tmariar

There are hundreds of books on the assasination but I still havent heard if they actually spent the night here?

Rice Hotel staff would have had 1st hand account of events of that evening I guess, but with father time & people slowing passing away all that knowledge will be lost forever I'm afraid.

I don't know - with all the conspiracy buffs out there, I bet there is a pretty good record of the days leading up to the assassination. Here's one source with some pretty detailed info. It says they stayed at the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth the night before the assassination. I suspect that the suite in the photo I cited above was there just for Kennedy's convenience while he stopped in at the Rice for dinner.

I think they stayed the night in Fort Worth, although the legend is that he spent his last night at the Rice.

Yeah, while I'd heard growing up that they spent the night here, I saw a news article when that new bit of film of the motorcade just surfaced recently, and it said they spent the night of the 21st in Fort Worth (and had flown to Texas that day, making stops in multiple cities before Fort Worth). He could have stayed other times, though.

Don't know the story behind it, especially in light of the above, but check out this Chronicle photo captioned: "A rocker sits in John F. Kennedy's suite at the Rice Hotel, November 22, 1963."

Looking for contact info on Mr. Olajuwon. Does anyone have any ideas of how to get into contact with him? I'm a student at UHCL and would like to do an article on his recent purchase of the West Mansion and would like to try to interview him or one of his representatives.

Mandy - From what I've heard, nobody has been able to speak directly with Mr. Olajuwon about this. I think that any communications have been with one of the agents whose email addresses I linked to in post #8 above. David Cook is the person I've seen comment in articles. Good luck with your paper!

The only recent news I heard was the GHPA report that Preservation Texas added the River Oaks shopping center and theater, and the Alabama theater, to its 2007 list of "Texas' Most Endangered Historic Places". Along with the West Mansion and a large portion of Galveston. Can't hurt, I guess - particularly given that the future of the theaters and the shopping center hasn't been as hot a topic as it once was, in the absence of any recent developments, good or bad.

There are quite a few brick sidewalks in the Old Sixth Ward. This has led many to conjecture that the city used to build brick sidewalks, but in the 1890s it was mentioned in the paper that indivudual homeowners were responsible for building the brick sidewalks in the Sixth Ward and the editor was encouraging others in the neighborhood to do the same.

I'm not sure how much light this sheds on the issue, but I ran across a letter to the editor in the October 28, 1892 edition of the Houston Daily Post that states in part as follows:

The remainder of the letter, from Ed A. Osler, discussed the need for public electric lighting.

Colorized version here.

Thanks for sharing the photos! Didn't check to see if these others had previously been posted here, but there are TCH photos posted on other sites from 1958 and 1959. Many of them are (mildly) entertaining publicity shots of LBJ or "Tarzan" lending a hand with the eponymous children, but there are some exterior shots as well. The site with the 1959 photo has a large and interesting collection of historic postcards/photos of healthcare facilities in Houston and other Texas cities.

That would be Jim West Jr, not to be confused with Jim West Sr. who actually built the house. Sr. died in the 1940's and his wife Jessie in the 1950's. In his will he stipulated that the house was not to be used as a private residence again. I hope they can save the house, it's very cool.

Oops! Thanks for the clarification, 2fatcats. I was afraid I might have mixed up the two to some extent, as the background information I found didn't always make the distinction between father and son. I think the house has been tied in the public's imagination to "Silver Dollar Jim" West (the photo of the house and cars above, for example, is labeled as if it were the son's house), but I believe you're correct - the house was built by Jim West, Sr. (who doesn't sound as eccentric). The Historical Commission write-up makes that clear.

Looks like I didn't get too far in my '80's club list before I got distracted looking at old flyers. But here are some from my list:

6400 - ~1987-89 - 6400 Richmond

The Agora - ~1985 - Windsor Plaza

Apocalypse Monster Club (AMC) - ~1987 - Near Ellington Field

Beejay's - 1984-86

Cabaret Voltaire I - ~1984 - 22 N. Chenevert

Cabaret Voltaire II - 1985-86

Cabaret Voltaire III - 1986 - 2524 McKinney - I think the space became the Axiom, then Catal Huyuk (93-94), then Harvey's

Caribana

Confetti

International Club - 200 block Westheimer - Black Flag played there in 1985

Maceba Theater - Husker Du, Butthole Surfers, New Order

NRG - ~1986-88

The Ocean Club

Omni - ~1982 - 1540 Westheimer - D.R.I. played there

Paragon

Phideaux - 5735 Westheimer - Husker Du played there in 1986

Power Tools - Franklin

Red Square

Rock Island - 4700 Main - Known as Paradise Island before it became Rock Island - Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys played there

Therapy

Visions - 1986-88

Xcess - 1988-89 - 5134 Richmond

I didn't get to go to most of these - I was lucky if I got to go to an all-ages show at Numbers. Thought others might remember some of them, though. The Maceba Theater sounded especially interesting from what little I read about it. There seemed to be confusion about where NRG was located.

Power Tools - that was a funny place.

Does anyone remember a club on Main almost under the elevated section of 59? It was close to where Wendys is now I think. It was a slam-dance kind of place. I'm pretty sure that was the location, but my memory may be fuzzy on it.

Yeah, Rock Island was at 4700 Main. I didn't ever go there (too young, I'm guessing), but did make it a couple of times to the last of the three incarnations of Cabaret Voltaire, another good punk club, right before it closed (they were probably letting anyone in at that point). There's a lot of good information/photos/flyers at Houston Punk Archives. I gathered a bunch of information about 80's clubs in Houston once a while ago, in a fit of nostalgia, and will see if I can find it. Those were fun days (nights).

nm5k -

You've got the right guy - he was definitely a big part of the mythology that surrounded Houston and Texas for much of the last century. I still haven't gotten to read Blood and Money yet, but there's more about "Silver Dollar Jim" West here (plus a truly great photo of him). I also found a 1958 TIME Magazine article along the same lines, plus a couple of TIME Magazine references to him (here and here) in articles on eccentricity. He was even mentioned in a National Geographic article. Texas Monthly, in their December 1999 issue, named him "Comical Texan of the Century".

West owned the West Building on Main at Walker, which (I think) is still standing. A book I have on Houston street names says that there is a "Jim West Street" in Bellaire, that West named the street himself, and that he also named other streets in Bellaire (Dorothy, Darsey, Mildred, Cynthia, Jane, Effie, Valerie, Betty, Lula, Edith, Bess, Vivian) after the women who worked in his office and the wives of his partners.

The Johnson Space Center was built on land that was once part of his 30,000-acre ranch, hence the close proximity of the West Mansion to JSC. Here's an early photo of "Silver Dollar Jim" West's house and cars. (In a prior HAIF topic, the cars were identified as a Chrysler Airflow and two Chrysler Imperials.) The land his ranch was on also now encompasses Armand Bayou Nature Center. When Pappas owned the house, there used to be a big American Cancer Society fundraiser held there every year - the Silver Dollar Ball - with performers such as the Dixie Chicks and Jerry Jeff Walker.

Many of the articles posted about the mansion and/or West himself mention his numerous contributions to the city of Houston - and I hope that such civic contributions are as much a part of the Houstonian/Texan stereotype that West embodied as some of the entertaining aspects of his personality. Preserving the West Mansion would be a fitting memorial to the man and the considerable role he played in our city's history - saving an early-20th-Century architectural landmark building in a part of the city that has few others from that era would obviously be a bonus. It's just frustrating that the only contact information I've found for trying to convey some of this to Mr. Olajuwon is email addresses for the Cushman & Wakefield agents representing him in the sale (see HAIF forum discussion moved to Other Neighborhoods). Mr. Olajuwon has apparently received (hopefully reliable) offers that contemplate the preservation of the home, but I don't know enough about Cushman & Wakefield to know whether they would pass on to him emails or other communications (like those posted by HAIF members) urging him to accept one of those offers even if it diminishes somewhat the profit he (and possibly they) would make from the sale - presumably they would.

If nothing else, it's good to see the house discussed, and Jim West remembered, on this forum. Thanks.

Thanks to both of you for the reference to the article in Houston House & Home. Those are some great old pictures - taken from the "Civics" section of the May 11, 1930 issue of the Houston Gargoyle.* I especially liked this photo of the playroom done in "zigzag Moderne style":

Here's the full article:

DOWN AT THE VILLA: WILL A HANDFUL OF FADED NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS SOON BE ALL THAT'S LEFT OF THE LANDMARK WEST MANSION ON CLEAR LAKE?

By Linda Barth

On busy East NASA Parkway, just past Space Center Boulevard, you still can see through mossdraped oaks an enchanting villa built in Italian Renaissance Revival style. Lumber and oil magnate James M. West and his wife, Jessie, commissioned Houston architect Joseph Finger to build the house in the 1920s on what was then their 30,000-acre ranch. The house was unusual for its place and time. While mansions were being constructed in rural areas on Long Island or Westchester County, New York, in the 1920s, most large houses in Texas were built on a smaller scale in country club settings. And they were not being built in Italian style; Spanish Colonial was more popular. The Wests boldly situated their Italianate home with Art Deco and Moderne flourishes on the then-unpopulated north shore of Clear Lake between Houston and Galveston. At 17,000 square feet, the villa was one of the largest residences built in Texas in the 1920s, and no cost was spared for the interiors richly finished with exotic tile and marble, inlaid woods, fine paneling, stenciled ceilings and leaded glass. Considered one of the finest examples of 1920s residential architecture in Texas, the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. It is also notable as a significant work of architect Finger, who designed Houston City Hall, Houston Municipal Airport (William P. Hobby Airport), Jefferson Davis Hospital and the Clark and Courts Building. The West villa has survived several hurricanes; vagrants who illegally used the property when it was vacant 1941-1969; conversion to a conference center for Brown & Root executives and then for Rice University; and conversion to a research facility for NASA scientists. But it might not survive real estate developers today who may choose to demolish it for apartment projects or retail office development.

THE ENDANGERED LIST

The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (GHPA) has added the James & Jessie West Mansion on Clear Lake to the organization's Endangered Buildings List. In October, former Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon purchased the Italian Renaissance mansion and its 41-acre site from the Pappas family. The restaurant owners had held the remnants of the former West estate for more than a decade. Olajuwon immediately put the waterfront property back on the market. The site on NASA Parkway at Space Center Boulevard is being offered for subdivision use and may be sold for high-rise residential projects or retail/office development. “Over the years, GHPA has been approached by a variety of individuals and small organizations who wanted to acquire the West Mansion and operate it as a museum, but were never able to develop viable financial plans,” says GHPA Executive Director Ramona Davis. “We had hoped that Mr. Olajuwon would use his resources to preserve this extremely important property as he did with his adaptive reuse of the Houston National Bank building on Main Street,” says Davis. “That has proven to be wishful thinking.” David Cook of Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial real estate firm representing the sale of the West Mansion property, declined to speak directly to House & Home about the fate of the house on the property. Connie Lewis of Cushman & Wakefield returned our calls to Cook. “We are not in a position right now to show the property or discuss it,” Lewis said. “The owners are working on a land plan, and that's what we are waiting for.” Cook has represented Olajuwon in several real estate transactions.

HISTORIC LISTINGS NO PROTECTION

Neither its national nor state historic designations would prevent the building's demolition, although National Register listing means the property is eligible for substantial federal preservation tax credits if the house is restored to high standards. The city of Pasadena has annexed the West Mansion and its grounds. Pasadena has weak land-use regulations and no historic preservation ordinance, which would offer the only local protections. The house's exterior, noted for its superlative cast-concrete classical decoration, looks much like it did in the 1930s. While the furniture and many decorative fixtures have been removed, the house is otherwise largely intact and unaltered. In addition to the mansion, the wooded site includes the original tennis court with twin gazebos, historic swimming pool and changing rooms, nine-car garage and manager's house. West sold the ranch to Humble Oil in 1939, but kept the mansion and grounds. After West's death in 1941, his wife never returned to the property. Humble Oil purchased the house and remaining land from Mrs. West's estate in 1953. Eight years later, the oil company donated the mansion and 21 acres to Rice University, which later purchased additional acreage. Humble Oil donated an adjacent 1,000 acres as the site of what is now the Johnson Space Center. From 1969 to 1991, the mansion housed the Lunar Science Institute (later Lunar and Planetary Institute). Rice University again took possession after the institute vacated the house. Rice sold the property to the Pappas family, who, in turn, sold the back portion of the land for apartment/condo development. “Despite the intrusions, the property retains a very high degree of architectural and historical integrity,” says David Bush, GHPA's information director. “We will continue our efforts to focus attention on this significant property and increase public awareness of the threats to this designated Texas landmark.”

*Houston Gargoyle:

Looking for more information on this magazine, I found a 1928 TIME Magazine article called "Texas Magazines", which read in part:

"Ioway, Ioway, that's where the tall corn grows... By thy rivers gently flowing, Illinoize, Illinoize...

Songs are all right. They go handily from mouth to mouth. But certainly the sovereign states of the U. S. have matters of more permanent value than dithyrambs. Texas has. What does it do with them? It puts them into a new magazine called Bunker's Monthly, 160 pages of eye-easy type. Does Vermont (native state of Calvin Coolidge) fill as many pages each month with readable material of its own efforts? No. Does Iowa (home state of Average American Citizen Roy Lewis Gray) do as well? No.

Texas, of course, was once a republic in itself, a land where tradition makes bloody Alamo a Bunker Hill and Sam Houston a George Washington. It is now the largest state in the Union, the seat of the Democratic National Convention (at Houston). Bunker's Monthly, however, is no passing boom sheet, no harp twanging the glories of yesteryear. It is substantial in size, pleasing in appearance, broad in editorial content. New Yorkers and Californians can read it with profit.

....

Bank Robbers. An immediate problem in Texas is revealed in the February Bunker's Monthly by W. M. Massie, president of the Texas Bankers' Association. He writes an article justifying his organization's standing offer of reward posted in 1,500 banks: $5,000 for each DEAD ROBBER. Not one cent for a hundred live ones. Mr. Massie believes that live bank robbers 'rarely are identified, more rarely convicted, and most rarely kept in the penitentiary when sent there--all of which operations are troublesome and costly.' He points with a banker's pride & joy to the three dead and two wounded robbers, the captured gang and the single successful burglary during the six weeks which the $5,000 rewards have been in effect. He neglects to state that two innocent Mexicans were shot in front of a bank in Midland, Tex., for the sake of rewards--a fact which caused the distant New York World to cry: '[This shows] how vicious it is to meddle with the principles and processes of the law.'

Houston Gargoyle. The Texan younger generation, by no means entirely given to bank robbing, is reading with gusto a weekly, entitled the Houston Gargoyle, which appeared in January. A sample of its humor may be found on a page headed, 'I Hereby Resolve': Al Smith--'That I will join the Ku Klux Klan and invite Bill McAdoo to have a cup of tea.' McAdoo--'That I will accept Al's invitation and surprise him by bringing a wee drappie on the hip.'"

Thought that was interesting. I hadn't previously heard of Bunker's Monthly or the Houston Gargoyle.

My apologies for posting on the same topic in two different forums, but I thought there might be people on this forum who, like me, missed the original discussion on this in the Real Estate forum. As others of you already know, GHPA added the West Mansion to their Endangered Buildings List. Links to articles and other background information have been posted here, on the other forum, but I'll include some links again here for those interested:

1/13/07 Chronicle article

10/25/06 Chronicle article

12/6/06 NYT article re Hakeem Olajuwon's real estate investments

GHPA Endangered Buildings List

Texas Historical Commission write-up