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Abe & Pappy's Bar & Club At 1106 Rusk St.


telwink

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A friend of mine pointed out the questionable nature (althouth not for the first half+ of 20th century Texas) of the bar in the corners.

Does anybody know where this picture was taken, or anything about the bar? ~ http://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg....iable=e_bb_1832

I did a google search for "Abe & Pappy's," and ebay comes up with lots of that 1920s 'black-face' stuff, and a cached listing for an "Abe & Pappy's Cabaret - Dallas," but nothing specific about Houston. Heck, that may not have even been the name of the place, I'm just judging from the name above the bar.

b

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Don't know if this will help y'all in figuring it out, but I remembered the photo from the CAH site, and that there were two copies with different titles/info. Here is the other copy. It has a 1942 date on it, and the title is "Rogers Gano, beer taverns, Aragon Ballroom; Beer & bars". "Rogers Gano" (or maybe "Rogers-Gano") appears to be someone for whom the photographer was taking advertising photos (see here). There are obviously several "Grand Prize" related photographs in the collection, too, and so I assume he was doing some advertising work for them as well. There are other photos of what appear to be different bars in the same collection that have that same title, so I don't think that this particular one is likely just a photo of a bar within the Aragon Ballroom (see also here) but that's a possibility.

Note the photos on the wall that you can see in the reflection of the mirror - those make it seem like a well-established place.

Speaking of which - I hadn't done a search on the bar name yet. But look at this. It suggests Abe & Pappy's was an "entertainment venue" at Rusk and Fannin. If I had time, I'd include the photos of the menu and not just the link, so that they won't disappear - maybe someone else will do so.

Good luck finding out more.

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the aragon was directly behind the montagu hotel (hotel cotton)

here is a picture of the fire that occurred there (from the montagu's site):

http://www.hotelcotton.com/images/hotelcot...0background.jpg

there is some talk of the aragon ballroom on this thread:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...?showtopic=5694

ooh...and those photos of the menu:

http://i17.tinypic.com/4visa5w.jpg

http://i12.tinypic.com/4lp6wp5.jpg

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This is a very cool thread. I absolutely love all the pics AND I love how you can come on here with "long shots" for

questions and get answers. It is something to see the Hotel Cotton. How times change.

I completely and strongly agree. The information provided thus far in this thread is phenomenal - thanks to all who have contributed, and those who have expressed interest. As you can tell from my posting history, I'm a relatively new member to this forum, but I've trolled it for a long time now. I'm a History graduate from the University of Houston, and I work for the Criminal Justice System now, and love looking at and researching all the time capsules around this city; from the Astroworld Hotel all the way to the old support beams you can still see sticking up out of the water underneath the Smith Street bridge over the bayou on the north west side of downtown. Thanks guys!

Oh, and here's a linkless pair of those cool ebay pictures; thanks for posting them earlier in the thread.

abepappys.jpg

abepappys2.jpg

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i (quickly) looked in the directories and found nothing.

i have 1932, 1955, and 1976 which doesn't help if this was in the forties and maybe not that long-lived...

Sev, I think it had to be part of the Aragon somehow. Perhaps it was Abe & Pappy's BEFORE it became The Aragon ?

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Sev, I think it had to be part of the Aragon somehow. Perhaps it was Abe & Pappy's BEFORE it became The Aragon ?

I was at the library today so I looked in the directories for 1938, 1941, 1942, 1943 and I never saw "Abe and Pappy's". I looked both under the name, under bars, under restaurants, and under Dance Halls and never saw a listing. I also looked at the streets directory for the area around Fannin and Rusk and struck out there too. The only thing I saw in that area that looked like a club was the Aragon Ballroom.

Apparently there are some photos from inside the place in the Milt Larkin collection. I found this after I had left the library

Milt Larkin Collection

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TheMiltonLarkinBand.jpg

The Milt Larkin Band at the Rhumboogie Club, Chicago, 1942. Players as identified by Larkin, from the left: Cedric Haywood (piano); Lawrence Cato (bass); Milt Larkin (trumpet, leader); Alvin Burroughs (drums); trumpets: Calvin Ladnier, Clarence Trice, Jesse Miller; trombones: Arnett Sparrow, Streamline Williams; saxes: Frank Dominguez (tenor); "Ernest Archey" (alto on this occasion); Moses Gant (tenor); Sam Player (alto and baritone). Photo courtesy of Richie Dell Thomas; caption provided by Otto Fl

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Sev, I think it had to be part of the Aragon somehow. Perhaps it was Abe & Pappy's BEFORE it became The Aragon ?

with the line ups of various orchestras and bands, i'm sure it was a ballroom. you'd need all the space you can get.

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I was at the library today so I looked in the directories for 1938, 1941, 1942, 1943 and I never saw "Abe and Pappy's". I looked both under the name, under bars, under restaurants, and under Dance Halls and never saw a listing. I also looked at the streets directory for the area around Fannin and Rusk and struck out there too. The only thing I saw in that area that looked like a club was the Aragon Ballroom.

Apparently there are some photos from inside the place in the Milt Larkin collection. I found this after I had left the library

Milt Larkin Collection

Wow, that's an interesting find! I'm going to try to swing by the library this week. If I can get there, I'll post a few of these pictures.

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Wow, that's an interesting find! I'm going to try to swing by the library this week. If I can get there, I'll post a few of these pictures.

Oh yay!! Thanks. I love history and I love big band music!

According to my research this band never did record... :closedeyes:

but, the fact that there are pics is awesome! :D

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A bit off topic, but I did some digging on Milt Larkin. He was born in Navasota and his father was also a Milton Larkin. When his father died, his mother Ella moved to Houston. I found them in the 1920 census living at 80 Gable Street (McKee) in Frostown. It looks like this was a boading house.

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A bit off topic, but I did some digging on Milt Larkin. He was born in Navasota and his father was also a Milton Larkin. When his father died, his mother Ella moved to Houston. I found them in the 1920 census living at 80 Gable Street (McKee) in Frostown. It looks like this was a boading house.

Very cool info! I am going to check that out.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been out of town for a while, so I haven't really had a chance to keep an eye on this thread for quite some time, but wow! Excellent find, Isuredid! I think we can call this thread a success.

Sorry to bump this because I'm sure its old news now, but I appreciate everyone's help and input in bringing this case to a close.

b

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  • 1 year later...
  • 6 years later...

I have a photo of my parents at Abe and Pappy's Club located at 1106 Rusk in Houston.  I haven't been able to post a picture because it says the file is too big.  It says they have two big floor shows nightly.  Wish I could post the folder.

 

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I have a photo of my parents at Abe and Pappy's Club located at 1106 Rusk in Houston.  I haven't been able to post a picture because it says the file is too big.  It says they have two big floor shows nightly.  Wish I could post the folder.

 

Upload it to an external image host eg: http://imgur.com/ and provide us with the link.

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  • 1 year later...
  • The title was changed to Abe & Pappy's Bar
  • The title was changed to Abe & Pappy's Bar & Club At 1106 Rusk St.

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