Firebird65

KFC, same side of Airline in front of the present day Family Dollar, is now a taqueria.

Seemingly pretty much everything in that area is now a taqueria. Not that I have anything against tacos... I love 'em. I could eat them every day, and there are several times in my life where I've made a pretty good run at doing just that. But how many taqueria's does the Upper Airline area need?

Firebird, one more for you, if you don't mind. The old strip center with the car wash in the parking lot, I assume that's 163 West Dyna, has a "Huracán Discoteca" as the big tenant, covering a large swath of the center. What was that before? It seems like it was a department store of some sort, and it has those tall sign poles facing Airline, with big flood lights on it, but without any type of signage on top. What was there originally?

 

Well, as I said, there were at one time two pizza places in the shopping center - Square Pan and the Original Pizza. There may have been a small clothing store in there for a time, but I could find no record of it. I do believe, but very much stand to be corrected, that a big space in there was devoted to Sharon's Dance Studio, which seemingly half my female Facebook friends went to. I found the Facebook discussion of it in the "You Know You're From Aldine" page, but it makes no mention of the location. As for the remainder of the place, it seemed to always be some kind of seedy club or lounge. I didn't bother to track those.

I do know the small, two-story building at the front of the property housed the offices of Edgar Reeves' State Farm insurance business. Have to get a shout out to that 1953 graduate of Aldine High and who provided me with so much information on the founding of Aldine High School and the town of Aldine.

EDIT: Wow that didn't take long. I should have done this first. I am looking at the 1979 Aldine High Roundup yearbook and as I suspected, there is an ad for Sharon's Studio of Dance. The ad gives the address as 157 W. Dyna, which would be in that shopping center.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I got the rest of my information from Coles Directory, which is kind of a phone book sort of thing that lists businesses by address rather than by name or phone number. In other words, you can (and I did) grab a Coles Directory from, say, 1977 and look to see everything that was on W. Dyna at that time. By comparing years, you can get an approximate date of when a business opened. Copies going back to the 1930s are available at the Texas Room in the Julia Ideson Library downtown. It's a great place to while away some hours and learn about the history of Houston. However, note that the Coles Directories only cover the Upper Airline area starting in the early 1960s. Before that, they only covered up to about Little York Rd. 

More from 1976 Houston area - Taco Bell, Wendy's, Dairy Queen, and TGI Fridays (KFC and Burger King are up next but more extensive)

 

 

Dairy Queen (of the 23 listed, 9 are still Dairy Queen)

 

6031 Airline Dr. (currently Pan-American OB/GYN)

8394 Bellaire Blvd. (unknown)

7215 Bellfort St. (currently El Compita Tire Shop)

8430 Boone Rd. (currently Serrano's Events)

10516 Eastex Freeway (demolished?)

6649 Harrisburg Blvd. (remodeled?)

9155 Irvington Blvd. (currently Abiding Love Baptist Church)

5590 North Freeway (possibly current Frenchy's)

8808 Panair St. (currently vacant, was Dairy Queen training and commissary - for HOU I assume)

470 Parker (unknown) still standing - convenience store (credit to Purpledevil below)

6516 Westheimer Rd. (unknown)

1702 Yale St. (demolished?)

6919 Spencer Highway - Pasadena (current Jiffy Lube?)

1318 Ave H. - Rosenberg (current Flamingo Snow Cones?)

26904 I-45 - Spring (current Crow's Nest liquor store?)

 

 

Dairy Queen #64 opened on W. Gulf Bank between Airline and the North Freeway in 1969. Sometime in the late 1990s it became some sort of Mexican restaurant. The last I checked, that restaurant had closed and the place was abandoned.

Moon Palace was a Jojo's?!? I did not realize that, but yeah, the recessed entry on it does make it look like a Jojo's. Closed in '84, so the year I graduated. Huh, guess I was too focused on late night breakfast buffets at Champ's across the street back then.

Red Lobster is certainly a possibility, mkultra. It's hard to imagine now for those that didn't see it firsthand, but that little area was once packed with various well known eating joints, and not just the sea of vacancy and neglect that West Dyna has become in its current state.

Edit: the address for the mystery restaurant, now game room, is 171 West Dyna, 77037. I can't snapshot an instant street view for some reason. Could that possibly be your Red Lobster?

I happened on this discussion and am delighted to see talk about the area I grew up in. I think I can help you out here.

I've done pretty extensive research on the retail businesses in the Upper Airline corridor.

I can tell you that JoJo's and Moon Palace were located at 185 W. Dyna. The Jojo's opened in 1976. It became Moon Palace in 1992.

The Red Lobster was located next door at 181 W. Dyna and it opened in 1974.

The Burger King at 187 W. Dyna was the first restaurant along the road. It opened in 1972. Steak and Ale opened at the end of the street with a 10718 North Freeway address. Then came the Red Lobster. Pizza Inn at 171 W. Dyna opened in 1975. Jim's Coffee Shop (now the Mambo Seafood), Bobby McGee's Conglomeration, El Chico and Furr's Cafeteria also opened in 1975 in the Deauville Shopping Center, which has a North Freeway address, but is also along W. Dyna. Jojo's opened in 1976.

Square Pan Pizza at 163 W. Dyna and the Ground Patti at 171 W. Dyna opened in 1978. Jim's Coffee became Champs in 1979.

The Ground Patty became the Original Flying Pizza in 1980, which was really odd as it was only a few feet from Square Pan. The Jojo's became Co-Co's Family Restaurant in 1985.

China Border took over from Steak and Ale in 1998. Mambo replaced Champs in 2003. I stopped updating after 2008 because as I live on the westside, it's hard to keep up with things in the old neighborhood. Anyway, hope that helps the memories and the conversation.

Also do you seriously consider 130 miles a feasible daily commute?

Sorta off the topic, but many years ago either the Chronicle or Post did a survey to find the longest work commute in the Houston area. It was won by a guy who lived in Katy drove to Orange every day to work in a chemical plant. So he drove 130 miles each way each day, five days a week for at least 45-50 weeks a year. He said he had to change the oil every two weeks and buy new tires at least yearly. When asked why he did it, he said he loved his home in Katy, but also liked the job.

Now this isn't a daily auto commute, of course, but I've worked with people who live in Austin and work in Houston. They would rent an apartment here and spend Sunday - Thursday night in Houston, then drive home on Friday. I've also known someone who lived in LA who flew into Houston to work during the week then left for home Thursday afternoon and another who lived in NY state and did the same thing. But those aren't the same things, of course, as a daily commute.

An example of the trend you refer to is the transition undergone by the church on the corner of Fulton and Link. When we first moved into the area almost 15 years ago, it was a Methodist church whose congregation was comprised almost exclusively of elderly Anglos who had been here for many years.

You are speaking of Reid Memorial Methodist Church. My great aunt and uncle (who lived on Caplin) attended services there for many a year. I'm surprised the place lasted into the 1990s considering the changes in the neighborhood.

Yeah, that's the place I thought you were talking about. Google Maps has some pics of the building from August 2013, after it underwent a renovation (or at least a few coats of paint), but they're only visible from certain angles. Try this link:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.80655,-95.369067,3a,75y,278.81h,86.24t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sfj1SCICskwY9Df-KvvwmSw!2e0

 

I wish the Al Ray theater was still on the site of the "mansion". The owner of the mansion had planned to turn it into a special-events facility and had been trying to get a liquor license not too long ago. As you might expect, this was not well-received by local residents. Haven't heard any more about it since then but I believe the liquor license application was denied after comments opposing it were filed by neighboring property owners. 

Ah, that does look at LOT better than that garish red paint. I wonder why you got a different, more up to date image than I did? I went to Google Maps as well, but mine said it was from April 2011.

As for the Al Ray, yeah, I would imagine the people in the neighborhood (Lindale Park) would have a problem with that. The used to be a rowdy cantina at the corner of Fulton and Calvacade that was always in the news back in the 1980s. While that was 30 years ago, the neighborhood was already at least 75 percent Hispanic then with the only white folks left being people in their 70s and 80s who had live there since the neighborhood was built. So I can't imagine there's been a lot of turnover in the years since, a that neighborhood had already undergone white flight in the 1960s and 70s.

The Fulton store was originally a Minimax (Joe Di Chiara's in 1955) then by the mid 1970s it was the Fulton Super Serv.

Thanks for the info about Minimax. Yes, the name Fulton Super Serv seems to ring a bell.  The early to mid 1970s would be the time I was referring to in my post.

Ricardo's hung on for a long time, but I think in their case the owner also wanted to retire. His son occasionally posts on the Aldine Facebook group, and every time the restaurant is mentioned it brings a lot of people out of the woodwork reminiscing about how great it used to be. Having eaten there on a few occasions in its waning days and more often than not being one of the only customers when I did, I can't help but wonder if Ricardo's would still be open if more of the folks bemoaning its demise had continued to patronize them. 

I grew up in Northline Terrace, just down the street from Ricardos, and I think we only ate there twice. The sole reason I even remember doing so is because the kids in the neighborhood always made jokes about that's where the neighborhood's stray dogs ended up. (I'm sure that happens in pretty much every neighborhood, of course). So naturally I was, as a 10 year old, quite concerned with what exactly was in my beef enchiladas.

For whatever reason, my mother and father always preferred Monterrey House or sometimes Panchos (at that time on far away Long Point) in the 1970s.

I'm assuming this was on the west side of Fulton? There's nothing but residential on the east side of Fulton at Joyce (an apartment building on the north side of Joyce, and the infamous "Fulton Mansion" on the south side). On the west side of Fulton, there's a tire shop, and to the north of that the building I think you're referring to. It was most recently a furniture store. 

Oh, I forgot about Google's Street View!  I've attached a pic of the place as of April 2011 (according to Google Maps - guess they haven't updated it in awhile).

The location is actually at the corner of Fulton and Wynne. Joyce is on the east side of Fulton, Wynne is on the west. This would be catty corner from what you called the "Fulton Mansion." (The mansion is on what used to be the site of a movie theatre, as you probably already know). Directly across from this building (or behind the photographer) are those apartments you mentioned.

Yes, as you mentioned, from the photo it was a furniture store at least at one time. When it was a superette, the building was a light blue, not red.

There were stage stops about every twenty miles or so.

I've heard the same thing. And that makes sense. About the length of time before a team of horses would tucker out. Which means if that criteria were used in the Harris County area going west from Houston to San Antonio, the first stop out of Houston (provided they followed the current 1-10, which is reasonable) would be between what was then Addicks and Katy. Could have also been Barker, which was between Addicks and Katy.

As for the old man's recollection in the original post, maybe there was a hotel or something in the area of I-10 and Oxford? Maybe that's why there was a stagecoach stop there (if his memory or information is accurate)?

Used to be one on Fulton at Joyce, just north of Calvacade, in Lindale Park. Don't remember the name of it, but I know my grandmother and I would walk the long block (Lindale Park has some long blocks) to go get bread or eggs when I was a kid. It was maybe nearly the size of two convenience stores, but it was a lot smaller than the Clayton's Supermarket further up Fulton. The building is still there (or at least was the last time I passed by) but it was no longer a store.

There used to also be a similar sized place on Clay Road near Greenhouse in west Houston. I'd go there sometimes to pick up things when my wife and I would visit my sister-in-law's family. It had a butcher shop and a produce shop, but it had maybe three aisles of groceries at the most.

I'd say you could call both of these superettes

In the late 1970s I went to a now gone school at North Shepherd near Crosstimbers. A trail ride (can't remember which one) would come down Shepherd on its way to Memorial Park and we would be let out of class to watch it go by. Always a lot of fun.

(A)s a kid, I loved the Saltillo platter and fighting over the candy at the bottom of the chip basket!

 

I used to love that Saltillo platter as well.

Good ol' Monterey House. My most vivid memory of the place (besides the candy, of course), was when I took a girlfriend to the one on Rittenhouse in 1987. We were at the time the only customers in the restaurant (it was at an off-peak hour after lunch and before dinner). We ordered our food and the waiter walked into the kitchen and immediately walked back out with our order. No more than two minutes could have passed, if even that. The kitchen doors were still swinging from when he walked in when he walked out. It is the fastest I have ever been served at any restaurant anywhere, anytime... including already prepared buffets and ones where I had phoned in my order ahead of time.

My girlfriend went nuts. She could not believe they had even cooked our order in that short an amount of time. Actually, I couldn't believe it either, but I was hungry and didn't care.

Yeah, Monterey House was good food at good prices. But there's simply no way they'd make it today. Too much competition, for one thing. There's a Mexican restaurant every block in Houston now. And people's palates have become more sophisticated about Mexican food to where Monterey House's simple combos just wouldn't satisfy anyone. But I sure enjoyed it while it lasted.

The old man may well be right. But Oxford and I-10, while most definitely very much inside Houston now, was outside of town in the era of the stagecoach. I seriously doubt there was anything around there of any consequence at that time. Why stop there when it was only a mile or so further into Houston?

Of course, I wasn't around then, so I could be wrong. But that just doesn't seem to be a good place for a stagecoach stop in the 1860s and 1870s.

Might I suggest you visit the Texas Room at the Julia Edleson Library downtown? They've got a lot of stuff on the city of Houston going back to the very beginning. I would think they might have something that would either help you answer your question or give you a good clue as to where to look next.

I'd sure be interested to know if anyone else has any other information, or if you can find anything else yourself. Keep us informed!

Not sure if this might interest anyone, or if it would apply to anyone here, but I wanted to alert everyone just in case.

I went to a local antique store today, where in the corner they had a stack of old yearbooks. None were from my high school, unfortunately. However, I did see one from Spring Branch Memorial High School and I couldn't believe which yearbook it was. It was the very first edition, Volume 1, from 1963 (Memorial opened in the fall of 1962). The book was in mint condition. And, get this, they wanted exactly $1 for it. That's right, a single dollar.

I went to Aldine High School. I've written about the history of the school and posted about it here in the past. I've been fortunate enough to have seen the first-ever yearbook from Aldine (1940) and was even more fortunate that its owner allowed me to scan it. It's an invaluable piece of history about the school.

Well, for anyone who went to Memorial, here your chance to gain a similar piece of history about your school for practically nothing.

If you are interest in it, let me know and I'll post the location of the antique store. Otherwise, I might just go buy it myself and donate it to the school (although I'm sure they have at least one copy already).

This city really needs to catch up with other major cities around the globe and build more rail. 

Uh, no. Just because someone else is doing something stupid doesn't mean we have to do it. That kind of mentality has already lead to a lot of problems in the last few mayoral administrations.

Absolutely not. HISD and every other public school district in Harris County is in business (supposedly) to educate the children of the tax-paying residents of that district, not to educate the children of the world. If Chinese parents, or the Chinese government, want to educate their children, then they need to do it themselves and not contract it out to us. Now, if they want exchange students, that's just a small program and that's a different story. But no school district should dedicate entire campuses for foreign students, be they paying students or non-paying ones (such as the Central American children now trying to enter the country illegally).

Interesting.

As a Houstonian, would you miss KPFT if it suddenly vanished in November?

It's news to me it's still on. I thought that station disappeared years, if not decades, ago.

So no, I guess I wouldn't miss it at all.

I know one mall that absolutely SHOULDN'T be torn down: Memorial City Mall. Not sure what the story is there, but while nearly every other mall besides the Galleria is struggling, Memorial City is going beyond gangbusters.

I went there on a Sunday morning at about 10 a.m. and the place was PACKED. I didn't even know the mall was open yet (I thought malls still opened at noon on Sundays), and I had to park in the back of the lot. I went there in February on a weekday in mid-afternoon (about 2 p.m.) and the place was packed. Aren't people supposed to be at work and school at that time?

I wonder if I go there at 4 a.m. will I be able to find a place to park.

Anyone know what's going on there? It's a nice mall, sure, but it's not that much nicer than several other malls around town.

I don't mourn the passing of KLDE. I got tired of hearing Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" 5 times a day. Out of all the thousands of songs released from 1956 to 1980 (the timespan of their playlist), you'd think they would have had at least a little more variety. I swear their playlist consisted of the same 501 songs played over and over and over again. What's funny is that each year on Labor Day Weekend, KLDE would play its "Top 500 Songs of All Time," which really meant they just played their entire playlist like they did every day, except for one song.

There was never a Mervyn's in Cypress Town Center. The Mervyn's in Houston were at Fondren and SW Frwy, West Oaks, Memorial City, Willowchase, Greenspoint, Woodlands, Deerbrook, San Jacinto Mall and Baybrook Mall. I worked at the Greenspoint store from 1992 to 1995.

Bumping for updates:

- The old ice house is finally torn down, They're putting up a metal building on the site.

- Clodine General Store was moved when they widened 1464. It's still there, on stilts. They no longer sell fireworks there; a new fireworks "superstand" opened across the street.

Oh man, I had forgotten all about this thread. I drove by there on Friday and forgot to look. I did comment to my wife how much Alief and Clodine reminded me of the Aldine area I grew up in, but totally forgot about looking for the old general store. 

The "West" part of West Mount Houston Rd. comes from the original patentee of a Mexicanland grant for the area that is generally where George Bush International Airport is today his name was Gadi West. He was the brother of my third great grandfather Levi Oliver West. Anything in northeast Houston with West attached to it is named after Gadi West.

Huh?!? The "west" in West Mount Houston Road comes from the fact it is the western segment of the road. There is an East Mount Houston Road and a West Mount Houston Road. It has nothing to do with any person. How did you get that?!?