Tides II Motor Inn At 6700 South Main St.

[ssullivan]

I remember that place, and think I stayed there around 1983 when I was a kid and Mom was at the Medical Center for a few weeks for some tests. I think it was called The Tides, and next door was The Tides II. I may be wrong on that, but I know there were two hotels that were from that period that stood on the west side of Main just north of Holcombe with those names, and the remaining building was torn down in the last few years.

[ssullivan]

Okay, I found the article that referenced the building in the Chronicle archives. Turns out I was slightly off - the old Tidelands and Tides II hotels were slightly north of this location on Main. The hotel that was torn down more recently was the old Towers Hotel, as Sarnoff referenced in her column on September 5 of last year:

At the northwest corner of Holcombe and South Main , Canadian firm Metrontario Group is planning a 210,000-square-foot medical  office building on a piece of dirt where the old Towers Hotel  once stood.

Bruce Phillips of PinPoint Commercial, a local real estate firm that's leasing space in the building, said the company is in talks with a tenant that could potentially occupy the entire property.

But before that happens, the property will likely sit idle.

[ssullivan]

This is the Tidelands. Is this what you were thinking about?

Yes it is. I had the name slightly wrong - it was the Tidelands and Tides II. The Tides II that was next door to the Tidelands was more of a highrise if I remember correctly. They were in the 6700 block of Main.

[SpaceAge]

Rice University was using those buildings as grad. student housing until about 1998. After Rice completed the new complex on Bissonnet, they demolished the hotel.

The Tides II and/ or the Tidelands (I never could remember which was which) must have been the location of a great club as Paul Beriln often spoke of all the big name entertainers of the day appearing there. All of South Main was a glitzy strip then, much better than the Richmond strip. Many of the finest restaurants were there. Everything wanted to be near the Shamrock Hotel- the epicenter of Houston entertainment and glamour. Do many famous entertainers even come to Houston today?

I remember a Go-Go club along South Main. It had a large front window and inside one could see lots of flashing lights and girls dancing in cages. It was shocking. Yeah Yeah Man!

[ssullivan]

The Tidelands was the home of the club. It was also the one purchased by Rice University for graduate housing in late 1980s. The Tides II was still open as a hotel into the late 1990s and I think was only torn down about five years ago. In its last days it was a Park Inn. I don't think there are surface parking lots on that site though. I'm pretty sure that Best Western Hotel on Main just north of Holcombe sits on part of that site, and the rest of it is an empty lot with fencing around it. According to what I could find in the Chronicle archives, the Tidelands and Tides II were in the 6700 block of South Main, which would be the block between Old Main St. and Southgate Blvd., just north of Holcombe on the east side of Main.

[Astro]

I don't think there are surface parking lots on that site though. I'm pretty sure that Best Western Hotel on Main just north of Holcombe sits on part of that site, and the rest of it is an empty lot with fencing around it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're probably right about that then. Not to get too off-subject here but I think what I was actually thinking of was further north, there was an art deco shopping center on Main (similar to the one on Washington at Sheperd) torn down for surface parking.

[ssullivan]

You're probably right about that then.  Not to get too off-subject here but I think what I was actually thinking of was further north, there was an art deco shopping center on Main (similar to the one on Washington at Sheperd) torn down for surface parking.

I looked at the site yesterday. Part of it may be a surface lot. I don't remember if the Tides II was north or south of the Tidelands. But going from south to north, the site where those hotels once stood has a surface lot (operated by Allright Parking I think), the Best Western, and then the empty fenced off lot.

[SpaceAge]

This is a list of most things located on Main Street from Rice University to the south loop from the 1969 Houston directory. The Tidelands and Tides II are included in this area so you can determine where they are or were. The Tides II is still listed as open for business.

Items listed as "became" were listed in 1993 Houston directory.

MAIN STREET HOUSTON, TEXAS

6100 Rice University

6441 Youngblood

[katy_moonbeam]

Enjoyed reading through this post as we held our wedding and reception at the Tides II in 1983. As I remember it was an OK place and a good time was had by all. My mother in law worked at the downtown Foleys store and she had the guys from the "display" department do the decorating for the reception room. The actually hung tree branches with silk dogwood blossoms from the ceiling creating a canopy over the entire room! Nothing compared to todays extravagant weddings, but very sool at the time. We danced the night away to Michael Jackson, ZZ Top, Billy Idol, and some new girl named Madonna. When we ran out of liquor, the hotel manager went in the back store room and gave us a free case of champagne. Still married after 23 + years so I guess it was a good start for us!

[Alexa]

Nothing like coming 5 years late to the conversation, but just found this thread... I worked at the Tides II in the 80s. The Best Western that is standing at 6700 S. Main now is the only part of the hotel left. It was the highrise with the club, restaurant and banquet rooms on the ground floor. The pool area of the hotel was *beautiful* and hosted many weddings and/or receptions. It was owned by the Scott family and **** Maegle. The Scotts owned the original Tidelands at 6500 S. Main as well as a resort in Hot Springs, Ark.

We used to go drink in the pub at the Shamrock before it was torn down, and there was a wonderful piano bar and pub in a hotel on Montrose (I think it was at Bartlett), but I can't remember what the name of the hotel is...

[Subdude]

Nothing like coming 5 years late to the conversation, but just found this thread... I worked at the Tides II in the 80s. The Best Western that is standing at 6700 S. Main now is the only part of the hotel left. It was the highrise with the club, restaurant and banquet rooms on the ground floor. The pool area of the hotel was *beautiful* and hosted many weddings and/or receptions. It was owned by the Scott family and **** Maegle. The Scotts owned the original Tidelands at 6500 S. Main as well as a resort in Hot Springs, Ark.

We used to go drink in the pub at the Shamrock before it was torn down, and there was a wonderful piano bar and pub in a hotel on Montrose (I think it was at Bartlett), but I can't remember what the name of the hotel is...

I probably ran into you at the Shamrock pub.

The bar in the hotel on Montrose was at the Plaza Hotel. It was in the basement of the wing adjacent to the street. I could be wrong on this, but I think the name was Che's, at least at one point.