tmariar

I don't expect Weingarten to spare the theater unless it is legally required to do so, or believes it is in its interest to do so. In the absence of an historical preservation ordinance with teeth, however, it does not necessarily follow that those who would see the theater saved have no ability to influence WR's decision short of raising the money to buy or lease the theather. PR and similar concerns will enter into WR's decision only to the extent they impact WR's expected profit. Still, I think it is theoretically possible that a well-organized anti-demolition effort could influence WR's decision, as long as it was not focused solely on the theater itself, but also on a larger historical preservation goal - for these reasons: I think saving the theater would require a large number of Houstonians to sign a pledge that they would boycott any retail or residential development that replaces the theater (and perhaps any retail in the shopping center as a whole that opened in a location previously occupied by an historic shopping center building), commit to picketing both for a couple/few hours prior to demolition and for a couple/few hours after any demolition, and give real contact information so that organizers could follow up on the picketing pledge for scheduling purposes. Key to this effort, though, would be looking beyond the fate of the theater and planning to actually follow through with the boycott and picketing should the theater be destroyed. (Which would require organizers who could follow up with those who had pledged to picket and ensure that there are picketers covering any retail development during prime hours and any residential development during key periods of the sales/leasing phase.) If the people signing the pledge weren't clearly prepared to act even after the destruction of the theater, then WR would have no reason to believe they are a threat to their profits. The way the pledgers can communicate that they are serious about boycotts/picketing after any demolition, and still work to avoid demolition, is to picket (and perhaps even boycott) prior to the destruction of the theater at the new development on the corner, and emphasize that their concerns are larger than just the theater. This is already too long, so hopefully I don't need to explain how financial impacts on businesses that open where historic ROSC structures used to stand would financially impact WR. I really do think something along those lines could save the theater if even 1/10 the number of people who have already signed the existing online petition would seriously commit to boycotting and picketing before and after the demolition. I'd do it (I'm planning to boycott anyhow), but wouldn't commit the extra time to being an organizer. Which I hope isn't being hypocritical, as I'm not actually urging anyone to do anything - just saying what I think it would take to save the theater without passing a real historical preservation ordinance or purchasing or leasing the theater.

Some Chron articles about the train/locomotive: 12/24/2007 ("On Jan. 1, after 50 years of operation, Hermann Park's beloved miniature train will chug to a halt. In March, a newer version, with wider cars for adults, will start running, allowing visitors to tour the park as before but also connect to the Museum of Natural Science and the Metrorail.") 12/18/2007 (new train) 6/11/2007 ("Louis Slusky built Playland Park, with its giant Cyclone rollercoaster, as well as Meyer Park Speedway, where hot rods raced on a dirt racetrack. His son, Elliott, has been overseeing Buffalo Rides' management of the train concession . . . . 'I think they started the train, Playland Park and the Speedway all about the same time,' . . . . 'The family really made a contribution to Houston's history.'") 8/26/2005 ("REFUGIO Medina, of Statewide Bucket Truck Services, makes a final check Thursday night before the Southern Pacific Steam Engine 982 leaves its longtime spot in Hermann Park for a location near Minute Maid Park in downtown. Although it's moving just four miles away, the locomotive is traveling a circuitous 20-mile route along the most obstruction-free path. The move, which began at 11:15 p.m., was expected to be done by dawn.") 8/24/2005 ("The train has been at Hermann Park since 1957, when it was donated by Southern Pacific to the Houston Junior Chamber and the city. 'She's been in the park for almost 50 years so I think a lot of people are sad at the thought of her leaving,' . . . . But the move makes way for the continuing revitalization of Hermann Park and 'it's really a coming home for her,' . . . . The new location is adjacent to the renovated Union Station, the city's historic train depot, now part of Minute Maid Park. The engine will also be closer to the former Southern Pacific Grand Central Station and the first railroad in Texas.") 7/9/2005 ("The locomotive, built by Baldwin Locomotive in 1919, will end up just across from Minute Maid Park on an existing green space in the 600 block of Avenida de las Americas at Texas. . . . The locomotive operated throughout Texas until 1957. It has been in Hermann Park since then, donated by Southern Pacific to the Houston Junior Chamber and the city of Houston. . . . The planned move is dubbed Operation Choo Choo II and will be vastly different from the original Operation Choo Choo in 1957, when then-Mayor Pro Tem Louie Welch spearheaded the move from downtown to Hermann. Over four days in 1957, workers leapfrogged panels of track down Fannin as others pushed the 188-ton engine while tractors pulled. Houstonians lined the streets to gawk.") 12/20/1996 (about restoration of locomotive) 12/13/1996 (locomotive rusty and decaying) 7/17/1993 ("The locomotive was retired from service in 1957 and headed for the scrapyard when local rail buffs convinced the city to provide a home for it. The engine, built in 1919, was moved off the regular San Antonio and Aransas Pass rail line at Blodgett Street near downtown and onto a set of temporary tracks. From there, it was moved down Fannin to the park, where it has been on display ever since. . . . The engine was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Eddystone, Pennsylvania and sold for $70,162 to the Southern Pacific Railroad for use in California and the West Coast. In 1922 the engine was sold to the Galveston, Houston and San Antonio Railroad and began a long career in Texas and the southeast states. Designed to haul freight at speeds up to 60 mph, the oil-fired engine underwent numerous modifications and alterations throughout its life. During World War II the country needed every locomotive it could get and the 982 was equipped with heat lines for steam-heated passenger cars. It was also modified to allow for faster speeds and was probably used for hauling troops during the war. After the war, it continued in service and was used mostly on the Houston-to-Shreveport line and was dubbed the 'Rabbit' by its crewmen. By the 1950s, diesel-powered engines were becoming more and more popular and the older steam locomotives were being replaced at a rapid rate. After traveling 3.5 million miles, the engine and others of its kind were shunted to a side yard and scheduled for scrapping. However, train buffs asked the city to step in and preserve one locomotive. They were told no funds were available, but the Jaycees came forward and raised the money needed to move the engine. It took a week to move the 982 to the park, and it was finally dedicated in ceremonies held on June 2, 1957.") 1/18/97 ("The stationmaster announces, 'All aboard the Missouri-Kansas-Texas special to San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Muskogee, Vinita, Parsons and Kansas City.' The children wave. The stationmaster waves back." (about the train crew))

There was some mention of it in this thread.

Ran across this pretty cool photo of the Brazos Hotel. It's from a book electronically published by Rice University.

This is a pretty interesting article about Heiner. He also designed the Brashear Building at 910 Prairie. Isuredid posted this picture of it previously (it's on the right):

From an article on the fire in the 3/20/1919 Galveston newspaper (I'm guessing at a few words because the copy is bad): "Houston, Tex., March 19 - What was once the old Houston Academy and later reconstructed into the Central High School was destroyed by fire last night. The oldest educational institution in the city, it was a private school and erected by several of the prominent and progressive citizens of the 50's. Colonel [?] Smith was the first principal of the school and remained with it until the end of the first year, when Professor [?] succeeded him. It changed hands several times following that and the property was finally sold at public auction. The building is a peculiar structure, having many alleyways which digress throughout the building. At unexpected [?] all over that large and twilight-[?] cavern were secret cubby holes. Closets existed under stairways in dark [places?], and it would remind a person of [some?] of the buildings which might have been found in the Arabian Night days. As for the history of the Central High School, the Houston Normal and High School was organized in [1878?]. It opened in three back rooms of the Masonic Temple at Main and Capitol at that time. The school had an enrollment of forty-five pupils the first year. It kept growing until in [1881?] it took over the present building which it has occupied up to the present time." Also: 1/25/1921 - "Houston, Tex., Jan. 24 - The new Central High School building, which has been in course of construction for several months, was opened this morning to 700 pupils who have been attending school at the South End Junior High School since the burning of the old Central High School."

That's what I saw, too. There's a lot of information in a 9/20/1894 article in the Galveston paper. I will try to attach an excerpt of the requirements for the building on which the plans were based. [Postcard image from this site.]

I don't have an answer, but that question has come up in other threads before - including this one. I think people generally agree that the bayou itself is "Brays" bayou.

That about sums it up!

The pronunciation of San Felipe issue has come up in other threads. The old-school (San PHIL-u-pee) pronunciation I always figured revealed an awareness that Felipe is the Spanish form of "Philip" (and perhaps also has something to do with the Texan habit of sometimes (certainly not always) pronouncing "e" as "i" (e.g., for many Texans, "pen" and "pin" are homophones; "get" becomes "git"; etc.)). The "ee" at the end, who knows - maybe it's just because the name looked like Philip with an "e" on the end, maybe it's because of the pronunciation of "Penelope", maybe it's because of the American pattern of mispronuncing French words/names like fricassee, Desiree, Aimee, etc. While I grew up with the old-school pronunciation, and so that sounds right to me, many newer or younger Houstonians say "San Phu-LEE-pay", and I think that may become the more common pronunciation over time. It's not really incorrect as much as it's not the traditional Houston pronunciation. I take some pleasure in perpetuating the traditional pronunciation - not just because I'm a native, but also because I think it's interesting (like Refugio being Refurio, Behar being Bear, etc.). Pronunication varies from place to place and over time. The fact that an English-language word or American place name has a foreign or foreign-lanugage origin doesn't mean that an anglicized pronunciation is "incorrect". Just as the American pronunciation of "garage" isn't more correct than the British pronunciation just because it's closer to the French pronunciation - and the British pronunciation isn't more correct because it (I'm guessing) came before the American. And the fact that in neither country is "garage" pronounced exactly as it would be in France doesn't mean both the British and American pronunciations are incorrect. The more acceptance a given pronunciation has, the harder it is to call it "incorrect" per se. (Though I tend to ignore that in arguing that our pronunciation of the city "Houston" is more correct than the New York pronunciation of their "Houston" street - I think that the surname Houston comes from a Scottish parish originally called "Hughstown".) Ok - enough of my amateur linguistics - just thought I'd give my opinion.

I'm on your side on that issue. See the comment left here - A great-nephew of Daniel Shepherd says that there was a similar article that appeared in the Chronicle on November 4, 1922. He thinks that Hinton was not aware of the article when he wrote the book. In Hinton's defense (not that he was really being criticized), his was not the first book to conclude that Benjamin Shepherd is the street's namesake (for example, Marguerite Johnston reached the same conclusion), and Hinton's preface notes that, in some cases, he had to resort to an informed guess. I'm thinking, too, that even the Daily News wasn't ocr'd (for full-text searching) when Hinton wrote his book. As isuredid and I have discussed previously, Hinton's entry for Airline is very likely also incorrect (as isuredid pointed out, the road is too old to have been named after an actual airline - A GDN search supported an attribution in line with this wiki page). I'll try sometime to post something about Mound Street becoming part of West Alabama - something I saw the other day suggested there may be an interesting railroad-related story there, too. Which reminds me: I love this thread, as the origins of local street names and changes to them really interest me, but I wish that there were individual threads for many of the streets/changes discussed in it. Behind many names and name-changes is a mini-volume of Houston history, and I think some of it never gets added here as the focus shifts so quickly from street to street. I think the job of separating out the various topics raised above, if it were even possible to do so, is beyond the call of the mods' duties. But maybe in the future, if a question about a given street or name change is raised in this thread, and I have more than a little information to post, I'll start a new topic and put the information there.

Ooh - nice photo. Hope you don't mind, but I added it to a short blog entry on Japanese rice farmers in Houston. (Say the word, and I'll take it down - I just haven't made it out there to take my own photos yet.) I do hope that most Houstonians are familiar with the early contributions of Japanese-Americans in this area. I guess they are more obvious in some parts of town than others, though.

It was shot in Seabrook, Kemah, and Galveston.

The movie is based on Steve McVicker's true-crime book "I Love You Phillip Morris". So I'm guessing that most of the story is set in Houston or Galveston. You can search for references to Galveston in the book on the Amazon site.

I was wondering about the pool, which was referenced in the GHPA write-up: "This finely detailed 18-story skyscraper was the first high-rise office building constructed outside downtown Houston. Architect Kenneth Franzheim designed the building as regional headquarters for the Prudential Insurance Co. At the time, Prudential introduced a high level of amenities for its employees including convenient parking, generous landscaped grounds, public art, tennis courts and a tropically planted swimming pool court (the pool has been filled). The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has owned and occupied the building since 1975. The Prudential Building is scheduled to be demolished and replaced by a new facility within the next four years. GHPA has been in contact with M.D. Anderson, but the institution's administration is not interested in preserving the building."

Or his father - see HAIF discussion here.

From the John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center healthcare facilities postcards site.

Sorry - had misplaced my copy of the book, but just found it. It doesn't include Gulf Bank, that I can see. There is an entry "West" that discusses Simeon West, who "platted the town of Deer Park."

http://www.uthouston.edu/index/maps/building/hmb_front.jpg http://images.chron.com/photos/2008/04/07/10778164/311xInlineGallery.jpg Excerpt from a recent Houston Chronicle article: The wrecking ball is not a subtle art critic, but its opinion counts. And when it razes M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's 18-story administration tower next year, it will give a big thumbs down to Peter Hurd's 16-by-47-foot mural depicting life on a West Texas farm. For 56 years, visitors to the building at 1100 Holcombe have been greeted by the mural's colorful array of galloping horses, mounds of produce and hard-working farm folk bursting with good health. For five years, a New Mexico gallery owned by the artist's son desperately - but unsuccessfully - has looked for someone to save the painting. The painting is free. But the cost of removing it from the curved wall in the building's foyer, restoring it and installing it elsewhere likely would exceed $500,000. "We are working with several universities and private individuals," said Ann Hale, director of the Hurd La Rinconada Gallery in San Patricio, N.M., "but so far there are no real solid prospects. People do want the mural. They'd be delighted to have it, but they would have to take on the responsibility of moving it. ... We have until about this August to find a new home for it." Hale placed the mural's value at more than $3 million. The fate of Hurd's work, which was painted in the early 1950s in the lobby of what then was the Prudential Life Insurance building, is the latest controversy facing M.D. Anderson in its quest to tear the structure down. Local and state preservationists have protested the demolition, noting the tower, designed by Houston architect Kenneth Franzheim, was the first corporate high-rise erected outside downtown Houston. 1961 photo of the building. GHPA mention of the building as endangered. Some prior HAIF discussion of the building comes up in this thread and other threads - but I didn't see one devoted to the subject.

I posted a few photos of Houston's Busch Gardens, and some 1970's newspaper article excerpts about the park, here. In answer to the question above - Wikipedia says that Houston is the only Texas city with an Anheuser-Busch brewery.

Here's another random (possible) newspaper mention - I'll include the full text, as it's a mini ghost story (this is from the March 18, 1956 edition of Forrest Lord's recurring column "Gulf Breezes" in the Galveston paper - subject, dreams; ellipses and phrasing as in original): "But back to the ghost of the girl who invaded the privacy of my room soon after I came to Texas, I stopped one night at Helena Court in Houston . . . shortly after going to sleep I awoke . . . saw the form of a woman clearly revealed in the moonlight which came through the partially opened shutters . . . she wore no clothes, jet-black hair fell to her waist . . . she moved in my direction . . . and in the pattern of dreams this was the moment for me to wake up and realize I was dreaming . . . but here's the odd sequel . . . I got out of bed expecting the vision to vanish . . . it didn't until I took a step in her direction . . . when she slowly dissolved into the filmy window drapes. We turned on the bathroom light . . . tried the locked door . . . tossed on some clothes and went outside seeking a solution of the mystery . . . there was none. The few friends to whom we have related this experience have raised an eyebrow and come back with some kind of crack, like 'Lord, you'd better lay off that midnight snack of milk and pickles.' Yet, she was there . . . we saw her . . . but never before in substance and never since." Re the location of the Avalon Theater - it sounds like the 1958 article was talking about the same Helena, then. Here's another postcard (the seller estimates it's from the "1930's or possibly 1940's", but I don't know the basis for that):

Don't know how much this helps, but I found a June 1958 newspaper article mentioning that Diana Barrymore was staying at the "Helena Motel" while in Houston to star in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at the Avalon Theater, and that the Helena Motel was "near" the theater. Based on Sev's info, it may be a different place - I don't know where the Avalon Theater was [though I saw a random reference somewhere to it being on "75th Street"]. Or the newspaper could have just been sloppy with the name. (Barrymore was actually recuperating from the measles at the time, but apparently performed despite being ill: "'Measles or not, darling, I'm going on,' the daughter of the famed John Barrymore told her doctor just before Friday night's performance." She apparently killed herself in January 1960 - a year and a half later - sad.)

The project was mentioned on Swamplot. With a name like Wayside Retail Center, I'd say a strip center is a good bet.

I think others will have additional tips for you, but here are a few getting-started suggestions: (1) Check HCAD for an appoximate date that the house was built (note that HCAD often has wrong info, though). The HCAD maps may also show the most specific neighborhood name applicable for neighborhood research. (2) Check the city directories in the Houston Metropolitan Research Center for information such as the first year in which the address appears, and the names of prior owners. (The directories will be to your right, in a corner near the entrance, as you go in the entrance - look for a bunch of books on the shelves with dates on the spine, or just ask one of the helpful staff members.) (3) Post a question here on HAIF regarding your specific neighborhood's history. [Looks like I duplicated some of sevfiv's suggestions - I don't know how to access the Sanborn maps, but I think sev has posted on this elsewhere.]

Interesting... I haven't been in there recently and will have to take a look. I think the picture on the left below shows the tall interior wall that I always thought was hiding the old building. As for the building at Main and Franklin, here are some newspaper snippets: 1886: "The Light Guard opened their new armory and club-room to-night. It is situated over the Commercial bank, on the corner of Franklin and Main streets." 1906, in an article about working telegraph operators being assaulted by striking telegraph workers: "The second attack was made last night upon the working operators by those who recently went out on a strike. The scene of the difficulty was the intersection of Franklin avenue and Main street, between the First National Bank and the offices of the Western Union Company." 1885: "The Western Union Telegraph company's office is to be moved about the 1st of May to No. 28 Main street, the building formerly occupied by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railroad as offices." 1885: "At 1 o'clock to-day Alexander Russel, in charge of the construction of the Gul, Colorado and Santa Fe telegraph lines, completed an additional wire from Galveston to Houston, connecting with the Baltimore and Ohio line on the corner of Main and Franklin streets." 1905: "This [fire] box is located on a corner [at the instersection of Main and Franklin] where stand the two biggest bank buildings in the city, the Southern Pacific and the Western Union Telegraph offices." Don't know if any of that helps at all. But it does suggest there was a Commercial Bank building at or near the same location before 1909 - probably an earlier building.