Ashikaga

Over here in Orange, last week I saw the sign of Motel 6 on Interstate 10. The rate for one person for one night is $49.99! If Motel 6 is still the lowest priced national chain, then I'd probably faint to find out what Ramada and Holiday Inn's rates are. In 1970 when I was 12 we drove on a vacation to California. I remember the Motel 6 signs said "$6.95 Single." I read that's how they got their name, because they started out charging $6 a night. They now need to change their name to Motel 50. Do any of you on this forum happen to know off the top of your head if the Motel 6 rooms in Houston are the same?

I think that I saw a sign about some kind of a Broiler Burger during one of our Sunday afternoon drives to Houston back in the 1960s. By the way that you describe the burger, I would have preferred having that to the messy chili dog I had at Der Wienerschnitzel that I spilled on my shirt.

Over here, there is now starting to be some consistency and a little less confusion. Here's the way that I've understood the chronological sequence. Gulf became Chevron as a result of a merger. Then Chevron merged with Texaco. Then Texaco merged with Shell. Now over here, the Texaco stations changed their name to Shell. But some of the Conoco stations are now Texaco. Now I've noticed that what used to be Chevron stations are now Shell. How can Texaco now be at those former Conoco stations if Shell bought it out? Now, it's consistent if all of the former Chevron and Texaco stations all become Shell. What were Diamond Shamrock stations are now called Valero. Is something similar to all of this happening in Houston?

Does "mixed income" mean that the tenants can be both millionaires and poverty-stricken people?

Yes, I remember the baritone singing voices of the Tommie Vaughn radio commercials. I also remember the singing for the radio commercial for Chuck Davis Chevrolet. No, I don't recall "Rocket City." I do remember seeing Frizzell. It was on that street that ran alongside the Weingarten's store in Gulfgate, I think that it was Woodridge/Woodbridge??? I remember when we'd go to Globe Department Store, I could see Frizzell when we were walking through the parking lot. Dan Quayle must have owned it.

Well, the good thing about having the concession stand underneath the bleachers is that if it's raining, less rain will get on the people who are standing in line to get some popcorn or a soda.

Excellent photos!

Is The Potato Patch just one restaurant or is it a chain in the Houston area?

I saw JFK in Houston the day before he was killed. My parents and I were standing in front of Park Place Methodist Church as the motorcade passed by and we saw him very clearly.

Wow! In 1963 a 1956 Pontiac cost only $495? Today, a seven-year old car would be a 1999 model. Maybe that's about right. If the ratio of today's and 1963s dollars is 10 to 1, then a seven-year old car today would cost $4,995. Am I on the right track?

A woman whom I used to know who lived in Houston told me that she worked at a restaurant called the Potato Patch. I've never heard of it. She told me that she remembered Uncle John's Pancakes.

I guess that photos of Sharpstown are rare.

Yes, I remember a small town that my aunt and uncle lived in was the same way. If the whole town had the same prefix, you would dial only the last four numbers. I live in Bridge City, Texas. From the 1940s until the late 1980s, 735 was the only prefix. Now the town has five, but the population hasn't increased. It's the proliferation of cell phones, fax machines and pagers which has caused the number of prefixes to increase fivefold.

I'm planning to buy one of those VHS to DVD converters when the price goes down. My dad bought his first VCR back in 1980. It cost him $600 and it was very basic. The "remote" control was a cord and all that it did was pause the tape. Today I've seen some new VCRs as low as $40-$45.

I remember that TG&Y, Ben Franklin, & F.W. Woolworth were called "five-and-dime" stores. Over here there was a local chain of a five-and-dime store called PERRY'S. I don't know if any of those were in Houston. Naturally, most of them were put out of business by Wal-Mart. If any are still around, today they would be called "five-and-ten dollar bill" stores. Today's equivalent retailers would be Dollar General & Family Dollar. In the Chronicle, I see ad for a "99 cent" store.

My mistake. But I do distinctly remember that back in the 1980s, the Safeway stores in both Beaumont and Port Arthur closed and became Apple Trees. Later, Apple Tree left and both of those stores became a local chain over here called Market Basket. When the Safeway store in Orange closed, it became Budget Chopper, which is part of Brookshire Brothers. A few years ago Budget Chopper closed, and it was remodeled and converted into a branch of Texas State Bank.

Gnu, I simply cannot fathom how you and Subdude can come up with items to post as soon as someone mentions something. To say that it's amazing would be an understatement. Yes, I also remember S&H Green Stamps. Over here there used to be another supermarket chain called BIG STAR. They also gave out trading stamps with grocery purchases, I think that they were called QUALITY STAMPS. But I don't know if there were any Big Star stores in Houston.

There was a question in a Trivial Pursuit game asking what was Elvis Presley's favorite movie. The answer was Lawrence of Arabia. Yes, it's also one of my personal favorites.

Maybe not over there in Houston, but over here in this area years ago the Weingarten's store in Port Arthur became Apple Tree, and it folded. The shopping center that it was located in also had a five-and-dime store called "TG&Y." I don't know if there were ever any of those over in Houston. There was also a Big Bonus trading stamps redemption store, because Weingarten's gave out those kind of stamps with grocery purchases. From back when I lived in Houston, I remember A&P supermarkets gave out PLAID trading stamps. I don't know if there were any Big Bonus redemption stores in Houston. In that shopping center was also a chain clothing store called WEINER'S. I also don't know if there were ever any of those stores in Houston. Also, in the mid-1980s, the national chain supermarket called SAFEWAY folded. Apple Tree took over the one in Port Arthur for awhile, but couldn't make a go of it. Then a chain in this area called MARKET BASKET moved into it. It closed down that store about a year or two ago. The shopping center in Port Arthur where that Weingarten's store was located was on the corner of 25th Street & 9th Avenue. It was demolished about six months ago. I drove by there last month. It's now nothing but a big slab of concrete with a fence around it.

Oh, yes. I remember when the whole state of Texas had about five area codes. 713 encompassed not just Houston, but way over here to where I live in Bridge City, as far north as Jasper, and as far west as halfway between Houston and San Antonio. In 1983 my area code changed to 409. I'm surprised that it hasn't been broken up with a new one added. But, that could happen.

Are you talking about W.T. Grant? A five-and-dime store like F.W. Woolworth and Ben Franklin? There was one just a little ways down from Newberry's in that open middle part of then-Gulfgate Shopping City. I remember my parents bought me some Silly Putty in that store.

When I was about four or five years old, my parents and I went out one night. I fell asleep in the back seat of the car. When I awoke, I sat up and found myself staring at the big, green Sinclair dinosaur on that storage tank. Talk about something scaring a little kid! A guy that I graduated from high school with named David Snyder posted a comment about the Red Bluff Drive-In Theatre on Drive-Ins.Com. He said that it spent its last years showing XXX-rated movies and that it had a tall fence around it so that nobody could see the screen. Someone on this forum said that he was able to see it. If you log on to Drive-Ins.Com, you'll see where I posted some photos and microfilm newspapers ad on the Don Drive-In and the Surf Drive-In Theatres in Port Arthur and on the South Park and Showtown U.S.A. Drive-In Theatres in Beaumont.

I wonder if Levitz suffered the same fate as other businesses of being replaced by other chain stores?

Well, I personally have always worshipped at the Altar of Venus at the former, but it's been many years since I've worshipped at the latter. Both kinds of places are at Jimmy Swaggart's "church."

I remember that on the Boyd Mullen sign his name was in distinctive cursive letters that would catch your eye from a distance.