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marmer

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Posts posted by marmer

  1. Wei, a number of houses in Bear Creek have the clerestory windows. After walking the neighborhood at night, I've noticed that some of them still have original wood paneling on the ceilings too, which I wish I had. 

    Any advice on how to paint a 20+ foot ceiling? Mine is definitely going to need scaffolding unless there's another way. 

    Ben

     

    Roller extensions and a long extension ladder leaning against the wall to cut the edges with a brush?   Doesn't sound like fun, but that's what I'd try.

  2.  

    An alternate location for "Del Taco Restaurant" is given at 3416 E Broadway. Based on the prefix of the phone number given, it appears to be in Pearland.

     

     

     

    Yes, that is in Pearland.  You probably won't be surprised to hear that it is a Popeye's Chicken now.  I moved to Pearland in 1990 and it has always been Popeye's Chicken while I've been there.  There was also a Del Taco on Dixie Drive in Lake Jackson.  Either it's been torn down and replaced by Shipley's Donuts or converted into a Shipley's.

  3. Hmmm.  Maybe I will reach out to Gabert fils.  There is a very interesting church and a well-kept "survivor" travel-courts motel both by the Gabert firm in Freeport.  He might be interested to see those.  Thanks for the info and pictures, Ozzie!  Do we know that Gabert lived here for sure, or just that his firm designed the house?  Also, I don't know if it was mentioned here, that while MacKie and Kamrath is/are generally credited for Temple Emanu El on Sunset, Lenard Gabert had a major role in the project, too.   Here are links to Jack Wisdom's biographical sketches in the AIA Historical Directory of American Architects:  http://public.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/ahd1049155.aspx  I was amused to see that in the 1956 edition of the Directory, Wisdom was credited as being an associate on a project for "J. K. Rawlcower."  Harry Potter fans no doubt find that typo amusing, but they mean Joseph Krakower, a Jewish architect like Gabert, who worked on a number of projects for the Jewish community.  Wisdom actually worked for Gabert for only a few years early in his career and went on to have a partnership with (Percy?) Zimmermann and later his own firm.

  4. One of my drinking buddies back in the day always maintained that slogan should've been "over 2 dozen sold, over 1 dozen digested". I always suspected they were being unfairly blamed for his intemperance in other areas.  :P

     

     

    I thought they were OK.  Their heyday was between the Hamburgers by Gourmet and Zeke's period and the Goode Company and Beck's Prime period, where they were kind of the only non-chain burger game in the area. (except for the place on Kelvin, which I never went to and wish I had.)   My biggest gripe about them was that, like Five Guys today, they didn't do shakes, only soft drinks.

  5. Yep.  

     

    Smoking was still allowed in theaters at the time (and airplanes, and elevators, and often the automobiles of non smokers).  Every time something particularly eeky happened, the light level would go up from all the lighters going off together.

     

     

    Not to pick nits, but El Meson is Cuban.  It is good.

     

     

    You are absolutely right about El Meson, of course, and for many years it was the only place to get Cuban specialties like plantains and black beans.  As the Village has moved upscale (and the Cold War has faded) they have played up their Cuban offerings and heritage.   In the early 80's when I first started going there it was really just known as the closest "Mexican" restaurant to Rice.

  6. Art Cinema was, as I said, more or less where Cafe Chino was.  Next door to what became Le Peep.   I believe there was Jack in the Box at the corner of Kirby and Times or something like that.  Maybe Kirby and Rice.   University Boulevard, north side, was University Men and Boys Shop, World Toy and Gift, Village Theatre, and Eckerd Drugs.  Next block was Weingarten's grocery store.  South side, other than replacing Poor Man's Country Club with some dumb bank, is basically the same set of buildings, just different tenants in some of them.

  7. There was also a bakery about two streets over from University Blvd in the Village. At the moment, I cannot recall the name. I believe it stayed in business until the 90's? They made really good cakes.

     

    That was Moeller's.  There was also a candy shop.  See's?  Kegg's?  Don't remember.

  8. I don't have a lot to add to David Kaplan's wonderful article except to note that now many of the remaining funky old spots that he mentioned are gone nearly twenty years later.  The Village Theater was a porn house back before video and there was also a little one called Art Cinema that was right next to where Le Peep is (was?) on a cross street.   The building that became Hungry's was a mom-n-pop owned Dairy Queen in the early 1980s.   Before Caribana, that was a country bar called Cowboy on Rice Boulevard.   Caribana later became notorious for its 3 for 1 happy hour.   The Village Theater was indeed quite nice in its day; it was a MacKie and Kamrath project.  I don't remember the name but Half Price Books on University was originally a fancy department store with a terrazzo sidewalk and large grand staircase up to a mezzanine level.  There were a small handful of businesses that tried to cater to the University student body: Collegiate Cleaners and Ed Nirken's University Men and Boys Shop for a couple.  I remember having a map of the Village listing all the businesses when I started at Rice in 1980; it's possible that I might still have it but it would be hard to find.   It might not really count, but Hamburgers by Gourmet was right across Kirby.

     

    Parking was not particularly an issue in the Village until it became yuppified.  Back in 1980 it was actually a little scary at night in some places.

    • Like 2
  9. There's been some discussion about what appears to be a pony ride track with some small carousels on the corner of Main and University across from the old Rice Stadium.   It's there in 1940's aerials until the 1957 aerial on historic aerials.com.  After that, it became the site of the Tidelands.  Sanborn maps also show a filling station right at the corner c. 1950.

    So, what was there?  Was this an earlier location of Kiddie Wonderland?  Or a smaller cmpetitor in the crowded pony ride market?

    • Like 1
  10. Two of the 50's mods we drove by on Circle Way during the October Docomomo tour of Lake Jackson are for sale.  One by Allen R. Williams, Jr. for John and Grace Keselik:  http://www.trulia.com/property/1087268036-530-Circle-Way-St-Lake-Jackson-TX-77566

     

    And one by Ernest Shult for Russell and Bernice Gibbs:  http://www.americanrealtylj.com/default.asp?content=expanded&search_content=office_listings&this_format=1&mls_number=54796&page=2&sortby=2&listing_off_id=10

     
     
     

     

     

     

     
     
     

     

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