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Bob Bailey Studio At 931 Yale St.


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Can anyone tell me what's happened to the Bob Bailey Studio that I think used to be at 931 Yale in the Heights? I'm getting an out of service message on the phone number I had for them and information can't find a new one. Information on how to find some of their photos on-line would be wonderful, too. Thanks so much!

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The studio is no longer in operation and the family heirs sold the entire Bob Bailey photo collection (quite extensive) to Texas A&M Univ. I don't know if the univ. allows access to the collection or sells the photos.

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The studio is no longer in operation and the family heirs sold the entire Bob Bailey photo collection (quite extensive) to Texas A&M Univ. I don't know if the univ. allows access to the collection  or sells the photos.

As of 2003, the collectoin was sold to UT-Austin, not Texas A&M. (minor difference)

In 2003 UT-Austin was busy archiving the collection and it was not available to researchers. I was told it could take years to archive it and make it available to the public. I don't know what the current status is.

The Houston Press did a major story on the Bailey collection around that time. You may try to find it online at their web site. Their archives are free, last time I checked. I remember reading that the thousands upon thousands of unknown images were mostly photos of machine parts.

There was a web site relating to the collection with views of the calendars that were published yearly for a period of time. I can't find that web site right now.

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The question begs to be asked... what the hell is such a great collection of Houston photos doing in Austin? Are the best photos of Chicago, IL located in Springfield? Are the best photos of Philadelphia located in Hartford? What the heck happened here?

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  • 1 month later...
I have posted pictures from here before.  Once I went to the studio on Yale.  Mr. Bailey was a nice old gentleman and let us paw around the hundreds of stacks of Houston photos.  It was great.

I went there too, ca. 1977. I wanted some of those pics - actually, lots of them - so bad, but couldn't afford anything at the time. Always meant to get back and didn't and still regret it. Mostly what I saw, however, were not in great shape, lots of scratches, tears, etc. I remember lots of photos of Hollywood celebs who had come to town for motion picture openings, photographed standing next to their big cars in what was probably Hermann Park and in front of the big downtown motion picture houses.

Good to know they're available, even if I have to go to Austin.

BTW, does anybody know - was Bailey Brothers and Bob Bailey the same firm?

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  • 1 month later...
I went there too, ca. 1977. I wanted some of those pics - actually, lots of them - so bad, but couldn't afford anything at the time. Always meant to get back and didn't and still regret it. Mostly what I saw, however, were not in great shape, lots of scratches, tears, etc. I remember lots of photos of Hollywood celebs who had come to town for motion picture openings, photographed standing next to their big cars in what was probably Hermann Park and in front of the big downtown motion picture houses.

Good to know they're available, even if I have to go to Austin.

BTW, does anybody know - was Bailey Brothers and Bob Bailey the same firm?

Yes, if memory serves, it was originally Bailey Bros., then one of them left and it was just "Bob Bailey"...

The problem with the archive while it was still in family hands is that it was super expensive to order prints. Something like $30 for a 5x7 or an 8x10. I ordered a few over the years but it was kind of frustrating knowing there were thousands and thousands that you would never even see. The calendars were OK but of course they always concentrated on "celebrities" visiting Houston (little interest to me). But Bailey's archive was so much more than that...countless images of local theaters, bars, night clubs, diners, you name it, going back to the '20s. It really is an incredible collection.

As to the question why the city or UH didn't purchase the collection...you must be confusing Houston with some place that actually gives a damn about it's past.

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Yes, if memory serves, it was originally Bailey Bros., then one of them left and it was just "Bob Bailey"...

The problem with the archive while it was still in family hands is that it was super expensive to order prints. Something like $30 for a 5x7 or an 8x10. I ordered a few over the years but it was kind of frustrating knowing there were thousands and thousands that you would never even see. The calendars were OK but of course they always concentrated on "celebrities" visiting Houston (little interest to me). But Bailey's archive was so much more than that...countless images of local theaters, bars, night clubs, diners, you name it, going back to the '20s. It really is an incredible collection.

As to the question why the city or UH didn't purchase the collection...you must be confusing Houston with some place that actually gives a damn about it's past.

I came across this somewhere since the original post: the brother's name was Marvin.

I believe Storey Sloane wants $100 for an 8x10 from his collection of Bailey Brothers photos.

"Historic" - to the typical Houstonian, this means 'something remembered from childhood or youth, maybe as much as 10 or 15 years ago.

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  • 5 weeks later...
Can anyone tell me what's happened to the Bob Bailey Studio that I think used to be at 931 Yale in the Heights? I'm getting an out of service message on the phone number I had for them and information can't find a new one. Information on how to find some of their photos on-line would be wonderful, too. Thanks so much!

I now office in the former Bob Bailey studios building at 931 Yale St with Houston House & Home Magazine and Dallas/Fort Worth House&Home magazine . I know that the former "Houston Life" magazine ran his/their photos on their back page back in the mid 90s. So there may be some archives you can look for of that magazine. Also, I believe the main library downtown's adjacent historic building has some of the photos. If not, the currator is an encyclopedia of Houston history and can point you toward more information concerning the Bailey series. It is apparently the largest collection of historic city photography not currently being displayed. The Houston Press did a story on the Bailey collection a couple of years ago. You could search their website for back issues concerning info. Hope that helps. Not sure when the restoration process at UT ends and can't verify where or when they'll end up at A&M.

But isn't it about time (much like many cities) we have a City of Houston Museum in conjunction with Sesquicentennial Park or The City of Houston or a historic preservation council? It would be great for school children to be able to take fieldtrips to such a facility where they could see Bailey's photos of Houston over the last 80 years as well as learn about some of our interesting characters who helped create the place we all live.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I work at the Center for American History at UT, and we're currently digitizing 5,000 images from the Bob Bailey archive. About a third of these images are currently online at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00451/cah-00451.html. The form of the finding aid may be a little unfamiliar if you've never done research in a historical archive before, but scroll down the page and you'll find links to images by subject (e.g. aerial views, cultural facilities, sports) as well as links to images from individual folders.

The public may order reproductions of images. See http://www.cah.utexas.edu/divisions/Austin...hotoprices.html for more information about ordering.

We're so excited to be able to get these out to the public! I hope you enjoy them and I'd appreciate any suggestions that you have.

Amy Bowman

Center for American History

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That is absolutely awesome! :D What a great resource for the city. I wish there was a book of these!

When we visited the studio all the photos were just piled up in stacks all over the place - I can see where it took a few years to catalog and scan them. Thanks so much.

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I work at the Center for American History at UT, and we're currently digitizing 5,000 images from the Bob Bailey archive.

It's good to hear that CAH is finally moving out of the dark ages. In 2003 I could not even get an image scanned - I could only purchase a print made from a copy negative. Apparently they didn't even have the capability to scan. Yes, that was in 2003!!

To be fair, UT-Austin wasn't the only library which was slow to move to digital archiving. But I expected better of UT-Austin.

It's great to see that so much is being made available online. There are so many amazing photos in the Bailey collection. Now, if only they could get the expressway and freeway topic online.

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I checked on the original calendar photo. The cars in the middle and right are Chrysler Imperials. Still, nice.

Silver Dollar Jim West was also the owner of the West Building on Main St.

Thanks for the correction.

Personally, I think he had better taste in automobiles than architecture...

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  • 3 months later...

According to 002 magazine:

March 7 - April 23

Houston from Behing the Lens: The Bob Bailey Photographic and Architectural Foundation Trust

A major exhibition of the photographs, blah blah, on display in the Heritage Society Museum Gallery. 1100 Bagby. For info 713-655-1912x202

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Howdy. I dunno if this is old news or not, but I stumbled across

some good pictures of Houston in past years. Many topics.

Check out both the "calenders", and "topics". Both have a load

of old pictures. I stumbled across this while looking for something

totally unrelated...Go figure... Like I say, may be old news..Wouldn't

be surprised if the site owner hung around here at times... :/

There are a lot of pictures, and will take a while to see them all.

I must have been on there for 3-4 hours last night looking at them

all. Something interesting...On the 2nd calender, I think "1994", one

of the pictures is of a gambling house that was in the S.Main, Stella

link area. I remember that place before it was razed... When I was

in my teens, we used to drive out there and prowl around. You drove

through a gate like place, and then a driveway led all around the old place.

It had an old swimming pool, and I heard rumors that it was once a

gambling house, but that calender pix confirmed what I had heard.

We used to go out there and drink beer, etc...:/ We quit going there as

the police starting running everyone off being it was abandoned, but

still private property. I do remember once going inside the old place

for a look. It was pretty ramshackle at that time, which was in the mid 70's.

It's totally gone now. They tore it down a few years ago.

The pix site is at:

http://users.ev1.net/%7Eplhailey/hpat/

MK

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Merged with existing thread.

The house you refer to can be seen in the 1995 calendar in the link you provided - it was Jakie Freedman's "Domain Privee", which (according to the calendar) was shut down in the 50's due to Texas enforcing its gambling laws. The owner moved the operation to Nevada where gambling was legal.

Thanks for your recollections of this house, nm5k. Anyone have any information about what happened to it?

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Merged with existing thread.

The house you refer to can be seen in the 1995 calendar in the link you provided - it was Jakie Freedman's "Domain Privee", which (according to the calendar) was shut down in the 50's due to Texas enforcing its gambling laws. The owner moved the operation to Nevada where gambling was legal.

Thanks for your recollections of this house, nm5k. Anyone have any information about what happened to it?

I tried searching for more info or pix on that place, but pretty slim pickings so far. I did find that

he was the one that started up the Sands hotel in Vegas. This was after he left Houston I assume

in the early -mid 50's. I don't know if the buildings were every occupied after he left or not. I have

a 1960 photo where you see it from the north looking south. At that time, it looked fairly well intact,

as compared to the other photo. But when I was there in the 70's, it had looked to be abandoned

for quite some time, and weeds had overgown the place. There were still the bushes in front , that

blocked the view, and also had bushes leading up the driveway a ways I think. We used to drive

our cars in and park in the back. When we left, we just continued the circle on out. At that time,

I was pretty fascinated with the old pool, which seemed to have looked to be from the 30's maybe.

It was pretty old, even in the 70's. Anyway, it was a pretty popular "party" spot for many , but

all the traffic eventually drew complaints I guess, and the cops started running people off. I remember

it was there a good while longer, but a few years back I drove by, and it seemed to be all gone.

I'm real close to there. Maybe I'll run by later, and see if anything has been built there yet.

BTW, I was looking at that 1960 map, and it kinda dawned on me that the road that the place

was built on was likely part of "old Main". I always thought that road looked pretty old even back then.

Not like all the others around that area that were part of the planned neighborhood. ie: willowbend, etc.

MK

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I now office in the former Bob Bailey studios building at 931 Yale St with Houston House & Home Magazine and Dallas/Fort Worth House&Home magazine . I know that the former "Houston Life" magazine ran his/their photos on their back page back in the mid 90s. So there may be some archives you can look for of that magazine. Also, I believe the main library downtown's adjacent historic building has some of the photos. If not, the currator is an encyclopedia of Houston history and can point you toward more information concerning the Bailey series. It is apparently the largest collection of historic city photography not currently being displayed. The Houston Press did a story on the Bailey collection a couple of years ago. You could search their website for back issues concerning info. Hope that helps. Not sure when the restoration process at UT ends and can't verify where or when they'll end up at A&M.

But isn't it about time (much like many cities) we have a City of Houston Museum in conjunction with Sesquicentennial Park or The City of Houston or a historic preservation council? It would be great for school children to be able to take fieldtrips to such a facility where they could see Bailey's photos of Houston over the last 80 years as well as learn about some of our interesting characters who helped create the place we all live.

Actually such an entity exist in Houston. It is the Heritage Society which maintains all of the historic structures in Sam Houston Park. The mission of the group is the preservation and interpretation of Houston history. It is a private non profit. Like most museums it requires a large membership base for support and for furthering the aims of the organization. Come down and see the Bob Bailey exhibit and if you like what you see pick up a membership brochure.

According to 002 magazine:

March 7 - April 23

Houston from Behing the Lens: The Bob Bailey Photographic and Architectural Foundation Trust

A major exhibition of the photographs, blah blah, on display in the Heritage Society Museum Gallery. 1100 Bagby. For info 713-655-1912x202

Thanks for the posting. I would encourage the readers to come to the museum and see this collection. These items were given to The Heritage Society by Mr. James Lee, who personally purchased the Bailey Collection and spent countless hours trying to find a home for them in Houston. He created the Trust that donated the vast archive of Bailey material to the Center for American History in Austin. The photographs in the collection will be housed in the permanant collections of THe Heritage Society. Its free and opened on the weekends. Thanks Wallace Saage Curator 713 683 0188

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