Ashikaga

Great pic, subdude.  I had forgotten they referred to the Flying Red Horse.  In my memory, the one at W. Gray and Shepherd was white.  The Magnolia bldg in downtown Dallas has been restored as a hotel and the big Flying Red Horse on top of it restored, too.  There are pics on line.

I haven't been on the sidewalk on Main in many a year.

BTW, how far back does your collection of great pics go?  How about the Iris Theatre, 612 Travis, 1920s?

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Excellent photo of the Pegasus logo. It reminds me of the Goodyear blimp logo of the flying shoe.

My parents owned a house in Breckenridge, Colorado until 1994 and way back in the early 80's I remember only having to dial the 4 numbers.  Every phone is the city had the prefix 453.    As the town grew I assume this all changed.  I just remember dialing the four digits.    Interesting.

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I remember one place we lived at we had to share a party line with our next door neighbors. We got along with them pretty good, so it wasn't too bad.

Sinclair station loses another dinosaur to thieves

Manager Chris Richardson didn't seem too upset about the latest theft. (There've been two so far this year.) Perhaps that's because all she had to do was look across U.S. Highway 91 to see her long-necked green mascot perched on top of a McDonald's restaurant. (Herald Journal)

http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2005/0...news/news01.txt

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Yes, places where you buy gasoline are all changing, with all of the mergers, their name change before you know it.

If we are talking stores and gas stations, then we might as well get a bonus – stamps!

There was S&H Green Stamps, Top Value Stamps and Black Gold Stamps among others.

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When I was a kid, I remember my mother buying groceries at Weingarten's. That store gave out BIG BONUS trading stamps. I don't know if any of you remember those. Are there any stores at all left that give out trading stamps? I remember in Houston, our neighbor bought her groceries at A&P, and that store gave out PLAID trading stamps.

Funny you should mention Sinclair.  Back during my Houston years (1962-64) we went out one night.  Naturally, I, as a little kid fell asleep in the back seat of the car.  When I woke and sat up, I was confronted by a big green dinosaur!  Man was I scared!  It took me a few minutes to learn that it was a cartoon painted logo of a dinosaur on an oil storage tank at a refinery.  I'm not certain, but I think that the refinery was in Pasadena.

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Speaking of gasoline, I don't know about in Houston, but over here back in the 1950s and the 1960s I remember these stations that had a sign of a hand with a pointing finger and the word "GAS" inside of the hand. There was no name brand. You'd simply choose between Regular & Ethyl (and the sign on the side of the pumps always said "CONTAINS LEAD"). Does anyone out there remember such stations?

Yeah, I remember that show.  Sigh...TV just isn't what it used to be.

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Funny you should mention Sinclair. Back during my Houston years (1962-64) we went out one night. Naturally, I, as a little kid fell asleep in the back seat of the car. When I woke and sat up, I was confronted by a big green dinosaur! Man was I scared! It took me a few minutes to learn that it was a cartoon painted logo of a dinosaur on an oil storage tank at a refinery. I'm not certain, but I think that the refinery was in Pasadena.

You are probably thinking of Gemco, which I believe was an acronym for Government Employees something something something.

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That insurance company called GEICO is the acronym for "Government Employees Insurance Company."

No, it's been gone a long time now. It was very nice when it existed, though. You really should come back to Houston, you seem to miss it here an awful lot...

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Yes, I live 100 miles east. In order for me to visit Houston, I have to have both money and patience to bear the rude and crazy drivers on the freeways.

The Nabisco plant fronted on Almeda which was Texas 288 then.  I bet every school child within a hundred miles of Houston made a class field trip to Nabisco to see the crackers being made.  I think I remember when they closed it was stated they never made Oreos there, but they did make Ritz.  I remember when I was about in the fifth grade, looking down on the huge production area from a glassed-in walkway above and seeing the huge stainless tub of Ritz crackers that they said had broken in the process and wouldn't be packaged.  Such a waste.

Remember Gebhardt's Potted Chili Meat?  (Not a Nabisco product).

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Wasn't there some way those broken RITZ could have been recycled? When I was in college, I worked as a security guard for a turkey processing plant. No part of the turkeys were thrown away, even cancers. They were put in a big steel box container labeled "Condemned Poultry Parts" and shipped across town to a dog food plant where they were made into meals for man's best friend.

No, I've never heard of Gebhardt's Potted Chili Meat. It sounds good.

There was, until just a few years ago: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/04_15_00/page_03.html

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Wow! How is it that all of you on this forum are able to come up with and post relevant items immediately? I posted NABISCO not even five minutes ago.

I remember going to Busch Gardens when I was 12 (I'm now 47). I remember the exotic birds, and the tour of the brewery. I know that the Budweiser brewery is still where Interstates 10 & 610 intersect, but is Busch Gardens still in operation?

I think that I also remember a NABISCO plant somewhere in Houston. I remember learning that it stood for NAtional BIScuit COmpany. I don't have any Fritos and bean dip in the cabinet. But I have some RITZ crackers and potted meat. That made me remember NABISCO. But the plant that I remember might not have been in Houston. Maybe someone out there can set me straight.

Now, to spread the potted meat on the RITZ!

My parents owned a house in Breckenridge, Colorado until 1994 and way back in the early 80's I remember only having to dial the 4 numbers.  Every phone is the city had the prefix 453.    As the town grew I assume this all changed.  I just remember dialing the four digits.    Interesting.

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On "Hee-Haw," I think that most people will remember "Junior Sample's Used Cars." He would always say: "The number to call is BR-549."

Actually Battlestein's was acquired by Frost Department Stores, and the stores that weren't closed at that time were rebranded as Frost about 1983. A few years later (1987/88?) Frost went under and the remaining stores all closed. Beall's never was involved in the transactions except to go into some spaces that had been vacated by the Frost liquidation. Of course Beall's went on to have its own problems, and was acquired by Stage Stores, along with Palais Royal. And Stage doesn't exactly have a history free of financial difficulty itself.

While on department stores that are no longer here, don't forget Marshall Field's, which had locations at the Galleria and Town & Country. Lord & Taylor will soon join the list as well, after the planned closure of the Memorial City store. They were once in a variety of malls around the city, including Greenspoint of all places, back in the day when it was the only northside suburban mall.

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As probably most of you now know, I lived in Houston from 1962-64, which was over 40 years ago. Here's the stores that I remember from back then.

These were in the then Gulfgate Shopping City:

Weingarten's, Sakowitz, Joske's, Newberry's, and an underground bowling alley.

Next to Gulfgate on Woodridge I remember Globe Department Store.

Down where Telephone Road intersects Reveille there was a supermarket called Henke & Pillot (now called Kroger).

i'll never forget Monterey House's jingle:  "Gonna getcha back gonna getcha back....to Monterey House!"

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I don't remember commercials for the Monterey House, much less a jingle. Like I said, the only one left over here is on 11th Street in Beaumont.

I just noticed this, subdude! you said their slogan was "cathedral of the common man"

look closely at that rendering...My driver is waiting for me to get out of church!  Common man!??  pbbbbtthh!

Doesn't he look like a chauffer?!   

(probably just a guy in a hat..but anyway..it is hard to tell)

The lady to the right is very classy too but I guess everybody was back then...getting all dressed up to travel, etc.  especially for church.

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Yes, back then men made it a point to put on suits when they were having their picture taken.

Last week someone on this forum told me that if I had stayed in Houston that I probably would have attended Milby High School. I graduated from high school in Beaumont in 1976. I attended Kindergarten at Park Place Elementary School from 1963-64. Is there anyone out there who graduated from Milby in 1976 who might have also been in that class with me at Park Place Elementary?

It wasn’t that long ago that phone directories showed the person’s occupation and/or where they worked. I know the huge cross reference directory from the early 70s showed that information.

In the same vein, as late as the 50s, the newspapers used to include the address of the person in an article whether it was about a crime or simply a human interest story.

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Now it's mostly city directories that list a person's name, address, phone number and occupation. Nowadays, many people are opting-out of having anything about themselves listed in either the telephone or in the city directory because of identity theft.

I, personally, have no problem with my name being listed in the telephone book because of Caller ID. If someone calls that I don't want to talk to, I simply don't answer my telephone. But I would have my number non-published (not just unlisted) if Caller ID had not been invented.

musicman,

I think Ashikaga means a driving range.  I think there was one where the current Krogers center is on Telephone back in the 60's.  it would have been right across the side street from Monterrey House...when The old Krogers was across Telephone.  Sims Bayou country club was too far down bellfort.

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Yes, it was a driving range. I can remember sitting near the window in the restaurant and looking outside and seeing people hitting golf balls. On the other side of Monterey House, just across the street, was a grocery store called Henke & Pillot (now called Kroger).

I think you're talking across Bellfort from the Monterrey House.  There was a private country club there for years and there was also some kind of horse kennel/boarding.  After Sims was widened, the country club is gone.  I did drive by there and saw remnants of the road that headed to the country club.  so i'm pretty sure it's gone.

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Thanks. I remember a show that used to come on TV called "Chico and the Man." In one episode, Chico said that there was a new restaurant in town that served both Mexican and Soul food. He said that the name of it was. "CASA YO' MAMA."

Chet Cuccia

at some point they had a little umbrella on the sign too.

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When places like Gulfgate are demolished, I wonder what is done with the remaining debris? I would think that some steel could be recycled. Maybe the remains ended up where they planned to take the remains of the old Baytown-LaPorte Tunnel: out in the Gulf of Mexico made into a reef.

Chet Cuccia

a bit of trivia...did you know that their older building(s) to the north of this structure was the original Park Place BAPTIST Church.  They relocated down Broadway at Dixie and Sims Bayou in the 50's and I guess the Methodists bought their old building.  Also the old Park Place City Hall was where the current methodist building is.  I think the Methodist Church was orignally a smaller facility just on the corner at the circle (some land was lost to the freeway).

I  like how the pigeons hang out in the gridded steeple tower.  There always seems to be a lot of 'em

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Thank you. Like I said, I left there 41 years ago.

Chet Cuccia

yes it is still there along with st chrisopher's etc.

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Thank you. Once again, my memories of over 40 years ago are still accurate!

Chet Cuccia

Now I've just remembered something else from my years (1962-64) in

Houston. I remember going to Sunday School at Park Place Methodist Church

(I attended Kindergarten at Park Place Elementary School).

If my memory serves me correctly, wasn't Park Place Methodist Church

on Interstate 45 (Gulf Freeway)? If I'm right, is it still there?

Chet Cuccia

What a great memory! I am 52 years old and grew up in Bellaire & Sharpstown until I was 9. Mom & Dad used to take me to ride those ponies at OST & Main. One of my early childhood fond memories.

Other memories in Houston as a child . . .

*  Seeing Snow White at the movie theatre in the old shopping center on the north side of Bellaire Blvd. just east of the train tracks on the east end of Bellaire.

*  Going to see Kitirik at Channel 13 and Captain Bob on Channel 2 at their old studios on Post Oak Rd.

* The deep drainage ditches along Avenue A (now Newcastle) and Post Oak Rd. in Bellaire.

*  Movies at the Trail Drive In, and the new Sharpstown Drive In.

*  Bissonnet was still called Old Richmond Road from the curve at about Edloe, down through Sharpstown.

* A big discount store on Hillcroft in Sharpstown called "Globe".

* That jingle . . ."Summer winter spring or fall, stroll in the air conditioned mall, with one stop to shop for all, at Sharpstown Center."

*  The old Sears on South Main just south of Downtown

*  U-Tote-M was a fairly large chain of convenience stores in those days. Their radio jingle? "Just in case anyone should ask you, you tell 'em U-Tote-M." Their sign incorporated a totem pole.

Probably a lot more stored in this old brain here!

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Hey, I'm 47! I lived in Houston from 1962-64. There's a lot of stuff that I can remember. The people on this forum are very helpful. They have been able to verify if something that I think that I remember is right or wrong.

I lived on # 8 West Court Drive. It was a white house on the corner of that street and Galveston Road just down from where Park Place Boulevard dead ends into Galveston Road. Since you were in Houston back when I was there, is there anything that you personally would remember about the area where I lived?

Chet Cuccia