Ashikaga

Yes! I forgot all about that until you mentioned it. It was wrapped in a little piece of paper. It was brown and it tasted like it was almost all sugar.

Chet Cuccia

Thank you. It looks like an apartment complex. I don't recall one being there 40 years ago. I remember us living in a small white house. Next door to us was another house that had one apartment on ground level and another one upstairs.

Maybe those houses have been demolished. But I appreciate your efforts.

Chet Cuccia

Looks like it may still be there. Check the listing from the harris co. appraisal district.

8 West Court

you should look at Google's satellite maps (or terraserver etc) and see if you can pinpoint your house.

They channelized Sims Bayou about 10 years ago and cut a new path for it on the south side of your old street. I do not know for certain but houses on that side might have been removed.

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Wow! You're both good and fast! I had barely posted that topic. You knew exactly where that was. One day I hope to drive over there and take a picture of it (if it's still there) to show to my parents. Thanks again.

Chet Cuccia

From 1962 to 1964 I lived in a small white house located at # 8 West Court Drive. It was on the corner of that street and Galveston Road, just south of where Park Place Boulevard dead ends into Galveston Road. Sims Bayou is nearby.

Has anyone out there been in that area recently? As I said, I haven't been there in over 40 years (I live in Orange, Texas, which is 100 east of Houston). I was wondering if the house that I lived in back then is still there.

Chet Cuccia

Monterey House went out of business in the late 80's, if my memory servers me.  Many of the locations reorganized into a new company called Monterey's Tex-Mex and have a similar menu.

At The location of the old one on Telephone Road, the building is still there but it is another restaurant now.  I don't remember what it is - i think its a taqueria.

The old  Kroger's ( the former Henke and Pillot) was there until the early 80's and then Krogers built a new center across the street.  The old building is gone and there are several stores in what I think is the old location..a CVS pharmacy, a laudromat, and several other smaller shops.

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Thanks. You knew exactly where and what I was talking about. I live in Orange, Texas, which is 100 miles east of Houston. There is only one Monterey House in this area, and it's in Beaumont.

Chet Cuccia

It was Peppermint Park and it was at Reveille and Arnim.  where the dodge body shop is now.  If you search the threads, i think Peppermint park has been discussed some in the past.  there were several locations in houston.  One near 290 and the loop and one on the SW freeway.

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Thanks. I thought that I remembered that park. I remember the big words "PEPPERMINT PARK" painted on top of the roof.

Chet Cuccia

A friend of mine who works at M.D. Anderson is positive that the Old Prudential building is not coming down.  Has anyone heard any updates on this?  Is it still slated for demolition and inferior building replacement?

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Hey, I can remember the Prudential Building back in the early 1960s. I can remember riding around at night and seeing the neon "rock" logo at the top of the building. What's the name of the street that it's on?

Chet Cuccia

The entire structure was demolished a few years ago and totally rebuilt ala Meyerland Plaza. Everything you remember is gone. Except the bridge I think.

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Are you saying that it's called Meyerland Plaza and not Gulfgate Mall as I heard?

Chet Cuccia

Here's something else that I remember. On Telephone Road a little way's south of the Santa Rosa Theatre, there was a mexican restaurant called "Monterey House." I also remember that a driving range was next to it and across the street was a Henke & Pillot (now called Kroger) supermarket.

Are any of these places still there? I looked up in the Houston phone book and I found "Monterey House Tex-Mex Restaurants." I wonder if Monterey House changed their name to that.

Chet Cuccia

When we went to Gulfgate Shopping Center back in the early 1960s, I remember going down some stairs to an underground bowling alley. I also remember my mother buying groceries in a Weingarten's store which was located at the end on the center next to Woodridge (I think that was the name of that side street). I can also remember going into a Newberry's store which was at the end of the center where a pedestrian bridge that traversed IH-610 from a movie theatre was.

Does anyone out there have any updated information on Gulfgate, such as if any of those old store from 40 years ago are still there or not?

Chet Cuccia

When I lived in Houston (1962-64), my parents did a lot of their shopping at what was then called Gulfgate Shopping Center (now Gulfgate Mall). I remember us going to an amusement park next to it. I think the name of it was either "Playland Park" or "Peppermint Park."

Does anyone out there know what I'm referring to?

Chet Cuccia

The old theater in the circle at Broadway and 45 is currently the Circle Pawn Shop.  I don't believe it was ever an adult theatre.  I do know some history of it though. It opened in about 1941 as the Plaza Theater.

The Santa Rosa opened nearby in 1947 (on Telephone Road) and, The Plaza, faced with the new competition from the Interstate-owned competitor, struggled and was sold.  The new owner renamed it the Vogue and it became an art theater, showing French and Italian imports.  This experiment did not last long and it reverted back to The Plaza. It only remained a theater until about 1951.

The Santa Rosa was an adult theater/movie rental place until recently.  A medical office building is to be built next door and in the old theater parking lot.  There are rumors that the theater will be saved and turned into a community center or something to benefit the nearby neighborhood.

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I lived in Houston from 1962 to 1964. My mother told me that she took me to the Santa Rosa to see a movie called "The Music Man." I have many fond memories of the Santa Rosa.

Chet Cuccia