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Memories Of Bellaire


Alpha

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I lived in Bellaire from 1950 to 1960 (ages 2 to 12) and went to Horn Elementary on Pine Street.

One of my fondest memories was going to the Bellaire Theater on Saturday mornings. They had a kiddie matinee every Saturday. It cost a quarter to get in and popcorn was a nickel.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, they would have an all-cartoon show.

My friends and I would go almost every weekend. Our mothers would take turns driving and would leave us there and pick us up later. I'm sure it was like a zoo. I remember kids running up and down the aisles.

Is anyone else from Bellaire? I'd love to hear your stories.

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The Bellaire library has the Bellaire Texan on microfilm going back to the 1950s. I went through many years looking for info about the West Loop while researching the Houston Freeways book. Reading the neighborhood paper provided a unique view into that era, and I'm sure you could find a lot to bring back memories.

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Alpha, I am the exact same age as you. My parents had friends who lived in Bellaire (on Holly, as a matter of fact) who we would visit on occasion. We lived in the Heights, and we went down 18th to Hempstead to Post Oak to get there.

The trek down Post Oak was a drive through the country back then. But that didn

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i spent most of my childhood in bellaire, and went to horn elementary and bellaire high school.

it is nothing like it used to be (and i'm talking even within the last fifteen years) :(

Edited by sevfiv
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I grew up in Bellaire in the '50s and '60s mostly, and frequented the Bellaire Theater quite a bit. When "The Alamo" came out, I saw it three times, one time from the projection booth because my next-door neighbor's dad was a projectionist there.

Does anyone remember the ball field and youth center that was on Bellaire Boulevard just across the tracks, about where the apartments and the bowling alley are today? More or less across from the old Southwest YMCA, which is now a West University rec center or something.

The Bellaire Texan folded in the late '80s, I believe. It had been sold to a chain, which eventually ceased its publication for awhile. Then the daughter of founding publisher Jack Gurwell, who died in the early '80s, revived it for a few years. If you go to the Bellaire library, be sure to look at the volumes of the old Southwestern Times, too. It was published from the late '40s until (I think) the early '50s.

My mom still lives in the house where I grew up, a little 2-1-1 that was actually the model home for that floor plan when the subdivision was built in 1949-50. Then I lived in Bellaire again from 1991 to 2003, and it was interesting. A lot of good people still live there. But the McMansions are mostly bringing in self-absorbed yuppies who shut their doors and rarely speak to their neighbors. Not all, but too many of them send their kids to overrated private schools and swim at The Houstonian instead of Evergreen. The Bellaire City Council encourages this by allowing oversized home construction which attracts these folks. Very short-sighted on their part.

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My old house on Holt Street was torn down a few years ago to build one of those "McMansions." When we moved away in 1960, my dad couldn't give the house away. He rented it out for two years and finally traded it to a contractor for remodeling on our new house.

I used to ride my bike to Evergreen park to swim and have picnics.

In 1991, Horn Elementary had a 40 year reunion. I saw my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Seward, and Miss Womack, the former principal.

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  • 8 months later...

For all of you former Bellaire residents....do you remember seeing the old "space capsule" that was in someones front yard? I believe in later years, it was painted a bright orange! It was just west of 610, I belive between Bellaire and Beechnut... :unsure:

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  • 1 month later...
It was shown on channel 8 several weeks ago. I recorded most of it.

Wonder how the rest of us can view? I missed it.

I could swear there is a Rick Nelson song called Be Bop Baby, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm being serious (for a change). :P

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I think you're wrong, but just a little bit. I'm almost certain the song you're thinking of was "Bee-bop-a-lulah She's My Baby". A bunch of singers did that song in the 50s.

Be-Bop Baby

Written by Pearl Lendhurst

Performed By: Ricky Nelson

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a-Be-bop baby

a-Be-bop baby

a-Be-bop baby

She's the gal for me-ee

She got plenty of rhythm, got plenty of jive

And when we dance it really comes alive

My love for her's so tender and sweet

My heart starts poundin' ev'ry time we meet

a-Be-bop baby still in her teens just as sweet as she can be-ee-ee

a-Be-bop baby in her old blue jeans is the be-bop baby for me-ee

a-Be-bop baby for me

a-Be-bop baby

a-Be-bop baby

a-Be-bop baby

She's the gal for me-ee

I'm gonna find 'er tonight, we're gonna have a time

I want that baby to be mine, all mine

A big day's comin' for my baby and me

The day she says she belongs to me

a-Be-bop baby still in her teens just as sweet as she can be-ee-ee

a-Be-bop baby in her old blue jeans is the be-bop baby for me-ee

a-Be-bop baby for me

a-Be-bop baby

a-Be-bop baby

a-Be-bop baby

She's the gal for me-ee

I'm gonna find 'er tonight, we're gonna have a time

I want that baby to be mine, all mine

A big day's comin' for my baby and me

The day she says she belongs to me

a-Be-bop baby still in her teens just as sweet as she can be-ee-ee

a-Be-bop baby in her old blue jeans is the be-bop baby for me-ee

Be-bop baby for me

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Ricky Nelson. I have a bit of trivia for you. Did you know that Ricky Nelson once lived in Errol Flynn's old house in the Hollywood Hills. Yeppers. I will try and find a picture of it.

You mean this house?

mul3den.jpg

mullfarm.jpg

Edited by TJones
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Ricky Nelson. I have a bit of trivia for you. Did you know that Ricky Nelson once lived in Errol Flynn's old house in the Hollywood Hills. Yeppers. I will try and find a picture of it.

7740 Mulholland Drive

multjs.jpg

Mulholland House - May of 1988

Tony Thomas, Jack Marino & Steve Florentine in

front of what is remaining of the fireplace in Errol Flynn's main living room.

Edited by Mark F. Barnes
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  • 1 month later...
For all of you former Bellaire residents....do you remember seeing the old "space capsule" that was in someones front yard? I believe in later years, it was painted a bright orange! It was just west of 610, I belive between Bellaire and Beechnut... :unsure:

OH MAN!!! I had forgotten about that!

Yes, I do remember it!

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I lived in Bellaire from 1950 to 1960 (ages 2 to 12) and went to Horn Elementary on Pine Street.

One of my fondest memories was going to the Bellaire Theater on Saturday mornings. They had a kiddie matinee every Saturday. It cost a quarter to get in and popcorn was a nickel.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, they would have an all-cartoon show.

My friends and I would go almost every weekend. Our mothers would take turns driving and would leave us there and pick us up later. I'm sure it was like a zoo. I remember kids running up and down the aisles.

Is anyone else from Bellaire? I'd love to hear your stories.

I'm a bit younger than you, but I used to go to the Bellaire Theater with my friends and sometimes watch the $1 movies, but they weren't cartoons. Midnight Rocky Horror Picture Show! When we weren't doing that we were smoking in the parking lot. haha. What fond memories:)

That was a cool theater though.

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I'm a bit younger than you, but I used to go to the Bellaire Theater with my friends and sometimes watch the $1 movies, but they weren't cartoons. Midnight Rocky Horror Picture Show! When we weren't doing that we were smoking in the parking lot. haha. What fond memories:)

That was a cool theater though.

I remember seeing Disney's Song of the South in that theater! LOL Along with some of those Disney nature films...

It was a great theater. I loved the neon on the outside...cool stuff.

Speaking of neon, I remember when I lived over there you could walk down to the end of the street and see the neon Shamrock Hilton and Prudential signs all lit up...and you could even see the 4th of July fireworks show from Hermann Park from there...

Memories...

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Didn't live in Bellaire but spent a most of my time there. When my parents built their house in Westheimer Gardens in 1947, up Ave D (Chimney Rock), the closest businesses were in Bellaire. We banked at First State Bank (Mr. Gerry), shopped for groceries at Weingartens, A&P or JMH on Bissonett. Our pediatrician was Dr. Pratt on Bissonett, hated those childhood shots. Had an account at Kelly's Hardware, had our shoes repaired at the Bellaire Shoe Shop and had hair cuts next door. Took music lessons at Lyn-Dell Music Center on Bellaire and remember looking at Ramblers and the new AMX when it hit the market at Vance and Sons Motors on Bellaire.

Although we attended catholic school at St. Michaels on Sage Rd. we attended many Sunday masses at Holy Ghost because it was more convenient. I eventually attended Marian High School on Gulfton (Fournace) years before the Incarnate Word Sisters sold the property. I once remember taking a science field trip to the Bellaire Sewage Treatment plant, pleasant memories. maybe that's when I decided to become a plumber. My older brothers and sister attended Jesuit and St. Agnes though. One of my older brothers married a girl that lived on WhiteHaven. She was a first year graduate of Sharpstown High School in 1971.

Yes Bellaire is not the small little suburb it once was. The McMansions are hideous to people like us who knew what was there before.

There was a stretch of houses on Linden St., west of Rice Ave, that were all small flat roof structures, apparently built by the same builder. My father had a friend that he grew up with in the Heights that lived in one of those houses. We went to their home several times for cookouts.

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Yes Bellaire is not the small little suburb it once was. The McMansions are hideous to people like us who knew what was there before.

Amazingly, a lot of those little independently-owned stores that once catered to Bellaire's formerly blue-collar residents are still there. The grocery stores have changed, of course, but do you realize how many little repair stores there are? In an age where everything is disposable, they somehow make ends meat repairing watches, clocks, microwaves, and vacuums. Its actually pretty amazing how driving down Cedar Street can be like going back to the 50's and 60's. There are also still quite a few restaurants and BBQ places back in there that are still authentic to the area as it was.

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i spent most of my childhood in bellaire, and went to horn elementary and bellaire high school.

it is nothing like it used to be (and i'm talking even within the last fifteen years) :(

A guy I used to work with told me that Bellaire was just like The Woodlands: full of rich snobs. Was he right or wrong?

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A guy I used to work with told me that Bellaire was just like The Woodlands: full of rich snobs. Was he right or wrong?

It's about 2/3 full. There are still a lot of hold-outs that have been there for nearly all their working/retired lives. ...and you can't be too snobby to be willing to live so close to Little Central America.

Both communities have their painfully annoying citizens, but to say that either one is "full of rich snobs" is pretty snobby itself.

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A guy I used to work with told me that Bellaire was just like The Woodlands: full of rich snobs. Was he right or wrong?

It's small minded to generalize/assume that because someone has money, they're a snob. It's like saying something ridiculous like someone who lives in a less affluent neighborhood is poor and ignorant.

I sense some jealousy in your friend's statement.

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A guy I used to work with told me that Bellaire was just like The Woodlands: full of rich snobs. Was he right or wrong?

It's definitely gone from a blue collar town to a white collar town over the last 20 years but that's what's happening to all inner loop communities.

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