marketingwiz

That would have been Hwy. 290 but I do not recall a Gabs anything and I'm a native as well as an Aggie so I traveled Hwy. 290 frequently. Guess I just missed it.

The top 20 best things about Houston in the 80s:

1. Los Troncos Restaurant on Westheimer (now Marco's)
   
2. The ORIGINAL Westheimer Art Festival
   
3. The Rolling Stones at the Astrodome
   
4. Elan
   
5. Ninfa's on Navigation
   
6. Midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Alabama Theater
   
7. The San Jacinto Inn
   
8. Confetti
   
9. Urban Cowboy (stereotypes and all)
   
10. the ORIGINAL Armando's on S. Shepherd (long before the socialite invasion, when Armando actually knew who you were)
    
11. Watching Divine perform at #'s
    
12. Cruising Westheimer on Fri. and Sat. night
    
13. Mary's Biker Bar
    
14. Cody's
    
15. Boston Sea Party
    
16. Margo's LaMode and Sakowitz
    
17. Butera's Deli
    
18. Jamails Grocery Store
    
19. One's A Meal
    
20. Gilley's
    

OH, and KLOL, Rock 101, 'Crash' in your dash!

Cougar and Kerleq, thanks SO much for your contributions! The information you both provided is fascinating and I especially enjoyed hearing about your Aunt's personal experiences with Freedman and his associates, including movie stars from back in the day. I do remember my first visit to Las Vegas in the mid-60s with my parents and we stayed at the Sahara Hotel, which is now long gone. The entertainers performing there were Pat Boone and Harry James. My mother was beside herself because she saw both Harry James and his wife, the old Hollywood movie star, Betty Grable, at the hotel bar. And keeping in mind that this was long before LV became 'kid friendly,' I saw these tall, magnificent showgirls tanning topless at the Sahara pool to avoid tan lines. My mother threw a towel over my head and took me back to our room until it was "safe" to return.

I see your Confetti and Power Tools and raise you a Cardi's and Island!

Ah yes, Cardi's. When we first started dating, my husband and I saw a small start-up band there in the early 80's........let's see now, what was its name........oh yeah, U2.

We now live in Westbury and for awhile, there appeared to be some 'hold-out' residents living in the second floor apartments at Westbury Square, most notably in the front section facing W. Bellfort near a main entrance overlooking the parking lot. There were two balconies filled with potted plants and a TV dish. But around early 2010, those balconies were cleared off and it appears that this iconic shopping center may indeed be getting closer to demolition. My husband grew up in Bellaire and vividly remembers his teen years 'hanging out' at Westbury Square and the even cooler people who rented apartments there. My 15 y/o son recently rode his bike over there and shot some photos of the remaining debris. I'll post soon. It's sad.

We always parked and went in right at Sakowitz. Sakowitz had a great little candy counter with the chocolate coins and suckers with little faces in them. But we always made it down the mall to the popcorn. If you find that time machine please let me know. Now I'm craving an Orange Julius. When I was little I thought they tasted like St. Josephs aspirin.

OMG, I always thought Orange Julius tasted like St. Joseph aspirin, too! MUCH better than Bayer children's aspirin, which for some reason my mother insisted on buying more often than St. Joseph, probably because I told her St. Jo's tasted better.

Life Magazine Images

Gosh, I hope I inserted the link correctly. If not, my apologies, but the link should take you to Google's Life Magazine Photo Archives that has some terrific shots of everything Houston, including interiors of the Astrodome and Hofheinz's private suites and entertainment rooms. Or Google this, houston astrodome source:life. I think the photography is stunning.

I'm not sure why my comments didn't show with the photos I downloaded, but I found these in the HUGE Life Magazine photo archives under McCarthy. These were the only ones I could find of the family at home but I knew I had seen at least one photo of them inside, in addition to the ginormous covered porch.

The only family photograph I remember seeing is from that time frame but the family standing out front (Time magazine):

Here is a cropped view of the 1960 photo.

Here is the area currently.

Pardon my ineptness, but I cannot tell from the first photo (cropped 60's shot) where the mansion, driveway, etc. is. I'm assuming it's still standing in the 1960 pic but I cannot see it. Can anyone enlighten me as to where the structure/compound is shown on the early photo? I try to use the 'star' and 'diamond' shapes that were etched into the yard to pinpoint its location but don't see them. Thanks in advance for your help.

Whatever happened to 'squatterkid,' the person who started this thread? I thought his adventures were fascinating. Anyone know?

Someone has purchased this home and there is activity. Over the weekend and today around noon, I saw workers there with pickups parked outside on the circle drive and a construction dumpster next to the house parallel with Rice. I'm hoping that someone has plans to remodel and embrace the 'Formica-ness' that this home brings from the past.

I drive by that house more than 2X/day and there is yet another For Sale sign; new Realtor. I feel sorry for the Formica House.

Now that I've seen the interior pictures of that place on Facebook, I"ll say one thing for sure...Bill List had lousy taste in interior design. :-) It was just like a standard 60's70's middle-class suburban house, just with many more rooms and an indoor swimming pool. Check out that living room with gold shag rug, low ceiling and rock wall. And these staircases with ironwork banisters that I presume were intended to make the house look fancy but did the opposite -- they just looked tacky. (As I recall, fancy ironwork bainsters were already considered passe by late 70's when I understand that place was built.) To sum it up....Mafia meets Brady Bunch.

I read a description of it somewhere on-line that called the mansion's interior design 'a Holiday Inn on acid.' They might just be right. More like a really baaaaaad trip.

I found this interesting profile on Facebook (Todville Mansion) that has some great interior and exterior photos of what the mansion looked like after the murders and during its heavy 'party days. I think you'll enjoy it. It's been difficult to find any photos of the place at all.

I happen to know the woman that bought the spiral staircase from the List Mansion and now has it in her house. Her husband and her bought the staircase when they were tearing down the mansion.

I was there yesterday as she is moving to Denver and is selling everything that she can not take with her and took a pic of the staircase as it is now.

When the homeowner told me that it is was the actual staircase where the murder occurred I just had to take a pic. When we were high school in the early 90's we always passed by the "Murder Mansion" because it was so spooky looking.

Just thought I would share this random info. Hope you enjoy the info.

How macabre...... I'd have to have that thing torn out, no offense to your friend.

Anyone know what's going on at this Shell station? They took out the underground tanks and the pumps last week. They backfilled the hole and the windows and doors have been boarded up since.

flipper

P.S. It looks like the Shell is open for business again.

Wistfully, I remember the 5-7-9 Shop and my ability to legitimately shop there. Just add a zero to the end of each figure to calculate my current size.

Did anyone mention Margo's LaMode? I actually had one of their credit cards.

Now that you mention it, I noticed that there was a white lady sitting outside, when I drove by, when I backed up to do a double-take on that Weingarten gem, and get an address. Just thought, she must be used to this, by now. Frankly, I don't care what color the people are, as long as they love & take care of those beauties. That front beveled glass is what caught my eye initially.

Oh, and I would like to see that film you all talk about, heard of it many yrs. ago.

I managed to snag a copy from the director, Jon Schwartz, no less, when I went to its most recent screening last April (I believe) at the Museum of Fine Arts. I wasn't able to stay for the 2+ hour film but I did buy a copy from the director who was there to present his documentary. Last time I checked, you could buy a DVD from the MFA gift shop. It's worth a check.

My husband and I drove around the remaining parking lot yesterday and it appears that someone still lives in a second floor apartment facing W. Bellfort. I thought all residents had been instructed to leave but there are plants and a small outdoor grill on the balcony as well as a couple of cars parked in front. We plan on touring on foot and taking a few snaps before 'the end' comes. My husband grew up in Bellaire and remembers Westbury Square as the coolest and hippest place in Houston during its heyday.

Thanks for the Pics Susan. That place is hideous. And thats crazy that he was somehow connected to the Karla Faye Tucker crud too...

That place has 'evil' written all over it. I don't think I'd even want to step inside. And someone earlier in this thread mentioned the existence of a strange bathroom that looked more like a locker room with toilets lined up against the wall. Well Mr. List was quite the sexual deviant, as it turns out, although he claims he never made anyone do anything they didn't want to do. One of his regular house boys was quoted as saying that he vomited after being asked and paid to watch List in action with some fresh meat he picked up in Montrose. I'm guessing it was some pretty hard-core stuff. Check it out online.

Actually, the killer's name was Karla Faye Tucker. I have no idea where that other name came from, but it's out there in so many places that it does turn up in a Google search.

That's it, Tucker. Thanks for the heads up, Filio. Boy would I love to see the photos that accompanied the '85 article in its original format. I've emailed the Chronicle to see if there is anyway to include the photos with the archived feature story. I hope to hear back soon.

some memories of meyerland - circa late 50's-early 60's

separate water fountains - good topic for another thread - I had same experience with my parents as the

poster to this thread who mentioned about it.

At 55, I remember separate water fountains AND laundromats, or washaterias, whatever. My mother yanked me away from a "colored" water fountain when I was about six because I wanted to see what color or colors the water would be when I pressed the button. I envisioned a water rainbow! (The 'colored' water basin was black, btw.) I was further confused when we moved from Ft. Worth to a small town and had to use the local laundromat until our new washer/dryer arrived. In my naivete, I thought my mother could only wash our white laundry there because the sign read "no coloreds." Ah....the innocence of youth.

Just learned something a little odd. Bill List was the biological father of Ron Carlton. Ron was the brother of Debbie Thornton, one of the victims in the Karla Faye pick axe murder. Bill left when Ron was three and he was raised by his step father. The police thought Bill List might have hired someone to kill Debbie because she was to testify against him for tax evasion. Not sure if he was also Debbies father.

I read on-line that Bill List was indeed Debbie Thornton's father. The article pointed out how both father and daughter had died violent deaths. Just 'Google' Debbie Thornton or Carla Faye Baker.