Rice Village History

[brucesw]

I believe that was Meyer Brothers.  Women’s and children’s clothing, no men’s?  Then it was an antique store before being taken over by Half Price.

The Jones Apothecary was right at Rice and Morningside as I recall, NW corner.  They also had a location on Montrose, between Richmond and 59.  Prescriptions and OTC drugs only, I think, no sundries, cosmetics, soda fountain, etc.

The original location of House of Coffee Beans, 1973, was on Rice, between Rice Food and Kirby. Two store fronts, one housed the shop, the other their huge roaster in a picture window.  That was the first Houston boutique coffee roastery, I think.  The roasting facilities were moved to 610 S decades ago, the store about 15 years ago to a downsized space on Bissonnet.  I think they cited rising rents as the reason for the latter move.  I’ve been buying beans and coffee paraphernalia there since the mid 70s and still like some of their blends.  A price list from the 70 shows the address as 2520 Rice.

There was a meat locker on Kelvin, south of Rice, east side of the street, about where Evoke is now.  A co-worker and I bought a side of beef there ca. 71, had it cut and wrapped to our specifications and rented a locker.  I ate a lot of beef that year, got sick and tired of it.  After we ate it all up, neither one of us wanted to do it again.

KAUM had a screening at the Village Theatre, ca. 1971 I can’t remember the film for sure but it either had something to do with being shot in Houston or aimed at our audience.  IIRC, the Houston premier of The Exorcist was at the Village, December, 1973.

There was a hippie clothing store, SE corner of Kelvin and Times - bell bottom pants, tie-dye, high heel shoes for men, that sort of stuff.  I want to say it was an original location of the Gap when it was just starting out before they yuppified but I’m not sure; maybe it just that they were put out of business by the Gap.  There was a bead shop in that block of Times, too.

 

ETA:  It comes to me out of the haze that the name of the clothing store was Warp and Woof.  The first Gap was in the Galleria and was a quite different store.

It will always be just The Village to me, not Rice Village.  That’s the way it was advertised, on radio and in print.

Edited October 16, 2014 by brucesw

[blue92]

From the mid 50s thru the 70s the University Bicycle Shop on the 2400 block of Times Blvd.they sold new/used and fixed bicycles and lawn mowers. I bought lots of bicycle parts from those guys back in the day.

Edited October 20, 2014 by blue92

[Rexster314]

What was the name of the Mexican restaurant on University?

[marmer]

What was the name of the Mexican restaurant on University?

 

 

I think you mean El Meson.  It's still there, and still good.

[readam]

Yes the  HP Books is in the old Meyer Bros store.  Evans Music was in a small frame building on Rice in the 60s then moved across the street to the strip center along Rice.  American Legion Post 77  was in the area for years, University State Bank was next door to Moeller's, then moved further North. 

[Absinthe_1900]

I believe that was Meyer Brothers.  Women’s and children’s clothing, no men’s?  Then it was an antique store before being taken over by Half Price.

There was a meat locker on Kelvin, south of Rice, east side of the street, about where Evoke is now.  A co-worker and I bought a side of beef there ca. 71, had it cut and wrapped to our specifications and rented a locker.  I ate a lot of beef that year, got sick and tired of it.  After we ate it all up, neither one of us wanted to do it again.

It will always be just The Village to me, not Rice Village.  That’s the way it was advertised, on radio and in print.

 

The old Meyer Bros. store was the last incarnation for The Catacombs Club in 1969, it didn't last very long before it was closed down due to the crowds. (I suspect West U. PD tagged a lot of people when they left the Catacombs)

 

The meat locker was Martin & Klix, I remember the name from my days of wandering through The Village as a kiddo.

 

I miss the old Village Cafeteria/Vittorio's, my Mom and I ate there all the time. Onetime we stopped by, and all of Vittorio's family was excited that Frank Sinatra came by the Italian restaurant side, the night before. They had autographed menus from Sinatra, and his party, I wish we had gone in the night before. That must have been a sight to see in the old Village.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Absinthe_1900

[Subdude]

The old Meyer Bros. store was the last incarnation for The Catacombs Club in 1969, it didn't last very long before it was closed down due to the crowds. (I suspect West U. PD tagged a lot of people when they left the Catacombs)

 

The meat locker was Martin & Klix, I remember the name from my days of wandering through The Village as a kiddo.

 

I miss the old Village Cafeteria/Vittorio's, my Mom and I ate there all the time. Onetime we stopped by, and all of Vittorio's family was excited that Frank Sinatra came by the Italian restaurant side, the night before. They had autographed menus from Sinatra, and his party, I wish we had gone in the night before. That must have been a sight to see in the old Village.

 

Here's Vittorio's for you:

[Subdude]

From the mid 50s thru the 70s the University Bicycle Shop on the 2400 block of Times Blvd.they sold new/used and fixed bicycles and lawn mowers. I bought lots of bicycle parts from those guys back in the day.

 

What was the big bike store that was on Kirby near Times?  Loved that place.

[Absinthe_1900]

Here's Vittorio's for you:

 

Thanks,

 

I wonder if any pictures survive when Vittorio just had the little Village Diner, before he built that location. (He had an ancient diner/cafeteria before then)

 

[mollusk]

IIRC, the Houston premier of The Exorcist was at the Village, December, 1973.

 

Yep.  

 

Smoking was still allowed in theaters at the time (and airplanes, and elevators, and often the automobiles of non smokers).  Every time something particularly eeky happened, the light level would go up from all the lighters going off together.

 

I think you mean El Meson.  It's still there, and still good.

 

Not to pick nits, but El Meson is Cuban.  It is good.

[Propps]

Reggae'd away many Thursdays at the Caribana in the early eighties!

[marmer]

Yep.  

 

Smoking was still allowed in theaters at the time (and airplanes, and elevators, and often the automobiles of non smokers).  Every time something particularly eeky happened, the light level would go up from all the lighters going off together.

 

 

Not to pick nits, but El Meson is Cuban.  It is good.

 

 

You are absolutely right about El Meson, of course, and for many years it was the only place to get Cuban specialties like plantains and black beans.  As the Village has moved upscale (and the Cold War has faded) they have played up their Cuban offerings and heritage.   In the early 80's when I first started going there it was really just known as the closest "Mexican" restaurant to Rice.

[Retama]

I started going to the Village in the 1970s when I could drive. I remember the Village Theater (though I never saw a movie there) and the crazy toy store that was next door. We used to eat hamburgers at Miller's Café, anyone remember that place? Loved to park on the roof. Did Miller's Café move to Clear Lake (Bay Area Blvd. and Space Center)? I remember the American Legion Post. Back in the 1980s there was a great dance club on Kirby just around the corner from the Half Price Books where my wife and I used to go. It had Go-Go dancers in cages (what was the name of that place?). For awhile there was a theater next door to the hobby shop where I saw a few plays. They had a good group of actors.

 

The Village has really gone upscale since I used to knock around down there. I kinda miss the old place.

[Ross]

There is a Miller's Cafe on Shepherd in the center South of Sears. Great burgers.

[brucesw]

I don't remember the Miller's in the Village but there was one on Main, south of Dryden, in that old 2 story strip that also included the Briar Shoppe and a scrubs emporium.  There's one in one of the medical offices towers now; I think I remember it in Scurlock Tower.  Yelp lists four around town, including Clear Lake.  I've been to the South Main and Shepherd ones.

[marmer]

It could be that what you are calling Miller's (which, like brucesw I remember on Main) was actually Charlie's Hamburger Joint (over 2 dozen sold!)  Collina's was there later.

[Retama]

It could be that what you are calling Miller's (which, like brucesw I remember on Main) was actually Charlie's Hamburger Joint (over 2 dozen sold!)  Collina's was there later.

 

Yeah, I think you're right about that, I think it was Charlie's. We used to go there before going to football games at Rice Stadium. Thanks for the correction. For some reason, the names of places I used to go to escape me.

[mkultra25]

Back in the 1980s there was a great dance club on Kirby just around the corner from the Half Price Books where my wife and I used to go. It had Go-Go dancers in cages (what was the name of that place?)

 

That would have been the Fast and Cool Club. 

 

https://houstonpunkart.wordpress.com/category/fast-and-cool-club/

[mkultra25]

It could be that what you are calling Miller's (which, like brucesw I remember on Main) was actually Charlie's Hamburger Joint (over 2 dozen sold!)

 

One of my drinking buddies back in the day always maintained that slogan should've been "over 2 dozen sold, over 1 dozen digested". I always suspected they were being unfairly blamed for his intemperance in other areas. 

[9075]

To go waaay back in the history of the Village:

 

Someone posted some 1940s photos of University Blvd in this thread back in 2007:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/13210-village-theater/?hl=%2Bvillage+%2Btheater

 

The building that houses Pier One on Rice Blvd & Kelvin was built as the original Rice Food Market, which later became a local chain.

 

Somewhere on YouTube, there is a home movie that someone took in the mid 1950s while driving around the Rice University area.  It has some great footage of University Blvd.  Unfortunately, I can't find it right now...

[marmer]

One of my drinking buddies back in the day always maintained that slogan should've been "over 2 dozen sold, over 1 dozen digested". I always suspected they were being unfairly blamed for his intemperance in other areas. 

 

 

I thought they were OK.  Their heyday was between the Hamburgers by Gourmet and Zeke's period and the Goode Company and Beck's Prime period, where they were kind of the only non-chain burger game in the area. (except for the place on Kelvin, which I never went to and wish I had.)   My biggest gripe about them was that, like Five Guys today, they didn't do shakes, only soft drinks.

[mkultra25]

I thought they were OK.  Their heyday was between the Hamburgers by Gourmet and Zeke's period and the Goode Company and Beck's Prime period, where they were kind of the only non-chain burger game in the area. (except for the place on Kelvin, which I never went to and wish I had.)   My biggest gripe about them was that, like Five Guys today, they didn't do shakes, only soft drinks.

 

Yeah, I always thought they had a decent burger, and as an undergrad they were a convenient walk from campus on those occasions when we couldn't abide Central Kitchen's haute cuisine. 

 

Years after the Village location closed, I used to occasionally go to the I-10 location for old times' sake, which AFAIK was the last remaining outpost until it closed as well. And the one that was catty-corner to the River Oaks Cineplex Odeon was always good for a quick pre- or post-movie meal. 

[Libbie]

There was a half-priced books in an old bldg. I used to frequent in West U. I loved walking through, checking out the details of the place, 1990's, I think it was. I think it would be west of the tapas restaurant, now. Had old display windows & a back loft, balcony, staircase, and a tiny smaller room to the left. Reminded me of those '50's ladies clothing stores at Gulfgate. 

 

It's still there. It's now double the size it was, though, because a few years ago it took over the space of what had been a baby-clothes-and-accessories store.  (Come to think of it, in the late 80s and early ninties,

Rice Village had two baby stores. Was there a baby boomlet in those years?)

[Libbie]

I think you mean El Meson.  It's still there, and still good.

 

It's actually Mexican-Spanish-Cuban. I don't know if the elderly owners I knew are still living, but the husband was a Spaniard, the wife was a Cuban, and the adult son was a sort of Cuban/Spanish/Tex-Mex-American Houstonian. Very nice people, all three of them.

 

[Libbie]

Another quirky Village store I remember from the '90s was a handcrafts shop called Iowa and Guatemala, which sold hand-made folk art crafted by rural Iowans and rural Guatemalans.

[IronTiger]

BUMP!!!

IronTiger here with more scans from the Houston Post, 1989 edition! This one covers eight stores from the Village. Most of these stores are gone (couldn't find the modern tenant for Tribes or World Toy) but some are still there: Le Peep (not sure about the other locations) and Pier 1 Imports (who said that they replaced Rice Food Market?). Here it is!

It's still there. It's now double the size it was, though, because a few years ago it took over the space of what had been a baby-clothes-and-accessories store.  (Come to think of it, in the late 80s and early ninties,

Rice Village had two baby stores. Was there a baby boomlet in those years?)

Was that "A Woman's Work" or whatever it was called, or a different store?

[IronTiger]

Second bump: how long has Sherwin Williams Paint been there? It seems a bit...out of place.

[ArchFan]

I don't know how long the Sherwyn Williams store has been there, but that company is certainly a staple of my childhood -- especially their logo.  Although, it is interesting to consider how bad it would be for life on this planet if their paint covered everything :-)

[ArchFan]

Looking back on this thread reminds me, El Meson seemed to have started emphasizing Spanish and Cuban dishes more once the son took over.  He seemed like a cool guy, as well as much of the staff.  My only complaint would be that some of the tapas have either been dropped from the menu or else aren't as good as they once were.  That seems to happen with family-owned restaurants that survive a long time, but the owners' attention goes elsewhere.

[Earlydays]

We used to go to World Toys to buy Madame Alexander dolls for our little girl in the early seventies.