Dave W

I was born there too, many long years ago.

My all-time favorite Houston restaurant.

That Warwick sign was there for many years after 1945.

Note the extra-wide esplanade. As you drove north toward OST, the west side of South Main became noticeably higher than the east side. That wasn't rectified until years later.

It was apparently a Methodist institution, not related to the YMCA/YWCA. In the Internet Archive, I found references to it in the 1942-43 and 1945-46 reports of the Woman's Division of Christian Service of the Board of Missions and Church Extension of The Methodist Church.

Since the residents are called inmates, I wonder if this was for "fallen women."

In this video, Mrs. Piquet says they started out on Rampart in a hole in the wall.

I remember it being on Rampart, nearer Hillcroft than Chimney Rock, but I'm not sure.

The house on Yoakum was nice and large but not a mansion.

52 minutes ago, thedistrict84 said:

I just recently moved to Riverside Terrace within the last 18 months and my dad has been catching me up on the family history of the area. He grew up in South Park and lived on Pershing St. until 1967. My grandmother worked at the Montgomery Wards at Palm Center (I believe at the jewelry counter) for a while during that same time, and even for some time after they had moved. 

Apparently, someone in the family owned a BBQ restaurant on Griggs in that immediate area. I believe it was located at 5309 Griggs (the building is still there). It was apparently a popular place in the 1960s. I’ve tried looking up more information and am not coming up with anything and didn’t see any posts on here. Is anyone familiar with what the name of this BBQ place would have been?

It must have been at another address, Harris County property records show that 5309 Griggs is a vacant lot and has been since 2017 or earlier. I don't remember a barbecue place there, but there certainly could have been. The busiest restaurant in that area was Kip's Big Boy on the SW corner of South Park (MLK) at Griggs, which opened in 1965. Always packed. Montgomery Wards was just south of Kip's, across South Park from Palm Center.

That would be the livery stable from which Sigmund and Sid Westheimer started their business in 1883.

1 hour ago, SKIPPER said:

3 largest retail groups back then were: Lucky 7, Rice Food Mkts, and Lewis & Coker

What do you mean by retail groups?

Lucky 7 was a group of independently owned stores. Rice and Lewis & Coker weren't, they were both family-owned chains.

The two biggest chains back then were Weingarten's and Kroger.

@Highrise Tower

I just noticed your edit. The displays were in a wing of the existing Carnegie Building, which was replaced by the new Central Library (now the Julia Ideson Building) in 1926. The collection, or most of it, was displayed in the new building until it was moved to the zoo, where it stayed until the current building was built in the 1960s.

Yes, this is the foundation of what became the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Mystery solved. According to this article, the Lumberman's Bank was at Main and Prairie (400 block), founded by Samuel Fain Carter who built the building in 1908. Two years later, Carter built the Carter Building at 806 Main. The bank moved to 806 Main in 1923 and was renamed the Second National Bank.

The Medical Towers building was built there in 1957, taking up the whole east side of that block. So unless it was a tenant in the ground floor retail, it must be earlier than that.

14 hours ago, Materene said:

I've been gone for over 45 years, but I did ride trail in a club before then and our rides even came in from north to south along south main.  I forget where the turn was made but post oak was definitely one of the major crossings.  It was legal then and not just restricted to the beginning of the Fat Stock Show which it was called then.  Most were out north of Houston as far as FM 1960.

I don't doubt you, but that has nothing to do with the stock show riders, that ride didn't end at Hermann Park and wasn't in the fall.

9 hours ago, Materene said:

Sounds like you probably saw the annual Stock show riders, was this during the Fall you saw those riders.  Myself I never heard mention of the Hermann sawmill.  I read up on his history and he actually served in the civil war under the confederacy.  He died in 1914 leaving his fortune made in many ventures oil timber and other things to build the hospital.  Hermann hospital I am familiar with being 75 years old.  I searched all over and could not find any photos in that era of his properties.  Rice Photo library has a lot of old Houston photos.  I love looking at those old photos.  Houston had a lot of History including the pre WWI Army base there in the Memorial area.  Even Galveston had a large Army base in the very early days.  Getting back to topic I would think his sawmill would be in that general area of the old stable.  It would have had to be near a water outlet unless they were taking down very local timber and moved it by horse or mule or both.  One thing I found on reading his history was his per luck chance of buying land in Humble and it having oil.  That of course made his fortune.  To me it comes as a remembrance of being 5 years old and my grandmother and her best friend taking we two kids out to Humble in the oil field back roads for a early afternoon snack of Shipley's Doughnuts and cold milk.  We all sat on a blanket and it was so peaceful and pretty in the early 50s.  We would pick blackberries and of course the elders called them dew berries, but we would find buckets and buckets of berries.  There was no people living out that way so few people knew about the berries.  Lots of cows out there at the time and my family was old time folks that would also go out there and pick poke salad.  It had to be on pastured land to find it.  It was almost like spinach but prepared the same way and in the 50s canning was a part of living.  My Great Grandfather worked at a water powered sawmill and I have a photo of him on the saw mill .  It had to be in the late 1800s, another job he had and was photoed was him riding herd on livestock in Cisco Texas.  I have that picture also.  I will have to try one day and scan those two old photos and post them here.

The Stock show ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) ends at Memorial Park, not Hermann Park, and it's always been in February.

Riders could be seen any time of the year on the Hermann Park trails.

Almeda Stables was located on Almeda Road at the eastern edge of the park. But it was a privately owned business, even though the customers used the riding trails in the park.

A quick search says that the business moved to the location off 288 and Almeda-Genoa about 20 years ago and was renamed Sam Houston Equestrian Center, but Google Maps says it's permanently closed.

That doesn't tell us where George Hermann's stables were located, or if it was a predecessor to Almeda Stables.

This wasn't a regular furniture store, it was a warehouse outlet operated by Westheimer Transfer & Storage, whose corporate headquarters had moved to the Kirby Drive location by this time.

The business was established by Sigmund J. Westheimer, a nephew of M.L. Westheimer.

As I mentioned in the Sinclair station thread, that was not 7800, it was in the 6500 block. I remember the building but not the store.

That station was on Main at University, but that's 6500 Main, not 7800. The Sanford map you're showing is a different location. 7800 was Kiddie Wonderland, near where Kirby later was extended to Main. Not sure what 7800A was.

IIRC Mr. O'Quinn was the father of (in)famous Houston attorney John O'Quinn.

I remember that diving tower. Our next door neighbor worked for Prudential and I was invited to swim there a few times in the 50s.

I believe this would be the old numbering of South Main that we've discussed elsewhere. Hwy. 90A at 59 would place it in the Missouri City area.

3 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

Found some Bill Williams matches listed for sale.  I know there was 3, or 4, Bill Williams locations across town.

However, I do not know the dates of the business operations.

The matchbooks include different buildings in different years. Were these buildings all in the same location? Where was the original Bill Williams restaurant located at? If so, was there previous buildings in the same spot? Trying to understand these matches.  The 1936 building looks so simple, like a stand, not a full restaurant. ID of location?

The dates listed are:

1936
1938
1941
1942
Unknown (front of the matchbook)

He opened the South Main St. location in 1936 so I believe these were all expansions of that location.

I remember the Cinnamon Cinder, but that wasn't right by the Como Club.

I think this was a ground floor office in the Medical Towers building.