gonzo1976

http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/

JR's site has some great links this month, including an old schools downloadable book, a new UH Houston history link - digital photos site, and an article on Sakowitz...thank you JR Gonzales.

My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it.

Neat, I can see Astroworld and Colt Stadium

Speaking of the Gulf Bank area, does anyone know where the old Humble tanks used to be on U.S. 75? I'm working on an upcoming blog post that has a reference to the Humble tanks north of Houston.

I was thinking it's that Exxon facility south of I-45 and Gulf Bank today, but I wasn't sure.

I just call the freeways by their numbers, unless I'm trying to be real specific in regards to directions or locations.

I've never heard anyone call 288 the South Freeway, or 59 the Eastex Freeway, or I-10 East the Baytown East Freeway (though I like the BEast nickname).

In the late 1950s, the city of Houston annexed Oak Forest and Kathryn Smith Elementary. Apparently, there was some kind of law at that time that said anything in the city had to be part of HISD, so AISD had to cede Oak Forest and Kathryn Smith Elementary to HISD. That law must have been recinded a few years later because I've seen articles from the time Acres Homes was annexed in the 1960s or 1970s that said AISD would not be forced to cede that area.

Smith was still part of Aldine by 1958. I've seen a picture that shows a black family being rejected from admitting their children to the school.

You are so right. The restaurant had no windows, the red vinyl chairs with placemats built into the tables. Remember the chip baskets with the maple sugar candy at the bottom? I do remember the Sound Warehouse, too. Do you remember Victoria Station?

No memories of Victoria Station though it sounds familiar. And yep! I remember the chip baskets, too!

I'll check and see if we have any Greenspoint Mall photos sometime.

Great that J.R. was able to share those Chron photos with us!

It was my pleasure!

The Google Images/Life magazine collection also has some color photos of the monorail available for viewing.

Remember University Savings by Fajitas and Monterey House?

Over the last 30 years, I'm sure my parents and I have spent enough money at that Monterey House to keep it in business. I remember it looking very different back then (no windows if I recall correctly, dimly lit) compared to today.

I also remember the Sound Warehouse next to the Scooby Doo (later a BBQ?) restaurant. Eventually the Sound Warehouse moved across the freeway to the newer shopping center.

I heard there have been some delays and/or disputes. I seem to recall work won't be complete until after 2009.

I wrote about the Jensen/Lyons intersection in a blog post last year. The photo is from 1956

http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/20...en_now_4_1.html

Anyone have any memories of the mall during better times?

Sure do! That was my mall growing up in the '80s.

I remember:

Aladdin's Castle arcade

Babbages, then Electronics Boutique (before the days of EB Games)

Kay Bee toys

Chick-fil-A (though I don't remember it being two stories)

Wyatt's Cafeteria

and finally, General Cinema. I must have seen dozens of films at that theater over the years.

I remember a sculpture that showed some kids on a swing or something like that. I haven't been there in more than 10 years, so I don't know if it's still there.

Now that I think about, I think I spent more time on the Foley's side of the mall than the Joske's/Dillard's/Sears side

3. Grand finally (as we grew older) was seeing The Rolling Stones Concert in 1981. Was it the Start me up Tour? I know they were with ZZ Top & The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Seems like all the party animals in town went! Still have on 8mm film (and my concert jersey).

I wrote about this a few months back. That was the tour to support "Tattoo You."

They played for two nights at the Dome in Oct of that year. One person was fatally stabbed on the first night.

Recordings of the Houston show are available at most major CD stores.

I believe that is some sort of Homeless Center or a poor man's YMCA.

If I'm reading that right, I think it's some sort of nonprofit agency. I drove back there once to get a better look at the post office and for curiousity's sake.

Maybe when he is done with the material he'll give it to a library, etc...

That's his plan. It will probably go to the HMRC.

In Trevia Wooster Beverly's book "At Rest: A Historical Directory of Harris County, Texas, Cemeteries," she says the cemetery is believed to be "under a building at Shepherd and Buffalo Bayou, supposedly now the Hillside Apartments condominiums." This information is unverifable, though, according to the book.

It seems the image of a cat featured prominently in station's image back then.

Let me reassure you that there was no "neat stuff" lost when the City Auditorium was demolished. It was simply a cavernous, all-purpose hall with plain plaster walls and proscenium. The main floor was flat, and seating down there consisted of folding wooden chairs that would occasionally collapse during a performance. A few steps up from the main floor was the "dress circle" which had upholstered seats with broken springs. Above this were the first and second balconies, which were reached by spiral ramps instead of stairs. As a kid, I loved running up and down those things at intermission!

The stage was large and had only basic overhead lighting. Acoustics were terrible, and the sound system was probably pre-WWII. There was no orchestra pit. The street-level lobby always smelled after stale beer.

It also had a rat problem. I need to post something about that, actually.

Don't most counties put jails in out-of-the-way locations? As in, not the city's main waterfront?

When I lived in Columbia, S.C., the jail was way out in some undeveloped area of the county. In Corpus, the jail is next to the County Courthouse. It's close to downtown, but it's not on Ocean Drive or anything like that.

I guess before building a jail in an out-of-the-way spot, one has to consider the cost of transporting newly arrested inmates to that facility, plus shuttling them back to the Criminal Justice Center for court appearances, etc. Considering the size of Harris County, I'm sure that would eat up a fuel budget in no time.

Portland Street in the Heights was changed to Tulane Street to avoid confusion with Cortlandt Street.

Very poor restroom facilities.

In the late 1990s the lines for the women's restrooms would become extremely long during intermission. It got to the point where the men's restrooms were closed off to let the women use it so they wouldn't miss the start of the second act. This was usually for Broadway performances because it tended to draw more people than most other shows.

I'm not 100 percent sure of this, but I believe his family's house is still standing in a neighborhood not from the Museum of Fine Arts. On South Boulevard I think, in one of those beautiful old neighborhoods with large stately looking homes where Houston's "Old Money" families used to live.

I also think "some" of the old Hughes Tool buildings are still standing on Polk Street on the east side. I've been told that the original office building is still there.

Then again, I could be completely wrong.

Close! The Hughes family home on Yoakum is part of the University of St. Thomas campus.

More info can be found here.

i will be checking it out later (but early) in the morning. if something happens tonight (highly unlikely because of aforementioned noise ordinance) hopefully anyone there from this forum can let us know (or Twitter it?)

I'll drive by sometime around 12:30-12:45 a.m. I'll post if anything is going on.

I'll probably drive by then to see what's going on, too.

As of about noon today, the perimeter construction fencing was about halfway constructed.

Wednesday is apparently the day that they can officially demolish, and it also happens to be the same day city council meets to vote on the landmark status of the properties.

I suppose Weingarten can begin demolition at 12:01 a.m., right? The idea that City Council can vote on landmark status for a structure that's undergoing demolition just boggles my mind.