brucesw

The church is a former movie theater. I remember passing by it on our way home from visiting family in that area. I was really little but I do remember around the mid to late 70s it being an X rated movie theater (didn't know what that meant then). I remember asking my dad if we could go see a movie there and he told me no because the movies there were dirty. First thing that came to mind was that there was probably alot of naked people in those movies. Which raised my curiosity even more......

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The website of the church has a slide show of the interior; one shot from the stage shows the auditorium.

http://www.g12houston.com/about.htm

I was hoping for an exterior view.

No naked people either.

The theaters I would have liked to have seen were the Loews State and Metropolitan on Main St.

I think that was called the Houston Oil Company.

That also reminds me of the Filling Station (I think it was called that) on Richmond maybe near Fountainview. They had an old-time red gas pump in front.

Also, does anyone remember Dean Goss Dinner Theatre? Dean Goss was a pretty big presence in Houston in the 70s.

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Where was his place? On South Main? I remember the one in T&C - Windmill Dinner Theatre, I think.

I met Dean Goss once (maybe more). He was talking about a game show concept he had that he was trying to sell to 13 and said some interest had also been expressed by one of the networks. I don't think anything ever came of it.

I drove down West Gray the other day, very, very slowly, much to the amusement of fellow motorists, looking around a lot. That street has undergone major changes in the 35 years I've been in Houston. I remembered Captain John's, a restaurant on the SW corner of W. Gray and McDuffie. The front of the building was angled to a point, like the bow of a ship; there was a tall slender neon-lighted spire, like the mast of a ship. Didn't look as much like a boat as the Capt. Bennys, tho. It was set up kind of high off the ground as I remember. They served steaks, seafood - wasn't just a seafood restaurant. I only went once or twice but it must've been pretty popular with the River Oaks crowd.

The Mrs. Baird's bakery was a little east, probably at W. Gray and Woodhead, on the SE corner. Further east on the north side of the street was the Sanitary Farm Dairies; up on Waugh was the Carnation plant.

No, it's on 75th just north of Lawndale, between Mason Park and Pecan Park. It's a church now and went from the Bluebonnet to a peep show to the church. Thanks for that picture Subdude! I've been looking for one for awhile cause the old-timers in my neighborhood have mentioned "the picture show" and I knew it was the church but always wondered what the theater looked like. The facade, minus the signage, is still pretty much the same. I'll have to check the interior to see if the any of the original features are still there.

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Okay, the Bluebonnet was at 1015 Broadway, just off 45.

The theatre on 75th, just off Lawndale, near the Mason Park subdivision, was something else.

I was looking through cinematours this morning and the name Al Ray Theatre rang a bell, but I haven't been able to find out anything else about it.

There was a Rexall drug store on the corner of Lawndale and 75th, probably a Madings, and a Weingarten's, iirc, across 75th, also facing Lawndale. The theatre was basically behind the drug store on 75th.

One other thing I remember from many trips to that area to visit an aunt and uncle in Mason Park was a drive-in (ice house, burger stand?) on Lawndale, just back towards town from 75th, that had the name or slogan "U Toot 'em and We Tote 'em."

I'll have to add this to one of my Sunday morning driving tours.

According to HCAD this must be the Living Hope Church, 741 75th, described as an auditorium type building, built in 1930.

Yikes! What an ugly building.

Are there any pics without the facade?

I spent Sunday morning driving around downtown, appreciating old buildings, then some time Sunday eve looking up stuff on HCAD, thanks to sevfiv.

i can't find much...

edit - the 1955 city directory shows 3400 montrose only had insurance companies as tenants...and apparently the building went up in 1953...

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How did you find when it was built? Is there a place to go to find information like that on buildings?

Is 3400 Montrose the 10 or so story building next to Krogers?

If so it used to be a jazz bar called Cody's back in the late 80's. I had some friends who played there (New Toys/Paul English) and we went to see them when we were playing in Houston.

This was one of the coolest bars I've ever been in as the back drop of the stage was downtown. It was really spectacular. I remember that it also had two balconies outside, one was very large and held about 45 or 50 people while the other was quite small but quaint. Both had great views of Downtown.

I also remember that you would ride an elevator from the ground to the top, and the elevators opened right into the club. It was kind of shocking.

anyway if that's the place it was one cool club.

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Yes, that's the place. I had forgotten the name Cody's - it was that for a long time, I think, but something else was in there before that -- I thought it was Scott Gertner but I see that's what's there now. Maybe I have him mixed up with some other local entertainer.

Yeah, very impressive place; not what you'd expect from the outside of the bldg. Nice view of the sunset, downtown. I'd forgotten that about the elevators, too.

Anybody know what the original club atop 3400 Montrose was? I vaguely remember Glenn McCarthy had several clubs in town and that was one of them, I thought the Cork Club but that has been identified as atop the Central National Bank Bldg.

I know it was a gay club in the early 70s, the Palace or Plantation or something like that, Scott Gertner's, a jazz club, etc., but it dates to the 50s I believe.

Thanks, H2B,

I saw it was episode 3 of the Houston Remembers When tapes and there's a good bit on the KUHT website describing the program; unfortunately the tape is out of stock and it's one I don't have.

The two references I have: one referred just to Luna Park, the other to 1406 Houston Ave, which is about 3 blocks north of Washington as I recall (drove the area a couple of weeks ago looking for a school or something 'Luna'). I'm proceeding on the assumption they are references to the same place.

Thanks for all your info; I'll be trying to find a copy of the tape.

Do you have the tape? Does it make any mention of Bay Shore Park in La Porte, same time era, apparently a competitor of Sylvan Beach Park? -- a dance pavilion, band stand, pier into the bay, even an inn on the grounds.

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.

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I imagine there was. I was only about in the 5th grade and wasn't asking a lot of hard questions.

There is still one on Lyons ave near where it meets I-10 West. I wonder what theatre that one use to be!

To the right in this shot:

Now it is a generic dark brown glass office building.

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Re another thread: the caption on the Bailey calendar mentions the 'sandwich' sign in the lower left corner marks a One's-a-Meal. The year was 1933.

No, it's on 75th just north of Lawndale, between Mason Park and Pecan Park. It's a church now and went from the Bluebonnet to a peep show to the church. Thanks for that picture Subdude! I've been looking for one for awhile cause the old-timers in my neighborhood have mentioned "the picture show" and I knew it was the church but always wondered what the theater looked like. The facade, minus the signage, is still pretty much the same. I'll have to check the interior to see if the any of the original features are still there.

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I had relatives living just a couple of blocks from there so went by it so many times but didn't remember the name. I think it also showed Spanish language films at one time.

Interesting.

You remember some good ones, belmontdrew. I didn't remember the Antone's in Sharpstown Center. The Tamales was in an old Meyer Bros. store in the Village, I think (or the Meyer Bros. might have been the store next door). I remember Yamin's and Stefano's pizza places; they had been one chain at one time, but went their separate ways and now both are gone. The Ming's on Montrose just north of Westheimer was a Big Frank's.

Go to this page:

http://users.ev1.net/~plhailey/hpat/index.html

click on Topics, go to Restaurants and Diners, page 3, scroll down to the series of pics labeled 23469, #s 1 thru 13 -- it's an Albritton's, I think the one on Waugh, which was the only one I ever went to.

Lot's of great pics of old restaurants on that site, many of which I've never heard of.

Chestnut is just a block or so outside the loop. I think that's the corner where Don's Record Shop was for years - set back from the intersection, the parking lot was triangular but the building was rectangular.

You may be thinking of the block bounded by Bissonett, Cedar, and 5th St., between Rice and the intersection where Bissonett and Bellaire cross. There's a triangular building there that's been there as long as I've been driving Bissonett (I don't remember Old Richmond Road).

I'm sure there used to be a prescription shop in there and a cleaners, I think. The exterior has recently been updated; the shop 'on the point,' so to speak, is a computer shop.

Thanks for the info. That book is on my list but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I have a couple of the KUHT shows on tape; I'll have to review them. I hadn't even thought about that.

I don't remember exactly where it was located but I loved going to the old Polar Wave Ice Palace for ice skating back in the '50s.  My Mother had also skated there in her earlier years so I know it wasn't a new rink at that time.  After it closed, they made ice skating available periodically in the old Houston Coliseum Downtown.

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I was trying to remember the name of that place! I went there a couple of times. It was not far off Almeda Rd., which was Texas 288 back then. I'm pretty sure it was on an east-west street rather than a north-south, probably between Elgin and where I-45 cut through, south of downtown. The colors were blue and white inside and it was freezing in there.

Does anyone know where the old Houston neighborhood known as Luna Park was/is? (In the mid-20s). Was it a neighborhood or a park?

Alternatively, has Houston Ave. always been known as that? Or did there used to be another Houston Ave.?

I have 2 references, one to Luna Park the other to an address on Houston Ave., but I don't know if it's the same place being referenced. If so then it's basically between Downtown and Woodland Heights, north of Washington Ave.

I'm new at this and I have no idea where to go to find this sort of info.

Thanks.

Cool looking building.

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Amen. They just don't make furniture stores like they used to!

I was thinking Waddell's became Brittain's then moved out to First Colony near Hwy 6 but is gone now. I'm not sure, may have that mixed up with something else.

I keep getting distracted in my research by these old ads which I can't resist taking the time to read, but I didn't note where Waddell's was located downtown.

Re: another post above. According to something I found on line, Ineeda Laundry and Dry Cleaners big plant was where the Federal Building is now. That was in the 20s. I thought I remembered in the 50s they were out near Telephone/Winkler.

There was also an Ineeda Tire Co. in the 20s.

Edit to insert: In the 20s, Waddell's ads gave the address as Prairie @ Fannin. Many merchants never mentioned their location in their ads. I guess they thought everybody knew since they had only one store.

A couple more from the 20s that were still around in the 60s-70s, Shudde's Southern Hat Co., Travis @ Preston, and Houston Trunk Factory.

Here is the Iris on Travis from another thread (from Bob Bailey calendar).

I used to love the CFS at Dirty

You're right about the one on Almeda.  I had forgotten about that one.  I lived in an apartment in the 1800 block of Ewing, and it was just around the corner a few blocks away.  One of my favorites was their Texas Special...an open-faced hamburger with cheese and covered with chili.

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Can't say that I remember that dish. I went to the one in the River Oaks Theatre bldg many times for breakfast in the late 70s, early 80s, and the one on Memorial not long before it closed.

As a kid, riding along in the back seat of the car, I always looked forward eagerly to seeing the one on W. Gray, almost as much as passing the Mrs. Baird's bakery a few blocks east and smelling the fresh baking bread and seeing the loaves moving along the production line through the big glass windows.

Dino never did much for me, but I really dug the Flying Red Horse.

Several people have mentioned Henke and Pillot in this thread. I just came across a special section in the Chron in 1922 - August 15, Henke and Pillot was celebrating their 50th anniversary. Founded in 1872 in Market Square; Henry Henke hired Eugene Pillot as his produce manager and then made him a partner. They were sold in 1956 to Kroger.

Here's a couple more I came across in the old papers that were still around in my childhood:

Waddell's Furniture - I think they were in business up until about 10 years ago.

Ineeda Laundry and Cleaners - started out doing home laundry but by the 50s I think it was mostly commercial and industrial laundry and linen supply. Used to see their trucks all the time.

You're right.  Maybe I'm confusing Charlie and Luke.

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Zone d' erotico was originally a Roy Rogers Roast Beef, then Rolando's or Roland's, I think, a burger joint, then Luke's.