john Lopez

Thank you very much.

are you the john lopez on 610?

Nope, not me.

Jl

Anyone remember the name of the Creole restaurant on Richmond at about Stanford, just East of Montrose? It was on the south side of the street and in a house, I think. I ate there in late sixties, early seventies.

One basement club was Poor Willie's Pub, overlooking Buffalo Bayou. My band played there for a while. La Bastille was downstairs also..

Shuckers is still open in the Galleria.

Does anyone recall the Windswept Inn? It was a home cooking/family style restaurant on a side street off of 45 North, south of BW 8 area. I remember going there as a kid in the mid 70's with my grandparents. They would bring huge (huge to a 5 year old) bowls of mashed potatoes, greens, beans, and platters of fried chicken and chicken fried steaks.

Shuckers is still open in the Galleria.

Does anyone recall the Windswept Inn? It was a home cooking/family style restaurant on a side street off of 45 North, south of BW 8 area. I remember going there as a kid in the mid 70's with my grandparents. They would bring huge (huge to a 5 year old) bowls of mashed potatoes, greens, beans, and platters of fried chicken and chicken fried steaks.

Renu's, a Thai restaurant on Westheimer near Commonwealth. They had a dish called "Tiger Cries", and I'm drooling just thinking about it.

We used to eat there at least once a week and at Mrs.Me's. They were the first Thai and Vietnamese places in town, I believe. Yes, the Tiger Cries were on our plate at each visit.

I really appreciate the pictures, I have not been in the neighborhood since 1977, really. the last time I was on the "square" was probably about 1975.

Why it started down is a mystery to me, it has all the elements of "new urbansim" (see my comments in the wikopedia discussion of the square). Hippies loitered in the square from about 1967 on, so thats not the reason. But when cargo houston went down, that seemed to be the beggining of the end. The specialty shops lasted till sometime in the 1970s. I heard that some company bought the square a few years after the townhouses were added. They supposedly put in a theater, or were going to put on in. I believe the story was that the company was owned by the chinese import store, which used to face the central fountain, now apparently the home depot lumber place. It seemed retail sails began lagging in the mid 70s, and possibly it was competition with the newly created Galleria?

One problem I think was that there was not enough to do. ie needed more restaraunts with a variety of prices, and more entertainment venues. It seemed the main reason to go to the square was atmosphere and to purchase specialty retail items. I used to make sand candles with scents from the scent shop, and wax supplies from the candle shop. I bought classic San Francisco rock concert posters at Cargo within weeks of famous concerts. A;sp bought blacklight posters at the Electric Paisley, and I became a black light artist myself, painting a number of bedroom murals for friends in Westbury.Also Indian prints beadspreads, paper mache tiffany lamps. What was missing was a book store and a large record shop.

The westbury centerrette (sic) sign may be the oldest surviving thing in westbury. I am sure it is the original and I expect the center predates the square and certainly the weingartens plaza. The trampoline place was the last building on the side facing away from belfort but near chimney rock.

sadly the conoco that was replaced by the now abandoned exxon was a classic modern style station, with a tile mural on front, a streamlined carport, it was one of the best pieces of architecture around, and deserved preservation status.

Unfortunately, WS suffered from a common malady in the Seventies, (in Houston,) white flight. As a few people of color began to buy in Westbury, there was a mass exodus to move further out. This was (and maybe still is?)a weird ritual in Houston. You can find many neighborhoods and subdivisions that suffered from this. I never quite understood the panic mentality but I was very aware of it's existence.

So, does anyone have any stories about "Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine"? Other than the name, all I know is vague stuff I have heard about it being "the" psychadelic nightclub in Houston in the late 1960s, and it was located by Allen's Landing.

I hung out there a lot. I played in a few rock bands that played around market square, The Cellar, poor Willies Pub, etc. I almost got arrested for falling asleep in Love Street, "sleeping in a public place" violation. It was a cool place to hang in the sixties/seventies.

I have been trying to think of the name and location of this one for years. Seemed to be the center of Mexican culture in houston, especially late at night.

Another one I cant remember the name of was a place on Canal that served the best black bean refritos with huevos rancheros.

El Rancho on Canal?

Thanks John, Thats the place. Wasn't it on a corner and the entrance was on the side street? That was so many years ago. It was the first mexican restaurant I was ever taken to as a child.

I don't remember the side enter thing. I ate there until it closed, maybe early 70's. Was my favorite Tex Mex joint for a long time.

Maybe I remember a Playland Park, too. I remember us going to another amusement park, and I thought that I could see from it the neon "rock" of the logo of the Prudential building. Is that possible? Was Playland Park near that Prudential building? If it was, then it's possible that my memory is still good after over 40 years.

Chet Cuccia

Every year, in the 50's & early 60's, Playland Park had "back to School" party. Houston Press had 1 coupon each day during summer, & was good for 1 free ride. We would collect coupons from anyone that would give to us, ride bus from Near North Side to Playland, & ride Roller Coaster 30 or 40 times. Used to see the Houston Wrestlers of Paul Bosch at the party every year.

There was also a Huge public swimming pool near there. Gateway Swim? Had a big bubble at bottom of deep end you could swim down to and actually breathe inside the bubble.... can't quite remember how that worked... hummmmm

I was a student at the Hallie Pritchard School of Dance in the 70's. Her dancers had many opportunities to perform on the Don Mahoney and Jeana Claire show. It was taped on Friday nights at channel 39 on Westpark. I remember how scratchy the bales of hay were to sit on with our costumes on. I ripped many a pair of hose on those! Don Mahoney was always kind and would call us over after the performance to ask our names and how long we had been dancing and such. Poor thing, though, he was losing his eyesight and really couldn't even make out where you were standing and had to feel around for the cowbell.

I do remember that after we taped the show, we would go to I think Antonio's Flying Pizza on Fondren for dinner.

If anyone has access to any of these old shows or would know if anyone had copies of them, I would love to get a memory from my youth!

I was student at hallie Pritchard in 50's. I was on Don mahoney/Jeana Claire many times. I was a goofy kid but I had a blast there..

Back in the 60's, my Mom and Grandmother used to take my brother and I to a mexican food restaurant called Berthas. All I remember was the food was good and the restaurant was in a big white house with big columns on the porch. It seems like it was close to downtown. You parked on the street and walked up a long sidewalk to the porch.

There was also another mexican restaurant that used to be a house but it was located on Canal, south of downtown. Can't recall the name. Does anyone remember these?

The place on Canal was El Rancho. My family used to go there ofter in 50's & 60's.