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57Tbird

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Posts posted by 57Tbird

  1. Filio,

    Do you go back far enough to know Tim Nolan and Bob Byron?  I listened to them faithfully.  What a riot they were.  I believe they were on KPRC.  I'll always remember one morning when they told everyone to keep their telephones covered because SWB was going to be blowing the dust out of the phone lines.

  2. Well...  I'm going to show my age again here, as I have in some previous posts.  My favorite house in Riverside Terrace was the one where I lived on Oakdale in the late 1930's.  We moved there soon after I was born. We lived there about 5-6 years before moving again.

     

    We had some neighbors who became well known Houstonians.  Across the street was an elementary schooler, Bill Archer, who would become a U.S. House Representative. Down the block was a young attorney by the name of Leon Jaworski, who would earn national fame as a Watergate prosecutor.

     

    Here are a couple of recent pictures of my house.  The first one, I took when I drove through my old neighborhood in 2007, and the second is a 2011 Street View.  The first looks pretty much the same as when I lived there, except for the portico we had on the right side, which has been enclosed.  The second, as you can see, is very different.  The old neighborhood appears pretty much run down and uncared for these days.  Sad... 

     

    Our place was not as opulent as many of the homes in the area, but I have many pleasant memories of that neighborhood..

     

    post-873-0-23470600-1409260980_thumb.jpg

     

    post-873-0-60855400-1409261020_thumb.jpg

     

     

    • Like 1
  3. I too would be interested in finding the answer to that question. I'm a San Jacinto alumni. I did a little research and found one military aircraft from Ellington that crashed July 30, 1942 in Houston. It does not say where in Houston but if it was on the base it would say Ellington. Some times they will give a better location like 5 miles northwest of the field or something of that nature. I have only got through the month of Jan. for 1942.

    Do you remember what time of the year the crash occurred? Summer? Close to Christmas? San Jacinto High is about 16 miles northwest of Ellington as the crow flies.

     

    here's a link for the 1943 Crashes. http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Oct1943S.htm

     

    I'm not sure, but it was probably Summer, and could have been 1942.  Since it was a military plane, it was probably based at Ellington.  Looking at a map, I was more due north and less than 1/2 mile from SJ.  I vaguely remember another crash that was in the Lovett/Montrose area back then.  It was not far from where a relative lived.

  4. I lived on Elgin, a few blocks NW of San Jacinto High School, when I was a kid during WWII.  i was playing outside one afternoon and heard a plane coming over very low.  I looked up and a single engine plane that looked like a military trainer was coming down with smoke pouring from its engine.  I remember hearing a boom and then smoke coming up from a short distance away.  I ran into the house and told my mother what I had seen, and that I was going to see what happened.  She told me to stay put.  We heard a lot of sirens soon after.  I think it must have been 1943-44 time-frame

     

    We later heard heard that the plane had come down on the San Jacinto High School campus.  I do not remember if the pilot died.  I don't think there were any injuries at the school.  It was late afternoon or on a weekend.

     

    I cannot find anything about this incident.  Can one of you research experts help on this.  Surely there is an access to a Houston Chronicle archive.  I tried the Houston Public Library, but I don't have a card.

     

    Thanks for any help!

     

     

  5. The Teen Hall I remember was on Grand Blvd, several blocks north of Holcombe behind the old Sacred Heart Academy on Holcombe.  My buddies and I went there in the late 50s to see and enjoy my favorite KILT and KNUZ deejays spinning records for the Friday and Saturday night "hops". 

     

    Filio...  My wife lived just off Grand Blvd, between Holcombe and Dixie Dr, in the early-mid 50's when we were dating.  She does not remember a "Teen Hall" in the area at that time.  What we both remember is a private club on Grand Blvd, between Dixie Dr and MacGregor.  If I remember correctly, it was known as the Como Club, or something like that.  It had a swimming pool behind the building.  It may be the same facility that you mention and later became the Teen Hall that you remember from the late 50's.  I guess Paul Berlin (KNUZ) was one of the deejays you saw there.

    • Like 1
  6. Reading FilioScotia's post about the bowling alley on N. Shepherd reminds me of the people who, I believe, owned that alley. They were Don Ellis and Pete Treybig if I'm not mistaken. They also owned the Tropicana on Lawndale. Both men are members of the Texas Bowling Hall of Fame.

    I can still remember watching Mr. Ellis practicing during slow times at the bowling alley on Lawdale, rolling strike after strike. When he didn't throw a strike, he just reset the pins.

    My wife knows Don Ellis's wife, so I contacted her about your comments. She replied as shown below...

    The name of the bowling center on North Shepherd was Merchants Park . They bought it in 1968, bought the Palace in 1973, built another one named Diamond on the far North, on 1960, in 1977 and another one named Emerald in 1978. In 1983, they built another one named Copperfield on the west side. He had two partners, Pete Treybig and Bill Lillard. Don and Bill are in the National Hall of Fame, State and Local. Pete is in the State and Local.

    • Like 2
  7. Felix was on Kirby. That's not too near the theater. Also in the 60s El Patio was across the street from the theater, where El Meson is now, but I don't know if the theater was still open at that time.

    El Patio is correct and the Village theater was still open. I saw The Exorcist there in 1973.

  8. Playland Baby,

    There was a poster here several years ago by the name of Sparky, who lived at Playland in the 50's. Here is a link to the start of her posts in Old Houston Amusement Parks...

    You can look through a lot more of her posts in that time-frame and pick up some interesting memorabilia from her recollections of Playland and the Playland surroundings in that era.

    • Like 1
  9. Hi Tbird! I jumped over to the racing forum and found Clyde's name mentioned by Midget85. In his post he refered to pickup truck races at Playland. Hum. I don't recall those at all. Can you expand on that or direct us to more details? Thx

    I don't remember seeing any pick-up races there in the mid-50's. Just about everything else though... Powder-puffs, figure 8's, demolitions, and the regular stock and modifieds.

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  10. I was noticing that the shape of the Gateway pool (I call it harp-shaped) was similar in shape to the Shamrock pool. I was trying to visually decide which one was bigger, was just looking at theold aerials, but read that blue92 said Gateway was much bigger. Must have been gigantic, since I know Shamrock's had ski boats in it.

    BTW, I did believe you, blue92, but measured to see difference, just how much bigger, roughly (from aerial map ruler) Gateway was approximately 217' l by 141' (at widest point), Shamrock pool 154' l by 94' w.Unique shapes.

    Has anyone mentioned how deep both pools were? Know that Shamrock's had to be pretty deep, it had those diving towers.

    This description of the Shamrock pool from Wikipedia:

    "To the south was the hotel's lavishly landscaped garden designed by Ralph Ellis Gunn, a terrace and an immense swimming pool measuring 165 by 142 feet (50 by 43 m) described as the world's biggest outdoor pool, which accommodated exhibition waterskiing and featured a 3 story-high diving platform with an open spiral staircase."

    • Like 1
  11. Yes there was a Gaido's on S. Main it was right across the street from Playland Park. I know this because my parents house was almost right behind it. But no it didn't have a shrimp with 6 shooters that was Kapan's at S. Main & Kirby. Gaido's had a huge crab on the top of their building.

    You're right about the big crab, but I also remember the big shrimp being at Gaido's, not Kaphan's. I went looking and found this. It says the photo was taken in 2008, but that is the date of the upload, not when it was taken. This was taken long ago.

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