What Did Your Neighborhood Look Like

[john Lopez]

Found a picture and caption about it:

It was Conoco Bldg. There was a song played on radio & TV to clue you in on code.

"Red light, Warmer Weather'

White Light, cooler weather,

green light, no change for you,

Blinking Light, rain is due"

[editor]

It was Conoco Bldg. There was a song played on radio & TV to clue you in on code.

"Red light, Warmer Weather'

White Light, cooler weather,

green light, no change for you,

Blinking Light, rain is due"

I have a friend who lives in small town Wisconsin (Wausau). When I visited him a few years ago I was stunned to see that there are still THREE of these active in his town, run by the three TV stations. I couldn't believe they actually work. The sad part is that each has its own color system and jingle. It must get confusing.

[roym]

I just stumbled across this web site as I was looking for a picture of the "W" in the old Weingarten's logo. I'm trying to prove to my husband it's the same "W" the Washington Nationals baseball team uses. He probably wouldn't care even if I could find it...now I just want to prove it to myself! As for my neighborhood...We moved to Sharpstown in its hey-day of 1965. My Mom and Dad still live there. Our little pocket (bordered by Beechnut, Gessner, Bellaire and Fondren) has not changed much - except the trees are MUCH bigger. They just started re-modeling my old elementary school (Pat Neff) and I'm kind of nervous about that - some things I would rather be left alone. The surrounding area is what has really changed. I had a pet turtle once that I had to release to the wild - so Dad drove me to a field out in the middle of nowhere to release him...that middle of nowhere is what used to be the K-Mart on the corner of Beechnut and Highway 59. I remember when you could actually see the domed Arena theater on the corner of Fondren and 59 (only it was called something else). Now it's hidden by those two ugly black buildings on the corner. I remember when Sharpstown Mall was THE place to go. Does anyone remember the old carousel clock that was in the middle of the mall?! It had the six flags of Texas on the top and would play music and little doors would open to show different scenes from Texas as it turned around. It was very cool. I read somewhere it was a glockenspiel. Sharpstown Glockenspiel

Hey Apollo - I went to Pat Neff elementary too. My cousin lived in your neighborhood for many years - their house was on the corner of either Neff & Cannock or Neff & Larkwood - I can't remember which one it was exactly, I'd have to drive by there and see.

I was a crossing guard at Neff and attended there from 1974 - 1977. I remember one of the sidewalks had, "The Beatles", scratched into the wet cement when the school was built. Perhaps that sidewalk is still there, who knows? The principle at the time was Mr. Martin. He broke one of his home movies teaching some of us how to operate the film projectors. Been in his office in trouble at least once (or twice), too. ;-)

Also used to raise the school flag (Texas flag) there every day. Hung it upside down one day. That day I permanently learned that the WHITE stripe goes on top!

I lived in the big apartments on Bellaire & Waldo street right next door and in front of the Sharpstown Country Club. It closed down during those years and the place was just a big playground for us - just like a big jungle. We did plenty of bike riding, motor cycle riding and fishing out there.

[VicMan]

We have ice cream trucks in Braeswood. The one that comes goes too fast

Also Braeswood still has a "local folk" gas station.

I'm not sure about clean, reputable, and professional but my neighborhood on the East End has tons of ice-cream trucks, if that's what you mean. A lot of neighborhood deed-restrictions now prohibit them . Our deed restrictions expired so it's a dogpile over here. We get 4 or 5 on a good summer's day driving by in various contraptions, along with the Mexican popsicle peddlers on bicycles honking their squeeze horns, which are much more quaint than the truck's music. Nothing like quietly sitting on the porch and suddenly be bombarded by Turkey in the Straw, followed by La Cucaracha, then Home on the Range and a couple of other unrecognizable jingles, one that even says "hello" in between cycles, all at jet-airline volume. Then, of course, one of the tunes always ends up circulating in my brain a couple of thousand times afterwards.

Although I'm not really exagerating much, I don't get upset by them as it triggers a sentimental nostalgia of my childhood in the 60s and it's good to see the kids running around, like I did, stopping to enjoy a treat.

If I ever find myself cursing the ice-cream man, then I'll know I've become a grouchy old fart for sure.

[enviromain]

Does anyone remember Westbury Square? I always wondered what that place was like.

My parents always dragged me there when I was younger. I loved the pizza and ice cream somewhere there. It was like a little small town in a big city and the people were extra friendly.

I got my first real camping boots (with vibram soles) at a store there in late 70's or early 80's (feet stopped growing). Kudos to the Square!

[hbcu]

I see someone said they stayed in Briargate...my parents moved there in the 70s when a 4 bedroom, 2 bath and detatched garage would run for $30,000 and you got plenty of front yard space in certain sections.

I remember the shopping strip that had a Krogers, Buster Brown, an ice cream store, weiners, and a night club. 7-11 was across the street...

in the 80s....Kroger moved to 2234 in the old safeway building and McDonald's came and a chicken place called Creoles moved in where the ice cream place was. We also had Kenney's shoes where you could get a decent pair of shoes at the last minute.

for reasons unknown, McDonald's left..the Kroger strip center has seen its fair share of churches xome and go and the weioners is long gone...we have 2 seafood restaurants in the strip center now...7-11 turned into dump, corner stores but is now a Williams Chicken

as for best bang for your buck...Briargate was a well-built neighborhood with direct access to Mo. City and Houston...it's right next to the beltway and ft. bend parkway and your only 10-15 minutes from downtown, sugar land or pearland

outside the duplexes they built on the main street for reasons unknown and the townhomes outside the neighborhood...there isn't any type of high-density living...

the area eventually transformed from white to an upper, middle class african american community in the 80s...however, alot of african americans thought the grass was greener and left the area for sugar land and in some cases, the kids suffered.

anyone can remember, pound for pound...Willowridge was the most talented school in Texas for a long time

[nm5k]

I used to work, along with my older brother, at Rummpleheimers in the mid-1970s.

I probably knew you both vaguely... In the same time period, I worked across

the fountain at the "Al-Beto's" mexican resturant. You can see it in that picture

they posted of the fountain. I went to Johnston/Westbury, and started worked

at Al Beto's in about the 10th grade. Those were the days...

I lived just around the corner from the square, and for all practical purposes lived

*at* westbury square. I knew about everyone, including Ira Berne<sp?>, and his

wife, who owned and ran the square. They were my bosses landlord, and I saw

them every once in a while. As the young hoodlems we were then, we hung out

at the square all the time. It was where nearly everyone went to hang out back

in those days. Usually in and in front of the Village Inn pizza parlor. I remember

back in the late 60's and early 70's, that was where all the action was. Usually

had bands on the weekends at Village Inn. Being I hung out, and worked at the

square, I knew virtually every inch of it. We even used to crawl up in the clock

tower above Rumpleheimers. Used to hang out on the "Hill" over on the east

end of the parking lot. I won't get into what we used to do there...

A few years later after Al Beto's had gone, I worked for a while at Bull and Anchor,

which was the steak/seafood place. The remains of that building still remain out

in front near W.Bellfort.

I remember when the Gallaria was built, that was the beginning of the end to

Westbury Square. We even realized it then. The skate rink, fancy shops, etc,

kind of stole a lot of WS's thunder... But there will never be another Westbury

Square.. Westbury as a whole was a lot newer, and better back then. IE: as an

example, the apartments and townhouses on Bellfort are now kinda rundown,

except that the apartments have recently overhauled a bit... But back in 1969,

those were fancy townhouses. Doug Rader used to live in one. Remember him?

I remember Ed Brandon lived in the Westbury Square townhouses on Chimney

Rock back when those were new.

The reason I stumbled across this site, is I'm doing research on this area before

it was developed. I recently found out that there used to be an airport on the

north side of Main, in between chimney rock, and hillcroft. Was called Sam Houston

airport. I have a 1960 air picture of Westbury, and you can still make out some

of the runways where houses weren't yet built. The entrance to that airport was

across the street from where Butler stadium is now. It was a fairly large airport,

for a general aviation, and supposably had up to 5 runways. Most with oyster shell

runways. The company "Anderson-Greenwood" began there as a aircraft builder,

and built the AG-14 aircraft, of which 5 were built, and maybe two still fly to this

day. In that 1960 picture, our house was just built , and westbury square, the

weingartens center, Westbury High, were all yet to be built. They had begun clearing

land for the square. At Westbury, all that was there was the water tower. Nothing

else but fields. Gasmer and willow actually date back to at least the late 30's.

I show them on a 1942 road planning map initially drawn in I think '37.

Anyway, if anyone has any info on who owned the land westbury sits on, before it

was developed, I'd sure like to hear it. I need to check the libraries.. I know Rice

owned lots of land to the north. I think Walter Fondren owned the land to the west..

IE: where fondren road is... But I don't get much info for this area.. I'm sure it was

pretty much prairie though. Either ranch, or ricefields, etc..

Also, if anyone actually remembers, or has more info on Sam Houston airport, I'd

like to hear that too..

BTW...Another memory twanger for ya...Remember the old Brittains Broiler burger?

Used to be where the now closed blockbuster is...Down from what is now the dollar

store... I still remember going in there all the time. You ordered by number, and I

always preferred the version with bbq sauce... > I was still in jr.hi in those days..

Well, I guess enuff rambling for now. But I'm sure I can think up more WS details..

MK

[57Tbird]

nm5k... I tried to reply to your post via the quote mode, but it wouldn't take me there for some reason, so I'm copying and pasting the relevant comments I reply to below.

"I recently found out that there used to be an airport on the

north side of Main, in between chimney rock, and hillcroft. Was called Sam Houston

airport. I have a 1960 air picture of Westbury, and you can still make out some

of the runways where houses weren't yet built. The entrance to that airport was

across the street from where Butler stadium is now."

I moved to a new house in Westbury in 1961. It was just north of S. Main, between Chimney Rock and Hillcroft. I would like to see your 1960 aerial shot.

"Also, if anyone actually remembers, or has more info on Sam Houston airport, I'd

like to hear that too.."

See http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfie....htm#samhouston

[nm5k]

nm5k... I tried to reply to your post via the quote mode, but it wouldn't take me there for some reason, so

See http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfie....htm#samhouston

The two like pictures on Pauls airfields site is part of that 1960 picture. "I'm Mark Keith"...

But the whole picture covers quite a bit more area from east of Post Oak,

all the way north past Brae Bayou. The cropped picture on his site is your old

neighborhood when it was first being built. You can see Meyer Speedway across

main, and W.Airport went almost to where Hillcroft would be, but was about a block short

of making it that far. The street on the far left is the new Chimney Rock. The street

running north and south about in the middle is Mullins. That cleared area at the

bottom, to the west of Mullins will become Hagar Park and Anderson elementary.

BTW, you are looking south in that picture. You can see part of the Willow bayou

running just across the bottom of the picture. In the 2nd one, I colored in where

I thought the old runways were. Hillcroft would eventutually be built and meet with

Blue Ridge road which you can see alongside of the speedway. I'll dig up that 1960

picture, and see if I can squeeze it on my server. It was also at the westbury civic

club site, but don't know if it's still there. But the part you want is in the picture on

Pauls airfields site. Thats your exact old neighborhood.

MK

[icepickphil]

MK, in a parallel universe a few miles north of Westbury I was going through a similar Houston experience in the early/mid 70s. I went to T.H. Rogers/Robert E. Lee and for me and many neighborhood kids like me the Galleria was where it was at as a teenager. I worked there for several years around the holiday season as a 'auto host' parking cars, etc.

What is the timeline for Westbury Square and Sharpstown Mall/Center's development in the 1960s? Which was developed first? Interesting that they are both in decline now while the Galleria continues on...

[57Tbird]

The two like pictures on Pauls airfields site is part of that 1960 picture. "I'm Mark Keith"...

But the whole picture covers quite a bit more area from east of Post Oak,

all the way north past Brae Bayou. The cropped picture on his site is your old

neighborhood when it was first being built. You can see Meyer Speedway across

main, and W.Airport went almost to where Hillcroft would be, but was about a block short

of making it that far. The street on the far left is the new Chimney Rock. The street

running north and south about in the middle is Mullins. That cleared area at the

bottom, to the west of Mullins will become Hagar Park and Anderson elementary.

BTW, you are looking south in that picture. You can see part of the Willow bayou

running just across the bottom of the picture. In the 2nd one, I colored in where

I thought the old runways were. Hillcroft would eventutually be built and meet with

Blue Ridge road which you can see alongside of the speedway. I'll dig up that 1960

picture, and see if I can squeeze it on my server. It was also at the westbury civic

club site, but don't know if it's still there. But the part you want is in the picture on

Pauls airfields site. Thats your exact old neighborhood.

MK

Didn't know I was corresponding with the person who contributed the map on that website. In fact, I hadn't even scrolled down to view that map you speak of here, until you mentioned it in your reply. After looking at the map, I would like to point out a minor discrepancy in your description of a street shown in the aerial shot that you show, in green, as Mullins. That is the street I bought a house on in June, 1961, and lived in for seven years. It's not Mullins, but Landsdowne. My house was on that street 1 1/2 blocks south of W. Airport, between Fontenelle and Firenza. Mullins was one block east of Landsdowne. I well remember the layout of the streets in that neighborhood, and it's really neat to see what it looked like before my house was built. It was our first house. Cost was $14,000, for a 1400 sq ft house. My payments were $107/mo. I remember the going rate for houses then was about $10/sq ft.

My son went to Anderson El....a few blocks north on Landsdowne, after he spent a year in Kindergarten at The Little Red School House in Westbury Square. The Westbury Civic Club building was on the east side of Chimney Rock, between Gasmer and W. Bellfort, at the time I lived out there. Went to many meetings there.

Several months ago, I dropped by to visit with some old neighbors of mine who still live there, across the street from where we did. They moved into their house several months before us. Needless to say, the neighborhood has sure changed....for the worse.

[nm5k]

Didn't know I was corresponding with the person who contributed the map on that website. In fact, I hadn't even scrolled down to view that map you speak of here, until you mentioned it in your reply. After looking at the map, I would like to point out a minor discrepancy in your description of a street shown in the aerial shot you that show, in green, as Mullins. That is the street I bought a house on in June, 1961, and lived in for seven years. It's not Mullins, but Landsdowne.

Yea, yer right...And I know better too...I guess I got confused when I was looking

at the street map, and comparing with that one.

My son went to Anderson El....a few blocks north on Landsdowne, after he spent a year in Kindergarten at The Little Red School House in Westbury Square. The Westbury Civic Club building was on the east side of Chimney Rock, between Gasmer and W. Bellfort, at the time I lived out there. Went to many meetings there.

Hummm. They had moved over to the westbury professional buildings by the time we

moved here in 69..

Several months ago, I dropped by to visit with some old neighbors of mine who still live there, across the street from where we did. They moved into their house several months before us. Needless to say, the neighborhood has sure changed....for the worse.

Yea, it had kind of run down a bit, but they have been cracking down a bit in the last couple

of years of so. They went after a lot of people that were running businesses out of the homes,

junk cars, tall grass/weeds, etc, and have cleaned up a good bit. The HPD was involved, and

was running like a crappy yard/home biz task force over there for a while. Some got tickets,

etc I think. I see westbury declining to a pretty crappy point in the next few years, and then

probably will be reinvented as the next "mature" neighborhood to build on. Kinda like

Bellaire, West U, etc.. Some of the houses in Bellaire, west U are getting pretty big... Myself, I'd

rather live in an old one... I think an older house has more character than a new high tech

mini mansion like lots of people are building these days. I'd also rather be in the country.

MK

[Ashikaga]

Great picture of the corner of Main and Bellaire (now Holcombe) in 1928:

From Sloane Gallery, which has a good collection of old Houston pictures.

That's a well-designed sign for way back then. I wonder if there has ever been any point in time when Houston was not the biggest city in Texas?

[Earlydays]

That's a well-designed sign for way back then. I wonder if there has ever been any point in time when Houston was not the biggest city in Texas?

I believe in 1900 before the hurricane, Galveston had the largest city population in Texas.

[Ashikaga]

I believe in 1900 before the hurricane, Galveston had the largest city population in Texas.

I guess that hurricane was so bad that too many people were afraid to move there. Maybe that's why the population never grew too much after that disaster. To the best of my knowledge, Galveston has one public high school (Ball) and one Catholic high school (O'Connell).

[patsy]

Found a picture and caption about it:

]

The color code went along with a jingle that had a catchy tune:

Red light, warmer weather

Blue light, cooler weather

Green light, no change in view

Blinking light, rain is due!

[TexasCE]

Ahh yes, Westbury Square. I grew up in Westbury, my parents moved there in the early 70

[MarthaG]

Thanks to TexasCE for bringing this thread back up. I had fun reading it again. This is the thread that got me hooked on HAIF.

I saw this thread and read through all 3 pages wondering if anyone was going to mention my old neighborhood, Oak Forest. Then I ran across MarthaG's post! I remember SS Kresge-which is now K-Mart. I also remember my sisters buying costume jewelry there.

Palais Royal, Weingarten's, Whites, the Post Office, the library [still there], Western Auto, Dr. Love the optometrist, WEINERS!!!!, Maddens Drugs at Ella and 43rd: that was our little downtown in Oak Forest/Garden Oaks. I went to Oak Forest Elementary and Black JH, both on 43rd. It was a great childhood I would wish on any kid today.

nmainguy - A neighbor friend brought me a treasure a few weeks back. I have a small collection of old cobolt blue medicine bottles. She found and knew I had to have it. It's from Oak Forest Pharmacy. Dated 5.10.68. Address: 43rd at Ella Blvd., Phone ov 6-5561. It's for some kind of eye wash, so it's special because the lid has an eyewash cup attached.

[Captain Impossible]

My neighborhood hasn't changed in forty years.

[Trae]

[TexasCE]

FYI, I went by Westbury Square last night. The old sign is still up, complete with the "Go Rocket" marquee...

[doug]

Does anyone remember Westbury Square? I always wondered what that place was like.

I used to deliver the newspaper to the shops on my bike riding through Westbury Square.

I remember a few of the names of those shops like: Cargo Houston,Rumpleheimers....there was also a glass blower, An English soap/fragrance shop, A candle shop, The Cheese Man, and a great Pizza place (can't recall its name) that had live bands every weekend.

Above many of the shops were apartments where people lived.

It was the coolest place up until the Galleria was built. Tour buses from out-of-town would frequent Westbury Square bringing lots of tourists.

Doug

[nm5k]

I used to deliver the newspaper to the shops on my bike riding through Westbury Square.

Doug

Dang, depending on the time frame, I might have known you. I

delivered the chronicle to the Westbury Square apt's on east side of

Chimney rock, and also the Madison apt's on chimney rock. By bike of

course.

I used to get and roll my papers over behind Monterrey House on

Chimney Rock. Worked for a guy named Mike Mangamelie <sp??>.

Can't remember how it was spelled, but it was pronounced about

like I spelled it. Back in those days in the early 70's, at 3 AM sunday

morning there was almost zero traffic. These days it's pretty busy

day or night. I'd ride my sunday loaded to the gills bike right

down the middle of Chimney rock. All of my route was apt's,

and I rode most of it. But many of them were the 4 apt per door

type deal, and I'd have to take 4 papers, run in the door, and throw a

paper for each door, 2 downstairs, and 2 upstairs, assuming all

took the paper. I could ride most all of the Madison apt's though.

Most all of them had their own outside doors.

MK

[Rina]

Does anyone remember Westbury Square? I always wondered what that place was like.

I still pass by Westbury Square every now and then. I went to Westbury High near by and always shopped there. I loved it, especially around the Christmas season. Many many memories. I also remember the appartments located on top the shopping center. They looked so interesting.

[Parrothead]

Trae, kinda sad, isn't it?

[mrfootball]

[2fatcats]

Does anyone remember Westbury Square? I always wondered what that place was like.

Westbury Square was a really neat little shopping place. It had a few lanes of "street" that wound through a bunch of structures that reminded one of a small English village or maybe main street at Disneyland. The shops were more specialty type shops and when I used go go there a lot in the late 70s and early 80s all the shops were open. My favorite was a store that sold oriental items, many Japanese things that were reasonably priced. There was also a Tuesday Morning there for a long time. There was a kind of square at one end of it with a large fountain and benches to sit on. I was saddened when they tore most of it down to build the Home Depot, however it had declined in recent years for lack of sales I suppose.

[Mikeytex]

In 1971, my parents moved to the Briargate subdivision right off of Hillcroft south of 90 (where it dead-ended at that time) which was actually in Missouri City I believe. I went to Blueridge Elem and then to Mo City Jr High from 1977-1979, and then on to Willowridge HS. I remember Meyer Speedway. My dad took us there a couple of times.

I lived on Melanite off of Post Oak (three blocks from BW8) from when I was 3 until I was 7. I think the subdivision was called Blueridge. My Mom worked at Shell in Deer Park, so I got to stay with my Grandmother in Pasadena and went to Private school in 1st grade. Those were some fond childhood memories I will always cherish.

[plumber2]

Is that the Americana Building?

Yes, that is the Continental Oil Company (Conoco) Building. The building facade was green up until recently. The sign came down during the first energy crisis in 1974, along with Gulf Oil doing the same. It was a show of energy consevation by the big oil compnaies to remove these big energy consuming signs. We all had to drive 55 mph back then also.

[Guest Marty]

30 years ago my subdivision Birnam Wood was about five years old. most of the trees are older than 50 years old so im guessing it look about the same.