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Historic Houston Amusement Parks & Places


belmontdrew

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I remember Busch Gardens! It was created quickly and why they put it in that part of town I will never know? Thas probably why it met an untimely demise. Who in the heck wanted to take their kids to an industrial area?

I just recall it there until about 1975???

I remember it being only open for a year, if that long. I believe it closed it's doors in 1971 due to lack of customers. I remember seeing the biggest goldfish I had ever seen (~16").

Also you have to join or sign in, but here's a link to a video of the park (5th link down):

http://www.sixflagshouston.com/videos/

Edited by enviromain
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  • 1 month later...

Anyone interested in a DVD of Playland Park Speedway and Meyerland Speedway, IM or email me with your contact info. It's a bunch of home movie footage shot in the 50's in 8mm. There was no sound, so we overdubbed some oldies music and Charles did some comentary. I think it came out real good, I am going to burn some DVD's , you'll see it isn't professional, but it is pretty cool. If any of you get the Houston/Heights Tribune, I am helping Sharon Lauder put together some articles to run on Playland and Meyerland Speedways. It should come out this spring, when I get some exact dates on the print I will let you know. I am mainly providing photos and names and dates and she is writing the articles, like I said when I get some exact dates of the print I will let you know.

P.S. There is also newer footage from the 60's and 70's, there is some of old Almeda Speedway, some from Moody andClarey, and some breif shots from old Houston Dragway off of Gulf Freeway.

Edited by Mark F. Barnes
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When I lived in Houston (1962-64), my parents did a lot of their shopping at what was then called Gulfgate Shopping Center (now Gulfgate Mall). I remember us going to an amusement park next to it. I think the name of it was either "Playland Park" or "Peppermint Park."

Does anyone out there know what I'm referring to?

Chet Cuccia

Wee Wild West was on Westheimer, I think between Chimney Rock and Sage or Rice. It was the happening place for the 12 & under crowd in the 60's!

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I remember the old Malibu off SW Freeway and the one that finally closed at 610....I-45 North and South had tons of go-kart tracks but none exist anymore....

Fame City's demise was that they stopped fixing their rides that always seemed to break down - especially the one where you shot green and red dots while going around on a machine in the dark....also..the foodcourt never was utilized and only one or two places remained open. I went to the "other" Fame City 7 years ago that was named Chico's Funplex and it went south literally

I haven't been to the Oil Ranch since the 80s but it still exists....as for Astroworld...they used to cater to teenagers by staying open 'till 2 a.m., then midnight but stopped at 10 p.m. Fright Night was a huge event in the 80s and early 90s and Holiday in the Park was fun also.

Astroworld used to open the year with a new ride that made you want to go there because they flashed it in the commercials all the time and mass mailed it to your house.

As for Playland Park..my dad remembers it.....he said he could only go on certain days for obvious reasons

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I remember the old Malibu off SW Freeway and the one that finally closed at 610....I-45 North and South had tons of go-kart tracks but none exist anymore....

There used to be another Malibu Grand Prix at I-45 and N. Shepherd, but it closed years before the others did. There was also a watercoaster in the same location - I think it was right next to the Malibu. When I was growing up, I had a friend that used to work summer jobs at both places.

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  • 3 months later...
Busch Gardens?

I remember that! Not much though. I was at Second Baptist in elementary school and we took a field trip there. Go figure!

Peppermint Park: went to may a kiddie birthday party there. Thought I remember it being off 610 on the north west side.

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  • 2 weeks later...
If anyone still reads this, here is some info. I have pictures of the old park Kiddie Wonderland that was over on S. Main and Kirby. There is more info on it on my other post. Let me know and I may be able to help you find what you are looking for.

awesome! post the photos, please. :)

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Thanks, Mark! I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting up with Norman when I had my first car, a '51 Chevy (see below), 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.

51Chevy3.jpg

My dad and his cousin amaze me. They can look at a picture like this and automatically tell what kind of car it is. Even when I showed them 1950s pictures of traffic on HoustonFreeways.Com they can point out what every kind of car is simply by its body style. They said that can't do that in this day and age because since there are so many different makes and models of vehicles that one can't be distinguished from another.

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  • 1 month later...
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?

I do remember it. It was a smaller amusement park, and I believe that it was located off of Post Oak Road - roughly where the Galleria is now (at least somewhere in that vicinity). I remember it being a smaller version of the much larger Playland Park on South Main. My impression is that Wee Wild West probably catered to the smaller kids. Anyway, I do remember going to the park with some friends for my 7th or 8th birthday back in the early sixties - and that my Mom's purse fell out of the little roller coaster there :lol: .

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  • 4 weeks later...
Here's a little video I put together of my brother's birthday party at Wee Wild West in th early 60's

That was a nice video thanks for sharing. I wish I was alive back then.

Edited by Marty
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That's Bill White in the "2" car. Bill bought it from Wade in 1961 or 1962. 57 Tbird, you might have to bail me out here. I don't remember the dates and years that well.

I'd say you're pretty close. Budman? Mark? I can ask Bill next time I see him.

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Back to Playland Park Racing. I am so impressed with your memory, 57Tbird! Your description fits to a T my remembrance of the track and surrounds. As West U. kids our hero was A.J., our neighbor, but I remember well Stormin' Norman and a few others. Not I have a question to tax your memories, all of you who kept up with such things.

Around 1955-56, I met a guy named Phillip______? He raced stock cars at Playland. He was older than I, me being 14-15 at the time. He was very slender, dark hair, nice guy, but was not considered fit company for me by my family. No romantics envolved, just friends, but he taught me how to take high speed curves and turns, pre-power steering. One night, he brought around his highly newly souped up 1955 Chevy and invited me to go for a trial spin. We headed out to South Main, past any signs of civilization and took off, reaching 155mph! It was the scariest, most thrilling thing I'd ever experienced.

I don't think he ever got famous or anything, but I have wracked my brain for years trying to remember his last name. If any of you have a clue or an old roster of stock car drivers, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks.

Maybe you mean Phil Cronin, sounds like somthing he would do.

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OMG! I think that was it! At least it certainly sounds familiar and right somehow. A million thanks, jakdad, that has been niggling in my back brain for eons. This place is incredible.

As we grow so much older, often we feel that all these memories are made more sad if only we recall them. This forum shows how much we all share of our early life experiences. And having the blanks filled in on the partials is fantastic.

So, I owe you what? A cookie, a margarita, my first-born? Would enjoy knowing how you came up with the name, you must have known him. Oh, it was all about cars and speed (non tablet form) in those days.

Thanks again!

Sandy

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That's definately Bill White behind the wheel, I'd say 61 or 62 is a good guess.

I just talked to Bill. He didn't remember the year, but said Billy Wade sold it to him when he (Wade) left for NASCAR. I don't know exactly when that was, but I think it was the early 60's.

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To ALL,

Just reading through some of the last posts. This site is great. Like many it seems here I grew up at Playland Park and Meyer Speedway. My dad Dennis built race cars in the early 50's and Don Burton drove for him. Our families were all really close. The Burtons, Wades, Pierces. Reading these posts bring back so many memeries. I have also read were there might be video's or DVD's of some of the old action. I'd love to have one of thoses if anyone knows how to get one. I and my 2 brothers raced Bronco's from 75 through 79 at Meyer. It was great and i'll never forget it. I really can't remember a Saturday nite from the time I was a baby till I left for college. As my mother says I've been going to races since the womb. Maybe I can rattle my old memory and contribute to the forum.

Darrell Koebelen

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To ALL,

Just reading through some of the last posts. This site is great. Like many it seems here I grew up at Playland Park and Meyer Speedway. My dad Dennis built race cars in the early 50's and Don Burton drove for him. Our families were all really close. The Burtons, Wades, Pierces. Reading these posts bring back so many memeries. I have also read were there might be video's or DVD's of some of the old action. I'd love to have one of thoses if anyone knows how to get one. I and my 2 brothers raced Bronco's from 75 through 79 at Meyer. It was great and i'll never forget it. I really can't remember a Saturday nite from the time I was a baby till I left for college. As my mother says I've been going to races since the womb. Maybe I can rattle my old memory and contribute to the forum.

Darrell Koebelen

This info is almost a couple of years old, but try Gil Dudek at gill.judy@sbcglobal.net for a Playland & Meyer Speedway DVD with action from the 1950's and 60's.

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OMG! I think that was it! At least it certainly sounds familiar and right somehow. A million thanks, jakdad, that has been niggling in my back brain for eons. This place is incredible.

As we grow so much older, often we feel that all these memories are made more sad if only we recall them. This forum shows how much we all share of our early life experiences. And having the blanks filled in on the partials is fantastic.

So, I owe you what? A cookie, a margarita, my first-born? Would enjoy knowing how you came up with the name, you must have known him. Oh, it was all about cars and speed (non tablet form) in those days.

Thanks again!

Sandy

Yes, I knew Phil. He passed on several years ago.

Speaking of Margaritas, here's a bit of trivia about the origins of the Margarita.

Santos Cruz stands behind the mahogany bar at the

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Wecome, sprintcar! From your comments, it's good to see there is someone on this forum that appears to be almost as old as I am...maybe older. From previous posts of mine, you can see that I went to many races at Playland and then to Meyer, when it opened. I always thought Playland was a 1/4 mile track, but you should know better than I. Did you read in a previous post of mine that I was very close to Blackie Lothringer's car when it came flying over the fence/wall that night? Were you there that night? Thanks for posting more names of the drivers of that era. I remember them. One you left out was Norm Pierce. He and Billy Wade had many close races to the finish line at Playland. A close friend of mine, Ben Bishop, raced at Meyer when it first opened. He was a rookie and only raced for a year or two. He ran in a '57 Chevy. Know him? Did you ever race at the old Arrowhead Park Speedway? I saw A. J. Foyt race there in midgets a few times when he was just starting out.
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Wecome, sprintcar! From your comments, it's good to see there is someone on this forum that appears to be almost as old as I am...maybe older. From previous posts of mine, you can see that I went to many races at Playland and then to Meyer, when it opened. I always thought Playland was a 1/4 mile track, but you should know better than I. Did you read in a previous post of mine that I was very close to Blackie Lothringer's car when it came flying over the fence/wall that night? Were you there that night? Thanks for posting more names of the drivers of that era. I remember them. One you left out was Norm Pierce. He and Billy Wade had many close races to the finish line at Playland. A close friend of mine, Ben Bishop, raced at Meyer when it first opened. He was a rookie and only raced for a year or two. He ran in a '57 Chevy. Know him? Did you ever race at the old Arrowhead Park Speedway? I saw A. J. Foyt race there in midgets a few times when he was just starting out.

There was another racer from Playland Park that has been left out of this...he also moved over to Meyer Speedway after Playland Park. Held more than several records when Meyer shut down the first time and were not broken when it closed the second time...#55 - "Buddy" Evans (started as #8, then moved to #55). "High Points" Champion several years as well as other winnings. How many of you remember the next place I am about to mention. Spent many a late night after the Playland Park races at the (best I can remember) Tam-O-Shanter Inn on OST??? His son went on to follow in his foot steps racing Late Model Sportsman. Thanks for brining up some old memories. I have a VHS Video floating around that has some races from Playland Park, Meyer Speeway, Battleground...bought it at Big "H" when they had the last of the Outlaw Super Modified Sprints

Roddy

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