Historic Houston Amusement Parks & Places

[Sparky]

I went to Sutton, Fannin, Poe El, Lanier, Lamar '53. My wife went to MacGregor, Johnston, and San Jac '55.

So you went to San Jacs arch rival, Lamar. Hmmm. Your wife might have been in all three schools with my brother, David Gordon, who is two years younger than me. Let me know. By the way, my name is Becky Gordon McKeehan. I was a majorette at San Jac with Amy Levine, Barbara Battlestien and another girl whose name escapes me at the moment. Sparky

[Mark F. Barnes]

This is definitely Buddy from a Chronicle clipping

Edited November 24, 2007 by Mark F. Barnes

[Mark F. Barnes]

[Mark F. Barnes]

[Mark F. Barnes]

Everybodies Favorite Stormin' Norman Pierce

Edited November 24, 2007 by Mark F. Barnes

[Sparky]

Nope! It was the one where Blackie Lothringer went over the wall between turn 1 and turn 2. He landed in the area between the concession stand and south stands near the west entrance gate. Here is a Chronicle report on the accident. Front page and other page.

Sparky, Was your mom one of the ladies named, at the concession stand, in the Chronicle article?

That is the first time I have seen that article. I had already married and moved away when the wreck happened. My sister called me to let me know about the wreck before I saw it on TV.. She wanted me to know that Mom was ok. and home in bed. My mothers name was Myrtle Gordon. I would like to know the names that were in the paper. I have a feeling my Mom left the stand right away after seeing Sam being killed.

Mark, OH YEAH that is Buddy. I had such a crush on him. I know he must have thought I was a pest because I hung around him so much. He had a beautiful wife who was very nice to me. Thirteen year old girls are such a mess to begin with. That is not the picture of the wreck that Sam was involved in. It was closer to the front wall where my dad's stand was. I love the picture that shows the third hump of the coaster. The next part of the coaster was the end

turn around which was a soft square. I don't know if many people noticed the fenced in sheep that were under the coaster. They kept the grass mowed and were great to play with. I am really enjoying all of this. Sparky

[Mark F. Barnes]

Sue Payne, Agnes McCandless (sp?), and Aurora and Virginia Bowen.

[57Tbird]

Sue Payne, Agnes McCandless (sp?), and Aurora and Virginia Bowen.

Their ages were listed, and they were all too young to have been your mother, Sparky. I should have noticed that before asking.

[57Tbird]

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Edited November 25, 2007 by 57Tbird

[MeltedPlastic]

I also have some of the same memories of Games People play on 1960. It's hard to believe that nothing has been done with that property. GPP closed around 1990-ish, and the place still has many remnants of the old park.

Where is this on F.M. 1960? I have tried searching for it, but have had no luck.

[Sparky]

--

Thanks for the message. I appreciate everything you said. Does anybody out there know the last name of a driver whose first name was "Hugh"? He was a friend of Buddy. Sparky

[mds74213]

Here is a picture of the Games People Play park that was located on FM 1960. This shows the pool at the end of the water slides. The three slides had an old west mining theme. The photo was taken the summer of 1984 or 1985. I found it here: http://www.hannahbeth.com/2002/June02/063002.htm. Edited January 31, 2008 by mds74213

[jakdad]

Thanks for the message. I appreciate everything you said. Does anybody out there know the last name of a driver whose first name was "Hugh"? He was a friend of Buddy. Sparky

Was it Hugh Porter?

[Sparky]

I believe you just answered a question that has been on my mind for over 50 years. I seem to remember the name of Porter. Now does the name Doc Casey or Cassedy ring a bell with anyone. It seems that he was not a crown favorite. Thanks for help. Sparky

[jakdad]

I believe you just answered a question that has been on my mind for over 50 years. I seem to remember the name of Porter. Now does the name Doc Casey or Cassedy ring a bell with anyone. It seems that he was not a crown favorite. Thanks for help. Sparky

Yep, Doc Cossey was a local racing hero. He ran mostly Houston but would occasionally venture out to other cities. Doc won a lot of races and was one of the first to buy an Offy for his car. Red Hodges got an Offy powered car about the same time. That was some serious racing.

[Mark F. Barnes]

Here's an old shot I found of Phil Cronin, I'm thinking 1962

[Mark F. Barnes]

This is Phil when he was in his early 20's, over at the old shop in Channelview

Any of yall that knew Tony Barcelona will appreciate this one

The one and only Tony "The Tiger" Barcelona

Edited December 2, 2007 by Mark F. Barnes

[Mark F. Barnes]

Yep, Doc Cossey was a local racing hero. He ran mostly Houston but would occasionally venture out to other cities. Doc won a lot of races and was one of the first to buy an Offy for his car. Red Hodges got an Offy powered car about the same time. That was some serious racing.

Doc drove a stocker also they nicknamed Big Bertha

[Mark F. Barnes]

Hi Mark. I sent you an e-mail and I don't know if you got it or not. I then found out I could join and post. I believe that is Buddy, but I am looking a man that I knew as a much younger person. The photos are great. They brought back lots of memories. My brother and I used to go swimming in the pit pool where they rolled in cars to put them out. That was another thing my dad put a stop to. I was looking to see if Cotton Grable, the flag man was in the pictures, but I didn't see him. For a short rotound man, Cotton could really move fast once he flagged the race to start. Finding this site has been like a Christmas present to me. I am pulling out pictures for my son to post for me. Will post more later. Sparky

Here you go Sparky

Cotton Grable

I think that's Charlie Scheilds getting the flag from Cotton

AJ Foyt winning at Playland Park

Cotton working the starting grid in 1953

And this is yours truely in 1955 in the infield at Playland standing next to Uncle Bobby's Modified.

[Mark F. Barnes]

I bought one of these about two months ago, and I have been able to scan old slides and negatives with ease. I highly recommend it. I bought it from Tiger Direct. Best $200 bucks I ever spent.

Plustek OpticFilm 7200 Film Scanner

The OpticFilm 7200 is a 7200 dpi film scanner capable of scanning 35 mm slides and various negatives. High optical resolution, USB 2.0 connection and fast scan speed allow Plustek's OpticFilm 7200 to easily outperform other professional film scanners.

[Mark F. Barnes]

More Playland action

Here's the roller coaster

And another

[Sparky]

More Playland action

Here's the roller coaster

And another

Mark, you have no idea what this site means to me. I lost my pictures of the park in a flood. I had nothing except the Chronicle picture to show my children where I grew up. My brother and sister gave me a few pictures that I will post when my son shows me how. I check this site every day. Thanks, Sparky

[Mark F. Barnes]

If you would like me to post them for you, you can email them to me, however it is fairly simple, you can either host them on a free site like photobucket, or if they are not extremely large you can just attach them to your post. I will be posting more as time goes by. I fly home tuesday and will get busy then.

[jakdad]

Here's an old shot I found of Phil Cronin, I'm thinking 1962

That's Red Garners old Modified with the 427 ford engine. A very nice car.

[Mark F. Barnes]

This is Don Burton I believe

And this is MJ Burton

Here's a surley bunch of outlaws in the pre-race stuff

Can't forget the trophy queen

Edited December 3, 2007 by Mark F. Barnes

[WestUNative]

I have run out of superlatives! On a mere whim I blithely asked for the solution to a lapse in memory from over 50 years ago and you came up with the answer. Then a photo, though not the exact look of the guy as I knew him. Now, outta nowhere, the spittin' image arrives.

Mr. Barnes, I cannot thank you enough. These early pix of Phil Cronin are exactly the way he looked in those teenage years, see how slender he was? If you go back to my original post and description of him, you'll see these are dead on. Thank you so much for the head's up email to let me know you found these.

Besides the wild, fast ride out South Main I described, Phil and I spent one whole Saturday cruising around with frequent stops by AJ's house trying to catch him in. Phil needed to talk to him about something. Sadly we never did manage to find him that day and I never got to meet AJ, but the local WestU gang cheered him on for years and were so thrilled with his first Indy 500 win - ecstatic is more like it.

[Sparky]

If you would like me to post them for you, you can email them to me, however it is fairly simple, you can either host them on a free site like photobucket, or if they are not extremely large you can just attach them to your post. I will be posting more as time goes by. I fly home tuesday and will get busy then.

SAY WHAT? I didn't understand one word of what you said past email. Thanks for the thought but I don't speak tech talk. I will have my son teach me and show him your posting. Thanks again, Sparky.

[OldGuardGuy]

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?

We would drive by it everytime we picked up my dad at work at nearby Roadway Express terminal. B Gardens looked so cool from far away because the rides looked very exciting, we were just glued to the car windows as we passed! Was very colorful and seemed like it was expanding. I bet it only lasted about 4-5 years at most? Anyone else know? I just recall it there until about 1975???

I remember going there on a school trip in 4th grade ('72) - there was an "ecology" film with Jonathan Winters in it that they played in the vistor's center.

Does anyone remember Maui Kai? It lasted only a short time, and I think it was on the same grounds of Busch Gardens.

[rgb001]

To Mark Barnes -

WOW!! I found this site this morning (was looking up info on Kitirik - I was on the show once), and I am also just blown away by your photos and info - same for jakdad and the others.

Let me put in some of my memories. I was born in Houston in 1951, lived there until 1960. We lived in "South Park" on Malmedy. At that time the 610 loop was a sand and gravel roadbed, and everybody used to gather at the end of the block at sundown in order to watch both screens of the King Center drive-in (the Road Runner cartoons were the best, of course).

57Tbird has the details about the track exactly as I remember them. My dad was a huge racing fan, and we went to Playland every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, without fail. We went into the pits, Billy Wade was my hero, and one night I got to sit in AJ's car, wearing his helmet, after he'd won the final race (was it 36 cars?). On another occasion, at one of the demolition derbys, five cars crashed into each other, all in a straight line. After a few seconds they exploded into a line of flames across the car roofs, and the driver of the car in the middle (a black '40 Ford) dove out of the "passenger" window. I remember being amazed that he, a very big man, had managed to fit through that tiny window. I also remember the loudspeakers playing all those Sousa "Marching" songs.

As for the crash in '59, on that night we were running late. Usually we got there before the first heat, and we would have been standing at the concession stand when that car tore through the fence. Dad heard it reported on the radio, and we immediately dropped to the floor and said a prayer of thanks for our deliverance. The next time we went to the track, we looked at B&W photos of the car after it had come to rest in the parking lot.

I never rode the big coaster, but I do remember one ride: I think it was called "The Rocket." It was a big slanted green platform on which a long, curved, tube-like silver "train" would go around the slanted platform, clock-wise, at high speed. The cars were open, and tilted slightly toward the left. The centrifugal force gave you the sensation that you were being thrown out of the car. The reason I remember it so vividly is because I freaked out on the ride, and screamed bloody murder so loudly that they stopped the ride to let me off! Hey, I was only 7 or 8, gimme a break

On a lighter note, I remember another ride with cars that looked like airplanes. As the ride went in a circle, you could turn your car upside-down, go up and down, etc. That was my favorite.

Anyway, thank you so much for posting these photos. Such wonderful memories.

Edited January 24, 2008 by rgb001

[readam]

Thanks for the You Tube on Wee Wild West( post 240)...went there many a time and the Golf course next to it...many trips to the Post Oak Drive In...also Uncle Bert Lynn show at Channel 2( remember this is 50 years ago-- if memory serves me, they had a guy named Bobby Lahr on the show who eventually went out to California to work on Truth or Consequences)... all of these places were in the area of the Galleria and Williams Tower... met with KITIRIK at the old channel 8 studio when it was Channel 13...she came out into the lobby and talked to me and my bro and sis and mom, I think I remember her saying that she was a cheerleader at LSU and knew some football player from my parents small home town back in the day...thanks to earlier posts about the Kiddieland out on HWY 90 in Spring Branch area, I too remember going out there

Great book now out on the history of Movie theatres in Houston

Edited December 27, 2007 by readam