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The Abandoned Astrodome And Its Future


gambitx

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I wonder why they're not using the dome for the Rock the Bayou Palooza or whatever, Labor Day weekend. Instead, they're using the, now vacant, former Astroworld land. I'm guessing the parking will be there though.

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I wonder why they're not using the dome for the Rock the Bayou Palooza or whatever, Labor Day weekend. Instead, they're using the, now vacant, former Astroworld land. I'm guessing the parking will be there though.

current code violations are keeping anyone from using it.

http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/...767/detail.html

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Astrodomain was a very commonly used word. May never hear again it seems.

Actually, the "Astro-Domain" never worked out as a concept. In the 1950s, before Houston got its National League franchise, and before old Colts Stadium was built, that area was "out in the country", several miles south of the medical center. There was NOTHING there. Fannin and Kirby dead-ended at OST, but were extended when promoters and Colts owners Roy Hofheinz and R.E. "Bob" Smith built Colt Stadium.

A few years later, the county and Hofheinz built the dome where they did in the belief it would attract a lot of commercial, entertainment and residential development and make everybody rich. The building of Astroworld and the Astroworld hotel just poured fuel on those hopes.

But the grand scheme never came to pass and the hopes started fading early, because the area around the dome never became the bustling entertainment and commercial complex Hofheinz and others dreamed about.

Most hotel corporations never saw any potential there and steered clear of the immediate area. The only other quality hotel of any size I can remember was the Marriott at Greenbriar and North Braeswood. Motels don't count.

The Dean Goss Dinner Theater was the only "entertainment" oriented business I can recall. The only restaurants were on South Main and OST where they didn't have to depend on catching people coming and going from the dome or Astroworld. Even the Dome Shadows night club was over on the other side of South Main for the same reason.

So in the end, the "AstroDomain" idea never really caught on. As it is with most commercial ventures, the only winning formula is: Location. Location. Location. Astros owner Drayton McLane could see that, and it's why he decided to build his new baseball stadium in downtown Houston.

Edited by FilioScotia
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A neighbor friend had a hookup for The Bad News Bears II filming so my mom my brother and me and the neighbors 3 daughters and their mom and the other neighbor with the hookup and her kids all skipped school and went there for the filming. It was the first time I really saw how movies work and how they can make a small crowd look big

We were suppose to sit in the outfield, but the neighbor got us behind the dugout. Best part was we all got paid like 36 bucks which was big bucks for a kid back then especially to skip school!

Another time as an Astro Buddy I was way up in those high seats that Astro Buddies got and behind home plate. While coming back from the concessions I stopped at the rail for a second and a pirate hit a foul ball and it came way back behind him up and damn if it did not hit my hand, but it was too hard for me to hold and the kid in the seat behind me ended up with it

I remember warm Dome Foam when I got a bit older. They never seamed to card at The Dome :lol:

Question: Can anyone ID the problem w/the American flag as it flashes on the left side of the bull? :mellow:

Respectfully

Danny

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The Dean Goss Dinner Theater was the only "entertainment" oriented business I can recall.

Actually, there were quite a few entertainment oriented businesses that sprung up, in particular along South Main. However, I never had the slightest urge to stop and check them out, let alone pick any of them up.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I don't remember specifically what the event was, probably a ballgame, but I remember a guy wearing a jetpack flew around the dome, rounding the bases. The noise was deafening.

In the 60s and early 70s, Keds gym shoes had a guy named "Colonel Keds" demonstrating a jet backpack inside the Astrodome. In fact it was the same jetpack used in the opening scene of the James Bond movie Goldfinger.

He was a regular pregame feature at Astros' games. The guy would lift off from about halfway down the left field line, fly at about a hundred feet over the infield and home plate, and come down about halfway down the right field line.

I only saw him one time and it was breathtaking to watch. You are right though. The jetpack did make the devil's own noise.

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Sure wish someone would describe seeing Evil Knevil there! That must have been a blast! :)

I saw him there. As I recall, he made the jump. He would do a lot of trick

riding stunts before the big jump.

Or at least they were fairly tricky back then..

I think I also saw some other copycat jumper there too one time.

He was fairly young. Forgot his name. Think he was from Houston.

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I saw him there. As I recall, he made the jump. He would do a lot of trick

riding stunts before the big jump.

Or at least they were fairly tricky back then..

I think I also saw some other copycat jumper there too one time.

He was fairly young. Forgot his name. Think he was from Houston.

wasn't there a guy that had a ramp build up one side of the stadium so he could get a better start before the jump....I am pretty sure I was there to see him, but that was many moons ago

and did anyone see the match between the boxer and the wrestler after the Astros game......the boxer was pretty bigtime and the wrestler was a greco roman type (not the paul bosch type).....again I am pretty sure I was there.....either way I watched it live or on TV........it sucked the wrestler spent the whole time walking around like a crab trying to trip up the boxer and the boxer spent the whole time moving around hoping the wrestler would stand up

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I have a few memories of going to see the Astros with my dad. I also have a vague memory of seeing Willie Nelson. I assume it was at the astrodome because where ever we were it was big and I dont think Houston had any other venues that size. I have a memory of a boyscout thing but I thought it was in one of the buildings next to the Astrodome and not in the Astrodome itself.

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  • 9 months later...
Many a Houstonian has memories of the Astrodome. For some of us, it was a love with our sports franchises. For others, it represented an era in which Houston exploded onto the national map, destiend to grow into the megatropolis that Houston is today.

The purpose of this thread is for people to share their memories of the Astrodome. I was looking at old photos of it recently, and saw a photo of the hot dog stand with the yellow and orange painted lines around it. I remember the Texas emblems on the aisle seats that listed the rows. I remember people walking around, smoking cigarettes, and the whole dome had this rustic, small town in a huge stadium feel to it.

Now here's a real gem for me - I have vague memories of an 80s videogame arcade inside the Astrodome, and as I recall it was near the outfield, like right field or something. Does anybody remember anything about this arcade? Lately I've had a lot of nostalgia about the Astrodome. I suppose that's because its fate is in limbo right now :/ Anyhow, any memories of this arcade or about the Astrodome in general would be appreciated.

In case you stumbled into this thread and don't know anything about the Arcade that was located in the outfield, check out this article I found about Cigarette Haze Control in the Astrodome: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5PR...ag=artBody;col1

This is a somewhat scatterbrained Astrodome thread, but any nostalgia would be appreciated.

I haven't gone on to read all the other posts, but yes, I remember. We used to go down there to play pinball and other games. It was an arcade under the bleachers. I'll never forget the classic baseball game, where the steel ball was "pitched" and you hit it with a bat, using a big round button.

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Tommy Lasorda ( our season tickets were directly behind the visitors dugout) became so upset by my heckling he sent the cops to tell me to tone it down or I'd be thrown out.

Wow.... we didn't have season tickets, but my father's boss had them - 1st row on the 3rd base dugout. Section 120, Row 1, Seats 1-4. I went to so many games as a kid I can't count them all, sitting in those seats, and many of my best childhood memories are of the DOME. I have lots of memoribilia from those days, and plenty of stories.

I'm guessin that you heckled Tommy Lasagna as much as we did! Do you remember that's what we hecklers called him as he coached 3rd base???

Edited by spiderroller
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I remember going to the Rodeo there with my parents.

Before the Astrodome, we went to the rodeo in the Sam Houston Colosseum.

Many years later, I was at the Astrodome with my husband for a tractor pull or something and another event that night was this guy from Canada who was going to drop into a big sort of tub of water while he himself was inside a smaller barrel....(late 1980's maybe ?)

You remember that circular thing that could drop down from the center of the Astrodome ceiling ?

They said that the day before, they dropped his barrel (without him in it) 4 times but it didn't land in the water every time.

It was supposed to be similar to going over Niagara falls or something like that. (which didn't make sense to me)

The day of the event Evel Knieval was up on that circular thing talking to the guy Trying To Talk Him Out Of Doing His Stunt !......but the guy went ahead.

I had to wonder how bad an idea something had to be if Evel Knieval was trying to talk a person out of doing it !

Anyway.....the guy went ahead....

The barrel he was in hit on the side of the big tub of water.......

All I remember next was it took "authorities" FOREVER to get that dam*ed barrel open to get to him....45 minutes ?...an hour ?

He was taken to a hospital.......nothing more was said at the Astrodome about his condition but the next day they said he died about an hour after arriving at the hospital.

His first name was Karol but I don't remember his last name.

That was very sad.

********************************************************************

Been to about 4 Tractor Pulls with Destruction Derbies at the end at the Astrodome.

Absolutely love those.....

I'm such a redneck...

:D

I also remember how very badly the bathrooms STUNK.......each of the last 6 or 7 times I was there.

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Many years later, I was at the Astrodome with my husband for a tractor pull or something and another event that night was this guy from Canada who was going to drop into a big sort of tub of water while he himself was inside a smaller barrel....(late 1980's maybe ?)
His first name was Karol but I don't remember his last name.

Karel Soucek

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Something brewing at the dome. Ch2 reports that Harris County Organizers is secretly planning a Science Center and Planetarium for the facility. It's apparently hush-hush, because Ch2 was denied access for the meeting. Science, Technology and Mathematics Institute was the name they used.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Life Magazine Images

Gosh, I hope I inserted the link correctly. If not, my apologies, but the link should take you to Google's Life Magazine Photo Archives that has some terrific shots of everything Houston, including interiors of the Astrodome and Hofheinz's private suites and entertainment rooms. Or Google this, houston astrodome source:life. I think the photography is stunning. :rolleyes:

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  • 1 year later...

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