terrbo

I posted about this before but might have gotten some info wrong. When I was living in the Woodland Heights from '80 to '81 or '82, this friend of the guy I was living with and myself took us to this beer garden type place once, possibly twice.

I've driven around Morrison St. several times trying to find this, and was able to speak to my friend last week regarding this.

He says that it was kind of a "secret" neighborhood thing... and it was in the back yard of a Mason's (or some kind of organization) building, and it was around the corner from King Biscuit. After speaking w/him (but after a few ritas as I was off work), first I drove down Byrne (where my friend lived) where it intersected Morrison (I THINK) and it looks like a church or some kind of office, so that might not be where it is. THEN I drove to King Biscuit and drove about a block down Houston Avenue... and there IS kind of a building, and it looks like someone lives there... and a sign out front advertising "For information, call____________". I was so darn curious that I parked on Houston Ave. and walked in the parking lot, but got too chicken to look in the back yard. This place we used to go and drink beer.. There was a nice back yard, plenty of room for horseshoes... and I even remember a couple of guys playing live music one time we were there.

Does this pique anyone's memory?

terrbo

By the way terrbo, what was the book you purchased at Half Priced Books? A book on matchbook collecting?

It's called..."Striking Images" by Monte Beauchamp.. a collection of vintage matchbook cover art. Tons of great stuff.

evidently there was an Orange Julius store/stand near Med Center? Here's yet another matchbook cover I found in my new book..

510 Milby? Houston, right? Anyone know about this joint?

I have no idea when it was taken, but love this pic.

I'm sure y'all've already heard.. This is one of the nicest and coolest guys I've ever known. This is sickening. I've know Tom for quite awhile.. his sister is a friend of mine.. married to the sound guy and a vocalist at Radio Music Theatre where I work weekends. He's been around the art car scene longer than I have.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/16238435/detail.html

<H1 class=Headline>Driver Charged In Art Car Museum Curator's Death</H1>

HOUSTON -- A driver has been charged in the death of the curator of Houston's Art Car Museum, who was killed hours after the 21st-annual Art Car Parade, KPRC Local 2 reported.

<LI>Slideshow: Remembering Art Car Museum Curator Tom Jones

http://www.click2houston.com/sh/images/ibs_icon/video.gifArt Car Parade Rolls Through Houston:

Rachel McNeill Reports

Houston police said Tom Jones was pinned under a car as he sat on a curb on Heights Boulevard near Center Street at about 2:20 a.m. Sunday.

Investigators said Dustin Allen Poe, 23, drove his Pontiac GT over nearby railroad tracks and hit a car parked next to where Jones and an artist were sitting.

"We had to lift the vehicle up off of him in order to get him out from underneath it," said District Chief Tom Wheeler of the Houston Fire Department.

Jones, 51, was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he died. The artist who was sitting next to him was not seriously injured.

Poe was arrested and charged with intoxication manslaughter.

"He was flying down the road like everybody else was," sculptor W.T. Burge said. "It's a shame that he was drunk when he was driving. He shouldn't have been."

Jones was at the museum helping wrap up a second, less publicized parade through the Heights that was held after the main parade near downtown Houston on Saturday.

The director of the Art Car Museum said Jones' work and passion are visible throughout the museum.

"He basically hung the show, painted the walls, greeted everyone who came through the front door with a smile and good humor and made everyone feel at home," Noah Edmunson said. "I don't know how we're going to replace him."

Museum staff said Jones was a fixture in the art car community for 25 years.

"Tom was the heart of the Art Car Museum," said Nicole Strine of the Houston Art Car Klub. "Tom made everyone feel special."

Friends set up a makeshift memorial in the spot where Jones was run over.

Funeral arrangements have not been finalized, but will likely include a procession of art cars.

Anyone remember, kinda bleary memory, when the Transco Tower was "almost" completed, or maybe when they started building it, they had this big party at the Tower. I remember going to 2 parties that nite.. first a party of work peeps.. then this. I remember Herschel Berry playing.. the offices were not ready yet, but lots of people, some fancily dressed, but not me in my jeans.

It was a pretty good party..

anyone?

Wow am i the only one that likes going to "small quiet" theaters? These AMC 30 type are overkill too many people. The old "lowes" near 45 and 8 was good, Now it's a 1 dollar theather. I went and spent 7 buxs with a date.(yeah the girl actually wanted to go there. Maybe she thought it was Lowes.)

One thing I was always curious about the Meyer Park 16.. it had a second floor with an elevator. Was there a screening room up there. All the years I went there, never went up there.

On the way back from Hidalgo Park.. drove all over the place and ended up on Harrisburg. Not a particularly historic old church, but I liked it. Being a Methodist, I've never been to a Catholic Church and admire them. Church on Harrisburg near Forest Hill. ps.. I'm not the greatest photographer, on one of these..

Went to the lovely park next door to the 610/Meyer Park Walmart and across from the AMC movie house I've been to lots:

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa187/manos77035/BuffaloBayouandmore035.jpg

Tried to feet the cute ducks with some old bagels we had and they didn't go for it. Looked across the street and noticed that the AMC 16 was closed. Had no idea. I think it was kind of going downhill from last movie seen there. During the prevues the sound went off and didn't come back on until the feature film. Didn't like that as I love the prevues.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa187/manos77035/BuffaloBayouandmore038.jpg

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa187/manos77035/BuffaloBayouandmore039.jpg

anyone remember this ice house in the Heights (on Shepherd, past 11th, near that vet clinic, maybe?) that I saw live music at, like once.. had a dart league..

saw this Australian guy perform this song called "My Boomerang Won't Come Back"

anyhoo... I believe this place was called High Noon..

Clematis? Gasmer? Who comes up with these street names?

really.. I like Canemont and Fairmont closer to me.. lots of funky old houses closer to me. There are houses around this huge mud puddle or pond or whatever it is.

I live in the dreaded Fondren Southwest area.. and have been checking out these streets I pass all the time around there..

a couple of weeks ago.. west on South Willow off S Post Oak.. turned onto this street called Clematis.. it dead ended onto Gasmer and this rather large pond/lake(?) or extremely huge mud puddle goes along Gasmer at Clematis. Wondering if anyone knows what the heck this is? My husband took these.

I remember Miss Charlotte's (a very trendy restaurant for the time, not the gay bar) on Converse St., two blocks east of Montrose between Willard and Welsh, behind Anderson Fair Retail. It opened and closed in 1973. It was just down the street from a house (corner of Welsh and Converse) with damn-it dolls nailed to its side. A postman and his wife lived there and they had naked seances at night. Late one Saturday I backed into a driveway on Willard St. trying to turn around. I hit a huge Bonneville parked face-out in the driveway of this bungalow and put out one of the car's headlights. A man in jockey shorts comes out on his porch with a shotgun and demands I pay cash for a whole new front end to his car. I told him he'd have to deal with my Dad's insurance company and took off (we lived on Woodhead at the time.) The insurance company did some sort of search and found he had no insurance and the county picked up his car. I felt terrible about that but he got back at me by writing on my car with a nail--very embarrassing because this was before self-serve gasoline and every time I filled up the guy would come inform me that someone wrote on my car with a nail. My Dad sold that car and kicked my ass for being drunk.

We ate TexMex at El Patio on W. Gray (in the center of RO center) and I usually ordered their Nachos Grande. I remember eating at Lillian's, on Westheimer where Numbers is now. They sold crepes. There were several sidewalk restaurants on the Lower Strip and pedestrian traffic was always heavy, even during the week. I stayed with my grandma sometimes in the summer (she lived in an old white wooden two-story house on Westheimer where the parking lot for Numbers/La Strada is today.) I would sit on her front porch swing with my shirt off and try to hustle joints from the guys walking down the sidewalk between the restaurants. Il Padrido was on the corner in that block (where La Strada stands now). They had good pizza. Michaelangelo's, which was directly across the street, is the only restaurant left from that time period. Sorry for rambling, this took me back.

that wasn't the Pagan church on Welch you backed into was it? I it was on Welch?

anyone remember Ted from Theodore's club on Mason? He had a restaurant near Lillian's, etc. in this kinda strip center.. late 70's I believe?

You're not thinking of the old Garden in the Heights on Feagan are you?

nah, was in the Woodland Heights very near where I lived. Not as big as Bavarian Gardens (same thing). Drove in the area where I used to live a few weeks ago. I believe it was on Morrison.. street parallel to Beachamp.

Not Scholz, or Schultz.. I'm determined to find the locatin. Sholz Beer Garden? Shultz Beer Garden? This was in the early 80's.

Was it the Rising Star?

Noop, but I used to party at Rising Star lots. I hear LOTS of neighbor complaints re: noice. Favorite band I saw there: The Dishes!

I am wracking my brain and doing search on internet.

One of the places in Heights I lived was Bayland and Helen (1980 or so).. one of my best friends lived on Byrne and Florence.. my friend George took me and this guy I was living with to this outdoor (duh) beer garden, I believe on Morrison, around the corner.. It was nice.. went there, probably twice.. saw live music there once. Picnic tables, horseshoes.. beer of course.

I THOUGHT it was called either Scholtz Beer Garden or Schultz's Beer Garden but can find nothing on the net referencing this.

Going to Kerrville this weekend, but I guess I need to drive by and try to find it.

anyone?

Man those are great. Makes my few posters look pretty pitiful. Brought back some great memories.

I would like to put a link to your photos on my site if you don't mind.

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tannahil/index.html

As I'm listening to these guys right now, wondering if anyone saw Steely Dan at Liberty Hall?

This guy orig. from Houston, now in Austin.. a country guy named Roy Heinrich.. says he opened for the first punk show in Houston.. He wrote me once, but I ended up having my e-mail crash and lost his note, but I believe he said his band opened for Tuff Darts.. in the mid 70's maybe? .. at Liberty Hall.

trying to remember that e-mail. Actually Roy Heinrich states that he was in the first punk band in Texas.. maybe not opening at the FIRST punk show in Houston.. but they did open for Tuff Darts and it was at Liberty Hall.. around the mid 70's.. maybe 1977?

I believe the incarnations of Liberty Hall were:

1. A church

2. An American Legion Hall

3. Liberty Hall

4. A Chinese Movie Theatre

5. Demolished

The first show I saw there was a play "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" that someone else mentioned. I think that was 1971 and I would have been 16. I would try to go see Lightnin' Hopkins whenever he played there. I saw Bonnie Raitt and Little Feat, Flying Burrito Brothers, Dr. John, Taj Mahal (a few times), Bruce Springsteen, Clifton Chenier (anyone remember him playing Juneteenth at Miller Theater in 1985 or 86?), Cheech & Chong, Townes Van Zandt. The last show I saw there was the Ramones in 1977. It is the only show I still have a ticket from...too bad.

The folks that created Liberty Hall were many of the same folks that created The Family Hand Restaurant on Brazos. Mike Condray and Lynda Herrera along with Ryan Trimble.

I remember it as looking like an small Art Deco Theater with an overhanging awning/marquee. It had a row of windows running across the front of the building above the marquee. Someone, somewhere must have a photograph of the place. I had several at one time, but they were lost about 1980.

From the American Legion Hall Days:

This guy orig. from Houston, now in Austin.. a country guy named Roy Heinrich.. says he opened for the first punk show in Houston.. He wrote me once, but I ended up having my e-mail crash and lost his note, but I believe he said his band opened for Tuff Darts.. in the mid 70's maybe? .. at Liberty Hall.

The Hut was popular with the students at UST....

I went there once.. in the mid-70's or so.. before '78.. and I considered it kind of a biker bar. Wasn't it on Alabama?

Does anyone remember a place in Montrose where someone had built a sort-of beer garden in their yard. It had a sign that said "Frank's Radio Garden" and there were some picnic benches and , I believe, an old short wave or multiband radio. There was a soft drink machine that was loaded up with beer and you could walk up, or skate up, and put your money in the beer machine, get your beer and sit at the picnic tables, etc. I am sure it was short lived because of the obvious reasons...but only in Montrose could such a thing happen in the first place.

sounds very cool. what year was this place around?

Off topic somewhat because it's the Heights.. but this beer garden I went to a few times in the part of the Heights I lived in, in early 80's.. was a place called Scholz (sp?) Beer Garden. Went there once and there was live music. Nice picnic tables all over the place.. the whole place was a smoking section (as opposed to "soon" here).

Could the funky bar on Westheimer have been Prufrock's?

That's the one. I heard people talking about it while I was partying near by at Theodore's or Houlihan's, but never went.

also!!! I have this Houston music discussion group (which I've been neglecting lately).. and I posted this kind of lengthy article about Prufrock's and Montrose area.. that I just love.

Don't know if anyone has posted this before (apologies if someone has), but this is a pretty good article:

This is from Texas Monthly April 1973

Hiy'all.

I've been in the past a long time volunteer for the Art Car parade here in Houston.. have known and still know many Orange Car employees and volunteers, along with skaters..

The earliest I remember partying at the O-Show was, maybe 1983 seeing some avante gard band, I believe called something like Conceptual Objects of Sound or something like this.

I've been to several parties there in the late 80's - early 90's, complete with live music, and have been to 2 weddings, and have taken my sister's kids there when they were little.

Anyone remember when they started renovating Jeff McKissick's (sp?) former "beauty parlor"?

Greetings y'all from a newbie to this group.

I partied hearty in Montrose in the 70's.. used to hang at Theodore's all the time.. and would walk from Theodore's (Mason and Westheimer) a few blocks down Westheimer to Houlihan's.. Was pretty wild and crazy back then.

Moved to Montrose shortly after Old Quarter closed (or was about to), November of '76.. and heard talk of Sand Mountain, but never went.. and am told it was probably near its end by the time I moved to the 'Trose. Am interested in hearing about Sand Mountain if anyone went.

Also... this guy I lived with back then for several years.. went to this funky little club called Rosewater's once or twice.. but I can't for the life of me remember where in Montrose it was located.

There was this funky little bar on Westheimer, I kept hearing about but never went to. There's a fabulous article in the archives of Texas Monthly that mentions this club, but I don't have access here at work. They mention Rice professors practically having classes there?

Went to Damian's maybe once.. can't remember location of that either.. for some reason I want to say somewhere near River Oaks Theater?

Biker bar called the Little Hut, I think on Alabama, went there a few times.

And.. being was also a regular "bar fly" at this progressive country live music venue called Diamond Head, I believe on Rice.. in the Village. And they had these Country Sunday shows that lasted all day, starting at 12 Noon. And went to 1 or 2 at this bar called the Beer Barn.

Anyone remember any of this?

later!

I never went there, but I think an old friend of mine used to manage it at one time. His name was Roger Ruffcorn, and he died 5.5 years ago of a brain tumor. Really nice guy. Anybody remember him and if he managed the place or not. I may have it confused with Anderson Fair.

I remember Roger. He and others (including Houston Chronicle music editor Marty Racine) were regulars at Fitzgerald's happy hour in the early to mid 80's. He WAS really nice. I believe he managed Anderson Fair? And before his death, ran a Comedy Defensive Driving business.

Also... hi y'all.. as you can see, I'm a "newbie" to this group..

I'm interested if anyone has any memories of this small folk club on Richmond that was called Sand Mountain? I believe Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt played there (among others).