Jump to content

57Tbird

Full Member
  • Posts

    599
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by 57Tbird

  1. I'll upload a few pics when I get a chance.

    rh

    Look forward to seeing them. I was a regular attendee at Arrowhead, Playland, and Meyer. I remember most of the names you mention. There have been several previous threads posted about the races at Playland and Meyer with more names. Check 'em out. I had a good friend who raced a '57 Chevy in a Novice class at Meyer, in the mid-60's.

  2. 57Tbird, Saint Agnes Academy on Fannin would have been near the Fannin School. Was it still standing then?

    Oh, yes! I remember it well. It was just west of San Jacinto High School and not too far from where I lived. It looked like a huge house, more than a school. It was quite a bit further south and east of Fannin El. It was still at its Fannin location, at least into the 50's. Rumor was, at the time I was around there, that it was a school for "bad" girls. I would imagine that, in reality, quite the opposite was true, since it was a private school.

  3. I thought Elementary schools couldn't be higher than two floors.

    The bottom windows were actually in the basement, so I don't know if that qualifies as a first floor or not. The floor of the basement was probably about five feet below the windows. Our cafeteria and lunch room were down there, along with all the school plumbing and heating equipment for the water fountains, restrooms, and radiators in the classrooms and offices. Of course there was no A/C back then.

    Sad that it has been torn down. I heard that the San Jacinto High School alumni are trying to save their old building that's not too far from there, at Holman and Caroline on the HCC campus, from the same fate.

  4. I went to Fannin Elementary School during WWII. Could someone tell me if it is still there? I think it was bounded by Louisiana and Smith and Anita and Tuam. If there, who now occupies it, and could a picture be taken? I would sure like to see if it still looks like I remember it.

    Even though this picture is very old (1909), it hadn't changed much between then and when I went, except there were fire escapes that had been added on the sides and back.

    http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/57Tbird/Fannin1909.jpg

  5. ... I notice that the 1955 map calls the Holmes/Knight intersection

    as "Pierce Junction". ...

    MK

    Very interesting history! I remember my dad telling me that he came to Texas from California in 1920 and worked as a roughneck in the Pierce Junction oil fields just south of Houston. As late as 1958-1960, some of my rowdy friends and I would go rabbit hunting at night in those Pierce Junction oil fields. I wonder if any of those wells are still out there?

  6. So it appear the ORIGINAL Main Street took you out across the tracks, turned south, then crosses over the tracks again. I would hate to have been on the section between the tracks if a train had to stop. It may be one reason the current Main Street takes its current turn to the south.

    Actually, South Main went UNDER the railroad tracks when I was around there in the 50's-60's...at least one set of the tracks...I think the straight part.

  7. Filio, do you remember Pidge Brownie? He was one of the more popular Buffs, but I don't remember if it was for his abilities or his catchy name.

    Heights... I remember Pidge very well. He came over from Shreveport in the mid-50's. He did very well with the Buffs and helped them win the Dixie Series in 1956, I think it was. I can still remember the players at every position for the 1947 Dixie Series champ Buffs. I was a member of their Knot-Hole Gang at the time and saw many of their games for $.25/game admission. Buff Stadium seemed huge at that time to a little kid. I think it held all of 10,000 fans. For some of their sold-out championship games, they allowed fans in front of the fences in the outfield behind ropes.

  8. Subdude, if I understand you, you are talking about Old Main Street Loop which, according to a 2003 Key Mqp, begins at the S Loop, crosses Buffalo Speedway and then W Belfort and merges with S Main just after it crosses Willowbend.

    If you were to extend that street to the northeast, it would run right through the center of Reliant Stadium as well as Reliant Center.

    You're right, Heights. I just looked at an old key map I have from around 1990, and it still shows a portion of Old Main Street Loop Rd. starting at Buffalo Speedway, just north of West Bellfort and going the same route southwest as on previous maps. There is no Reliant Stadium on mine, but it would go right through the Astrodome on my map if continued on its old path to Knight Road.

    Google Maps does show a small stretch of Old Main St Loop Rd in the Main and Willowbend area east of Main.

  9. Can someone who was around back in the 1960s answer this?

    Old Main Street Road, aka Main Street Loop Road, aka Old Richmond Road, was a street that went from Main and Holcombe, east of present day Reliant Park, and then southwest to connect to South Main. There is still a remnant between Main and Fannin. The section from Fannin to Greenbriar was renamed Fannin when Fannin was extended to the South Loop. From Greenbriar to Kirby became the Astrodome parking lot. From Kirby on it seems to have either been developed over or just abandoned. If you look on satellite photos you can see where the street ran, but it isn't on maps.

    I've just been curious about how such a long street could have just vanished. Were there no houses or businesses on it?

    On this map it is listed as Old Richmond Road.

    1935 Map

    I was around back in the 60's... and (gulp) even the 50's, when I was old enough to be running around in my car. In the 50's, Old Main St Road started at Holcombe where Fannin ended. It continued on out to OST where it became Knight Road. On a previous thread somewhere, I mentioned that, in the 50's, George Dentler's Pier 21 Restaurant was located just south of Braes Bayou at 7001 Old Main Street Road. On the 1935 map that Subdude referenced, Old Richmond Road started just south of OST and went southwest from where Old M.S.R. was at that time before it became Knight Rd. That road (Old Richmond Road) appears on a 1952 Houston map as Old Main Street Loop. On a 1955 map, there is no road depicted, but the Houston city limits are shown where the road was on earlier maps. On a 1961 map, there is nothing in that area as the city limits were shown further south and west to Ft Bend County. A 1962 map has Old Main Street Road back on again where it was previously... going from Knight Road to South Main about where Stella Link intersects. On a 1965 map, it is gone... never to appear again. The only thing I remember about any kind of a road in that area was a gun club (trap and skeet shooting) where I went occasionally with a friend. It was just north and east of the South Main-Stella Link intersection, so it may have been on that road. I don't remember any construction in that area at the time... only vacant fields.

  10. 10319 South Main

    Holiday Inn Motel

    Extant

    HolidayMain.jpg

    I remember this motel from the mid-late 50's. It was just up South Main, on the east side, from the South Main Drive-in theater, which was on the west side. It came before, and was not related to the Holiday Inn chain we know today. It was a small, independently owned operation built in the 40's. I recall there was some type of settlement made between the Holiday Inn chain, as it grew, and this motel owner to change the name of his place. I think he ended up changing its name to the Holiday House.

    ----------------------------

    10015 South Main

    Mitchell Inn

    Extant

    MitchellInn.jpg

    On the same subject, I wonder whose sign came first... the Mitchell Inn or the Holiday Inn. They do look similar.

    HolidayInnSign.jpg

  11. Re: The Plantation - if this is the same one I've seen mentioned in ads and 'nightlife' columns in the papers in the 40s and 50s, this was one of the biggest nightspots in town. It was so well known the ads and stories never mentioned an address; I thought it was on lower Main.

    There was a Plantation on South Main, known to regulars there as "The Plant". It was was on the east side of Main, between OST and Playland Park. Playland was just north of where Murworth is now. You're right. It was very popular with young, night-clubbers in the 40's.

    Thanks also, Subdude, from me for all the great, old pictures!

    • Like 1
  12. For some reason I'm thinking of a racetrack that was further south on the Alt 90 section much closer to Stafford/Sugarland.

    The only one out that direction would have been Meyer Speedway. It was located just west of Butler Stadium about where Hillcroft is. It was a half-mile paved track. The Playland track was long gone in the mid-70's.

  13. At the top of the photo is where OST runs into S Main. The road that goes off to the left from Holcombe is Fannin. About halfway between Holcombe and the left edge of the photo is Pier 21.

    You're right! I remember it being there. That is the same building that Subdude asked if it might be a sanitarium. I have a 1954 ad for Pier 21 that lists its address as 7001 Old Main Street Rd., which is what it was before it became Fannin. See a section below that I cropped of a 1935 map showing Old Main Street Road. That's what it was before they extended the Fannin name.

    HoustonMap1935c.jpg

    Another question: the large building on the left, immediately south of Braes Bayou, was that a sanitarium? I read somewhere there was one around there.

    Subdude, The only thing of that nature, I can remember in that area, was what I would call a nursing home/assisted living facility by the name of Holly Hall. It was further south on Knight Rd, between OST and Holmes Rd.

    Wasn't there a sanatorium on Shepherd just south of Allen Parkway? There may have been another on the east side of I-45 just north of I-10, and the building may still be there.

    I remember a Tuberculosis Sanatorium/Clinic/Hospital on the Southeast corner of Shepherd and Buffalo Drive (now Allen Pkwy).

    • Like 1
  14. Valians across from the Shamrock looks like it had a giant parking lot.

    That large parking lot was actually for Shamrock visitors. There was a light with a marked walkway across Main to the Shamrock. They had a parking garage, but must have had that outside lot for use when the garage was full, or for people who just didn't want to use the garage. It was probably also used by Valian's customers.

    • Like 1
  15. I recall seeing this monorail as a kid heading out South Main. I thought it was at where Main made a turn where Holmes intersects. But it appears Arrowhead was located near Holcomb.

    There has been some previous discussion elsewhere in this forum about the location of Arrowhead Park. I had previously mentioned that I had gone there, in the early 50's, to some stock car and and midget auto races. I knew it was on OST, but I thought it was closer to Fannin than it actually was, as shown in this photo. I recently found this picture in the Bob Bailey photo collection. The picture was titled Main and Holcombe, but you can clearly see what remained of the Arrowheard Park race track in the upper, left portion of the photo. It was originally built for horse-racing (not sure exactly when), but became a venue for car-racing in the early 50's. I worked briefly for Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Co. in the 50's, and I remember seeing this monorail while it was on display near the HOWCO field camp, which is shown here just east of Arrowhead on OST. For reference, that's the Shamrock Hotel at the right, middle of the picture.

    e_bb_2946_pub.jpg

    • Like 1
  16. ..... I have them looking for an old menu from their establishment. They said they have a bunch of them stored away in a box somewhere. I will post, if I get one. Hebert's Ritz was a fine dining establishment in its time. Would be interesting to compare prices with today's menus of comparable restaurants.

    They sent me a copy of one of their old menus. Please pardon the quality.

    Hebert's Ritz Menu from 1941

    HebertsRitzMenu1.jpg

×
×
  • Create New...