chrispy

My cousin Heath Sotomayor also lived on Linden St- would be your age, maybe a year younger.

Plum Alley Windows, When things pick up after the holidays, I may hit you up for an estimate. My home is 97 years old- no telling when the last time the putty was replaced and definitely need some work done. I have to get the foundation leveled first but, after that, I hope to get some of the windows repaired.

Has the work stopped here? It seems like it’s in limbo nowadays.

I’d love to see any pics or videos of the sign and/or Italian Beef House. My mom ate there often, took us along several times. I notice Vertigo58 hasn’t been on here in a very long time. If anyone knows him in real time, I hope he is doing well. I always enjoyed his posts! He must live somewhere very close to me (Griggs/Gulf Freeway). I miss that Steak and Egg...but it did go downhill the last couple of years it was open. I ate there about 6-8 months before it closed down and wasn’t impressed...especially when you have Tel-Wink right down the road.

I’ve eaten at the Wienerschnitzel in College Station and it was terrible. My mother in law lives in New Caney so I pass the new one twice a week. Haven’t been tempted to try it but it has some large crowds checking the new place out. As for defunct Houston restaurants: I miss Fiesta Loma Linda and the JCI at Woodridge/Gulf Fwy. Yes, I could drive to the nearest one off I-10 or even Shepherd but that’s not the point. I miss the specific one right by my house. That place was my first job back in 1994 to 1996.

Isn’t it ironic that we once had a great train service throughout Houston called the Interurban? We replaced it with the Gulf Freeway because of the growing number of cars on the road. FF>> 80 years and here we are still arguing about trains vs. cars. I hate when they tear up a road and inconvenience us with construction but screw it- build the rail already! I just wish more Houstonians would use public transport.

We give them free food, showers, clothes. Why should they want to do anything at all? If they collect cans or stand on a corner, they can get enough to buy the things that Star of Hope and others don’t give them. We make it easy. Put them in a camp, make them perform 20 hours of community service, give something back for all the charity that they take. Yeah, yeah: I’m the as$hole for saying it but I stand by what I said.

I hate that I am limited on how big my picture has to be and I don’t know how to resize them. I was throwing out a lot of stuff my father had saved and came across a bag from Lewis and Coker. Just thought it was funny to come across it after reading this post.

I remember my father giving us money every Mother’s Day to buy her perfume at Sakowitz and Joske’s. Sakowitz was a bit pricey so we ended up getting White Shoulders or something else at Joske’s most of the time. Eventually, we realized that she must’ve been sick of that fragrance so we upgraded to Exclamation. Like the perfumes, the parents are all gone now. We ate at Piccadilly Cafeteria about 3x a week (Josie was the best server- always remembered what we liked and greeted us by name). I remember we would walk in right there: the old bowling alley and post office was to the right. As you’d walk in there would be Pickwick Music/Sam Goody’s on the right and Great Expectations and the GNC vitamin store on the left. I think the GNC used to be a Hallmark card store before that though. My mother had a fixation with Afro-like perms for a year or so and we always got our haircuts at that salon. At the end of that hallway was the Walgreens drugstore with their soda fountain. Loved the milkshakes! As you stand in that center section, if you turned left you would be walking towards the bridge over 610. There was a Wilson’s down there and I think that the Armed Forces recruitment office was at the end. I used to get their free book covers with images of futuristic battle cruisers in space and whatnot for my schoolbooks. If you had turned right, I believe there was a Palais Royal. I remember taking my grandmother there to buy dresses. NOT a fun thing for a kid to do! Lol As you walked down that way, I remember there was a Casual Corner with a rustic wood facade and plastic stained glass windows. My mother loved their suede jackets, embroidered belts, Chelsea boots, etc. Very hip for the 1980s! At that point, there was the entrance to Joske’s and I think Sakowitz was just past it. There was also a Piercing Pagoda in a kiosk there in the 1990s. First piercing I ever got and it got horribly infected! At that intersection, you’d be at the center of the mall. I remember, if I turned left and away from Joske’s, I would be heading towards Time Out arcade, KAY-Bee Toys (I think?), and a Radio Shack. There were other stores there like the Gap, Foot Locker as well but I’m trying to remember the layout. The Gap and Foot Locker were over by the Joske’s end of the mall. Eventually, Foot Locker was the only store making a profit in there Once you got to that end of Gulfgate, I vaguely remember the Weingarten’s being over there but we always shopped at Lewis and Coker on Telephone Rd. If my mother wanted something specific from Weingarten’s, we usually went to the one on Lawndale @ 75th.

It's been a while! Husband and I have been living in the wastelands of New Caney for the past few years BUT my dad is pretty sick and is passing his home to me now. Once we fix the house up, we will move in and be back in the East End for good! <3 Anyway, I drove past the Church of the Redeemer several months ago and found a demolition crew out there. They were nice enough to let me look inside for a minute and snap a few pics.

I really wish I could find a set from 1979-1984 or so. Even older ones would be cool! They're impossible to find.

Don't quote me but my uncle (who still talks to people at the Redeemer) says that the Tellepsen family (who built the current church buildings in the 1950's) has donated enough to keep the church open and handle the major problems. Hopefully the diocese will decide to keep the building and help restore it for the 21st century. I'd like to hope more people attend services there if the church is reopened.