Alpha

I hope they are doing well, very nice people and a boon to the community.

I believe that Don Janicek died a few years ago. I'm trying to look it up on the Chronicle archives.

I found it.

DONALD "DON" HOWARD JANICEK, born July 26, 1933, passed away October 27, 2002 at age 69, after suffering a massive heart attack. Don was best known as the Founder and Owner of Don's Record Shop in Bellaire. Don was a Charter Member and Past President of The Bellaire Southwest Rotary Club, and a recipient of the Paul Harris Award. He was a Past Board Member of the Belliare Chamber of Commerce and member of Holy Ghost Catholic Church.

When I was in high school - mid 60s - there was a number that I believe was called The Grapevine. When you called it, you could hear several people talking at once. What usually happened, was that you would give someone your number and they would call you to have a private conversation. I never gave out my number, but I did call someone else who gave me his number. We never did meet, though. I guess that was the first chat room.

Anyone mention Craig's Department Stores?

We used to shop at Craig's in the Village all the time. We didn't have to "dress up" to go there like we did when we went to Sakowitz or Battlesteins. Later on, when I was in college, we shopped at Craig's in Memorial City, especially before Foley's opened there.

I remember watching him when I was really young. I always thought he was saying, "I'm just a wonder of the waistline." I couldn't figure that out, because he wasn't fat or anything.

It looks like a lot of the original school remains when comparing the two photos. I attended Robert E. Lee High School and have heard that Westbury and Lee had the same layout.

I remember that Westbury and Lee look exactly the same. I'm curious, does Lee still have the original three-story classroom building? I would think that it had the same construction as the one at Westbury and probably the same structural problems.

In regards to the elephant bones, I have searched for them for years, but they dont seem to be on display in texas. Perhaps there was not enough to display, the texas memorial museum has a larger collection in warehouses than they have on display. That is where I heard they went.

The person who found them used them for the science fair project that year. I don't know what happened to them after that.

On the west side of the ditch near johnson jr high, a wooly mamoth or masterdon skeleton or fossil was found in the early 1960.

I knew the kids who found those bones. I probably would have been one of them, but I was not there that day. I can remember one of my teachers at Johnston commenting on this and wondering why they were playing in the ditch.

Over mt dead body!

Better stated, over the dead bodies of anyone who tries to change it!

I didn't go to Reagan, but I have several friends who did. I'm sure they would feel exactly the same way.

Does anyone remember these:

I attended a nursery school in 1952 - I was four. It was somewhere in "downtown" Bellaire. I think it was called Playhouse or Playmates. The one thing that I remember the most was that they had a tricycle merry-go-round. There were about 8 - 10 tricycles mounted on a platform and only went around if all the children were pedaling.

Edit: September 2, 1954

Playmates Pre-School 

5221 Spruce / MA-2987

Mrs. Herbert Rohloff . . . Mrs. Howard Dunaway

The other one is the first place I taught in the early 70s. It was just east of Post Oak, but I don't remember if it was off of Willowbend or West Bellfort. It was called Town & Country School and Camp. The people who owned it were named Bobo.

I tried to find it on google, but I'm not sure. There is something south of Willow Park that looks like it could be a school.

Edit:  September 13, 1961 

Town & Country School.

Off Willowbend Blvd. at 11524 Craighdead - MO 5-1148.

Mrs. N.R. Bobo, Owner.

Can anyone help with either of these?

I have seen Lamar High School, which is only about 15-20 years older, and the differences in quality are astounding.

I wonder if the air conditioners work any better today. When ours went out, which was often, it stayed down for several weeks. They always said they had to wait on a part. Trucks must have only operated once a month back in the late 1970s. The year before I got to Lee, the radical Lee students staged a protest strike and marched the streets around the school due to the lack of air conditioning. It was on all the local news stations and the school reputation was damaged for years.

I'm not sure when Lamar was built, but my dad went there in the early 40s.

ETA - It was built in 1937.

We had no air conditioning when I was in school. I had to go to college for that. The school where I taught my first two years also had no air conditioning. That was really miserable. They finally got it the third year.

Yep, Pepper was there when I was. He might have been

principle at that time though. I remember Rivers Lodge,

and also a new Asst. Washington if I remember right..

I forgot who was the head principle out of that bunch..

It was either Lodge, or Pepper. I don't have a yearbook to

double check..

MK

In the years I was there (63-66) Fred Pepper was a phys ed. teacher. Rivers Lodge was dean of women, Kenneth Gupton was asst. principal, and William Burns was principal. Mr. Burns died the summer after I graduated and Mr. Gupton became principal.

Does anyone remember this? I was in the 6th grade at Horn Elementary in September of 1959. They told us to go straight home, but would not tell us why.

I knew that Kolter Elementary was named after one of the teachers who died. A few years ago I worked with a lady who was the substitute that took over Jeanne Kolter's classroom after her death.

You will need to scroll down to read the part about Poe School.

http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/7/Gooding.htm

Middle-class families haven't abandoned Westbury itself, but they have abandoned Westbury High in droves. For several years now, it has drawn its population primarily from low-rent apartment complexes in the area. Sixty-four percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and the SAT average last year was a dismal 853. WHS also acquired some unwanted notoriety during the 2005-06 school year when fights broke out between Houston students and evacuees from New Orleans, and when a girl was raped in the restroom by a man who walked in off the street.

Nice new building, though.

That really makes me sad. Westbury was only two years old when I started in 1963. I think I got a fantastic education. In the faculty section of the yearbook, it shows that a great many of the teachers had master's degrees.

When I took the advanced placement English test at U of H, I was able to place out of the first semester freshman English. Later I found out that almost everyone from Westbury who took the test placed out of it. We joked that they probably made the test harder the next year.

I just found out from my dad - who is 81 - that he took flying lessons from Cliff Hyde back in the 40s. He said it was somewhere out on South Main, which makes me think it must have been at the Sam Houston Airport.

I googled Cliff Hyde and found this link that mentions that his service operated out of the Sam Houston Airport.

http://www.1940airterminal.org/houstonaviationtimeline.htm

I went to a restaurant in Kemah in 1969, but I don't remember the name. It might have had the word captain or club in the name, but I just can't think of it. Does anyone know?

Don't all the retailers seem bland these days?

That's because everywhere you go, it's the same few stores. Target, Wal-mart, Starbucks, etc. I took a ride to Kemah last January to see the boardwalk. I hadn't been there in over 10 years. With the exception of two, every restaurant out there is also in Katy or on the west side of town. Sometimes it seems like there's almost no point in going anywhere because in a way, it's like you never left home.

Alpha,

How cool, at last another familiar with my old 'hood. Your Grandparents must have either lived in what we called "the chimney," section north of Bissonnet or on or close to the Bissonnet strip. We lived at 4226 University. I started shopping at JMH when I was an infant, ha-ha. It was during the War (WWII) and with gas rationing, my mother would put me in my little red wagon and her sister would do same with her 2 kids in Southside Place and they'd walk down to JMH and meet to visit and shop together. I continued to go there all during my daughter's early life. They had charge accounts and you only had to pay your grocery bill once a month, very convenient.

I also went to Weingarten's and all the other stores at Montclair. Sorry the sign freaked you out! You are probably close to my daughter's age, she was born in 1967.

We never referred to our town as anything but West University Place until much later years, when it became trendy to just shorten it. Thanks for your memories!

I'm a little closer to your age. I was born in 1948. My grandparents lived in the 3900 block of Coleridge.

The funny thing about JMH is that they would cash checks for my grandmother and she didn't have to leave the car. She would give me the check and I would run in and give it to the person in the courtesy booth, and they would give me the cash.

We live in Katy now, but took a little trip to the Village yesterday to go to the Variety 5 & 10. My favorite store was World Toy & Gift. We would go in the back door and spend forever in the back section with all the 10 and 15 cent toys. My mom and my sister and I went back in the early 90s when they were closing. Of course all of that section is gone now.

Montclair Shopping Center (Bissonnet and Weslayan) became Weslayan Plaza.

My grandparents lived in West University (we never called it 'West U') and my grandmother did most of her grocery shopping at either JMH or Weingarten's in Montclair Center.

The Montclair Center sign had a light at the top that rotated like a lighthouse. When I would spend the night, it would shine in the back bedroom - off and on all night. I felt that it was kind of creepy.

What a great picture. It's really strange to see Westbury's water tower and no school right next to it.

I lived in Marilyn Estates - the subdivision just west of Johnston. This picture must be 1959, because Kolter Elementary hasn't been built, and it was open when we moved there in October of 1960.

Yep, the portables are gone. The old building has been replaced with a new one.

I know about the new one. It looks great. I wish that the google satellite pics were more up-to-date. I'd love to see an overhead view of the campus now.

For starters, it appears the school has more than doubled in size. I can see the original building and it appears as if they've added quite a bit in back of it. But it also looks like they took something off the front. If you look at the bottom center part of the school in the sat photo and in your 1966 pic, the front contour appears to be more recessed, as if they removed that 3 story part with what seems like a covered walkway.

The original three-story classroom building was condemned a few years ago and torn down. They were going to renovate it, but when they went in to inspect it, it was so bad that they immediately shut it down. I believe it had something to do with the foundation. I don't think they even let students come in and empty their lockers. The last part may be wrong, but it's what I heard.

Maybe someone else can verify it.

Removed post

My grandparents lived in West University and their phone number in the 40s was M 1156. By the time I was learning to use the phone (I'm 58) the number was MA 1156. Shortly after I learned, the phone company added another digit and the number was MA3-1156. We lived about three miles away (in Bellaire) and we also had the Madison exchange.

Would this be the same roller coaster? Dated May 1943. I believe I found this image online at the Smithsonian.

I believe it is, especially since the ad is from 1945. Great picture, by the way. I think I'll look at the Smithsonian online and see what else I can find.

Speaking of Playland Park

I was going through old pictures and found this ad in a copy of the 1945 Daily Cougar (my Dad's) from U of H.