telwink

Check out this website of some kind of scavenger hunt I found from 1991 Houston Galleria ... http://www.thehunt.org/1991/hunttask.htm "Walk into Sheer Insanity, and say at least seven words beginning with "Z."" "Enter The Fun Shop with your hand out of sight, and ask them if they've sold your severed fingers yet, because you want them back." "Go to Petland and ask, "How much is that doggie in the window?"" Silly find, but its got some interesting store names on it that I'd forgotten or otherwise were behind many cobwebs.

LOL Sheer Insanity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAAH YES I remember that one now. That's hilarious. THANK YOU HAHA. I think the smaller one in Galleria I was called The Fun Shop, which someone established earlier in this thread. I can't thank everyone enough for the great memories and information. This has been a REAL trip down memory lane. Lovin' it. Dude it is all good! Happy to have the thread going like this - its already been a gold mine for the topic of interest.

Yah, I'd never heard anything about the gap being exotic, but then I don't know - I'm relatively young. I do remember when Banana Republic sold safari clothes in the 80s, which was brought up in earlier posts, but I'd be curious to hear about the Gap before my time.

I had no idea Nan's originated in the Galleria! I spent quite a bit of time at Nan's growing up, but see - I grew up in the 80s and 90s - so I spent time at Nan's Comics & Games on 59 @ Shepherd. Thanks for the info!

Was Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor the store in the background of the photo Pumapayam posted? The place with that coin-op merry go-round?

Those are some great memories, isuredid. My Galleria 80s were spent at a pretty young age. I'm about the same age as Pumapayam is on the left side of that photo, so I never got into the mall rat culture that must have been this mall's nostalgic glory days. But I still remember a lot of these things, even if observed from gradeschool eyes. Yep. I remember that stuff. I remember how the store front window panes & railings in the mall were that brown hollow aluminum material, and so were the ashtray/trashcan things bolted to the railings about every 50 feet.

Oh man this is great! I'd love it if you could scan more and post them. This is exactly the type of thing I was looking for. You know, I'd forgotten about those white globe-like lights. I also miss the carpeting and how it made it a quiet place to stroll around in. If there's any way you could scan more of these, that would be awesome. Also, the photos of Town & Country mall would be solid platinum when it comes to HAIF fodder. I know both of these sets of photos would make tremendously appreciated threads. Thanks a million for posting this.

Oh jeez yeah! The pet shop!!! I had completely forgotten about that place. It had a white and blue interior, with cages all over the place. Dogs, cats, birds, a ferret cage, you name it. That memory would have been lost to history had you not brought it up.

These are all really great stories. I remember how you used to be able to walk around inside the galleria late at night. Although I was very young at the time, so I couldn't really make the best of that. Can you imagine if you could still do that? You'd have to have a pair to want to walk inside such a place now a days. I guess that shows you how much Houston has changed in the past 25 years alone. Here's an 80s memory from the galleria. I remember downstairs, in the Ice Rink level, on one side of the rink or the other, there was one of those make-your-own-80s-karaoke-tapes booths you'd see in malls back then. It was purple and black, with all sorts of blacklights and stuff. It sat underneath one of the staircases. I remember vividly, having to walk by this booth while people were singing their hearts out, and it would play LOUD out of speakers. I don't know if people thought they sounded good or what, but it was always pretty horrible sounding. Once you paid your money and sang your heart out, I guess they'd give you a cut of your terrible song on a tape. HAHA. Man -- I can just picture the leg warmers.

Is this what you're referencing? I'm not sure either, but I'd be curious. Interseting observation.

Nope, spencer's had all the dragon posters, blacklights, and lava lamp type crap. This place was just pranks, inappropriate t-shirts, and maybe some magic tricks. Amazing! I didn't know about these. Any idea exactly when/where they were located? What's in their places now?

Hey guys, this topic is started in one form or another every year or so, but I was strolling through the mall today, and figured I'd give this another shot. I'm wondering if anyone has any old pictures or information about stores in the galleria in the 1980s, or the 1970s. Specifically, I'm trying to recall what this "prank" store was called, that used to be located near the post office in the 80s, down the hall from where the haircut place Visible Changes is now. It was against that far wall though. I remember buying a "fart machine" there when I was in elementary school, but they had all sorts of crap like that - they specialized in it! Anyways, I more or less grew up in that mall in the 80s, yet I have very few memories of the actual stores. I do remember the old carpeting, and I do remember ash trays fixed to the old school railing throughout the mall. I remember the old movie theaters. Yes, there were two. I remember the old wing of the Galleria that housed McDonalds across from the movie theater. Anyone have any information on a store list from back in the day, or possibly photos of this era. I've seen the few that exist towards the bottom of this page ... http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com/search?q=houston+galleria ... but someone out there must have better ones, or at least some memories of the 1980s in that mall. Thanks!

I think the place you're thinking of is Fame City. There's an entire thread dedicated to it here --> http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...?showtopic=6339 The place is still standing, and walking through it is very different, yet it brings back a lot of memories. Its pretty ghetto now. The building is dilapidated and the glass exterior is in need of repair. The adjacent water park has been torn down. If you walk behind the building, you can see old equipment piled up like the bumper cars that were used for that bumper car basketball game. If you have any memories of Fame City in its glory days, then I suggest visiting it now. Although its a bit sad, it definitely brings back some memories. In fact, it would make some great camera fodder .... hmmmmmmm .... hehe.

Yes. Yes you would be evil. Please scan and post. Kthxbye Thanks for posting these.

I love bocce! I grew up playing it. The game is a lot of fun.

This thread is incredible. Thank you for posting these - these kinds of shots are RIGHT up my alley, and I know I speak for many HAIFers. I look forward to frequenting this thread. BTW, those celebration station shots are out of this world. I frequented there as a kid, too.

LOL HAHA. True.

Hah, I love this forum. Everyone knows something about Houston here.

"Harris County has had 5 courthouses: 1838, 1851, 1883, 1910 and the 1953 courthouse." http://www.texasescapes.com/Houston/Harris...oustonTexas.htm And neuman, thanks for posting those photos of the chess piece thingy. I was told that Harris County was testing the structural integrity of the dome while they were having a contractor build a replacement cap for the dome, as the old cap was long lost and hadn't appeared in any photos after 1939. Well, by the time the new cap was finished, the structural integrity of the dome was determined to necessitate repairs before it could withstand this much weight safely. Therefore, the cap in those pictures has been sitting, turning green & deteriorating, in a Harris County storage area off of Navigation.

Thanks WesternGulf! I shoot with a Canon 40d. You've got some incredibly nice photos yourself, on your flickr!

Feb 1 EDIT: Added more photos If you care to see comments, etc, please visit my flickr site. Thanks! Hey guys, this is a bit of a teaser because I shot a TON of photos today, but I just got in from a very, very long day and I have to do it all over again in 6 hours, so I only uploaded a few for now. The protest was pretty well attended! It was a lot of fun to shoot photos of, and I'll be uploading pleny more this weekend. But I said I'd upload some after the protest, so here are a few of the man himself. Sorry I can't upload more tonight - I'm up way past my bedtime, but like I said - I'll drop pleny more into the thread this weekend. Please don't turn this into a political discussion. I don't want this thread removed for being off topic.

If you're serious, PM me your screen resolution and email address and I'll send you one. Yes, you're right! Thanks for the correction! I should know that anyway

Yeah, isn't that neat?! I love trains. I actually have a better quality photo of the same area with a train in it, although the train is a bit covered by shadow ...

That may very well be. Let me frame my upcoming comments by saying I probably have similar views about the situation that you do. So with that said, what needs to be taken into account is the fact that there are unbelievably powerful people who want him out of office. I absolutely guarantee that has more to do with the emails than race or affairs do, and that is a matter of fact. In fact, the media-prosecution actually has nothing to do with race, at its roots. So while the media plays it up like a big "oh my gosh!," the fact of the matter is the media is just one of many power-tools that a few interested parties at the commanding heights of Houston politics are using to usher his career as the DA to an end, and the big "email scandal" is just an excuse to character assassinate him. And don't get me wrong - I'm not saying he shouldn't be gone either - I really don't care either way, because it doesn't have anything to do with ethics, but rather it has everything to do with the underbelly of Houston politics. There's nothing illegal about racist emails, and nothing illegal about having an inappropriate relationship with someone who works for you. Sleazy? Maybe, but that doesn't matter ... until someone wants to bring you down, politically. Then you've got a mess on your hands, and Chuck is fighting that up-hill battle right now. In any case, just to keep the thread on track, I'll post photos (as long as its not raining) tomorrow, if I have time to get down there. I should, and if its half-interesting I'll snap away b