nm5k

>I also remember seeing in the late 60's or early 70's a drunk driving PSA that I only saw once, but I swear I didn't dream it. It had a guy dressed like the Grim Reaper in a series of still B&W >pictures - I remember back in the 60's I was staying at my grandparents in AR.. One night they showed a grisly show about drunk drivers.."Little Rock TV" I'm talking spare no details.. Grisly... They showed scraping what was left of a girl off the highway using a snow shovel.. Kid you not.. Lots of other grisly mangled people pix.. I'd never seen anything like it before, or since.. My TV memory goes back to the late 50's.. I can remember when Ike was prez, and him and his bald head were one of my first TV memories.. We watched all the usual shows.. Gunsmoke, 77 sunset strip, Perry Mason, Lucy, etc... I have also watched the space program since day one.. I remember the mercury missions quite well, even now. MK

>What used to be where the driveway is now located? All of the buildings have stairs that lead down to the driveway. It used to be a big parking lot, all the way from the bull @ anchor, to the parking lot that dominoes is on, all the way back to about halfway between chimney rock, and W. bellfort. There used to be a hill of dirt adjoining chimney rock, and many used to ride bikes there. At the south side of the parking lot, "at the back, if you came in on W.Bellfort, there used to be brick stairs that led to an elevated sidewalk. I think originally the sidewalk may have actually connected to the square near rumpleheimers, but in the later years, it was closed off. So they would leave their cars, and instead go up one of the stairways that you see. There were at least two sets.. One at bull @ anchor, and I think there was another one down by where the candle shop used to be. When the square was going, you could pull in the parking lot at the entrance at B @ A, and drive all the way around, across the back, and then you could come back out at the east entrance which was near dominoes.. All in the middle was parking spaces, the usual westbury square type of parking lot lights, etc.. You can probably see most of that still intact on the '95 picture recently posted. MK

I'm pretty sure I saw 4-5 of them play at Johnston Jr. High at a school concert. In fact, I think one of them may well have been John Hill. That was in 1970-71. John Hill , along with a few of the others played a lot of schools. I don't know if he was still a member when Joan Hill died. He was kicked out of the band at the time of the "Kurth" affair, due to some of the wives complaining about him showing up in public with her, while still married to Joan. He still played his other gigs though.. The schools, etc.. Now that I think back on it, I'm fairly sure one of the guys I saw playing at the school was most likely John Hill. MK

I'd never seen that pix... Wonder where it was taken.. I think the last public place they were out together was the "wild game" dinner thing that they went to a few days before she got sick. But they also went to quite a few other places.. They were regulars at the "Stables" in those years. Probably a few other places too.. They also showed up at various musical functions.. BTW, I may be way off base, but judging from the description of the dress they buried her in, in "blood and money" , it's possible the dress she is wearing in that picture may well be the dress she was buried in. Not sure though.. Matches the overall description though.. Of course, can't see the color. If it's gold, that may well be it.. MK

Has the look of an ex-store or gas station from many years ago. I don't think that place was born as a house per say... MK

Yea, I remember Marios now... I forgot all about that place.. It was still there when I moved here.. So I guess they left, and Al-Beto's came in sometime between 69 and say 72 or so.. I started working there about 73 I think. I think that location is now about where the lumber is in Home despot... MK

Those are pretty early pictures.. I never saw westbury square with grass around the piazza.. When I moved here in 69, all that was already covered up with cement, tiles, etc... Was wall to wall covered, with no grass anywhere. So I'd guestimate that card was from the early to mid 60's..Judging from the clothes worn, I'd say about 63-64-65?? The middle pix shows where I worked in the early 70's.. "Al -betos". "The shop with the red door" But... In that pix, the sign seems to not say Al-betos, but something else.. So maybe that was a different restaurant at that time..?? Hard to read the sign though... I remember I used to like to buy the short scented candles from the candle shop.. They would have wood bins full of those things, in all flavors and scents... You could buy them fairly cheap.. I used to like the Vanilla scented ones... Strawberry was pretty good too.. MK

I oughta do a research on the Houston Amateur radio history to add to what you all have.. It predates the commercial radio. There were Houston ham stations going in the teens for sure. The addresses and names/calls can be found in old call books, QST magazines, etc. IE: I had a copy of the first QST "1915" somewhere, and I think it had a short station list. But I haven't been able to find it yet.. I have 100's of old QST's going back to the 30's. The reproduction of the first QST was included in a 1955 40th year annv. issue.. The first ham calls were usually made up by the user... Then they started using the area numbers to establish some order around the country, and then the commerce dept. stepped in and started licensing. Then a bit later the FCC was established. Thats when the A,K,N,W kicked in. IE: A ham call of "5MK" became "W5MK", when the fcc took over. MK

What really kicked off the decline of Westbury Square was the Gallaria. When it first opened, it was quite a big deal with all the shops, and skating rink, etc. So it drew away quite a bit of people that would have gone to Westbury Square. Also, Westbury Squares shops were more into the sort of offbeat stuff, with some exceptions, where as the Gallaria had a lot of big names, and other smaller shops. Probably more variety in the overall scheme of things. BTW, the building formally known as Exxon is not the same as the Conaco. The Conaco was more on Chimney Rock. I've been trying to decide exactly where it was.. I was thinking pretty close to the corner, near the pizza place, but after thinking about it, it's quite possible it was in the building that now houses one of the car repair places.. It's fenced in now, and has junk cars laying around. I think that might have been the old Conaco, but I'm still not totally sure as it's been so long. In fact... It's possible the car repair joint was once a different station, and the Conoco was closer to the corner at W. Bellfort, but I may be way off on that... But I used to buy gas at that Conaco when I first started driving, so I know it was more on Chimney Rock, than Bellfort as far as it's likely address. For some reason I keep thinking the Conoco was near the corner, and you could get to it from either Bellfort by making the curved turn, or Chimney Rock, which would put it about where the Pizza place is. But if not, it was where the car repair place is.. The car repair place at Chimney Rock and Burdine was once a Gulf station, with a 7-11 next door. A red brick Texaco was across the street where the present newer store/gas station is. For some reason, I'm thinking the discount tire might have been a gas station also at some point, but time is killing my memory... I should know what it was before, but danged if I can remember... It's just not something I've thought about through the years to keep in my brain... :/ It may have been a different company auto repair, or tire shop. I don't think firestone though, as firestone was in the weingartens center. The auto repair place in that center was the old firestone. I remember I bought my first portable shortwave radio there. "Philco". That was about 1971.. Actually, that repair place doesn't look too bad. It's enclosed, and no junk cars laying around. It's the places that have the fenced areas, "both on Chimney Rock", that look the worst. They have lots of junk, cars, etc laying around... The one north of W. Bellfort being the worst usually. Wrecked cars, boats, junk, etc.. I've never really minded the place at the weingartens center.. It's never had that problem. Once they close their doors, there is not much to see really.. MK

Yea, CVS pulled out not too long ago. Is the shoe shop still there? I haven't actually looked lately. It was run by an old guy that was once in a nazi concentration camp. He had the numbers on his arm to prove it. His son took it over as far as I know. His name is Alex, and is usually over at the S. Post Oak location by Annies burger joint. MK

I knew a few people that lived on Cedarhurst. I think Cunningham was probably the one at W. Bellfort and Post Oak. I can't remember what name the one in the centerette had, but I remember it being open when I moved here in 69. Dugans was the one next to Weingartens. In it's prime, the Bellfort side of the centerette was pretty full. You had U-totem, a barber shop, a womens hair salon, a Baskin Robbins , a cleaners, and Toby's adult beverage store. *hic* The enco/exxon.. I wish I could buy gas for that price now.. Also...There was once a Conaco station about where the Pizza place is now.. I almost forgot about that place... But I used to go there when I first started driving. It sticks out, cuz they used to sell 5 grades of gas back then. Course, I used premium, as I drove a 65 impala with a 396... :/ At one time, I guy I knew had a A/C and heat office in one of those back in the 80's. They sold stuff like solar water heaters, etc.. Scarfed many a burger/taco/whatever at Jack in the Crack.. We used to hang out there late at night in the summer back in the 70's... Used to have the front sliding window you could order if on foot.. The "Weingartens" center has been there a while too. When I moved here, it was Weingartens, a Dugans drug, Brittains broiler burger, a shoe shop, the barber shop, a TG&Y. A firestone. Maybe more, but I ferget... Of course, back then the bank was Westbury Square National Bank. Of all those the barber shop still lives in basically the same location and even chair config... :/ Not sure about the shoe shop.. I knew the owners of that, and I know he also has one on S Post Oak, but not sure if he still owns the one on Bellfort or not. If so, it's pretty much the same too I'm sure. MK

Actually, Bobby Vandiver had already broken into the front door when Hills son answered the door. He and Hills mother had been waiting for the Hills to return from a trip from the west coast. Bobby Vandiver knocked on the door, and the son answered it, and he forced his way into the house where he tied the two up. Then the Hills drove up, and the wife went up to the door first. Vandiver tried to pull her into the house, but then John Hill came up behind her and got her away some how. She then ran off across the yard to a neighbors. He then got into a skuffle with Bobby Vandiver and Vandiver won by shooting him about three times I think before Hill went down. Anyway, Vandiver was the one that actually answered the door. The Hills were on the outside fixing to come in the house. One thing I often wonder about... I wonder what happened to John Hills music room he was so nuts over. It was supposed to be one wang doodler of a music room. Louis Erath built all the speakers, etc.. Was supposed to be miles of wiring. The furnishings were supposed to be pretty up town too.. Kinda like being at a baby music hall or something.. As far as I'm concerned, "Blood and Money" is the only book worth reading about it. The rest are all later copycats, or ways to cash in by certain participants of the tale.. Blood and Money gives a pretty good glimpse of what life in Houston was like in the 50's 60's, if you had a Texas size bank account. It mentions various people, places, ect. MK

Don't remember Yumbo ham-burger, but yea, Mels...Thats the name..Pretty sure. I also wonder what will ever become of the bowling alley. They have it fenced up, but it all pretty much looks intact. Been vacant for a long time.. At least I think it's vacant... I don't know when it was built, but I guess in the late 50's judging from the way it used to look inside.. It used to have a little restarant inside at the front. It seems to be there in the 1960 pix. MK

There was a Wyatts at S. Post Oak and W. Bellfort. Long gone... I don't get to too many cafeterias these days.. I'm never at the right place at the right time.. But if I do, I almost always get chicken fried steak, cream gravy, etc, etc... It's hard to find half decent chicken fried steak, and at least most of the cafeterias have it, and is usually fairly decent. I also like to stage raids on the local all you can eat chinese places.. IE: china border is almost the same place as the old wyatts.. I usually kill about 3-4-5 heaping plate fulls. I like those cuz I can pick n choose. I usually hog up most the pepper steak, shrimp, fish, pork, etc.. I don't waste much time on the veggie rabbit food.. I might kill off an egg roll or two though, during the process of calorie inhalation. MK

I was about 5-10 minutes behind him. At that time, there was already a pretty large cloud. I was going north on 610, and turning east to 59 right in front of the Post building. At that time, I wasn't exactly sure what chemical it was, but I quickly rolled up my windows, and then pretty much floored it through the cloud. Pretty much a non event as far as I was concerned.. I was in a speedy new chevy Monte Carlo as I remember. I had no problems myself, and quickly found out what it was on the radio. I also remember all that dead grass and plant life.. Looked like Nebraska in January... :/ BTW, I'm not even close to being a native Houstonian... :/ I was actually born in Dallas, and have also lived in Tyler Tx, OK City OK, Pasadena TX, Wichita KS, Merriam KS, and back here to Houston again for a 2nd round of abuse.. But I guess I have lived here longer than some native Houstonites if they are fairly low mileage flesh units.. MK

Hummm, the circuit board didn't change too much. It's more the low price of new TV's than anything. You can fix the solid state TV's, but like you say, the labor will often run more than the cost of a new set, unless the set is big. There are still a few TV shops, but I don't see how they stay afloat unless they do warranty work. It's quite common for a solid state TV to only need a new capacitor that might cost 35 cents to fix a seemingly large problem. The small electrolytic caps are often next to other parts that generate a lot of heat, and then they run hot, dry out, and flake out. Same for puter monitors.. But you have to know what you are doing, and looking for. Not quite like the old days when just blindly swapping a tube out might fix it. Say if you had a flaky 10 mf electrolytic that was causing a problem.. You need to be able to know what circuit is likely to be flaking out. Then you can use a chiller spray, or heat from a hair dryer to pinpoint the area the cap is in. Of course, many sets do eventually toast out with fried flyback tranny's, etc, but the vast majority of "bad" TV's and monitors can be fixed with parts costing chump change. Many have popped transisters, which are cheap.. As the price of TV's keep dropping, more people just buy new ones, rather than trying to get fixed. It's the same for small air conditioners.. IE: 5000 btu room size models. I used to change many fan motors in those when the price of a new unit was more than a motor and labor. But not the case any more with the home depots, etc selling new units for 100 bucks.. No way will I change a motor for that price.. So I don't see any more of those.. Even the servicing of larger window units has dropped off quite a bit.. BTW, I have my own tube testers here at the house.. One is a sencore, and one is a hickock.. Both are pretty good. I still have an old 1958 transoceanic too sitting under the table here.. Have a 1948 RCA radio/phono console on the other side of the room.. Lots of older tube ham radio gear too. Mostly Drakes... MK

Those can pretty pretty neat, but I prefer the actual panoramic photo's.. There are many of both types at the library of congress website. I've got a load of them on my hard drive. I like the photo's, as you can see the actual people, horses, cars, etc, in the pictures. There are a few of Houston. I've got all of them I think, starting from about 1909, and onward.. They also have many other cities around the country and world. MK

I flew into IAH in Nov 1969. That was when we moved here from K.C. Came in on a braniff 727.. That was when all the braniff planes had the funky day glo colors.. I think ours was kind of a baby doo-doo green.. :/ I didn't see much of it, just where we actually went in the terminal. But I remember it being nearly brand new. MK

That would make sense, as the info I read on the "silver dollar" Jim West, that liked to ride around with the police, died in about 1957 or thereabouts.. I didn't realize they had two of them. MK

Dunno, knowing past Houstonians, that story might not be so far fetched.. Sounds like something they might do, if money was flush, and they really wanted to impress the prez.. MK

I got to spend the night on that ship back in the mid 80's. We had set up a ham radio special events station on it, using the combat information center as our radio shack. They still had all the old wooden case, face up screen, radar sets from the end of WW2. The next day, I got to take a really long tour of the place. I could go anywhere that wasn't chained off, and pretty much had the run of the place. Pretty neat.. The only bummer part was the original radio room was chained off at that time, and I could see very little of it. I understand that lately some local hams have overhauled that radio room, and installed a working ham station in it. So it may be opened by now. It was in the winter when we were on it, cold too. I almost froze to death on that thing that night. The all metal structure really conducts and then retains the cold. :/ MK

I think he was the one that used to keep silver dollars in racks at his house. He used to have servants polish them up real shiny.. Then he would take a bunch of them and go ride around town in his limo throwing them at the poor lessers that would come across his path. While he was doing that, the servants at home would be refilling the racks with fresh polished dollars for his next trip around town. Course, I might be mistaking him for someone else, but I think it was him. This tale was told in the book, "blood and money", the story about John and Joan Hill in river oaks. MK

I also have some video of the 73 snow, taken in Westbury. I converted it to file, but have never got around to uploading it anywhere.. MK

I remember we used to go get the motorcycle styrofoam "crates" that the bikes came in. Usually, at westbury yamaha. Then we would use them as boats and ride them down the bayous. :/ MK