Decaf

In the 60's we lived in the southeast neighborhood of Overbrook, and because of my allergies, my mom would drive me to the medical center every Friday for a weekly allergy shot. From time to time mom would combine these allergy clinic visits with a downtown shopping visit to Foley's and of course drag me with her. It was during one of those of those downtown treks that I discovered Howard's Fun Shop nearby Foleys. What a magical experience for a kid! There was a cowbell on the door to alert employees of our entrance. I'm not sure if Howard was still alive when I discovered his fun shop as it would have been at least 1968 if not later, but I relish the various magic trick demonstrations which they showed during my visits. I still have a hand buzzer from Howard's that I purchased as a child, but all the other tricks I purchased from that shop have unfortunately seem to have disappeared. I remember a plastic egg with balls trick and a disappearing coin trick which were mesmerizing to me at the time.

The only thing that I haven't heard discussed on this forum (maybe I missed it) is that at the glass showcase, at least during the late sixties, they had a lot of adult-only nudie card sets, pens w/nudie pics, racy cigarette lighters, etc. that were probably a lot of fun for grown-ups of that era. Those kinds of adult gag gifts are unfortunately probably considered too politically incorrect for today's social climate. God bless Howard.
 

I used to frequent that Buffalo Speedway Luby's quite a bit in the 90's/early 2000's. One of the things I recall is how often I would see sports reporter Kenny Hand and Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman there. I'd bet Kenny Hand ate there almost every day judging by how often I saw him.

Even with that retirement home behind them and Greenway Plaza right across the freeway, that Luby's location was usually uncrowded, which was one of the reasons I went there often.. but unfortunately probably why they closed it. Not sure why that Luby's wasn't more crowded, but it may have been due to competition from Cleburne's cafeteria just blocks away. Cleburne's has great food, but significantly more expensive than Luby's, and longer lines too.

Ronnie Hallenberger was the manager at that Luby's for years before he left around 2002-ish to become a manager at Los Tios. I still run into him from time to time at the Los Tios Beechnut location.

I wasn't pleased with Luby's change several years back when they switched from having the tea refill ladies, to now having table servers hustling for tips. Luby's website says that they have 21 Houston Luby's locations not counting surrounding areas like Katy and Pearland. I wish they'd open one off I-10 near Spring Branch/Memorial. Since the Town & Country Luby's closed a couple of years ago to make room for new construction, there's no Luby's or any other cafeteria I'm aware of between Mason Rd. Katy and the Luby's galleria.