Historic Houston Amusement Parks & Places

[Alpha]

I remember going to Kiddieland park some time in the early 50s. I was very small and don't remember much about it. It might have been on the Katy freeway - which was highway 90 then. I have tried searching Google, but can't find any mention of it anywhere.

[enviromain]

Does anyone remember these old amusement places in Houston? what they were called? where there may be pictures of them?

The ski slope at the intersection of 610 West Loop and Southwest Freeway which later became...

The waterslide at the intersection of 610 West Loop and Southwest Freeway which finally became...

Malibu go-cart raceway and arcade at the Southwest Freeway

Games-People-Play...I believe it was on Fondren....big 80's hangout with arcade, waterslides and go carts..

The ski slope was a joke! I'm not sure how they thought that would work in the Hot Texas State! I remember driving by it and feeling exited that it might work. Think about how fast ice melts in Texas. What a tax right-off. I don't know why the waterslide did not work out, but I was under the impression that it was owned by the same "tax right-off people."

Malibu at SW Freeway was a murder scene of 3 or more people during late 70's or early 80's. It was a horrific awakening for those of us who had been there before. I have to say, I never went back!

Games People Play was on Fondren and Beechnut. Learned to play PacMan, Froggers. and Centipede there! How funny! I can still picture it, not much now but a whole lot at the time. Used to practice baseball there too.

[TexasCE]

I can

[Heights2Bastrop]

I remember going to Kiddieland park some time in the early 50s. I was very small and don't remember much about it. It might have been on the Katy freeway - which was highway 90 then. I have tried searching Google, but can't find any mention of it anywhere.

Alpha, I thought I was the only one who remembered that place! Like you, I remember very little about it as I was very young. I went there with a birthday group with a kid from school, so I had to have been at least 5 (1953). All I really remember about the place was that there was a fire truck that ran around the fenced park, and kids were riding on the top of it. It was a huge fire truck, but I was seeing through a small kid's eyes. However, I didn't get to ride it for some reason.

I remember the place being way out Hwy 90 (I-10), and would guess it was between Bingle and, at the farthest, Gessner.

[Alpha]

Alpha, I thought I was the only one who remembered that place! Like you, I remember very little about it as I was very young. I went there with a birthday group with a kid from school, so I had to have been at least 5 (1953). All I really remember about the place was that there was a fire truck that ran around the fenced park, and kids were riding on the top of it. It was a huge fire truck, but I was seeing through a small kid's eyes. However, I didn't get to ride it for some reason.

I remember the place being way out Hwy 90 (I-10), and would guess it was between Bingle and, at the farthest, Gessner.

Thanks for your reply, Heights2Bastrop.

I was beginning to think that I was imagining it :-).

I was also 5 in 1953, but I don't know how old I was when I went there. I just remember that my mom said that Kiddieland was better than Playland Park for little kids.

[Heights2Bastrop]

The reason I didn

[Alpha]

Speaking of Playland Park

I was going through old pictures and found this ad in a copy of the 1945 Daily Cougar (my Dad's) from U of H.

[Heights2Bastrop]

What a great find!

[roym]

Speaking of Playland Park

I was going through old pictures and found this ad in a copy of the 1945 Daily Cougar (my Dad's) from U of H.

Would this be the same roller coaster? Dated May 1943. I believe I found this image online at the Smithsonian.

[Alpha]

Would this be the same roller coaster? Dated May 1943. I believe I found this image online at the Smithsonian.

I believe it is, especially since the ad is from 1945. Great picture, by the way. I think I'll look at the Smithsonian online and see what else I can find.

[Croberts]

A friend of mine mentioned a kiddie place called Wee Wild West. I went there as a kid (60's) but have no idea where it was. Anybody remember that one?

It was in the lamar terrace area, south of westhiemer and west of post oak or even chimney rock I think. I went there in the 1950s, and lived in Lamar Terrace till 1958.

[Mark F. Barnes]

Herring Burl Bailey was born Nov. 15, 1936 and lived most of his life in Houston. Surviving are his wife Michelle and six children. Son Joe Dan Bailey, who worked with several Cup teams as a tire specialist in the 1990s, now works at NASCAR's R&D center. Likeable Bailey, whose bearded visage was easily recognizable, never attempted more than six or eight Winston Cup (Grand National) races in a season, and his best finishes were two fifth-places.

Bailey also competed in NASCAR's lower-dollar Grand American division in the 1960s and 1970s, winning the GA pole at Daytona in 1972 and finishing second in the class standings.

Bailey was one of a group of persistent small operators who lasted in NASCAR well into the 1980s, although Bailey seemed more to race for fun than for a career. He ran his last Winston Cup race in 1990. H.B. Bailey, part-time NASCAR independent and operator of a group of Houston-area auto parts businesses, died 4/17/2003 of heart failure at the age of 66.

This is a short Grand National history of the H.B. Bailey NASCAR Grand American Firebird. This car and several others were part of a trial by NASCAR to mix the Pony cars (GT or Grand-American) with the Grand National (now known as Winston Cup) cars. That experiment was to be tried for the first time on September 19, 1971 at North Wilkesboro, NC. That race was to be the first to mix the smaller cars with the Grand National cars. Unfortunately the race was postponed by rain. It was later run in October. Prior to the rain, Charlie Glotzbzch in Junior Johnson

Edited July 30, 2006 by Mark F. Barnes

[Mark F. Barnes]

Edited July 30, 2006 by Mark F. Barnes

[Heights2Bastrop]

Wow! Great photos, Mark. Burl sounds like quite a fellow. And thanks for the clip of Billy Wade. That must have been right before he died. I mentioned in a previous thread that I remember Billy from Playland days, even more so than Foyt. Billy

[57Tbird]

okay boys and girls here is one for the ages

Scrambling around the pits trying to get ready @ Playland

That's (L to R) my father H H Barnes his little brother (and Mechanic) Robert Barnes, Ralph Beckett, and a very young Lloyd Ruby!!!!

This sure doesn't look like the track set-up I remember at Playland Park on South Main in Houston. With all due respect, this may be a Playland race track, but it's somewhere else other than Houston.

The only thing it has in common with the Houston Playland layout is some carnival rides in the background.

I went to dozens of races there between 1950 and when it closed down in the early 60's, so the memories are pretty well etched in what gray matter I have left. I saw just about everything there...modifieds, midgets, powder-puff derbies, figure-8 races, demolition derbies. I don't remember any sprint-car races though, like the cars shown in these photos. I think the track might have been too short for them. There could have been some, though. I do remember lots of sprint-car races at Meyer on the half-mile track there.

First...There were no trees in the area. The track ran east to west. The start-finish line was on the north side with a small press box at the top of the stands. I always sat in the south side stands. The parking area was behind these stands, with not much to the south except open land and some motels. To the north, there was the U-turn of the roller coaster and then a few motels and other small structures over to OST where Prince's Drive-In was located at the intersection of Main and OST. The entrance to the raceway was on the west side of the track at the far east end of the amusement park area. At the east end of the track was the pit area. Beyond the pit area were open fields and no trees. The parking area for the amusement area was between the park and South Main. I think Gaido's was on the other side of Main from Playland.

Second... There was no white picket fence around the pit area; nor was there any grass in the pit area. There were well-worn horizontal boards about 3'-4' high that encircled the track. Behind that track barrier was a tall chain-link fence...maybe 8-10' tall that was in front of the stands on both the north and south sides. At the west end of the track, outside the wooden barrier, was a corrogated metal fence/wall about 8' tall. Just outside this was the entrance to the raceway for the spectators. I mentioned in another thread about Playland that I was standing in the entrance area when Blackie Lothringer's came flying over the wall during warm-ups and killed a couple of people not more than 50' from me. It's amazing that no one else was killed during the races there, over the years. I remember several times when cars would hurdle over the barrier and into the chain-link fence, almost into the people sitting down in front. Safety regulations today would never allow a set-up like they had back then. The entrance to the pits was through a gate at turn 3. The exit was back through another gate at turn 4. The pit area was asphalt and no grass.

Third...There is a blue tent and a white house in the upper left background of one of the photos. Nothing like that at Playland in Houston.

Fourth... I showed these photos to some contemporaries of mine who attended races at Playland, and they concurred that those pictures were not from the Playland we know.

So...I don't know where the description of these photos came from, but I'm sure they are not of Playland-Houston.

I love the pictures and hope you post more of them.

[Heights2Bastrop]

TBird, I thought the same thing, only my memories of the Playland Park racetrack are from a very young age. As a kid, things usually seem much bigger that they actually were. In this case, it was just the opposite. The track in the photos appears much larger than what I remember Playland being.

[Mark F. Barnes]

Edited September 5, 2006 by Mark F. Barnes

[57Tbird]

Mark, Even though I knew that wasn't Playland-Houston, thank you for affirming that I still have a few kilobytes of memory left upstairs. Those "real" pictures of Playland-Houston brought back a lot of memories, and most of the details were as I remembered. Those races were some of the most fun times of my mid-teens to mid-20's youth, so I guess that's why a lot of the details were imbedded. Your pictures of the races with the cars, track and stands were fantastic. I only wish I could have had the foresight to have taken similar pictures when I had the chance. One of my favorites was Billy Wade. Many times, he and Norman Pierce would mix it up out on the track. I remember them getting into a fight with each other after one race.

Thanks again for the great pictures! I look forward to seeing more.

[Mark F. Barnes]

This one's for you T-Bird

"Stormin' Norman" Pierce #98 standing on the left. And I think that's Billy Wade on the right!

Edited September 5, 2006 by Mark F. Barnes

[57Tbird]

This one's for you T-Bird

Thanks, Mark! I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting up with Norman when I had my first car, a '51 Chevy, worked on at Jimmie Green Chevrolet, on Shepherd between Westheimer and W. Alabama. There was a problem with my brakes that the mechanic wanted to talk to me about. I went back to the work area and who should be the mechanic who wanted to see me? None other than "Stormin' Norman". What a surprise! This must have been about 1953-54.

Edited January 26, 2008 by 57Tbird

[PapillionWyngs]

Man it really trips me out how many of yall are from southeast, I feel like I'm hearin family members talk when I read yalls posts. I'm 3rd generation southeast myself. My grandparents lived in the magnolia/manchester area and my parents were from right there off broadway by milby, sellers bros., ingrando park, etc. Am I the only one who swam at glenbrook public pool, and jumped off the dreaded "hightower"? When I was up there as a kid I used to look out in the distance and see the skyline and think, "man I wanna live there one day, and now I do so ha, take that "your supposed to stay in the hood" mentality! Does anyone remember a place called "the mark" across the street from milby in the early 80's during the explosion of breakdancing? It was an arcade and a place to battle (breakdance "fight"). Supertrack closed???? Wow that's the end of an era.

I lived in Park Place for 26 years. Went to Houston Christian School, Park Place Elementary, Deady Jr. High, Milby Sr. High and U of H. Boy - Glenbrook pool brings back memories. That high tower was/is HIGH!

[oldtimer]

Okay, here's one for you oldtimers. My dad tells me about a Jersey cattle farm and dairy on the location of present day Jersey Village. You went there and saw them milking cows, and then you could eat ice cream made from the cows that they had just milked. If anyone remembers or can tell me more about this, I'll be impressed.

Another favorite pastime of area residents was to spend time at the ice cream parlor operated by Clark Henry, who owned the F & M Jersey Ranch, a Jersey cattle ranch and dairy. Patrons of his shop, which was located with current boundaries of the City of Jersey Village, ate ice cream as they watched the milking of his cows. Trips to the popular dairy parlor were a tradition in the Cypress-Fairbanks community for many years. They had 5-cent ice cream cones and 10-cent malts.

http://www.cfisd.net/aboutour/history.htm#inhabitants

H-town I would guess you may have gone swimming in the creek at the park in Tomball. There was a rope hanging from a tree made so that you could swing out and drop off into the water. What fun! And did you ever eat a hamburger made by Mrs. Lucy at Brownies Cafe on 149? Beat Fudruckers by a mile!

[Ron4tx]

Did a little searching and found this picture of Hanna Barberra land in Spring.

The interesting thing about Hanna Barberra Land was that all rides were "People Powered"

No rides were electrically driven.

When you left there, your arms and legs were tired!

Edited August 4, 2006 by Ron4tx

[Mark F. Barnes]

Boy Downtown has changed some!!!

[Mark F. Barnes]

This view looks northbound along the North Freeway from just south of Shepherd/North Freeway Merge to the Stubner/Airline Intersection in 1959. Boy they've Built some stuff there since then.

[Firebird65]

I grew up right smack-dab in the middle of that picture!

Mark, I came across that photo of old U.S. 75 in Houston Freeways and it inspired me to write a history of the area, which I'm working on right now as I post this. I stop in here occasionally to see if anyone has posted anything to help in my research. Was I happy to see this post!

To the left of the future I-45 you can see the beginnings of Hidden Valley. I grew up just to the right of the future I-45 in northline Terrace, which in the 1959 photo is an open field.

Toward the top of the photo you can see the new Aldine High School, which was built at Airline and West Road in 1956 after the original school (on Aldine Westfield and Aldine Bender) burned down on Thanksgiving Eve 1954.

Towards the bottom middle of the photo along what was then North Shepherd Drive (U.S. 75) there are three gasoline storage tanks, which is Exxon's (then Humble's) North Houston Products Terminal. I am trying to find out when these were built. If anyone knows, by all means, let me know.

I'd love to start a thread about the history of the area in the photo, but so far, it seems the board is mostly made up of people who grew up in Sharpstown or along South Main. As best as I can determine, I'm the only person on here who grew up in this area.

Anyone out there who wants to talk about the Aldine/Airline area?

Edited August 4, 2006 by Firebird65

[mkultra25]

I grew up right smack-dab in the middle of that picture!

Mark, I came across that photo of old U.S. 75 in Houston Freeways and it inspired me to write a history of the area, which I'm working on right now as I post this. I stop in here occasionally to see if anyone has posted anything to help in my research. Was I happy to see this post!

To the left of the future I-45 you can see the beginnings of Hidden Valley. I grew up just to the right of the future I-45 in northline Terrace, which in the 1959 photo is an open field.

Toward the top of the photo you can see the new Aldine High School, which was built at Airline and West Road in 1956 after the original school (on Aldine Westfield and Aldine Bender) burned down on Thanksgiving Eve 1954.

Towards the bottom middle of the photo along what was then North Shepherd Drive (U.S. 75) there are three gasoline storage tanks, which is Exxon's (then Humble's) North Houston Products Terminal. I am trying to find out when these were built. If anyone knows, by all means, let me know.

I'd love to start a thread about the history of the area in the photo, but so far, it seems the board is mostly made up of people who grew up in Sharpstown or along South Main. As best as I can determine, I'm the only person on here who grew up in this area.

Anyone out there who wants to talk about the Aldine/Airline area?

That is an amazing photo - I grew up right in the middle of it as well, in Hidden Valley, and my parents still live there. I assume that's Hidden Valley Drive along the north boundary of that first group of houses built in the neighborhood (dead-ending into US 75 as it heads east), and Sunnywood heading north from there parallel to 75 before crossing what would be SH 249.

When I tell people that are more recent arrivals to that area that it used to be practically out in the country, they find it hard to believe given the massive development that's taken place since then. Unfortunately, flood control improvements haven't kept pace with development, which is why you can count on seeing a shot of the intersection of 249 and 45 under several feet of water on the evening news every time there's significant rainfall in the area.

[Firebird65]

Alright! A fellow northsider!

Yes, that is Hidden Valley Drive dead-ending into 75 and Sunnywood is the north/south street paralleling it. That's Hidden Valley Section 1 and construction started in 1958.

There's a story in the Houston Chronicle interviewing former Aldine ISD supertendent W.W. Thorne talking about the area being nothing but a treeless plain when he bought a house there in 1958. The reason he bought there? Basically because there was nothing else around!

I have an ad from 1966 touting homes in Hidden Valley Section 5 for $115 a month. Wow!

I was doing research through old newspapers last night at U.H. and came across ads for McMahon Chevrolet, which opened in January 1971 at Hidden Valley and I-45. You might be interested in knowing that the Texaco station at that same corner and the Shell at West Mount Houston and I-45 (both incorporating Hidden Valley in their names) were built in 1963 along with the freeway. The now-closed Kroger was built in 1966 and remodeled in 1974. The Hidden Valley Shopping Center apparently was built in 1969 and consisted of a Madsen-Dugan Pharmacy, a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, a TG&Y and later a Weiners.

I've got lots more if you're interested, including info on roads stores, etc., and I'd love to hear anything you've got on the area. As I've said, I'm doing a history on the area. Actually it's a history of the Aldine Mustangs football team and I'm incorporating facts about how the area has grown and changed to add some flavor to it.

Perhaps we should start a new thread? That way others might more easily find it and can join in rather than having it buried as off topic in this unrelated one.

Edited August 4, 2006 by Firebird65

[Mark F. Barnes]

Ask and Ye shall receive

History of Aldine Forum

[Heights2Bastrop]

If memory serves me, wasn