Firebird65

I actually was in two of these pod classrooms (or what Aldine ISD called clusters) for first and second grades. Cluster A for first and Cluster C for second at Hidden Valley Elementary. To be honest, I kind of liked them. I was briefly in a regular classroom for a week in second grade before moving back to a cluster, and I thought it was kind of boring in such a small, confined space. I don't remember having any problems learning in a cluster classroom. So I'm not sure why people these days speak badly of them.

I haven't shopped in a Sears in 22 years. I only go into the one in Memorial City Mall because with so few customers, there's always a place to park in front, and that mall is ALWAYS packed. In an era when indoor malls are dying, someone forgot to tell Memorial City. I refuse to go into Sears because of their insane return policy, at least as of the last time I went there. They wanted, in addition to a receipt (of course) my photo ID, name, address and telephone number, all of which they inputted into the register. I'm not giving them my phone number or address when I have a valid, dated receipt. So I gave them an old phone number I had years before in high school. The clerk inputted it and looked at me funny. "Isabel Rodriguez?" she asked. "That's her," I said, pointing to my Hispanic wife (not named Isabel Rodriguez) next to me. "Oh, OK." I'm surprised she didn't ask my wife for ID as well. Apparently they had/have some sort of database(s), either of the telephone book or of people who have returned things. No thank you. I had a valid, dated receipt... that should have been enough for 1995. (I do understand why they may want an ID today if the return is going back on a credit or debit card, but they definitely don't need my address or phone number.) I've never been back since. I don't think I've missed anything.

Why would you want to put a Randall's there?!? Randall's is closing stores, and likely will go the way of Sears itself soon, seeing how Safeway ruined what made Randall's a market leader in Houston before they bought it. I've never been a fan of Randall's... prices were too high, but their stores were always clean, well-staffed and their employees went out of their way for you. If you were willing to pay for it, I could understand why it was so popular. But now, all Randall's offers is high prices. That and how if you forgot the chips on Super Bowl Sunday you can go into one of their stores right before the game and not have to wait in line they are so devoid of customers. Better to put an HEB or Aldi there... someone with a pulse who's likely to stay around a while rather than someone who might well close the store at a moment's notice.

I had a nice reply on the history of the building, but the site locked up, and I ain't retyping it unless I know someone is going to read it. Nevertheless, to briefly answer your hope above, yes, the cornerstone and several bricks have been saved. They will be part of the AISD Heritage Museum. I am attaching a picture I took of the cornerstone a few years ago.

Wow, that's awesome. Thanks for posting that! Speaking of memories I came across this thread and thought, "What a cool thread. I remember those restaurants." Then I saw that I was the one who created it. Huh? I don't remember that. When did I do that? NINE YEARS AGO! That makes me feel a little better. I'd have been really worried if it was last month and I didn't remember.

Interesting. I used to live in those apartments (Western Ridge, at 3354 Rogerdale). When we first moved in we were excited to have a movie theatre right across the street. One week later, the Tinseltown closed. LOL! I don't know anything about what was at 3350 Rogerdale before, other than I remember Randall's did have some kind of facility. I applied for a job there in the mid 1990s. I do wonder why that empty lot to the south of Western Ridge on Rogerdale at the corner of Westpark has never been developed. I have looked at old aerial photos and once in the 1950s there was a house there. Since then, nothing.

Yes, the PharMor was the big stand-alone building in the southwest corner. It was a pretty big store. I remember Media Play, but I can't remember if I went to that one at Greenspoint Commons or the one in Westchase, as I've lived in both areas.I thought Media Play was pretty cool. Since it didn't last long, I guess I was about the only one. I also liked Marco's Mexican Restaurant. Sure, there were some great and actually better places along Fulton (Doneraki's) and Navigation (Ninfa's), but we had to drive to those. But Marco's was close and one of the first chain places (not saying the only, but one of the first) that helped get lots of ordinary Houstonians interested in other Mexican food besides the ever-present Tex-Mex combo dinner (enchilada/tamale/taco). Nothing wrong with the combo. Don't get me wrong. Now the first time I was introduced to something other than the combo plate was in 1980 during the Astros/Phillies playoff series. My family took some visitors to a Mexican restaurant on I-45 at FM 1960. I believe it is called Ixtapa now. It might well have been a Ninfa's in 1980, but I'm not sure. It was definitely different than Monterrey House. LOL!

Yeah, true. I just found another story that talks about a Webster Airline Road in a 1916 list of Harris County road projects.

Both of these roads came into existence before there were airlines, or air travel, for that matter. So how'd they get their names? A few years back, an author wrote a book on how many historic Houston streets got their names. Airline Drive, the author wrote, got it's name because "that's the route a crow would fly from Houston to Dallas in an air line." Air line in this case means a straight line, not a United or Delta flight. I've found some backup for that in a 1914 Houston Post story regarding road paving projects. In late 1913 Aldine citizens petitioned the county to pave 12 miles of Hardy Street Road (also known outside the city as the Houston-Conroe County Road) from the city limits to the train depot at Aldine. While we're talking about Hardy and not East Montgomery Road (which will eventually be called Airline), Hardy is described in the story as "an air line road." And, of course, like Airline and Stuebner Airline, it is pretty much a ruler-straight road fro the vast majority of its length. I always thought Airline might have also been a place name. When I grew up in Northline Terrace, near Airline Drive) our phone bill said we were in the Airline exchange. I've seen old maps that describe the North Freeway from Crosstimbers to the Shepherd curve as the Airline Freeway. And Airline Drive and Stuebner Airline Drive were not not far apart. But apparently that was wrong. I thought it was interesting. Hopefully if you read this, you did as well.

Found this rather incredible ad while doing some research on Aldine. E.C. Robertson was the Houston promoter who helped put Aldine on the map with several brochures and advertisements from 1908 to about 1912. This may not have been one of his better ideas. Farming with dynamite. LOL!

If you've ever wondered where the name Mt. Houston came from when Houston is as flat as a cardiograph of a corpse, this may be the answer. Here is an ad from a 1909 Houston Post edition talking about the development of the area. Mt. Houston's name is a lot like that of the Heights. It comes from the fact that Mt. Houston's elevation is 31 feet above that of the city. Since the name Heights had already been taken, Mt. Houston seems like an imposing and impressive second choice. Mods, I take it as the ad is 108 years old and the paper and land development companies have long since ceased business, I'm more than OK as far as copyright goes, right?

Looks like I'm about two years late on this reply, but yes, I remember Maggies. Champs, as a few others have already noted, was located in the Deauville shopping center at I-45 and Dyna. Originally it was Jim's, as someone else has already said. Champs was a great place to get a late night/early morning breakfast. The Maggie's was further north on I-45 at Greens Rd. It was behind the shopping center with Birraporetti's and Brown Sugar's BBQ and next to what I think was a Comfort Inn at the time. If memory is correct, I believe they had a toy train running along the top of the walls just under the ceilings (a la Mr. Rogers Neighborhood). Maggie's had some great nachos and for at least awhile, a seafood buffet on Friday nights. The building is still there, and it's still the same pale green, but it doesn't appear to be anything now, although that's hard to see as you fly past on the overpass.

Thank you!

Thank you!

In a 1964 story in my high school's student newspaper, it mentions that two weathermen from a Houston TV station are using data from a weather station installed by the math and science club atop the school. Unfortunately, the story fails to mention which station it is. I guess because everyone in 1964 knows these guys, so it was a little unnecessary at the time, but puts me in a bind as I wasn't around then. The weathermen are named Tom Evans and Chris Chandler. Anyone know which station or stations they worked for?

Thanks! I'm on their website now and have found a great map of NE Harris County that should prove helpful in future research - far better than the 1893 one I've been using. Not sure why I never thought of going in there before. I've only been to the UH library about 1,000 times (OK, an exaggeration, but not by much) since I started this project 11 years ago. I've spent more time in the UH library researching my book than I ever spent in it while I was an actual UH student. LOL!

Outstanding stuff! As I never lived near Almeda Mall or went into it, I never visited this thread. My mistake. I'd heard Almeda and Northwest (which I have been into many a time) were essentially identical. Man, is that true. I've done lots of research using the newspaper microfilms in the Anderson library basement, but I've never been in the special collections room. I know this is very general, but what kind of stuff do they have? I've written a history of my school. Might they have something on Houston area schools? And a friend of mine is obsessed with Foley's and Greenspoint Mall. Since that had this dynamite collection on Almeda, might they have something similar on Greenspoint?

Wow, 521 weeks between replies. Is that a record? Anyone know?

No real action on this thread in quite awhile. But in case anyone does happen to wander in here, I can give an update for anyone interested. Aldine ISD is in the process of building what it calls the Aldine Heritage Museum, dedicated to the history of AISD schools and of the Aldine area. I was a small part of this project as items were being collected. I have seen pretty much everything related to Aldine High School that has been assembled. As a result, I have a pretty thorough history of the school which has enabled me to answer pretty much all of the questions posed in this thread starting a decade ago. I have donated copies of my finished books on the history of Aldine High and the Mustang football team to the museum. There's far too much to post here, but if anyone who used to post or comes across the thread now that it has been bumped up has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I've no idea when or if this museum will ever actually get off the ground. I'm no longer involved. But I do now quite a bit of really good stuff was donated. I hope they do ultimately build it. If I learn any more, I'll be sure to post it here.

No real action on this thread in quite awhile. But in case anyone does happen to wander in here, I can give an update for anyone interested. Aldine ISD is in the process of building what it calls the Aldine Heritage Museum, dedicated to the history of AISD schools and of the Aldine area. I was a small part of this project as items were being collected. I have seen pretty much everything related to Aldine High School that has been assembled. As a result, I have a pretty thorough history of the school which has enabled me to answer pretty much all of the questions posed in this thread starting a decade ago. I have donated copies of my finished books on the history of Aldine High and the Mustang football team to the museum. There's far too much to post here, but if anyone who used to post or comes across the thread now that it has been bumped up has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I've no idea when or if this museum will ever actually get off the ground. I'm no longer involved. But I do now quite a bit of really good stuff was donated. I hope they do ultimately build it. If I learn any more, I'll be sure to post it here.

Hard to believe it's been FIVE YEARS since there's been a post in this thread. How time flies. Welcome... better late than never, I suppose. I am the one who did the research. I no longer send out the report for various reasons we won't get into here. If you are interested in the history of Aldine High School, I did put at least some of it on Wikipedia. Here is the Aldine High School Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldine_High_School Not sure when or if you'll be reading this, but if you are anyone else coming across this, I'm posting on Sep. 9. Tomorrow (Sep. 10) is the 60th anniversary of the opening of Aldine High's current campus on Airline at West Rd. The reason you can't see any of the maps or pictures is because the website that hosted them put an expiration date on them. Kinda stupid, if you ask me. Now, fortunately, you can attach things directly to a post. Back when this thread was created, 10 years ago, that was not possible. Yes, there was/is another thread about Aldine on here. That one is specifically about the schools whereas this one tended to be more about the area. I doubt there's been a post there in five years either.

Not sure why they want a retractable roof. Might as well build a regular, fixed dome. It's a lot cheaper. After the novelty wears off, the Rangers will very likely be like the Astros and open it maybe 5 times a year, or worse, like the Texans and never open the thing. The Astros claim they like the noise that reverberates when the roof is closed (remember the 2005 World Series?). Huh? Then why did you insist on a retractable roof? Just cheer louder. Plus no fan anywhere ever had any measurable legal effect on a game. As for the Texans, who knows why they absolutely refuse to pop the top on several gorgeous fall afternoons. But it also brings up the obvious question of why they had to have a retractable roof as well. At least we weren't suckered on a retractable roof for the Toyota Center. If Arlington is smart, they'll force the team to pay for the retractable roof. But hey, it's the Metroplex, so why do I really care if they get hosed or not?

As an Astros fan and as a frequent visitor to San Antonio and Corpus Christi, I'd prefer the Astros get a AAA team in the Alamo City and let the Rangers keep Round Rock. It would be a lot easier to catch a Hooks game one day in Corpus then drive 130 miles up I-37 to see the new Missions (I presume that will still be the name) play and see both Astro farm teams.

Houston Post or Houston Chronicle microfilm, I forget which. August 1976 was when the mall opened and when that special advertising section ran. It might have been in both papers, but one was clearer than the other. As I said, I forget which. DON'T go to the Houston Public Library... they'll charge you for paper copies, plus you have to fight off the homeless. Go instead to the University of Houston Library. You can save the files onto a flash drive or you can print them for free (you don't have to be a student or an alumni to use the facilities). If I still had them, I'd attach them here for you, but I didn't bother to scan them. I found them for hydeaway (an old high school friend) while doing another project several years ago. I'm interested in the history of Greenspoint Mall, but only to a degree. So I didn't keep a copy. It's his passion.

No way you could have known. No problem. But as I know him personally and as I'm the one who gave him those, I just found the episode amusing. But there's no way you could have checked. You didn't do anything wrong nor do you have anything to apologize for.