brhaltx

I always think it'll be a little warmer than the forecasts. And it was... We had some sleet in the northwest, but I don't think it stuck. It may have hit 30 here, but is now 31 to 33 here, depending on who you ask.

Lola and more; there are 3 or 4 businesses in that building.

I'll stay home and look at the pretty colors on the real time traffic map.

There's a photo of the interior of the original Interurban Buffet in 1933; it was pretty small even then.

There were hills in the background of that "sunken highway" that sort of looked like 59... The one with the apartment complex. The hilsl almost look like buildings if you don't look closely.

The street scenes weren't in Houston... Did you notice the hills in the background?

Did you start out on Griggs near Mykawa?

That does look like it might be Louetta... I haven't been by there recently, though. There's one on Jones Road too, but I don't think it looks like that.

And, yes, I think 1007 would be an/the address for the current Binz building's parking garage. An Allright Auto Park was at 1005-1007 Texas in both the 1940 and 1942 criss-cross directories, so it would not surprise me if that address is a parking garage today.

Hello riofrio. Riofriotx found all of the directory listings I mentioned above, along with the Thresher ads and more. Those city directories seem to be a pain to search... Ada Gibbs was Hugh's wife. The brother was Henry, born in 1892. I think he died in 1953. His residence in 1953 is listed as Galveston. I don't know what he did after the Interurban Buffet. I think that the Bond Building on Fannin could be the same as the Bryan Hall building, since both were 3 stories... Why tear one down (that looked good to me) to build another one of the same size?

Interesting. I don't think it was ever called Interurban Cafe. Everything I've seen listed it as Interurban Buffet or The Interurban Buffet. But... Since I've heard that it was essentially a bar that served food, what did they do during prohibition? Guess you'd have to at least make it look like you were making your money by selling good. Someone looked it up in the city directories for me; it's in 1915, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1932, 1936 as Interurban Buffet on Texas. 1937, 1939, 1940, and 1942, it's Interurban Buffet at 810 Fannin. I'm guessing that it closed in 1942 or 1943, but I'm not sure about that. I think that's what I was told. Your pictures are interesting, mainly because of P. Wolf/P.Wolff. Charles P. Wolff was an owner/partner in The Interurban Buffet until 1928; he died in 1933. Thanks for checking.

Gulfgate's arcade may have been called Gold Mine...

I found a picture of the building at 810/812 Fannin in 1913; it was the "Bryan Hall" building at that time. I haven't found anything else about it, but that may be the correct building, if the Bond building was built sometime in the 1940s. (Could be why the Interurban Buffet closed; the owner died in 1941, his brother probably kept it open until the building was torn down.)

It was the Bond Department Store in 1940. But if that building was built in 1940... Or, maybe I'm misreading that in the link; maybe it was built between 1940 and 1949. http://arch-ive.org/archive/bond-department-store/

Do you know the name of the 810 Fannin building? I can upload the Binz picture (taken from down the street, not a direct shot of the front). I tried to upload the photo, and it seemed to upload, but the photo didn't show up.

Thanks Ross. I was about to post that the blogger mentioned above (huge thanks for her for that and other research) found it at 810 Fannin in the 1937, 1939, 1940, and 1942 directories. Now to find a picture of that address.. I did find another picture of the Binz building (1925, I think) from down the street that shows a Buffet sign on the front of the Binz building.

That's pretty nice. You can be it cost the architect a whole lot more than $100 to make it.

Thanks for checking. I thought I'd heard that it was open through 1942 or so; the owner died in 1941, but had a brother who may have taken over. I'll have to plan a trip downtown to the library; I presume that the library has city directories somewhere...

Thanks for the info. My Googling hadn't turned up anything. I know the family; the chili recipe has been lost. But definitely didn't have beans. There may be a picture of the interior; I'm not sure about the exterior. Thanks for checking the map.

I talked to my friend; he remembers the building, and his family was living on Craighead at the time of the fire. He says someone was trying to save the building at the time it burned down. He didn't have much else to say about it otherwise. The family sitll owns land on Craighead. He says that the casino property is owned by Rice, and the current building is a Rice data center. (HCAD lists it as belonging to a company in New York.)

I have friends who live on Craighead; maybe even at the time of the fire. I'll have to ask about it. Maybe they started the fire.

Has anyone seen any references to, or photos of, the Interurban Buffet (a bar) on Texas Avenue across from the Rice Hotel? I'm not sure when it opened; probably in the 1920s, and was in business until at least 1942.

There were grain silos on Memorial, between Memorial and Washington. Between the cemetary and Studemont, I think.

They had good burgers... The body shop was already there; it occupied the back part of the building.

I suppose the original poster is long gone... But I went to Houston Sterling. Before the OP was born. I remember that 7-Eleven sold to Stop-N-Go... Maybe even that they "traded" areas.