ingrando park, etc. Am I the only one who swam at glenbrook public pool, and jumped off the dreaded "hightower"? When I was up there as a kid I used to look out in the distance and see the skyline and think, "man I wanna live there one day, and now I do so ha, take that "your supposed to stay in the hood" mentality! Does anyone remember a place called "the mark" across the street from milby in the early 80's during the explosion of breakdancing? It was an arcade and a place to battle (breakdance "fight"). Supertrack closed???? Wow that's the end of an era.

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YES!!! I grew up in this area too. I've been to that pool with the "dreaded" hightower a couple of times. Last time I was there I was about 16 in '86. I was always afraid I was going to hit the side of the pool jumping off that thing! Is it still there?

I'm suprised no one mentioned Fame City Water Works. Remember that place.

I kind of remember the chessy commercials they ran on cable for that place.

The jingle "Fame Fa Fa Fame, Fa Fa Fa F F Fame.... Fame City!"

This is not quite the same type of theater but I seem to recall going to one place back around 81-82. I was about 11 or 12 so the memory is somewhat vague. I saw The Other Side of the Mountain 2 (yawn) and Back Roads (Didn't mind that one, I had a thing for Sally Field) there with my parents. It was a twin cinema. Something tells me it was off of S. Post Oak and W Belfort ...or in that area. Anyone have any idea what place that may have been?

If I recall correctly, the original name was the (hard to pronounce differently) PALMS CENTER.  Later after it was snatched up for offices, community center, etc., the new signs read PALM CENTER.

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There is an old neon sign on MLK south of 610 that says Palm Center on it. Was it for the "mall"? Always been curious to why it was placed so far from the shopping center.

Okay, the Bluebonnet was at 1015 Broadway, just off 45.

Mr. Gatti's (their still around somewhere)

Showbiz Pizza (AKA Chuck E. Cheese)

Del Taco (their still around!)

JoJo's (breakfast house...y'all know what I am talking about right?)

Champs

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My first job was at a Mr Gatti's Pizza in the Kroger shopping center on Telephone and Belfort back in 86. Its a pawn shop now.

The Del-Taco on S. Braeswood was remodeled (inside) and opened as a Shipleys Donuts in 2000. (I vaguely remember walking by the Del-Taco in 85 as I walked over to my girlfriends house)

I remember Der Weinerschnitzel in Houston when I was little (during the 70s). There is still an A shaped building on Martin Luther King near Van Fleet. There's another one in Pasadena on Southmore near Pasadena blvd.

Piccadilly was in Northline, Gulfgate, and Northwest mall... those I know of.

There was a Wyatts Cafeteria in the Gerlands shopping center on Belfort and Dunn. (70s - mid 80s)

Remember GW Jrs?

Godfather's Pizza (The Pizza you cant refuse)

There are several buildings around town that I've seen that are identical. That look like they might have been part of a Chinese restaurant chain. There's one on Wirt south of Longpoint. Another on Berry Rd west of Jensen. Another on Edgebrook west of Theta (a doctors office) and one on MLK south of Reed Rd (that one is a convenient store now) and another on Hiram Clark and W. Orem. Anyone know which ones I'm talking about? What were they originally?

speaking of that Steak and egg place..i just noticed the other day, the old building is gone and a big pawn shop is there now!  bummer, i think that little building that steak and egg was in had to have been there since the 30's or 40's.

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I believe the Steak and Egg building was built into the pawn shop. A couple of months back while it was under construction. I noticed they were building around it and looked like it was going to be enclosed by the new building.

I used to live in the neighborhood across the street from that Randalls...about 7 years ago.  When I was there, there was a taqueria in the parking lot.  Strange thing about the taqueria...it was run by an Asian guy. 

There used to be Charlie's all over the place.  What was their slogan?  "Over 2 dozen sold"?

I know there used to be one on Telephone Rd near Lockwood.  There was one down in Clear Lake (Bay Area Blvd or Clear Lake City Blvd?).  I also think there was one at Westheimer and 610...which has now become the classy "Zone D' Erotica" 

I only ate at Charlie's once or twice...it didn't leave much of an impression on me, but I wasn't as smart as I am now.  What's everyone else's opinion of Charlie's?

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The place on Telephone near Lockwood was also a Luke's Hamburgers. I grew up in that area and went there a few times.

The hands are back up as of this morning. They were lit, too! Of course, the time was all wrong but, damnit, they're back up!

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Isn't it time to take those clocks down from City Hall and replace them with digital clocks?

Atomic clocks no less so they are always right......

Here is 6400 Richmond in its incarnation as the Railhead.

The old theater in the circle at Broadway and 45 is currently the Circle Pawn Shop.  I don't believe it was ever an adult theatre.  I do know some history of it though. It opened in about 1941 as the Plaza Theater.

The Santa Rosa opened nearby in 1947 (on Telephone Road) and, The Plaza, faced with the new competition from the Interstate-owned competitor, struggled and was sold.  The new owner renamed it the Vogue and it became an art theater, showing French and Italian imports.  This experiment did not last long and it reverted back to The Plaza. It only remained a theater until about 1951.

The Santa Rosa was an adult theater/movie rental place until recently.  A medical office building is to be built next door and in the old theater parking lot.  There are rumors that the theater will be saved and turned into a community center or something to benefit the nearby neighborhood.

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It was also a Spanish movie theatre during the 70s and early 80s. Saw (more like sat through) a few of them as a kid. Not voluntarily of course.

For the records, there was another Globe store in Pasadena. I think it was on Southmore.

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Wasn't that a Sears? Are you talking about where Wal-Mart is now?

There was also a Globe down near Belfort.  I think the one near Gulfgate was next to Frizell's Pontiac AMC.

This is hurting my head.  Must recall childhood memories.

But I am good at that.  I remember my days as a zygote fondly. It was fun.

Or was that Sage?  I get Sage and Globe confused, but from what I remember, they made Wal-Mart look fancy ;-)

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Globe (later Fed Mart then Mervyns) was where Lowes stands now. Sage was off of 45 and Monroe. The building still stands but I believe its a Houston Community College now.

Almeda should just be torn down and have the land sold off unless it can be turned into a Meyerland or Gulfgate.

It may be too close to Gulfgate to be renovated.

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Hell no. Too many fond memories of Almeda mall to want to see it go and maybe another instant neighborhood go up on that land. I was really bummed to see the old Almeda 9 East theater had been torn down and something was already going up.

It's hard to believe Almeda Mall is going the way of Gulgate Mall.  It used to be a nice mall but perhaps it has seen its time.  You can always tell the near demise of a mall in direct proportion to the number of shoe stores it has.  My family use to frequent both Gulfgate and Almeda Malls; consequently, I have many memories of both but I'm afraid that pretty soon that may be all that's left.  Anyway, there is Gulfgate Center which sits atop what used to be Gulfgate Mall so that somewhat cushions the sadness of it all.  Anyone remember the Weingartens (grocery store) that used to be located adjacent to Gulfgate?

As for the earlier post, I do remember the carousel.  Watched all the classics in that cinema: Jaws, Star Wars, Superman.  Then crossed the bridge over 610 for lunch and Picadillies (I think that's the correct spelling) Cafeteria.  They used to have an underground bowling alley too.

I also thought about what might fit into the vacant lot which is the subject of this post.  They could turn it into a park area with a pavillion where outdoor performances are staged.  Then maybe not, no one in their right minds from Houston would spend more than five minutes outdoors in the weather we have there.

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I remember going bowling there with family there as a kid.

I wondered about the bowling alley around the time before they demolished the mall. Wishing there was someway I could go in there. I wondered what was down there and what it looked like now, was it still in use for something (storage maybe) and if the alley was still intact down there.

Anyone know when they finally closed it. I want to say the late 80s. I remember going to Gulfgate one night (sometime in 1985) and seeing people going in and out of there.

The Tel-Wink is still standing and in use. It's more to the left of there.

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Sorry I meant the Winkler Drive In theater.

Was that by chance over by where the Transit Center is going up, by the 610/45 western interchange? The reason I ask is I was walking over there while waiting for my car to be fixed, while they were starting on the transit center, as there were remnants of, after some pondering, what appeared to be an old car dealership. There was a circular concrete platform that had some scraps of old, multi-colored 40s-50s tile work, which I imagined to be the showroom floor.

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The circular platform was from the old Carrousel Motel.

I believe Frizell was over off of 45 before Woodridge. Where the Home Depot is now.

Anybody remember Joe Conti Chevrolet? Wher was that? I vaguely remember a commercial for that dealer... it had a very poorly animated indian beating a drum at the end singing "Joe Conti Chevrolet, Joe Conti Chevrolet..."

Original Gulfgate

Is that the Tel-Wink drive in toward the top right of this picture???

Speaking of a loooooong time ago, at some point my mom worked at Gulfgate Mall, and always told me about a tunnel system under the mall. It was designed so that trucks could pull in underground and unload into the stores `basements`. It was also a designated bomb/fallout shelter. Does anyone know if these tunnels are still there? During the construction I never saw excavation down very far.

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I remember there being a driveway coming out from underneath the mall that curved out onto the 610 frontage road before Woodridge. It sat just under the elevated walkway.

After the mall was demolished if you looked over from 45 you could see that there was something down there. I could make out what looked like a wall that had not yet been knocked down. I wished that I could have got close enough to see what it actually was.

(Update)

I passed by there the other day. the concrete right side wall from the exit of the underground garage was still there to the left of the walkway over 610. You can see it coming up from the ground. They just added a ramp to the walkway on the Gulfgate side. I guess its going to be used for the Transit Center