bred

Looks like it is still there.

In my line of work, I find myself in a lot of new housing developments all over the city, and occasionally I find streets in new subdivisions that have recently been renamed (mostly in Brazoria County). Usually this is because it is discovered that there is a duplicate or similar street name within the same city.

There was a Safeway on I-45 in League City at the intersection with FM 518 from at least 1981 (if not earlier) until the late 80s/early 90s. It became an Academy after that and is currently vacant.

Here's a good article on the history of South Park: http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-01-13/news/still-standing/

Is King's Best Market the old Montgomery Wards that everyone is referring to, or something else? I remember going there in the late 90's for stereo equipment, and I can see how that was probably a department store at one time.

Somebody uploaded a home video to youtube from 1989 of Fame City. Brings back a lot of memories... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fVFiZk9wFc And here's footage from 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4f2F6ACEdw&feature=related Compare footage at 0:31 from the first video to 0:23 from the second video. Same spot.

Just came across this info on the new plans for the Sharpstown Mall property: Monday, December 21, 2009, 12:37pm CST<H2 class=column_name></H2> Sharpstown Center to be PlazAmericas Houston Business Journal Sharpstown Center will get a new face and name as part of a $10 million revitalization and rebranding plan. The property’s owner, Sharpstown Mall Texas LLC, and its manager, Grupo Zocalo, a subsidiary of Houston-based Boxer Property Management Corp., plan to rename the center PlazAmericas to reflect the area’s community. Sharpstown Mall opened in 1961 as Houston’s first enclosed mall, and has since gone through periods of ownership changes, bankruptcy and neighborhood issues. Revitilization plans include huge children’s play area and an 83,000-square-foot mercado (marketplace) that will have multiple stages for live entertainment, a large family lounge and play area.

Thanks for all the info, durtisouth1968! I've become really interested in this building again since this thread started. While moving this weekend, I found my VHS copy of "The House on Todville Road". Now I just have to find a VCR to watch it on. If you are interested in seeing the inside of this building, and a cheesy low budget movie, I would suggest picking this one up: http://www.amazon.com/House-Todville-Road-...d/dp/6303948944 The plot has nothing to do with what actually happened there, but you can see what everybody has been talking about if you never had the chance to visit this building. Again, this is just on VHS.

I found out the same thing. Also, somebody on another board came up with "Smiley's" prison information and believes he is now paroled and living in League City, since a people search they did turned up an Elbert E. Homan, age 42, listed at a League City residence. The TDCJ link is broken, so does anybody know how to verify this? I can't find anything. Homan's info is below: SID Number: 03258285 TDCJ Number: 00401830 Name: HOMAN,ELBERT ERVIN Race: W Sex: M Age: 42 Maximum Sentence Date: LIFE SENTENCE Current Facility: POLUNSKY Projected Release Date: LIFE SENTENCE Parole Eligibility Date: 2004-09-02

It was built sometime in the mid to late 70's. It looked even scarier from the street, with the huge driveway and the way it just rose up out of the ground, backing up to the bay. You can see one pretty fuzzy image of it on Historic Aerials from 1981. If you use the "compare years" feature, you can see that later a small street with homes was built on the site. Nice homes, too. http://www.historicaerials.com?poi=4176

There is a terribly cheesy movie that was filmed there just before it was torn down called "The House on Todville Road". I bought it on VHS for about 50 cents from a video store that was going out of business in Clear Lake a few years ago. There is no reason to watch this movie, other than to see exactly how the mansion looked: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110065/ I went inside the place once before it was torn down. Ironically, I entered through the garage and up the staircase, and was unaware that the murder occurred in exactly that spot until I read the Chronicle story above. The place scared the heck out of me, and I only made it into a few of the apartments before I decided to get out of there. I'm trying to find some pics online but have been unsuccessful so far, and I have no idea what I did with the video tape.

I remember as a kid playing in a sunken area towards the middle of the mall (not where the food court is). I think it had brown carpet and I just remember myself and a bunch of kids running around with an endless amount of energy. It was where the help desk is now I think? Can't remember much more about the mall back then. This was in the early 80s. If anybody has pics of this area or any other area of the mall please post them!

Also, I found a really interesting video on youtube about Henley and Corll that I don't think anybody has posted yet. It is from the "Killing of America" documentary and is done in typical 70's era "educational film" fashion. Very creepy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-eJS6MIIa4 There was a show on the Biography channel, I think, last Friday about the murders as well. I think the show was called "Crime Stories". A lot about thises murders has shown up in popular culture recently, it seems....

Timothy Kerley was mentioned in the book about the murders, "The Man with the Candy", written in 1974 by Jack Olsen shortly after the murders. He was there with Rhonda Nelson, Wayne Henley and Corll when Corll was killed. He was himself strapped to the torture board at the time.

I would like to see that 1929 map of the Clear Lake area, or any other early maps of the area, if you have them handy to post.