Darling Department Stores

[ebonilm]

Does anyone know where this store was located? It looks to be somewhere in downtown. This photo was taken in Houston in 1956, but that's all the solid info i've been able to find so far. 

 

 

[IronTiger]

While I'm sure that someone could pull out a directory and find it for you, it's more fun to try to guess by store. Looks like there's "Pull Parrot Juvenile" behind it, and a larger building in the background...

[ebonilm]

^^ i've been going up and down several possible streets on Google Map, and googling, but to no avail. I've Street Viewed countless streets in the downtown area trying to find a similar building...assuming it still exists, of course. 

 

Also, that looks to be a Poll Parrot shoe store in the background. I still can't seem to narrow down a location though...

[marmer]

I'm seeing a lot of African-Americans in this photo.  The car is a 1955 Oldsmobile, so at the risk of stating the obvious, this might be during the segregated era of Houston's history.   Maybe look on Lyons, Jensen, or Dowling?

 

Edit:  Oh, wait, you said '56.  Still, segregated.

[brucesw]

Poll Parrot was a national brand of children's shoes, advertised on Howdy Doody.

 

I didn't remember Texas plates were still yellow/black that late.

 

I don't think there were any 6 or 7 story buildings out on Jensen, Lyons or Dowling, I think this is right downtown, lower Main area.  The mannequins  in the store window are white.  Maybe it's just an intersection where buses from the east end crossed, hence all the African-Americans.  There was a segregated (?) bus line, Pioneer, blue and white buses, that served mostly the east end, in addition to the city's orange and white buses.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Poll Parrot right on Main.  Anybody want to take a stab at the street name on the sign under the traffic light?  Or identify the building in the distance on the right?  That's kind of distinctive looking.

 

And, er, are we sure this is Houston?

[ebonilm]

Yes! We're sure this is Houston. The little mystery has been solved thanks to a fellow redditor's slick sleuthing. 

 

This photo was taken from the intersection of Main and Capitol, facing east on capitol street. the building in the photo no longer exists. 

 

Here is the exact location and angle today.

 

If anyone's interested in the history nerd part...

 

This Darling's used to be Woolworth's. A redditor found a Bayou History article with a photo of the Grant's/Burt's strip on Main st and Darling's in the background

. 

This earlier photo of the same strip shows Woolworth's in place of the Darling's. 

 

I then used this map, to pinpoint the exact location. 

 

 

 

[brucesw]

That's a great old map.  Thanks for posting that.  Much of that was gone/changed by my earliest ventures downtown but I'm going to spend some time studying it.

[NenaE]

Nice street scene. There is so much going on. It's interesting to see what people spot in the picture.  The traffic signal/ light pole stood out, to me...It  is amazing, all that detail. I had never heard of the Darlings store, before. Nice bit of history. Thanks. I've been in that building, the Flying Saucer. It's always a treat to visit it. Another layer of history to add to its story. 

 

And that map, thanks for the link. Wow. I will spend countless hours studying that thing. It's priceless, again, the detail. Gotta love it.

[IronTiger]

Nice street scene. There is so much going on. It's interesting to see what people spot in the picture. The traffic signal/ light pole stood out, to me...It is amazing, all that detail. I had never heard of the Darlings store, before. Nice bit of history. Thanks. I've been in that building, the Flying Saucer. It's always a treat to visit it. Another layer of history to add to its story.

And that map, thanks for the link. Wow. I will spend countless hours studying that thing. It's priceless, again, the detail. Gotta love it.

The building where FS is is taller than that.

[NenaE]

The building where FS is is taller than that.

 

Oh yeah, thanks IronTiger... I stand corrected. Thats the St. Germain. So Woolworth's is no longer there. Another sad story, lost Houston architectural history. My mom speaks of going there, as a teen, good memories for her.

[ebonilm]

^^ You were close, the Flying Saucer/St. Germain used to be the known as the Kress Building. It is directly across Capitol from where Woolworth's Darling's used to be. It still adds a layer of history to it for you because it was there when Woolworth's/Darling's were standing. 

[JLWM8609]

Nice street scene. There is so much going on. It's interesting to see what people spot in the picture.  The traffic signal/ light pole stood out, to me...It  is amazing, all that detail.

 

The traffic signal pole stood out to me, too. When I was a little boy, I thought those old neon WAIT/WALK pedestrian signals were neat. The COH replaced them in the late 90s with the now ubiquitous hand/man pedestrian signals.

[Purdueenginerd]

I added the picture to Historypin.com

 

https://www.historypin.org/channels/view/46823/#!map/index/#!/geo:29.759334,-95.363128/zoom:20/dialog:279180/tab:details/

[Purdueenginerd]

Same area, 11/11/1953. You can see the darlings on the corner



More photos here

http://blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2014/11/rare-color-film-shows-1954-veterans-day-parade/#28275101=0

[NenaE]

^^ You were close, the Flying Saucer/St. Germain used to be the known as the Kress Building. It is directly across Capitol from where Woolworth's Darling's used to be. It still adds a layer of history to it for you because it was there when Woolworth's/Darling's were standing. 

 

That's probably why I was mistaken on the location. So, we parked in the lot where Darling/ Woolworth once stood.

That's a shame.

 

BTW - did you see the people standing on top of the walkway awning of the corner building? They're watching the parade.  (1st photo, last post ^^^ ) ...had no idea it was that strong. 

[IronTiger]

That's probably why I was mistaken on the location. So, we parked in the lot where Darling/ Woolworth once stood.

That's a shame.

 

BTW - did you see the people standing on top of the walkway awning of the corner building? They're watching the parade.  (1st photo, last post ^^^ ) ...had no idea it was that strong.

Eh, I don't know. There was a movie theater marquee in town I know of (a 1939 Art Deco cinema unfortunately covered up with some wood siding for conversion to a C&W bar in the latter half of the 1990s) that ultimately ended up putting additional seating on the roof with seemingly not much supporting it. I always wondered if it would pancake during one particularly crowded night but maybe it really is that strong.

Or maybe it's fine with just a handful of people on it and isn't rated for dozens of people standing on it and really will end worse than that garage apartment in Katy. Who knows.