H-Town Genius

Looks like it was torn down in the 1980s, as it is gone by 1989.

On 1/3/2014 at 8:34 PM, 9075 said:

I remember Wolfe Nursery on Beechnut.  Just west of the nursery was Builder's Square, which was briefly redeveloped into a store called Pace; after that it was torn down to make way for Lowe's.  Next door to Builder's Square was a Toy Store called Children's Palace, which was later redeveloped into a music store.  I think a bike store is there now?

 

A few more memories:

• Sharpstown Mall was still respectable in the early part of the decade, but we stopped shopping there around 1995 because of the increased crime in the parking lot.
• A redeveloped Meyerland Plaza opened ~1996
• Video Central rented VHS tapes and video games.
• The Rockets and the Houston Aeros played their games in the Summit, which later became Compaq Center, which later became Lakewood Church.
• There were large street parties held on the Richmond strip after the Rockets won the Championship two years in a row.
• There was a lot of vacant land along the south side of 59 between S. Shepherd and 610 that was redeveloped towards the end of the decade.
• An outdoor concert venue called "Lone Star Amphitheater" was located on Westpark, just outside of 610.  It was later converted into a church called "Prayer Mountain".  I think it was demolished in the late '90s to make room for the Westpark Tollway.
• Many of the high-rise condo towers around the Galleria were built in the later part of the decade.
• The Houston Chronicle bought the Houston Post in the early part of the decade.
• The Bel-Air Theater on Bellaire Blvd closed, and was converted to an indoor playland for kids called "Discovery Zone".
• "Celebration Station" on 59 and "Fame City" on Beechnut were popular places for kids.
• The Village Arcade shopping center opened in Rice Village (~1994?).  A few years later, The Village Arcade II opened on the next block.
• The Hard Rock Cafe was still on Kirby, and it had a '60s-era Thunderbird mounted on a pole.
• There was a car dealership (Buick or Cadillac?) on the SE corner of S Shepherd and Westheimer in the early part of the decade.  Across the street was an Academy Sporting Goods Store and an Oak Farms Dairy facility.
• Dietrich Coffee House on Westheimer was a great place to hang out and people watch.
• Bookstop on S. Shepherd was an awesome book store.
• There was a movie theater on West Gray (Cineplex Odeon?).
• The Jeff Davis hospital sat abandoned on Allen Parkway as a giant creepy Art Deco monument.
• A blighted Allen Parkway Village sat next door, adding to the creepiness.
• The rice mills were still standing on Studemont in the early part of the decade.
• Washington Avenue and the surrounding area was in pretty rough shape.
• We would roll up the car windows and lock the doors when we drove through the Heights area.
• The long-vacant Rice Hotel downtown was renovated and re-opened as the "Rice Lofts."  "Enron Field" opened about the same time.  There was a lot of hope that these developments would revitialize downtown.  They eventually did, but I think it took much longer than everyone anticipated.
• It snowed in the early part of the decade (~1992 or 1993?)
• There were some big floods around 1995 or 1996 that caused many businesses and schools to close.  I seem to remember there being a lot of damage in the Kingwood area.

I've been to that Discovery Zone on Bellaire, for a birthday party in like 1997 or something. The snow was in February 1993, I remember looking out from a medical building on I-10 east (my father was having his back looked at) and seeing the snow falling.

On 1/5/2014 at 7:48 PM, IronTiger said:

Earlier poster said it was Studemont. I believe the only rice mill left in Houston proper is the Gulf Pacific Co. one on 290, which will almost certainly be torn down for the highway redevelopment. Sigh...http://www.emoticons.free.fr/smileys/Emotion-No/no3.gif

It's still standing.

Hurricane Ike in 2008.

The airport was named "Howard R. Hughes Airport" from 1938 to 1940; Hughes was responsible for several improvements to the airport, including its first control tower, built in 1938. The airport's name was changed back to Houston Municipal because Hughes was alive at the time and regulations did not allow federal improvement funds to an airport named after a living person. The 1940 terminal building (now a museum) shows "Houston Municipal Airport", so the change was probably made by 1940. I have no idea what the mission was that was transferred to Sweetwater, but Houston Municipal did hold WASP classes in 1943. Houston Municipal became Houston International in 1954 and William P. Hobby Airport in 1967.

Tropical Storm Allison in 1989 (not to be confused with the 2001 storm). I was born just hours after that storm hit.

Does anyone know about the possible tornado that ripped part of the roof off Frazier Elementary on the northwest side in 1997?

On 1/5/2014 at 0:57 PM, ChannelTwoNews said:

I distinctly recall a huge warehouse fire near downtown, or at least within the Loop... maybe early 1995 or 96? I think it took a few days to get completely out. I definitely remember that one of the stations (I think it was 2) kept cutting into whatever sports were on during the weekend to show the aerial shots.

 

I also remember a Two Pesos opened in my hometown and closed not too long after the whole court case involving Taco Cabana came to an end. Still waiting for a replacement TC.

 

Also, RABDARGAB

 

 

 

 

 

It was the Houston Distribution Inc. warehouse off of Market St. in June 1995; it was on the northeast side near Loop 610 and I-10, near the Budweiser plant